Author: Graham Attwell

I am very happy to see the launch of the Digital Literacies Network, designed to Digital Literacies Network designed to empower Individuals and Communities and launched by my long time friend Cristina Costa, Associate Professor at Durham University in the UK and her colleague Michaela Oliver. The Digital Literacies Network, they say, “is dedicated to empowering digital citizens through collaborative learning and creative practice in digital culture. We believe that digital literacy is not just about technical skills, but about cultural knowledge, identity, voice, and participation in a diverse, interconnected world. We strive to: • Co-produce knowledge: working with young […]

Its a shorter article this week as I am off to Lueven in Belgium for the kick off meeting of a new project for schools in Europe, AI Ready. I’ll report on that meeting next week. But as I write, the news is buzzing rumours about a market correction, or put more vividly a burst bubble, in the value of AI companies. Its been some time coming. Market prices of companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic and of course Nvidia have soared in recent months. Vast sums have been promised for developing the AI infrastructure with limited. justification. Indeed much of […]

Gloria Mendoza / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ollowing on from my last post around co-design, there seems to be an increasing number of experiments with educational institutions developing their own applications, rather than being totally dependent on commercial ed tech providers. One area attracting attention is assessment where teachers and trainers in vocational education are used to working with colleagues, especially from examining bodies, in designing assessment rubrics and processes. Last year, the UK Jisc organisation launched a pilot to explore how AI could help reduce workload around marking and feedback. That work continues this year, they say, with the KEATH, […]

For decades, the story of educational technology has been a one-way street. Technologists built the tools, and educators were persuaded to adopt them. The end-users, the learners themselves, were rarely part of the conversation. This has led to a flood of digital tools focused on efficiency rather than pedagogy, a point that Dr. Philippa Hardman explores in her latest newsletter. The Old Model: Efficiency Over Pedagogy Dr. Hardman argues that the traditional EdTech model has been driven by the wrong questions. Instead of asking, “How do we enable people to learn more effectively?”, the industry has been focused on “What […]

A new joint UNESCO-European Commission project is looking at the intersection of artificial intelligence and education? And they are seeking dedicated researchers to conduct AS-IS and Gap Analyses for the “FutureProof Education: Supporting schools in the AI evolution” project. About the Project The ‘FutureProof Education project’ is a collaborative initiative that brings together six European education systems. Its primary goal is to promote the ethical, meaningful, and safe integration of AI in schools. This will be achieved by developing evidence-based strategies, tools, and guidance for teachers, school leaders, and education authorities. This project is funded by the European Union through […]

Last Tuesday, the electricity for my apartment was cut off from 8.30 until 1430 in order for essential repairs. Deprived of my normal morning browsing the news and using the internet for searching new ideas and publications, I was driven to going through my completely disorder downloads folder. It was somewhat shameful how many papers and documents I had downloaded, neglected to read and failed to properly index and file. But it turned upon some very worthwhile publications. One which I recommend is the recent UNESCO publication, AI and the future of education: Disruptions, dilemmas and directions. The introduction explains […]

I’ve not read this yet. But from the abstract it looks promising and it comes highly recomended by friends I trust on LinkedIn. But the reason for posting it now and unread is that until November 3, it is available for free download. And we all know books are expensive. Anyway, here is the abstract. Artificial Intelligence technologies have impacted our world in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago. Generative AI (GenAI), a powerful, complex and general use subset of AI has become available to the public in recent years. GenAI’s effect on education, research, and academic […]

Over the past year, it has become almost impossible to avoid the relentless hype surrounding Generative AI. We are told it will revolutionize everything, from how we work and learn to the very fabric of our economy. Yet, a growing chorus of skeptical voices, from seasoned investors to tech commentators, is asking a question that feels both urgent and familiar: are we in the midst of a colossal AI bubble, and if so, what happens when it pops? This is not just a question for Wall Street. For those of us in vocational education and training (VET), the answer has […]

It’s hard to keep up. Every week seems to bring a new wave of breathless commentary about AI and the future of work, often swinging between utopian promises of liberation and dystopian fears of mass unemployment. It’s a debate that, as the new European, Joint Research Centre (JRC) report “Work in the Digital Era” points out, has been recurring for a long time. But this report, which synthesises over seven years of detailed research across Europe, offers a refreshingly sober and evidence-based perspective. In contrast to the fears over the impact of technology on employment, the JRC’s research concludes that […]

There are an increasing number of studies looking at how young people are using AI for learning or otherwise. Although I am not convinced by the title, “Teaching the AI-Native Generation,” a new report from Oxford University Press offers a somewhat sobering, glimpse into how young people in the UK are actually using these new tools. What makes this report particularly interesting is the size of the survey. Researchers surveyed 2,000 students aged 13–18 across the UK and the results are both encouraging and challenging. Unsurprisingly, the report finds that AI usage is already widespread. 8 in 10 young people […]