2024 Technology-Enhanced Learning Symposium
Symposium Theme: Just Technology
Technology promises many benefits for both higher education and society. When we speak about technology, especially in an age of generative AI tools and their pervasive use, is it just technology or just technology (one that implicates and addresses issues of fairness and justice, that acknowledges its own implicit hypotheses)? For this year's TEL Symposium, we would like to explore new and emerging contexts for teaching and learning with technology at UT, considering how they open up new possibilities.
- What kinds of new tools or opportunities offer opportunities and challenges (e.g., Generative AI)?
- How do we define the spaces of learning from differing vantage points?
- How has technology both expanded and created new barriers for shared understanding?
- How should we see the exponentially increased use of data in understanding student learning and retention?
- What elements of the digital divide and the gaps in our perceptions about the student experience and student realities must we continue to address?
- What can remain digital/digitally-mediated and what must be restored the "non-digital" learning?
Attending TEL24: Zoom
Unless listed otherwise, ALL sessions will be available through Zoom. The link will open on Thursday, August 15, at 8:15am CST (USA).
Symposium Schedule
Note: The schedule may undergo slight changes in order and description of talks until the day of event.
Thursday, August 15
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00 - 9:15am | Welcome to TEL24 and Orientation |
| 9:15 - 9:50am | "Insights at the Nexus of Accessibility, Instructional Design, and Student Success" (Dr. Jeffrey Freels, Academic Affairs, University of Texas at Austin) |
| 10:00-10:50am | TEL24 Talk 1: "Care and connection in assessment and feedback: the challenges and affordances of Generative AI" (Dr. Naomi Winstone, Professor of Educational Psychology, Director of the Surrey Institute of Education, University of Surrey) Assessment and feedback are relational processes where trust, care, and connection are fundamental to their effectiveness. Yet in contemporary higher education, the outsourcing of assessment or feedback to digital tools is commonplace in a context where challenges regarding cost, efficiency, and workload abound. The rise of Generative AI tools has once again brought this issue to the fore, with excitement over the potential of AI to grade and provide feedback on work sitting uncomfortably alongside concerns about maintaining the integrity of assessment processes. In this talk, I will explore both the challenges and affordances of Generative AI for assessment and feedback practices. I will argue that principled use of AI in these crucial areas of academic work require us to hold true to the importance of relationality - care, trust and connection – when designing assessment and feedback processes. |
| 11:00-11:30am | "Learning Technology Adoption Process (LTAP) Evaluation: Grammarly Generative AI Pilot" (Evan Daniel, Office of Academic Technology, University of Texas at Austin) |
| 11:30am-12:00pm | "Using Copilot to Develop Student Strengths in the CliftonStrengths Model" (Karen M. Landolt, J.D., Assistant Professor of Instruction, Computer Science and Business, Government, & Society, University of Texas at Austin) |
| 12:00-12:30pm | "AI in South African Education: Emerging Observations and Future Directions" (Dr. Karen Walstra) The South African education sector is beginning to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning. This exploration spans both public and private schools, with a wide range of tools being utilised. Meanwhile, the South African AI Association, comprised primarily of startups, focuses on areas such as AI policy, regulation, education and the Township Economy. Numerous AI startups in South Africa are working to address local needs, including language translation and educational resources. This convergence of educators and AI innovators signals a burgeoning landscape for AI in South African education. |
| 12:30-1:00pm | "Overview of Generative Artificial Intelligence Research Tools" (Dr. Raj Sankaranarayanan, Academic Affairs, University of Texas at Austin) [Register for a Fall 2024 companion workshop, 11:00am Sept 27, as a deeper dive into these tools |
| 1:00-1:45pm | TEL24 Talk 2: “Sure, I can write this talk for you!”: Critical friendships, technology myths, and the design of just educational tech (Dr. Christoph Becker,Professor, Faculty of Information, and Director of the Digital Curation Institute, University of Toronto) The tech industry likes to tell a story of inevitably powerful AI in which generative AI is revolutionizing education (and everything else). Some universities have been quick to buy into the hype, but after billions of investments with unclear benefits it has turned stale at last. A good time then to step back and look at what is beneath the hype and beyond it. This talk draws on arguments in the book Insolvent: How to Reorient Computing for Just Sustainability (MIT Press 2023, AAP POSE Award Finalist in Engineering and Technology) to examine how the fields surrounding AI frame their work. By recognizing what that framing excludes, we can take more responsible decisions about educational technology. To help with that, I introduce a group of fields I call computing’s critical friends. They offer constructive criticism that allows us to come to a deeper understanding of the nature of computing and its role in just technology for education. |
| 1:45-2:15pm | "Enhancing Accesible Practices through Ally and the DAC" (Angela Turner, Instructional Technology Services, University of Texas at Austin) |
| 2:20-2:50pm | "Enhancing Reflective Practices Through Multimedia Artifacts and Performance-Based Learning" (Dr. Natalie Andreas, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Department of Communication Studies, Moody College of Communication) |
| 3:00-3:30pm | "Meet Simple Syllabus at UT-Austin" (Karyn Kondoff, Teaching, Learning, & Collaboration Services, Information Technology Services) |
| 3:45-4:45pm | TEL 24 Talk 3: "Generative AI in Higher Education: Student Adoption and Learning Practices" (Dr. Jason Lodge, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, School of Education, and Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, University of Queensland) Since ChatGPT's debut over 18 months ago, education sectors globally have grappled with its implications, from concerns about academic integrity to the possibilities for potential learning enhancements. As the initial hype subsides, higher education faces the challenge of effectively integrating generative AI into policy and practice. This keynote delves into generative AI in student learning, focusing on how students independently leverage these tools in their study strategies. Drawing from emerging international research and our own in-depth interviews with 50 students across various disciplines, key findings on generative AI's impact on student learning practices will be explored. These findings suggest that students' familiarity with and confidence in their own learning processes considerably influence their engagement with these emerging technologies. This session aims to provide educators and educational leaders with valuable insights to inform AI integration in higher education. |
TEL 2024 Information
Please use the registration link below to attend and receive the Zoom link.
TEL24 Featured Talks
Dr. Christoph Becker, University of Toronto Dr. Becker is Professor at the Faculty of Information of the University of Toronto. As Director of the Digital Curation Institute, he brings together graduate students, appointed fellows, faculty colleagues and partners to conduct research at the intersection of digital curation and systems design (http://dci.ischool.utoronto.ca), supported by state-of-the-art computing infrastructure and collaboration space funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and the Canada Foundation of Innovation. His recent book publication, Insolvent: How to Reorient Computing for Just Sustainability, is available in open access format and will furnish topics of his presentation. In his funded research and as co-founder of www.sustainabilitydesign.org, he advocates a new interdisciplinary approach to software systems research that emphasizes long-term perspectives on socio-technical systems design and develops methods for designing sustainable software and information systems. |
Dr. Naomi Winstone, University of Surrey Dr. Winstone is a Professor of Educational Psychology and leads the Surrey Institute of Education, a centre for excellence in learning and teaching, at the University of Surrey. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was awarded National Teaching Fellowship in 2016. She is also an Honorary Professor in the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University, Australia, and has been a Faculty Scholar at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI) at the University of Queensland, Australia. |
Dr. Jason Lodge, University of Queensland Dr. Lodge is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, School of Education and Academic Lead – Student Learning, Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation at the University of Queensland. Jason’s research focuses on the cognitive, metacognitive, social and emotional mechanisms of concept learning and conceptual change. He has an international profile for his research on the translation of the science of learning into practice in educational settings, particularly in digital learning environments and higher education. Jason leads the Learning, Instruction and Technology Lab, is the lead editor of Australasian Journal of Educational Technology and an editor of Student Success. He has received over $2.5 million in competitive funding and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications. |