Laura Knight is Director of Digital Learning at Berkhamsted School, U.K. She has been working as a teacher for twenty years and is responsible for leading the strategic development of technology for teaching and learning, staff training in digital skills, and online safeguarding. Laura is a disruptive thinker, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and is passionate about creative problem-solving. She supports leaders with exploring the art of the possible, and leverages technology to improve outcomes, equity, systems, and teams. Laura works with the Independent Schools Council Digital Advisory Group, and is a member of a national cross-sector working group on AI in education, with a keen interest in digital wellbeing, safeguarding and regulation. She has also recently worked as an expert advisor to international governments on educational policy.
The Leader's Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education: Are you ready for the AI Revolution?
In her keynote, Laura will discuss:
• Developing a plan for implementing AI in your schools and universities
• Managing risks and leveraging benefits: identifying the wins
• Investing in educator training to use AI effectively in your institutions
• Agility in fast changing times: monitoring the impact of AI on learning
Thomas Funke is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Tomorrow University of Applied Sciences. In his professional career, he has always been passionate about education and entrepreneurship, with more than 15 years of professional experience in the education sector. As a lecturer, his key areas were entrepreneurship and innovation at the Goethe University Frankfurt as well as the WU Executive Academy of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien). In 2016, Funke founded the Frankfurt-based TechQuartier — a startup hub, coworking space, and community place. Since then he has accompanied aspiring startups on their path to success. He is part of the digital advisory board of the Eintracht Frankfurt soccer club as well as the advisory board of iamstudent.eu. He studied International Business and completed his Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Challenge-based learning: a pedagogy for the 21st century
Our planet faces many rapid changes: the growth of digital economies, adapting to climate change and demographic shifts, to name a few. To successfully address these, today’s education needs to change as well: instead of simply “acquiring” knowledge, it is more important than ever that learners acquire the skills and practical insights needed to make a difference in the real world.
In this Keynote, Dr. Thomas Funke will challenge the audience to rethink how to approach learning in a rapidly changing learning environment. The inability of modern education to create truly engaging learning experiences was one of the motivating factors that led Dr. Funke to co-found Tomorrow University in 2021. At the core of it all: challenge-based learning (CBL).
With the aim of giving learners an individualised and creative approach to learning, CBL invites them to apply their knowledge to real-world problems, moving higher education out of the realm of theory and into practical applications of knowledge.
This revolutionary pedagogy is aided by the latest technology - at Tomorrow University, students can study and solve challenges at their own pace through the learning platform, while also connecting with others via the playful virtual campus to engage in social learning. After all, the greatest challenges are best overcome together.
In his keynote, Thomas will discuss:
• What is Challenge-Based Learning?
• How does it help Education fit the needs of today’s (and tomorrow’s) learners?
• How can governments and institutions create their own “challenges” to find answers for the most pressing global issues?
Kathleen Naglee is award-winning global leader in education for innovative and inclusive practices. She currently serves as the Head of the International School of Helsinki and a Commissioner for NEASC. You can find her as the co-host on the podcast Unhinged Collaboration and at kathleennaglee.com. Follow on Twitter @KNaglee
The limits of knowing: uncertain futures for education
A paradigm shift in education is upon us that will leave education unmoored from its purpose. The social contract of why we send children to school will become unclear when artificial intelligence will take on seemingly all communication and basic cognitive skills of workers. Understanding what it means to raise compassionate humans with critical and creative abilities will lead a new era. Kathleen Naglee will give a provocative talk about leaning into this uncertainty through the neuroscience of learning.
Kathleen will lead you to discover:
• What this paradigm shift means to the tech world and school leaders
• What needs to be left behind for good in schools
• Curating social experience, creativity, critical thinking and embodied learning
Steve Isaacs is the Education Program Manager at Epic Games. His mission in this role is to support educators and students in exploring career opportunities that leverage interactive 3d skills. Prior to his role at Epic, Steve was a public school teacher for 28 years, teaching game design and development as well as other courses related to creative uses of technology. Steve enjoys spending time with family and friends. His hobbies include video games, biking, snorkeling, hiking and live music.
From player to creator: how gaming is shaping the future of the internet
Steve is quick to realize that our students are already living in the prototype of the next iteration of the Internet. They are passionate about games and participating in immersive online experiences. Game Technology is driving the development of the Future of the Internet and transforming industries including TV/Film, Advertising, Fashion, Simulation, Broadcasting, Automotive and Aerospace. We have an opportunity and responsibility to nurture the next generation of creators. Let’s leverage student interest and expertise to nurture the next generation of creators!
In his keynote, participants will:
• Gain an understanding of how Interactive 3D and Game Technology is transforming a wide variety of industries beyond games.
• See how the Player to Creator pathway provides opportunities for students to develop industry skills based on their passion and expertise.
• Understand how sandbox games and game engines have changed the landscape of game based learning to support students as content creators.
Inge Molenaar is the director of the National Education Lab AI (NOLAI) and associated professor Educational Sciences at the Behavioural Science Institute at Radboud University in the Netherlands. She has over 20 years of experience in the field of technology enhanced learning taking multiple roles from entrepreneur to academic.
Her research in the Adaptive Learning Lab focusses on technology empowered innovation to optimize students’ learning. The application of data from online learning environments, apps and games in understanding how learning unfolds over time is central in her work. Artificial Intelligence offers a powerful way to make new steps towards measuring, understanding and designing innovative learning scenarios. Dr Molenaar envisions Hybrid Human-Systems that augment human intelligence with artificial intelligence to empower learners and teachers in their quest to make education more efficient, effective and responsive. In this collaboration between governments, schools, research and industry is essential to develop the next generation educational systems, which is the goal of NOLAI . Dr Molenaar has received an ERC Starting Grant to develop the first Hybrid Human-AI Regulation system to train young learners’ Self-regulated learning skills with the help of AI and she is also a Jacobs Foundation Fellow.
Dr Molenaar holds Master’s degrees in Cognitive Psychology and International Business studies and a PhD in Educational Sciences (University of Amsterdam).
Artificial intelligence in education: opportunities for Edtech
There are multiple scenarios in which artificial intelligence (AI) could improve teaching and learning. In this talk, the augmentation perspective and the concept of hybrid intelligence are introduced to frame our thinking about AI in education. The involvement of different stakeholders (i.e. researchers, education professionals, entrepreneurs, and policymakers) is necessary to understand the opportunities and challenges of AI in education. In order to facilitate a meaningful dialogue, a common language about AI in education is introduced. The six levels of automation model is introduced to develop our thinking about the roles of AI, learners, and teachers. In this model, the transition of control between teacher and technology is articulated at different levels. The detect-diagnose-act framework is used to describe the core functions of AI in education. Finally, the future of AI in education is discussed using different inspiring examples. The proposed common language will help to support an interdisciplinary dialogue between stakeholders to strengthen meaningful application of AI for learning and teaching. In this way the opportunities of Edtech to drive the development of AI are further explored.
In Dr Molenaar's session, she will discuss:
• Understanding the role of AI in education
• Balanced view of risk and challenges of AI in education
• Positioning your own solution in the Edtech landscape
Christian has a PhD in theoretical quantum physics with superconducting quantum devices from Aarhus University, Denmark in 2016. He was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, Switzerland from 2016 to 2021, where he led the experimental effort in quantum error correction with superconducting circuits. He was an assistant professor and group leader at QuTech, TU Delft from 2021. The lab is focused on developing the next generation of superconducting qubits. He is currently the lead of QuTech Academy, since summer 2023.
The quantum computers are coming
Computers as we know them have been around for some time now and led to fundamental changes to how our society works in particular with the advent of the internet. For the last few decades, physicist have been thinking about a new kind of computer that uses the intricacies of quantum mechanics to enable a new kind of computation. This idea has been picked up by science fiction literature and movies as well as by big corporations and startups. However, the reality in the lab is somewhat different than what you think from watching movies and reading press releases. In the presentation, I will discuss what we hope quantum computers may one day help us do, what quantum computers can do at the moment (spoiler: not much) and finally what we can do to prepare for their arrival. In particular, I will discuss what we do at the QuTech Academy to educate about quantum technologies.
In his keynote, Christian will discuss why:
• Quantum computers may one day help us solve very important problems.
• Currently, the technology is still in its infancy but the developments are exciting
• By training a quantum-aware work-force, we can make sure that usefulness is maximized and risks are mitigated.
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