Speakers
Below is the current line-up of speakers.
Mairéad Pratschke
Day 1: 5 September 2023, 12:30 – 14:00
“Learning Design for the AI age”
Generative AI presents many challenges and opportunities to higher education. From literacy to ethics, responsibility to malpractice, AI is forcing us to rethink and redesign teaching, learning and assessment. This talk will introduce the concept of the new hybrid of Human + AI as it relates to teaching and learning, and suggest an approach to design and delivery that addresses this new educational reality.
Speaker bio:
Mairéad Pratschke is Professor and Chair in Digital Education, as well as Associate Director for eLearning and Teaching Innovation, in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at the University of Manchester. She holds a Ph.D. in History from McMaster University in Canada and an M.A. in European Studies from K.U. Leuven in Belgium. She began creating online courses over twenty years ago and her career has straddled the worlds of higher education, education technology, professional and continuing education, and edtech start-ups. Irish-born, she has worked in Canada, the USA, Belgium and Spain, in multiple languages and sectors, as a researcher, designer, lecturer, director and consultant for digital programmes in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sports and business. Before joining the University of Manchester, Mairéad was Education Innovation Lead on the Convene project, an initiative funded by the Irish Government’s Human Capital Initiative to increase industry-academia collaboration. She currently sits on the University’s steering committee for Digital Futures and is leading the Faculty’s work on AI and assessment. She regularly gives talks on generative AI and education, emerging technologies and education futures.
“Learning Design for the AI age”
Generative AI presents many challenges and opportunities to higher education. From literacy to ethics, responsibility to malpractice, AI is forcing us to rethink and redesign teaching, learning and assessment. This talk will introduce the concept of the new hybrid of Human + AI as it relates to teaching and learning, and suggest an approach to design and delivery that addresses this new educational reality.
Speaker bio:
Mairéad Pratschke is Professor and Chair in Digital Education, as well as Associate Director for eLearning and Teaching Innovation, in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at the University of Manchester. She holds a Ph.D. in History from McMaster University in Canada and an M.A. in European Studies from K.U. Leuven in Belgium. She began creating online courses over twenty years ago and her career has straddled the worlds of higher education, education technology, professional and continuing education, and edtech start-ups. Irish-born, she has worked in Canada, the USA, Belgium and Spain, in multiple languages and sectors, as a researcher, designer, lecturer, director and consultant for digital programmes in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sports and business. Before joining the University of Manchester, Mairéad was Education Innovation Lead on the Convene project, an initiative funded by the Irish Government’s Human Capital Initiative to increase industry-academia collaboration. She currently sits on the University’s steering committee for Digital Futures and is leading the Faculty’s work on AI and assessment. She regularly gives talks on generative AI and education, emerging technologies and education futures.
Maha Bali
Day 2: 6 September 2023, 11:30 - 12:45
“Developing Critical AI Literacy”
How can we help both educators and learners develop a critical AI Literacy, one that includes a deep understanding of how AI works, the social justice challenges it brings, and when, why and how to incorporate it (or avoid it!) within education and beyond. This is an interactive session where participants will contribute to a co-constructed understanding of critical AI literacy, ways to develop it, how it might influence how we create assessments, and challenges we may face along the way.
Speaker bio:
Maha Bali is Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. She has a PhD in Education from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org (a grassroots movement that challenges academic gatekeeping at conferences) and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound (an equity-focused, open, connected intercultural learning curriculum, which has also branched into academic community activities Continuity with Care, Socially Just Academia, a collaboration with OneHE: Community-building Resources and MYFest, an innovative 3-month professional learning journey. She writes and speaks frequently about social justice, critical pedagogy, and open and online education. She blogs regularly at http://blog.mahabali.me and tweets @bali_maha
“Developing Critical AI Literacy”
How can we help both educators and learners develop a critical AI Literacy, one that includes a deep understanding of how AI works, the social justice challenges it brings, and when, why and how to incorporate it (or avoid it!) within education and beyond. This is an interactive session where participants will contribute to a co-constructed understanding of critical AI literacy, ways to develop it, how it might influence how we create assessments, and challenges we may face along the way.
Speaker bio:
Maha Bali is Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. She has a PhD in Education from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org (a grassroots movement that challenges academic gatekeeping at conferences) and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound (an equity-focused, open, connected intercultural learning curriculum, which has also branched into academic community activities Continuity with Care, Socially Just Academia, a collaboration with OneHE: Community-building Resources and MYFest, an innovative 3-month professional learning journey. She writes and speaks frequently about social justice, critical pedagogy, and open and online education. She blogs regularly at http://blog.mahabali.me and tweets @bali_maha
Laura Czerniewicz
Day 3: 7 September 2023, 11:10 - 12:25
“AI and Social Justice”
Using Fraser’s definition of social justice as participatory parity, this talk will consider how artificial intelligence risks causing or exacerbating social injustices in education. It will also consider the opportunities it affords to remedy social injustices in education. It will unpack the potential economic, cultural and political implications of AI for education focusing on the issues of interest and consequence to educators.
Speaker bio:
Laura Czerniewicz is a professor emerita at the University of Cape Town. The first director of UCT’s Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), she has had many roles in education over the years including academic, researcher, strategist, advocate, teacher, teacher-trainer and educational publisher. Threaded through all her work has been a focus on equity and digital inequality. These have permeated her research interests which focus on the changing nature of higher education in a post-digital society and new forms of teaching and learning provision. She plays a key strategic and scholarly role in the areas of blended /online learning as well as in open education institutionally, nationally and internationally.
“AI and Social Justice”
Using Fraser’s definition of social justice as participatory parity, this talk will consider how artificial intelligence risks causing or exacerbating social injustices in education. It will also consider the opportunities it affords to remedy social injustices in education. It will unpack the potential economic, cultural and political implications of AI for education focusing on the issues of interest and consequence to educators.
Speaker bio:
Laura Czerniewicz is a professor emerita at the University of Cape Town. The first director of UCT’s Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), she has had many roles in education over the years including academic, researcher, strategist, advocate, teacher, teacher-trainer and educational publisher. Threaded through all her work has been a focus on equity and digital inequality. These have permeated her research interests which focus on the changing nature of higher education in a post-digital society and new forms of teaching and learning provision. She plays a key strategic and scholarly role in the areas of blended /online learning as well as in open education institutionally, nationally and internationally.