EduTECH 2023

Here are a few of the scattered thoughts from the yearly pilgrimage to the big tech event in Australia. EduTECH is not the place for introverts who don't like crowds. Big, bold, loud, fast ...and full-on fun if you are a Edtech nerd! As expected, the dominant theme was AI. I left with a sense of continued positivity about a balance of exciting possibilities with measured ethical considerations.



Richard Calutta shared a nice resource from ISTE https://iste.org/ai with guides and courses on AI. He shared the thought that the digital divide is now about passive v active use of technology. The skills we need for AI involve:

  • Knowing what it is
  • How can AI support brainstroming
  • How we can work on hybrid teams where some members are not human
  • Teaching the skills and capabilities that are uniquely human. What are these skills/dispositions/attributes and design for these. A Sandra Milligan thought - what we need is first class humans, not second class robots
  • Teach what should be considered your own work
    • A painter uses a paintbrush - does that mean the art is not his own?
    • Modern musicians take the work of Bach and Beethoven as their inspiration - does this mean their songs are not their own work? 
    • Where does plaigarism start and stop? This article from Leon Furze adresses this idea The AI Assessment Scale: From no AI to full AI

Other important ideas were covered by Travis Smith and Lee Hickin - they shared the idea that in order to promote data security and accessibility by AI tools we need to have our data in the Cloud. Further, we can create 'snapshots' of LLMs so that users can securely interact with AI without data leaking into the public model. This is an important idea, one introduced with Microsoft's Bing Chat Enterprise (for teachers only at this stage but really needed for students).


Like a synthesiser in the hands of Beethoven, AI can extend our capabilities


Louka Parry shared some additional insights on the VUCA acronym and added H for hyper-connected. VUCAH.

Vision in volatility

Understanding in uncertainty

Clarity in complexity

Agility in ambiguity

Humaneness in hyper-connectedness

A new education story A New Education Story (big-change.org) - Purpose, Power and Practice

David Kellerman's approach to refreshing University lectures with technology is inspiring. Always thinking about the next iteration of what could be, his talk focused on his latest project taking a space and making it ideal for all stakeholders - a smaller, 40 person, high tech lecture space with advanced tools that optimise the experience for people there live, plus online and asynchronous learners.

Creativity is for any subject, not just the domain of the Arts argued Dr Tim Patston 

https://www.creativeactions.com.au


Undoubtedly the best visuals were by Nathan Richards who gave a visual feast explaining his approach to online learning. The underlying structures and pedagogies were succinct and well thought out.



My favourite session was undoubtedly Gray Stager's demolition of all things innovation. Hard to argue against you say? I hope we get the video! He said that innovation is not a job or a verb and we should not confer upon ourselves the innovation title - this is something that we will be judged by in the course of time. 

Innovation for its own sake sows chaos. It confuses educators who view every new idea as an additional burden. 

In a space where vehement agreement is the norm, it is great to have a contrary view. His "Invent to Learn" book is brilliant and his passion for the power of computers to afford greater student agency is contagious.