Generative AI and Education:

from hand-wringing to full-steam ahead

Generative AI burst onto the educational scene in late 2022, sparking widespread concern among educators and prompting predictions in some quarters about the demise of formal education.

Since then, higher education institutions (HEIs) have primarily focused on the threat to academic integrity, while industry has explored a much broader spectrum of advanced applications. It is critical, however, that HEIs start to consider the implications of working alongside intelligent machines for their educational offerings. In this short talk, Mairéad will put AI developments into context for education, introduce the concept of ‘the new hybrid’ and ‘generativism’ as a design approach. By the end, you will have the high-level information you need to start thinking about your plans to create an AI-enabled curriculum.

Mairéad Pratschke has been working at the intersection of digital technology and education for 25 years, as a designer, researcher, consultant, author and speaker. Born in Galway and raised in Canada, Mairéad has worked internationally, in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Spain, and across sectors, from online and campus-based learning, to professional and executive education, to lifelong learning and edtech start-ups.

Author of Generative AI and Education (Springer, 2024) she is focused on the future of learning and work, and how to meet the challenges and opportunities that this wave of technological change presents. Mairéad is SALC Chair in Digital Education at the University of Manchester, Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Data Science Institute, Visiting Professor at Abertay University in Scotland, and a Research Fellow at the USA’s National AI Institute for Adult Education and Online Learning (AI-ALOE). She is a member of AI-ALOE’s External Advisory Board, the Digital Learning Institute’s Industry Advisory Council, and the Government of Portugal’s National Council on Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education.