The emerging applications of Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education that employ student data to improve learning and teaching is gaining worldwide attention. The use of AI and Learning Analytics techniques are exploited for example in order to predict students at risk, forecast performance and generate recommendations of relevant content to the learning users. While both areas offer a wide range of opportunities to the end users, it may be an origin of negative effects on societies, including inequity and inequality. The majority of these effects can emerge from the bias and inequality in the data exploited by the smart algorithms.
We have many questions in our mind about having a fairer future of education with the emerging technologies. How can data and analytics be used to empower learners and what are their impact on education? How can we ensure that AI and Learning Analytics are used to support learning while preserving their responsible usage? What are the challenges associated with striking this balance? What can constitute an equitable and fairer use of AI systems in education and Learning Analytics? These are just an example of thought-provoking questions that we will highlight in our forthcoming symposium.
The Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE) and MediaFutures Centre from University of Bergen invite you to the Symposium on Towards a Fairer Future of Education: Algorithmic Inequality and Learning Analytics that will be held in-person at the Scandic Hotel Ørnen in Bergen on June, 13th.
The symposium assembles national and international experts in the field to share their knowledge and expertise, and engage in discussions about future directions of new technologies of AI and learning analytics for education. The floor will be open for debate and questions from the participants. Join us!
Please note: The registration deadline for the symposium is Thursday June 8th.
Mohammad Khalil is a senior researcher at the Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE) and the project leader of European Erasmus+ project Remote Intelligent Access to Labs in Higher Education (RIALHE). Khalil has a PhD degree in Engineering Sciences with distinction from Graz University of Technology. He worked as a Postdoc at Delft University of Technology in Technology Enhanced Learning. Khalil is the PI of three Peder Sather projects in joint collaboration with University of California Berkeley on Learning Analytics and Recommendation systems in higher education. He has also been involved in several European projects: Scaling up Educational Innovation in Schools (SEIS), Open Educational Resources in Computational Biomedicine (OERCompBiomed), and European Network for Virtual lab & Interactive SImulated ONline learning 2027 (ENVISION2027).
Khalil is currently an associate editor of the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) and served as a guest editor at the Journal of Computing in Higher Education, Journal of Learning Analytics, and the British Journal of Educational Technology. Khalil has more than 75 publications on ICT & learning. His key research interests include Technology Enhanced Learning, AI in Education, Learning Analytics, and Privacy and Ethics.
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Mehdi Elahi is an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen (UiB), Norway. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science in 2014 and since then published more than 90 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications. His current #citation is 2900+ and his H-index is 25. His research has been mainly focused on AI, Data Science, and Cognitive Science, with an emphasis on their potential industrial applications such as on Recommender Systems. He has also co-invented and co-owned an AI-related US-patent. Mehdi Elahi has been involved in the authorship of several EU grant proposals such as the large-scale grants, recently funded with a budget of 30 Million Euro, where he will serve as WP Leader for 8 years. Before that, he has received prestigious research credits from giant IT industries (i.e., Amazon and Google). His research findings have been published in some of the most prestigious reference literature of the field including a recently authored book. He has organized International Data Challenges together with top Companies (i.e., Spotify and XING).
Barbara Wasson, Director of the Centre for The Science of Learning and Technology (SLATE), University of Bergen, Norway is a full Professor in the Department of Information Science & Media Studies. She was one of the founders of Kaleidoscope, a European Network of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning, sat on the executive committee, and was leader of its CSCL SIG with over 400 members. She is currently co-leader of the Learning Analytics Community Europe SIG (LACE). Wasson is an expert evaluator in the European Commission. Wasson is/has been a PI for numerous national and international projects including the recent Trond Mohn project 'AI and Education: Layers of Trust'. She has over 120 publications in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning.
In addition to her work for the Council of Europe, she is a member of the Norwegian Government’s expert group on learning analytics, which is looking at the technical, pedagogical, legal and ethical aspects of the implementation of learning analytics in the Norwegian educational sector.
Synne Hopland Iversen is a senior executive officer at the Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE), University of Bergen. Synne has a master’s degree in politics and governance from the University of Bergen. She specialized in the field of Knowledge, Politics and Organization. Her master’s thesis was about how experts are involved in political processes, and whether this affects our democracy.
Synne is working on study administration. One of her main tasks is to collaborate with SLATE Researcher Fredrik Sundt Breien and SLATE Director Professor Barbara Wasson on a new interdisciplinary master’s program, which is currently under development.
Lars Hillesgate 18
5008 Bergen
