MEET OUR KEYNOTES

Implementing learning analytics and learning design at scale

Educational institutions considering implementing learning analytics with the increased availability of learner and learning data must consider these questions: Where do you start? What should you do first? Is the data accurate? What about ethics and privacy? How can we effectively support our staff to use data? How do you know that this is a cost-effective and pedagogically sound approach? Does it actually work? Bart will share insights from 10 years of large-scale implementation at the Open University in the UK - what has worked, what has not, and evidence from over 100 studies on the use and effectiveness of learning analytics, and how we can effectively support the key stakeholders in learning analytics: educators and students.

Bart will help you:

• Understand where to start with learning analytics

•  Understand how to effectively support your staff to use data

•  Critically review whether learning analytics is something for your organization

Cultivating positive cultures and communities through gameplay

Play is a vital part of individual learning in the K-12 context. It is the learner’s chance to tinker with constructs and develop positive dispositions towards bodies of knowledge. Play can be even more powerful in a social and community building context. Through multiplayer play students have the opportunity to engage in a ‘lived curriculum’. Gameplay and game creation open up spaces for computational thinking, social emotional learnings, creative and critical thinking, and community building. Students are learning how to be in the world by engaging in a microcosm of that world where teamwork, leadership, mentoring, collaboration, and competition are readily actionable and highly valued.

During her keynote, Bron will

• Demonstrate how constructivist and constructionist pedagogies are supported through playing and creating games

• Explain the importance the social context of multiplayer play (whether physical, tabletop, or digital) and how that brings the greatest benefits

• Provide practical examples from indigenous play, student created games, educational programs, commercial game offerings and recent research

• Explore the ways in which gameplay is instrumental in the sense making and social growth of our students.

Applying the Science of Learning to Become a Strategic Learner

Our modern classrooms have implemented very few lessons gained from the considerable research done on how people best learn. One of the main reasons for this is that many of these findings are counterintuitive. Educators who understand the truth behind these myths can help their students learn better. Using his unique perspective as an educator and physician, Robert will provide insights on learning and provide examples of how you can help your students use this knowledge for optimal learning

In his session, Robert will help you to:

• Identify examples of the counter-intuitive nature of how people best learn, and why we often employ the wrong strategies to learning optimally

• Illustrate the many influences on how we learn and understand why a holistic approach to learning is needed

• Summarize the differences between knowing about strategies on learning versus knowing how to implement these strategies.

AI and Assessment: Navigating the Watershed Moment for Education

The rise in popularity and adoption of generative AI systems, like chat GPT, has challenged traditional beliefs about the capabilities of AI in producing coherent and seemingly intelligent texts that meet the quality required for assessments. This moment signals the need for a fundamental shift in the way we approach assessments in education. In this keynote, Rose will discuss the impact of AI on the education system and the need for changing assessment practices. The irony of the situation is that AI is both a catalyst for change and a potential solution to the challenges posed by its presence. The judicial application of AI within education can enable formative assessments that contribute to the teaching and learning process and provide evidence of each student's level of understanding and skill. She will also explore how AI gives us the tools to assess self-awareness, self-regulation, metacognition, and other essential skills required for future-proof careers. These skills need to be nurtured, and AI can help us achieve that by providing insights from data for teachers and learners which ensure that students are effective learners; that they are good at learning to learn.

In her session, Rose will highlight:

• Ways in which we can navigate this watershed moment for education 

• How to leverage the potential of AI to create better assessment processes that are more meaningful, accurate, and inclusive.