First Rpage and AI Training Session: Mastering Bilingual Webpages with AI
In response to the university's bilingual webpage initiative and the growing use of AI tools, the Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS) held the first session of the training program "Campus Web Platform (Rpage) Operation and AI Applications" on June 30, with 70 faculty and staff members participating on site and online via Teams. Designed from a practical user's perspective, the course required no programming background and focused on lowering the learning curve so that colleagues can gradually bring AI tools into their daily webpage maintenance.
The first half of the session walked participants through the Rpage backend and the workflow of creating news items, focusing on building bilingual Chinese-English pages. The lecturer analyzed a common problem: a page that keeps redirecting to the university homepage when switched to English. The cause is that the Chinese and English versions must be created and enabled at all three levels, namely information, category, and module. The lecturer also reminded participants that the backend has no undo function, so the source code should always be backed up in a plain-text editor before editing.
The second half turned to AI collaboration. The lecturer presented three tools built hands-on with AI: a book exhibition poster generator, a regulation index enabling full-text search across 777 university regulations, and a regulation Q&A Gem that answers in natural language with sources attached. Comparing AI to a candle and the user to the spark that lights it, the lecturer stressed that while AI remembers more data than we do, meaning is decided by people. The keys are asking good questions, knowing what you need, and keeping facts up to date.
The session closed with hands-on practice and Q&A, where participants operated the backend, tried the regulation Q&A Gem via QR code, and raised questions about their own unit websites. The first session ended with lively exchanges and set the stage for the second session on SEO settings and practical AI applications on July 20. Course recordings and handouts will be provided for review, and all units are welcome to contact the Reference and Instruction Section of OLIS.
Image (No. 1) Description: Lecturer demonstrates how to build bilingual pages in the Rpage backend, explaining the information, category, and module settings and the common redirect problem.
Image (No. 2) Description: Screenshot of the AI-assisted Regulation Index tool, which enables full-text search across 777 university regulations with links back to the original documents.
