#276 – AI, Metacognition, and Neuroscience (AI in Ed Miniseries)
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What’s in this episode?
Continuing our new 5-episode miniseries on AI in education with the second episode on AI’s relationship to neuroscience and metacognition, host Professor Rose Luckin is joined by Dr Steve Fleming, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, UK, and Jessica Schultz, Academic & Curriculum Director at the San Roberto International School in Monterrey, Mexico. This episode and our series are generously sponsored by Nord Anglia Education.
Metacognition, neuroscience and AI aren’t just buzzwords but areas of intense research and innovation that will help learners in ways that until now have been unavailable to the vast majority of people. The technologies and approaches that study in these domains unlocks, however, must not be siloed or made inaccessible to public understanding. Real work must be done to bring these areas together and we are tremendously excited that this podcast will present a great opportunity to showcase what inroads have been made, where, why, and how.
Guests:
- Dr Steve Fleming, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL
- Jessica Schultz, Academic & Curriculum Director, San Roberto International School
Talking points and questions include:
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Neuroscience and AI are well-respected fields with a massive amount of research underpinning their investigation and practices, but they are also two very shiny buzzwords that the public likely only understands in the abstract (and the words may even be misapplied to things that aren’t based in neuroscience or AI). Can you tell our listeners what they are, how they intersect with one another, and what benefits their crossover can provide in the realms of skills and knowledge?
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Can we use one field, AI, or Neuroscience, to talk about the other, to better ‘sell’ the idea of the other field of study, and in this way, drastically raise the bar of what is possible to detect, uncover and assess, in education, using these domains?
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In practical terms, how do we use AI and neuroscience to measure what might be considered ‘unmeasurable’ in learning? What data is required, what expertise in the team, or in a partner organisation, can be leveraged, who can be responsible for doing this in an educational or training institution? What data or competencies or human resource do they need access to?
Guests
- Dr Steve Fleming, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL
Steve is a Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology and Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging where he leads the Metacognition Group. The group’s research focuses on the mechanisms supporting conscious awareness and metacognition in the adult human brain. Steve received a first class BA in Psychology and Physiology at Oxford University (2003-2006) before completing a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL under the supervision of Ray Dolan and Chris Frith, investigating conscious awareness in perceptual decision-making (2006-2011). He was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship to study with Nathaniel Daw at New York University and Matthew Rushworth at Oxford (2011-2015), building computational models of self-monitoring. In 2006 he received the British Psychological Society Undergraduate Award and the Gibbs Prize in Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Since then his research has been recognized with the William James Prize from the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (2012), the Wiley Prize in Psychology from the British Academy (2016), a Philip Leverhulme Prize in Psychology (2017) and the BPS Spearman Medal (2019). Steve was Executive Director of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness from 2015-2020, and is currently Editor at Mind & Language and Neuroscience of Consciousness. He is actively involved in public engagement and have written general-interest articles for outlets including Aeon, New Scientist and Scientific American.
- Jessica Schultz, Academic & Curriculum Director, San Roberto International School
Jessica Schultz served as Middle School Principal for 9 years at San Roberto International School before accepting the Academic & Curriculum Director position in Fall of 2018. Prior to her experience at ISR, she taught IB English Language Arts for 9 years and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Psychology from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, a Masters Certificate from TEC de Monterrey, Mexico in Educational Counselling and a Masters Degree in International Teaching from Framingham University in Boston, Mass. Additionally she received her international principalship certificate from the Principal Training Center in Miami, Florida. She is a native English speaker originally from Canada and is also fluent in Spanish. Jessica is passionate about student learning and supporting students, teachers and leaders in their professional development, to help all young and adult learners reach their goals and highest potential.
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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