George Veletsianos, PhD

2033 – Future education scenario 3 of 3

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On August 28, 2024

In future education, futures, my research, speculative fiction, speculative futures

In a recent paper* we describe three education scenarios and ask youth to respond to them. Positioned in 2033, these futures represent three distinct possibilities for what education could look like in a decade. I’m curious what others think about them, and I’ll post one per day here, as my “back to school return to reviving this blog.” What are your reactions, thoughts, and feelings to this one? I’d love to know!

Future 3: The year is 2033. Public universities and colleges around the world struggle to stay open due to sharp declines in enrolments and continuing social and economic instability. Many schools close, and those that remain become increasingly unaffordable. Students that pursue higher education usually come from wealthy families. However, a variety of companies emerge to fill gaps. These companies offer short courses that help people develop work skills, such as how to use different kinds of software and how to analyze data. Some of the teachers in these companies are individuals who found success in their industries and are well-known chefs, international authors, famous engineers, and business executives of all kinds, for example. They have huge social media followings and are celebrity instructors. These companies do not provide any kind of financial aid, and access to their courses usually comes with strings attached, such as contracts to do temp work for the company.

This scenario describes a situation in which traditional universities are rare and inaccessible for most and the “social media university” emerges to fill the gap. It anticipates a future in which technology companies, particularly social media companies, further commodify education according to neoliberal logics. This style of university is a platform-based form of digital higher education in which celebrity experts and influencers occupy the role of educator as a function of their social media followings and professional prestige. Without financial support, learners/users exchange labor for skills development, while wealthy students continue to attend more conventional institutions to pursue their interests. The notion of a social media university reflects the interest of education technology startups which feature online education experiences offered by celebrities and influencers, as we examined in this paper.

* published in the the inaugural issue of the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital education (see a review by Tony Bates).

 

2033 – Future education scenario 2 of 3

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On August 27, 2024

In future education, futures, my research, speculative fiction, speculative futures

In a recent paper* we describe three education scenarios and ask youth to respond to them. Positioned in 2033, these futures represent three distinct possibilities for what education could look like in a decade. I’m curious what others think about them, and I’ll post one per day here, as my “back to school return to reviving this blog.” What are your reactions, thoughts, and feelings to this one? I’d love to know!

Future 2: The year is 2033. After a period of instability brought about by the disastrous effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and global conflict, higher education has become totally focused on addressing these crises. Earlier efforts have been vastly scaled up to focus education resources on supporting climate justice for the most vulnerable people and places in the world. Universities have become hubs of local knowledge and places for community cultural and scientific development. In these spaces students develop climate and peoplefriendly trades and skills. They also develop their critical and creative thinking focused on decolonization and anti-racism. Learning happens through projects and through solving local problems, and learners of all ages join programs based on interest, curiosity, and community need.

The second future – the university for local community and local knowledge – pivots towards more regenerative forms of education, with a focus on systems-level solutions to imagined disasters of the next decade. With respect to anticipatory regimes, this future departs from the strict techno-utilitarian approach to embrace more relational modes of teaching and learning. Universities in this scenario have a mission grounded in justice and supporting knowledge for communities, with an emphasis on inter-generational learning relevant to specific places. This scenario is more utopian in its vision, even as it contends with a proposed future history of increasing climate and ecological catastrophe.

* published in the the inaugural issue of the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital education (see a review by Tony Bates).

 

2033 – Future education scenario 1 of 3

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On August 26, 2024

In future education, futures, my research, speculative fiction, speculative futures

In a recent paper* we describe three education scenarios and ask youth to respond to them. Positioned in 2033, these futures represent three distinct possibilities for what education could look like in a decade. I’m curious what others think about them, and I’ll post one per day here, as my “back to school return to reviving this blog.” What are your reactions, thoughts, and feelings to this one? I’d love to know!

Future 1: The year is 2033. In the decade following the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education has increasingly become driven by collecting and analyzing vast amounts of student data, such as tracking student time online, physiological data, employment rates, etc. Learners attending public colleges and universities primarily pursue technical skills associated with a few streams of programs, including computer programming (such as the development of Artificial Intelligence and green technology), health, economics, finance, and business. The arts, social sciences, and humanities are no longer publicly funded. Learners can pursue such programs in expensive private universities, but only a few can afford them.

This is a future in which technical and business education dominates. This is the scenario in which higher education is almost totally oriented towards economic demands and expectations. We modeled this scenario after work in the literature which emphasizes futures in which the arts and humanities decline due to their lack of economic practicality. In such examples, the survival and growth of higher education heavily features future labor as a key indicator of institutional success, including meeting demands for skilled technologists and finance workers. Additionally, surveillance technologies are further integrated into institutional apparatuses, with data being a key management tool of student learning and outcomes. Already a concern in education at all levels, a number of education scholars have speculated about the risks of increasing use of these types of education technologies, many suggesting negative outcomes resulting from it.

* published in the the inaugural issue of the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital education (see a review by Tony Bates).

 

Call for submissions: the intersection of AI + open education

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On July 29, 2024

In generative artificial intelligence, oer, open

MIT Open Learning is announcing a 2024 call for proposals from practitioners in open education and AI from around the world. We invite individual authors or groups of authors from and across higher education institutions, nonprofits, philanthropy, and industry working in AI to submit proposals for rapid response papers or multimedia projects that explore the future of open education in an ecosystem inhabited and shaped by AI systems. More details at https://aiopeneducation.pubpub.org/2024call

Be my colleague? Open position: Director of Online Programs in Learning Technologies

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On July 24, 2024

In sharing

We (the Learning Technologies degree program at the University of Minnesota – Twin cities) are growing, and are currently seeking a full-time (12-months) Director of Online Programs in Learning Technologies to join us! Flexible work arrangements may include flexibility in schedule and/or work location; 100% remote candidates will be considered.  View the position description and details for guidance on how to apply

Join us?

Special issue now available: Higher Education Futures at the intersection of justice, hope, and educational technology

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On July 2, 2024

In sharing

A few months back, colleagues and I began editing a special issue focused on Higher Education Futures at the intersection of justice, hope, and educational technology (original call for proposals) for the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. The issue is now published and the seven papers included in this issue are available open access on the journal website. I am also linking to them below.

 

  1. Higher education futures at the intersection of justice, hope, and educational technology

    Our societies face enormous and intertwined economic, demographic, political, ecological, and social challenges. In this environment of uncertainty…we invited prospective authors to reimagine the futures of higher education, and to contribute scholarship that speculates what higher education at the intersection of justice, hope, and educational technology could look like.

    Authors:George Veletsianos, Shandell Houlden, Jen Ross, Sakinah Alhadad and Camille Dickson-Deane

    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:43
    Content type:Editorial; Published on: 2 July 2024

  2. Speculative futures for higher education

    This paper uses speculative methods as a way of imagining futures for higher education in open, non-predictive ways. The complexity and ‘unknowability’ of the highly technologised, environmentally damaged and …

    Authors:Sian Bayne and Jen Ross
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:39
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 17 June 2024

  3. Hopeful futures for refugees in higher education: cultivation, activation, and technology

    This paper discusses hopeful futures for higher education and the use of technology in realising those futures through the lens of refugee education in Uganda. Through an analysis of qualitative research done …

    Authors:Michael Gallagher, Sandra Nanyunja, Martha Akello, Apollo Mulondo and Juan-Jose Miranda
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:38
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 10 June 2024

  4. EdTechnica: a vision of an educational publishing community of practice that is accessible, flexible, and just

    Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) have the potential to transform and positively impact individuals, institutions, and society. As educators, we have a unique responsibility…

    Authors:Bohdana Allman, Royce Kimmons, Camille Dickson-Deane, Aras Bozkurt, Melissa Warr, Jill Stefaniak, Monalisa Dash and Fanny Eliza Bondah
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:37
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 20 May 2024

  5. Methods for dreaming about and reimagining digital education

    Utilising emancipatory approaches to educational technology in higher education allows welcoming creative and artistic modes of inquiry. This article presents two methods, a virtual makerspace and a guided fantasy story that were…

    Authors:Kathrin Otrel-Cass, Eamon Costello, Niels Erik Ruan Lyngdorf and Iris Mendel
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:31
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 8 May 2024

  6. (No) Hope for the future? A design agenda for rewidening and rewilding higher education with utopian imagination

    This article argues for exploring, connecting, and applying utopian imagination, speculative design, and planetary thinking as a way forward for higher education to reimagine and move towards more hopeful plan…

    Authors:Rikke Toft Nørgård and Kim Holflod
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:30
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 26 April 2024

  7. Who speaks for the university? Social fiction as a lens for reimagining higher education futures

    This paper combines social fiction and academic analysis to envision hopeful futures for higher education. At the heart of the exploration is Phoebe Wagner’s speculative fiction piece, University, Speaking, which…

    Authors:Punya Mishra, Nicole Oster and Phoebe Wagner
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:24
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 8 April 2024

  8. Generative AI and re-weaving a pedagogical horizon of social possibility

    This article situates the potential for intellectual work to be renewed through an enriched engagement with the relationship between indigenous protocols and artificial intelligence (AI). It situates this through a dialectical storytelling of the contradictions that emerge from the relationships between humans and capitalist technologies, played out within higher education…

    Authors:Richard Hall
    Citation:International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 2024 21:12
    Content type:Research article; Published on: 12 February 2024

AI in the (greek-speaking) classroom

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On June 6, 2024

In sharing

In May, I contributed to a professional development workshop for Greek teachers organized by Greece’s Institute of Educational Policy, focused on AI in the classroom. Alfavita produced a summary, and I am sharing some segments from it below.

Η εκπαιδευτική Νοημοσύνη στην Τάξη – 750 συμμετοχές στο πρώτο Διαδικτυακό Στρογγυλό Τραπέζι

Μεγάλος αριθμός συμμετεχόντων/χουσών από την εκπαιδευτική και όχι μόνο κοινότητα συνδέθηκαν διαδικτυακά για να συμμετάσχουν στην ημερίδα με τίτλο: «Η Εκπαιδευτική Νοημοσύνη στην Τάξη. Η Τάξη της Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης. Πρώτο Διαδικτυακό Στρογγυλό Τραπέζι» που πραγματοποιήθηκε την Παρασκευή 17 Μαΐου 2024.

Περίπου 750 άτομα ήταν εγγεγραμμένα και συνδεδεμένα στην πλατφόρμα την ημέρα της εκδήλωσης, ενώ πάνω από 1.400 προβολές της ημερίδας έχουν καταγραφεί ήδη στο κανάλι του ΙΕΠ στο YouTube. Η εκδήλωση είναι διαθέσιμη προς προβολή στο https://www.youtube.com/live/Xr0lUww1Z6Y?feature=shared

A screenshot of a Microsoft teams meeting showing eight participants, including Γιώργος Βελετσιάνος, Καθηγητής στο University of Minnesota, Ελένη Μαγγίνα, Καθηγήτρια στο University College Dublin, Μανώλης Μαυρίκης, Καθηγητής στο University College London, Χρυστάλλα Μουζά, Καθηγήτρια στο University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Βάλια Καϊμάκη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια στο Ιόνιο Πανεπιστήμιο και Δημοσιογράφος, Κίμων Δρακόπουλος.

AI in the classroom

Η Ημερίδα αποτέλεσε την πρώτη εκδήλωση μιας σειράς δράσεων διαλόγου για την Τεχνητή Νοημοσύνη στην Εκπαίδευση, που υλοποιείται σε συνεργασία με το Ίδρυμα Ωνάση και συμμετείχαν τέσσερις Έλληνες και Κύπριοι Ακαδημαϊκοί που ζουν και εργάζονται στο εξωτερικό και βρίσκονται στην αιχμή της επιστημονικής έρευνας για την εφαρμογή της Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης στην Εκπαίδευση:

Γιώργος Βελετσιάνος, Καθηγητής στο University of Minnesota (https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-veletsianos-5771a42b/)

Ελένη Μαγγίνα, Καθηγήτρια στο University College Dublin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-eleni-mangina-0251a8/)

Μανώλης Μαυρίκης, Καθηγητές στο University College London (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manolis-mavrikis-14b0574/)

Χρυστάλλα Μουζά, Καθηγήτρια στο University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrystalla-mouza-14a36334/)

Το διαδικτυακό Στρογγυλό Τραπέζι συντόνισε η Βάλια Καϊμάκη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια στο Ιόνιο Πανεπιστήμιο και Δημοσιογράφος (https://www.linkedin.com/in/valiakaimaki/)

Παρέμβαση εκ μέρους της Συμβουλευτικής Επιτροπής Υψηλού Επιπέδου για την Τεχνητή Νοημοσύνη, η οποία λειτουργεί υπό τον Πρωθυπουργό, πραγματοποίησε το μέλος της κύριος Κίμων Δρακόπουλος (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimon-drakopoulos-a5663341), Καθηγητής στην Επιστήμη των Δεδομένων και Λειτουργιών στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Ν. Καλιφόρνια, ο οποίος αναφέρθηκε στις τελευταίες εξελίξεις στο χώρο της Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης και στην αξία των ανθρωπιστικών επιστημών για τη συνδιαμόρφωση των εξελίξεων αυτών. Ο κ. Δρακόπουλος τόνισε την αξία ανάπτυξης δεξιοτήτων κριτικής σκέψης για τους εκπαιδευόμενους, ενώ επεσήμανε τις προκλήσεις της ΤΝ για την ιδιωτικότητα, την ασφάλεια των δεδομένων, την μεροληψία των αλγορίθμων, το ψηφιακό χάσμα που μπορεί να δημιουργηθεί σε περιοχές με γεωγραφικές ιδιαιτερότητες όπως είναι η Ελλάδα, την ανάγκη διαρκούς ενημέρωσης και επιμόρφωσης της εκπαιδευτικής κοινότητας σε θέματα ΤΝ, αλλά και θέματα που έχουν να κάνουν με την ψυχική υγεία των εκπαιδευόμενων, όπως εξαρτήσεις από την ψηφιακή τεχνολογία και την κοινωνική απομόνωση.

Αντικείμενο της εκδήλωσης ήταν οι τρέχουσες εξελίξεις και οι μελλοντικές προοπτικές της ΤΝ στον εκπαιδευτικό τομέα, κυρίως στο διεθνή χώρο. Οι τοποθετήσεις κάλυψαν ένα ευρύ φάσμα θεμάτων, από καινοτόμες εκπαιδευτικές μεθόδους έως τα επιτακτικά ηθικά διλήμματα που προκύπτουν από τη χρήση της ΤΝ στην εκπαίδευση και όχι μόνο. Τονίστηκαν οι μετασχηματιστικές δυνατότητες της εκπαιδευτικής τεχνολογίας ΤΝ, η οποία φέρνει επανάσταση στον τρόπο με τον οποίο οι μαθητές μαθαίνουν και οι εκπαιδευτικοί διδάσκουν. Οι πλατφόρμες προσαρμοστικής μάθησης και τα ευφυή συστήματα διδασκαλίας εξατομικεύουν την εκπαίδευση όσο ποτέ άλλοτε. Αυτές οι τεχνολογίες αξιολογούν τις εξατομικευμένες ανάγκες των μαθητών σε πραγματικό χρόνο, προσαρμόζοντας το περιεχόμενο για τη βελτιστοποίηση των μαθησιακών αποτελεσμάτων. Έγινε αναφορά σε πληθώρα περιπτώσεων, δυνατοτήτων και ψηφιακών συστημάτων (tutoring systems, διερευνητικά περιβάλλοντα μάθησης, chatbots, χρήση εικονικής και επαυξημένης πραγματικότητας, avatars κ.α) που μπορούν να βρουν εφαρμογή στην τάξη καθιστώντας τη μάθηση πιο προσιτή και ευχάριστη.

Εκτενής αναφορά όμως έγινε και σε ηθικά ζητήματα. Τονίστηκε η σημασία της προστασίας των δεδομένων, της διαφάνειας, της αλγοριθμικής δικαιοσύνης και της ηθικής χρήσης της ΤΝ σε εκπαιδευτικά περιβάλλοντα. Επισημάνθηκε η ανάγκη διασφάλισης της υπεύθυνης χρήσης της νέας τεχνολογίας, με ανθρωποκεντρική προσέγγιση, με τρόπους που βελτιώνουν την εκπαίδευση χωρίς να διακυβεύεται η ιδιωτικότητα, η συμπεριληπτικότητα και η ισότητα ευκαιριών.

Συζητήθηκαν επίσης, επιφυλάξεις των εκπαιδευτικών για τον μελλοντικό τους ρόλο. Η ΤΝ θα πρέπει να ενισχύσει και όχι να αντικαταστήσει τους εκπαιδευτικούς. Οι εκπαιδευτικοί είναι αναντικατάστατοι ως προς την ικανότητά τους να εμπνέουν και να καθοδηγούν. Η ΤΝ μπορεί να κάνει το μάθημα πιο ζωντανό, να αναλάβει καθήκοντα ρουτίνας, επιτρέποντας στους εκπαιδευτικούς να επικεντρωθούν περισσότερο στην προώθηση της κριτικής σκέψης και της δημιουργικότητας. Έγινε επίσης, αναφορά στη διαδικασία αξιολόγησης του μαθητή (ζητήματα αντιγραφής ή λογοκλοπής).

Η μεγάλη συμμετοχή των εκπαιδευτικών αναδεικνύει το έντονο ενδιαφέρον της εκπαιδευτικής κοινότητας, για τη διερεύνηση των διαδικασιών αξιοποίησης των σύγχρονων τεχνολογιών στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία και το ενδιαφέρον για την επαγγελματική εξέλιξη των εκπαιδευτικών μας.

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