Brief introduction
Given the great potential of advanced technologies, the innovations are not yet favored due to common challenges worldwide. In this regard, IITE and Shanghai Open University (SOU) combined efforts to promote ICT capacity building and open education in the era of AI. The joint project also aims at fostering AI solutions and digital tools for teacher professional development. For this purpose, in December 2021 – February 2022, partners, with the support of global education leaders, conducted two series of webinars (a total of ten online lectures) on AI, digital education innovations, and digital literacy.
Webinars on the integration of AI and advanced digital innovations in education
UNESCO IITE contracted the expert in educational innovations to support and design the outline of 5 webinars on mainstreaming of AI and digital education innovations for teachers’ competency development. For this reason, the webinar series considered the possibilities and challenges that Artificial Intelligence and other advanced technologies held for educators and examined their potential to become education’s new normal. The webinars, which were held from 17 December 2021 to 27 January 2022, featured conversations with educational experts, futurists, data scientists, game designers, and sociologists. Hence, the topics included:
Webinar 1. Artificial Intelligence in education: today and tomorrow
Webinar 2. Data mining for educational outcomes
Webinar 3. The future of games and virtual/augmented/mixed reality in teaching and learning
Webinar 4. The socio-emotional realities for education in the age of AI
Webinar 5. Teaching and learning in the age of AI
Digital Literacy & AI Webinar Series
In order to share best practices on digital education with a diverse community of stakeholders, UNESCO IITE in partnership with the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) – a US-based leading professional organization of education innovators – prepared the five-part webinar series. The webinars, in particular, were beneficial for higher education and K-12 faculty, instructional and educational technologists, learning experience designers, education policymakers, and futurists. The online lectures were held from 14 December 2021 to 3 February 2022 and covered a wide range of topics, including:
Webinar 1. Data analytics and adaptive learning.
Webinar 2. AI and disruptive innovation in education.
Webinar 3. Simulation, immersion, and gamification.
Webinar 4. Ethical and moral issues regarding AI in education.
Webinar 5. Bringing it all together: strategies for incorporating AI and digital education innovations.
To sum up, experts discussed how AI and digital innovations reshaped and transformed teaching and learning. Furthermore, they considered how to bridge the global digital skills gap. In addition, panelists also explored what was at stake concerning the moral and ethical issues related to the use of AI in education.