This reflective presentation outlines the experiences of two academic developers as we embarked on our first research project augmented by the use of Microsoft Copilot.

Gen AI has become ubiquitous among both staff and students in Higher Education. As academic developers we are aware of both the concerns and positive possibilities that this new technology brings. Like many colleagues, we have both used Gen AI tools in an informal manner to support the creation of workshops, resources, instructional artefacts etc. And when we started planning this small research project, whose main focus was to determine strategies to support the meaningful embedding of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles within webinars offered by our team, we discussed the appropriateness of using a Gen AI tool to support the process. This discussion led to a mindful decision to ‘lean-in’ to Copilot and use it to support our research in an intentional and documented manner.

This presentation will outline the structure we placed around our intended use of Gen AI and the reasons for selection of Copilot; it will also outline the positives and negatives of Copilot use in this specific research project and consider what takeaways we will bring to future research. Specifically, we will consider the role of Gen AI tools in similar research projects in terms of inclusive design and accessibility.

We will also discuss our post-research perspective on the ethical and psychosocial implications of Gen AI use in educational research. We all know how carefully we consider the attributes of potential research collaborators: should Gen AI be treated any differently when making these considerations?