Keynote Speakers

Michael Wooldridge. University of Oxford (UK)

Keynote: Generative AI: Where it came from, what it is, and what it means for Education

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in the headlines for a decade, but progress over the last few years has been startling. The headline breakthrough in the new AI is generative AI-systems like ChatGPT – large scale, general purpose AI systems that are capable of things that seemed far out of the reach of AI just a few years ago. In this talk, AI expert Wooldridge will talk through where generative AI came from – why it emerged now, and what the ingredients were that came together to create it – and highlight its core capabilities and limitations. He'll then focus on education, widely expected to be one of the most important and groundbreaking applications for this remarkable new technology. He'll discuss what generative AI means for educators – how they can use it to do their jobs better – and what it means for students. Generative AI is not going to mean that we don't need teachers – but it's going to change their job profoundly. In this talk, you'll discover why, and what this means for you.

Workshop: Putting AI to Work in Education: Opportunities and Risks

In this workshop we’ll explore how AI – including generative AI (chatgpt and the like) – can be used by educators. We’ll look at two distinct aspects of AI in education: how it can be used by educators, both in the frontline provision of education (working with students) and also in the back-office, supporting them in their role. To prepare for the workshop, it would be useful if attendees could register for a (free) ChatGPT account (https://chatgpt.com) as we’ll use it in the workshop.

About Michael Wooldridge

Michael Wooldridge is an academic and author specialising in Artificial Intelligence. He is a professor of AI at the University of Oxford, and Director for AI at the Alan Turing Institute, London.

He has received the Lovelace Medal from the British Computer Society, the leading award for a UK computer scientist, and the Outstanding Educator Award from the Association for the Advancement of AI. Previously he was President of the European Association for AI, and President of the International Joint Conference on AI (IJCAI). He is also Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence, the academic AI journal.

Michael’s books include two science introductions to AI, The Ladybird Expert Guide to AI and The Road to Conscious Machines. He frequently gives lectures on AI including at the Hay Festival and Cheltenham Science Festival and is regularly interviewed on TV, radio and print on topics around AI and technology.

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Michelle Miller. Northern Arizona University (USA)

Keynote: Memory in the Age of Technology: What to Know, What to Remember, and Why It Still Matters for Teaching and Learning

Memory and memorization have gotten a bad reputation among educators, especially as technology has seemingly taken over the task of remembering everything we need to know. Established and emerging technologies such as search engines, AI, and augmented reality have led many to conclude that the students of today don’t need to worry about remembering the key facts and findings of their chosen fields. But that notion of a future where memory is obsolete may be a mirage. New research on reasoning skills has demonstrated that memory and thinking are far more intertwined and interdependent than previously thought, and human expertise – including a robust and accurate knowledge base - will continue to be a critical complement to digital memory. This talk explores these themes and presents the “Noble Truths of memory” that all teachers should know for the new digital age, and beyond.

Workshop: Tools, Techniques, and Technologies for Helping Students Build Knowledge

In this follow-up session, we will revisit concepts presented in the Memory in the Age of Technology keynote presentation and engage in demonstrations that further illustrate those concepts. Participants will have the opportunity to share activities, approaches and resources that they have found useful in their own teaching, and to reflect on how to apply concepts from the keynote to promote the development of knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge.

About Michelle Miller

Dr. Michelle Miller is a cognitive psychologist, researcher, and speaker focused on supporting educators in creating effective and engaging learning experiences. She is the author of Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology (Harvard University Press, 2014), Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World (West Virginia University Press, 2022), and a new book, A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names: Why You Should, Why It’s Hard, How You Can (University of Oklahoma Press, 2024). Dr. Miller is a Professor of Psychological Sciences and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.