ES
The fourth edition of the international education conference, the Global Education Forum (GEF), kicked off today at Camilo José Cela University (UCJC), where 185 speakers will gather at 36 panels to discuss the transformative role of artificial intelligence in education and the possibilities and challenges of AI in educational environments. Entitled EducAItion. Shaping the future, keeping us human, UCJC leads the debate on the arrival of artificial intelligence in the educational field today at its Castellana Campus and tomorrow, at its Villafranca Campus.
Throughout the day, researchers and professors from international universities such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT (United States), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), Ashesi (Ghana), or Western University (Canada), as well as from Spanish universities such as Universidad Complutense, Rey Juan Carlos, Politécnica, Carlos III, or Universidad Camilo José Cela, have participated. In addition, experts in artificial intelligence and education from institutions such as Microsoft, the National Supercomputing Centre, Design for Change, Telefónica, Vodafone, Ashoka, Wise – Qatar Foundation, CYD Foundation, Times Higher Education, Caixabank, Federation for European Education, Arrowsmith Foundation and Deloitte have also participated.
Nieves Segovia, president of SEK Education Group, inaugurated the GEF Madrid 2024 with an address in which she pointed out that “this is the moment we have been waiting for so many years, the moment in which a new technology has emerged that will change the way we teach and learn, that will change the role of the teacher and the student. This technological revolution in artificial intelligence will have a special impact in the classrooms.
Segovia also raised the question of “whether AI is our greatest hope or our greatest threat,” or whether “it is going to make us more human or if it can dehumanise us.” We are at a time in which “human beings have great opportunities before them that were impossible a long time ago and that are now within our reach,” she said.
The words of the president of SEK Education Group were followed by sessions discussing the advent of the new era of artificial intelligence, its coexistence with human beings and its applications in the field of education. These round table discussions featured Alejandro Díaz Garreta, director of the Global Education Forum; Carme Artigas, co-director of the United Nations AI Advisory Body; Marc Rotenberg, president of the Center for AI and Digital Policy; Charles Fadel, founder and CEO of the Center for Curriculum Redesign or George Siemens, principal scientist at Human Systems, among others.
“Being a teacher will be the most important profession of the future”
Carmen Artigas predicted that “the role of education will be fundamental in this new technological era because the profession of the future is that of a teacher. “They will be responsible for generating curiosity, creativity or generosity in students, in the new generations of human beings.” Furthermore, she described how artificial intelligence is going to have an unprecedented impact on the productivity of society, “and that is why the European Union has decided to regulate the risks it may pose. You cannot regulate a technology, because it can be used in many different ways, but you can regulate and prevent any misuse that may be given to it. Transparency is essential when it comes to artificial intelligence.”
Marc Rotenberg recounted the difficulties of drawing red lines in legislation on the use of AI: “In the United States, the president brought together the country’s greatest technology experts, and it was decided that it is necessary to protect fundamental rights and copyright. “American scientists perceived that we were building a kind of Frankenstein with artificial intelligence, we do not know if we will be able to control it, entailing existential risk for humanity and urgent action is necessary to guarantee our security and confidence in this technology.”
Meanwhile, Charles Fadel warned about the tendency of the human brain to be “as lazy as possible, as many times as possible.” This has an effect on students and their potential use of AI to take shortcuts and think less, rather than more, during their learning. It is a huge challenge for teachers because it is always easier to take the easy way out.”
George Siemens outlined research he recently carried out on the impact of artificial intelligence applications in schools and universities and has highlighted the main benefits: “Personalised learning, positive influence on student learning, reduction of administration processes or better knowledge of the depth of student learning.” However, he also pointed out some of the main challenges presented by the use of AI in education, such as “lack of ethical considerations, less curricular development or reduction of teachers’ technical knowledge of subjects.”
These first sessions raised many ideas about what the future of the university should be like and what the role of artificial intelligence will be; the need for new ways of teaching and learning, with AI as an ally in the education of students and in the evolution of teachers’ teaching methods; prevention of improper or unethical use of this new technology in classrooms; or the need to preserve the teacher’s role as mentor and instigator of the students’ search for knowledge and curiosity.
AI, physical speaker and organiser of the event.
Artificial intelligence played a central role in the proposal and definition of the topics and speakers participating in the Global Education Forum Madrid 2024. AI will take part in all sessions and round tables of the event as a speaker, with physical representation through a hologram. It looks like a woman and has been given the name “Emily.”
This AI is a trained co-pilot that has been fed for a month with hundreds of pieces of information, reviews and scientific articles, which allows us to obtain more sophisticated, qualified and useful conclusions from it to add to the knowledge obtained from the Global Education Forum. This co-pilot or “personalised” ecosystem of SEK Education Group is the first of its kind that has been created in the educational field worldwide. As a result, the Global Education Forum intends to make it available to any educational institution that wishes to use it to incorporate artificial intelligence as an assistant and more efficient use of the day-to-day life of its school or organisation.
Student and teacher use of AI
Several university students shared a panel with professors and experts, in which they expressed their concerns about the new era of education with artificial intelligence as a component of their courses. They also discussed the need for a student-centred university model, lifelong learning, “nomadic” centres and variable scenarios, new teaching and learning roles, sandbox areas and free and critical thinking.
University students demand that digitalization be the common umbrella for all actors, including teachers and students, that syllabi should be supported externally to specialise, that common spaces be created to solve problems, and that there be permanent contact with international institutions, to know what is happening and how other universities are evolving.
