Keynote Speakers

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 But that notion of a future where memory is obsolete may be a mirage.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.