CURIOSITY, RECIPROCITY, GLITCH: SPECULATIVE PEDAGOGIES IN AN AGE OF AI

Networked learning futures are currently being re-imagined and contested in light of the rapid rise of generative AI. Old questions become newly pointed: How do teachers and learners develop and sustain curiosity and connection?  Who and what belongs in the network of networked learning, and how do we know? What are the creative and glitchy qualities of emerging technologies in educational settings, and how should we respond to them? As the practices of students and teachers become increasingly intertwined with technologies such as generative AI, we need future-facing teaching approaches that can foster trust, imagination and fairness. In this talk, I introduce the concept of speculative pedagogies for working creatively with the uncertainty of the future. These pedagogical approaches are about keeping the future open and moving. A speculative sensibility in networked learning settings can create conditions for grappling with emergence and complexity, fostering curiosity, and imagining and enacting new possibilities and relationships.

 

About Dr Jen Ross

Jen Ross is co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education, and director of the MSc in Education Futures at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, both at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She is part of the team behind the MSc in Digital Education programme, the  Manifesto for Teaching Online, and the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC. She leads the Digital Cultural Heritage cluster in the Centre for Data, Culture and Society, is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and is closely involved in international collaborations including Una Europa and the Higher Education After Surveillance network.

Jen’s research interests include education and cultural heritage futures, online distance education, digital cultural heritage learning, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), digital cultures, and online reflective practices. Recent publications have explored postdigital research, higher education futures, participatory speculative fiction, surveillance practices and cultures in higher education, lecture capture, glitches, and digital co-production in museum and gallery settings. Her 2023 book, Digital Futures for Learning (Routledge), explores speculative approaches to researching and teaching about the future.