#275 – Preparing Young People for their Future with AI (AI in Ed Miniseries)

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What’s in this episode?

Delighted to launch this new 5-episode miniseries on AI in education, sponsored by Nord Anglia Education, host Professor Rose Luckin kicks things off for the Edtech Podcast by examining how we keep education as the centre of gravity for AI. 

AI has exploded in the public consciousness with innovative large language models writing our correspondence and helping with our essays, and sophisticated images, music, impersonations and video generated on-demand from prompts.  Whilst big companies proclaim what this technology can achieve and how it will affect work, life, play and learning, the consumer and user on the ground and in our schools likely has little idea how it works or why, and it seems like a lot of loud voices are telling us only half the story.  What’s the truth behind AI’s power?  How do we know it works, and what are we using to measure its successes or failures?  What are our young people getting out of the interaction with this sophisticated, scaled technology, and who can we trust to inject some integrity into the discourse?  We’re thrilled to have three guests in the Zoom studio with Rose this week:

• Dr Paul LeBlanc, President, Southern New Hampshire University
• Dr Kate Erricker, Assistant Director of Curriculum, Nord Anglia Education
• Julie Henry, Freelance Education Correspondent

Talking points and questions include: 

• We often ask of technology in the classroom ‘does it work’?  But when it comes to AI, preparing people to work, live, and play with it will be more than just whether or not it does what the developers want it to.  We need to start educating those same people HOW it works, because that will not only protect us as consumers out in the world, as owners of our own data, but help build a more responsible and ‘intelligent’ society that is learning all of the time, and better able to support those who need it most.  So if we want that ‘intelligence infrastructure’, how do we build it?
• What examples of AI in education have we got so far, what areas have been penetrated and has anything radically changed for the better?  Can assessment, grading, wellbeing, personalisation, tutoring, be improved with AI enhancements, and is there the structural will for this to happen in schools?
• The ‘white noise’ surrounding AI discourse: we know the conversation is being dominated by larger-than-life personalities and championed by global companies who have their own technologies and interests that they’re trying to glamourise and market. What pushbacks, what reputable sources of information, layman’s explanations, experts and opinions should we be listening to to get the real skinny on AI, especially for education?

Guests

• Paul LeBlanc, President, Southern New Hampshire University

Dr. Paul J. LeBlanc is President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Since 2003, under Paul’s leadership, SNHU has grown from 2,800 students to over 160,000 learners and is the largest nonprofit provider of online higher education in the country.  The university was #12 on Fast Company magazine’s “World’s Fifty Most Innovative Companies” list and was the only university included. Forbes Magazine has listed him as one of its 15 “Classroom Revolutionaries” and one of the “most influential people in higher education.” Washington Monthly named him one of America’s ten most innovative university presidents. In 2018, Paul won the prestigious TIAA Institute Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence in Higher Education, joining some of the most respected university and college presidents in American higher education.

• Kate Erricker, Assistant Director of Curriculum, Nord Anglia Education

  

Dr Kate Erricker is the Assistant Director, Curriculum for Nord Anglia Education and is based in NAISHK in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Nord Anglia, Kate was a school improvement advisor for Hampshire Local Authority. In this role, she worked closely with teachers and leadership teams to improve outcomes in primary and secondary schools across the county. Kate originally trained as an English teacher in the U.K. and has 18 years’ experience in education. She has a Masters and PhD in Education, specialising in teacher professional development.

• Julie Henry, Freelance Education Correspondent

Julie is the education news and feature writer for a series of national newspapers. She was the Evening Standard’s Step Up Editor, and took regular commissions for The Week Independent Schools Guide, the Local Government Association and others.  Julie is a consultant at Media FHE, a media and communications agency for the higher education sector.

Host

Rose Luckin – Professor of Learner Centred Design, UCL, Founder, EDUCATE Ventures Research 

 

Rosemary (Rose) Luckin is a Professor at University College London and Founder of EDUCATE Ventures Research (EVR) who has spent over 30 years developing and studying AI for Education. She is renowned for her research into the design and evaluation of educational technology and AI. She was named as one of the 20 most influential people in education in the Seldon List in 2017, the only non-US winner of the ISTE Impact Award, and one of Computer Weekly’s top 50 most influential women in technology for 2023. Rose regularly provides expert evidence to policymakers like the UK Parliament’s House of Lords and House of Commons select committees and the European Commission. Rose has published widely in academic journals, at international conferences, through books, and in news media (TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines). Her 2018 book, Machine Learning and Human Intelligence: The Future of Education for the 21st Century, has been translated into Mandarin and influenced many of China’s leading AI companies. Her most recent book, AI for School Teachers (2022), is an essential and accessible guide to AI for anyone in education.

Thanks and support

Thank you to the fans and educational community around the Edtech Podcast for their ongoing support and encouragement of our work.  Let us know how we’re doing below!

Sponsorship

Thank you so much to this series’ sponsor: Nord Anglia Education, the world’s leading premium international schools organisation.  They make every moment of your child’s education count.  Their strong academic foundations combine world-class teaching and curricula with cutting-edge technology and facilities, to create learning experiences like no other.  Inside and outside of the classroom, Nord Anglia Education inspires their students to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

“Along with great academic results, a Nord Anglia education means having the confidence, resilience and creativity to succeed at whatever you choose to do or be in life.” – Dr Elise Ecoff, Chief Education Officer, Nord Anglia Education

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