Education after the algorithm: Symposium held at DCU

A symposium for thinking otherwise about critical AI and post-AI pedagogies of higher education as part of the Erasmus+ Hacking Innovative Pedagogies: Digital Learning Rewilded project, was held in DCU today, February 21.

This symposium, ‘Education after the algorithm: Co-designing critical and creative futures’ , brought educators, learners, and interested others together to see how we might co-design futures beyond the calculative and output-obsessed forms which GenAI could funnel us into if we are not careful.

It emphasised the need to craft critical, creative and ethical responses in the community to help address the multitude of issues now posed to educational assessment, future jobs, the environment and biases, as well as increases in cyber-crime and deepfakes.

Keynote speakers included Dr Helen Beetham (researcher, writer, lecturer and consultant in digital education), Prof Punya Mishra (Director of Innovative Learning Futures at the Learning Engineering Institute) and Prof Martin Weller (Emeritus Professor of Education Technology at the Open University).

Dr Eamon Costello, Associate Professor of Digital Learning at Dublin City University and Symposium Chair, said;

"Our hope for this symposium is that we widen the conversation around AI in education and move beyond overly simplistic doomster or doomster narratives. We are calling for post-AI futures that carefully consider teaching and research beyond hype cycles and magical thinking. The hard work of such post-AI futures will be carried out and co-designed in communities, which is why we are so excited to have had such an interesting group of national and international speakers and participants".

More details about the symposium can be found here.