Developing competencies in education for the AI Era

By India Education Diary Bureau Admin On Dec 5, 2020

The International Forum on AI and the Futures of Education will convene education and technology experts from around the world from 7 to 8 December 2020 to discuss AI skills for the futures of education and AI as a common good for education. Under this year’s theme of ‘Developing Competencies for the AI Era’, this virtual two-day event will start the first day with defining and developing AI competencies, followed by a consultation on the futures of education and the way forward.

The event – organized in partnership with the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, and the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO – will convene education and technology experts from around the world to discuss AI skills for the futures of education and AI as a common good for education. Participants will share policies and practices in defining the competencies required in the AI era, and examine strategies to prepare all people to live and work with AI effectively.

The International Forum on AI and the Futures of Education (AIED) 2020 will follow up on the International Conference on AI and Education (Beijing, May 2019) which resulted in the first international consensus on AI and education, the Beijing Consensus. The Beijing Consensus recommends that UNESCO reinforce the leading role of AI in education across concerned sectors and mobilize the Organization’s institutes and networks with a specific focus on the integration of AI skills into ICT competency frameworks. It also recommends UNESCO to further expand its cooperation in the field of AI in education with relevant partners.

In order to thoroughly explore the competencies required for the AI era, each session will focus on a separate issue:

The High-level Panel 1 presents speeches of ministers of education on national strategies for promoting the use of AI to enhance education and to build the futures of learning.
The Plenary Session convenes discussions on how AI will shape the future of humanity and education, and review the implications of AI to reimagine knowledge and education guided by the principle of inclusion and equity in access to quality learning opportunities.
The Special Session will invite Chinese scholars, policy-makers and educators to share their perspectives on the Futures of Education in order to enrich the deliberations of the International Commission.
Parallel Session 1 aims to inspire participants to think deeply about the reconstruction of education systems, especially the development of curriculum and textbooks to unleash the potential of AI in developing human competencies in a changing context.
Parallel Session 2 promotes the ethical application of trusted AI technology for education, and the sharing of evidence-informed effective practices in using AI in learning, teaching, monitoring and evaluation, and management of education. It also aims to examine ethical issues related to the use of AI in different learning settings and reviews effective mitigation strategies.
Parallel Session 3 focuses on supporting African countries in the development of strategic foresight and operational capacities in response to the emerging challenges and opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with a focus on teaching and leveraging AI to enhance education. It is guided by the principle that the new technologies should be leveraged, through South-South dialogue and cooperation, to accelerate the development of education in Africa and ensure that the continent benefit from the AI era together with the other regions.
Finally, High-level Panel 2 will present synthesis results drawn from the debates of previous sessions, present possible ways forward for key international partners on promoting equitable and ethical use of AI in education, with a focus on the development of key competencies needed by the AI era.