Executive Director, Dr Ann Kristin Glenster, attended the UNESCO Digital Learning Week 2024 in Paris, France in September 2024, exploring opportunities and risks of AI in education.

Glenlead Centre Executive Director, Dr Ann Kristin Glenster, attended the UNESCO Digital Learning Week in 2024 in Paris, France. Over four days, delegates were treated to multiple plenaries and breakout sessions, covering all aspects of AI in education.

Key takeaways from the week:

UNESCO AI Competency Framework for School Students: UNESCO launched a Framework for AI competencies, designed to guide the preparation of school students to be responsible users of AI and co-creators able to lead in the definition and design of the next generations of human-centred and climate-friendly AI.

UNESCO AI Competency Framework for Teachers: UNESCO also launched a Framework for AI competencies to guide and support teachers to become human-accountable designers and users of AI in teaching and in facilitating learning, and to support students in the acquisition of AI competencies as part of digital citizenship education.
So what was the mood music?

The week clearly emphasised the enormous cotton industry activity that is going on in all corners of the globe to harness the benefits of AI in education. But most of it, while extremely exciting, seems to still be to plug widening gaps in the existing framework, especially teachers’ shortages, assessments that do not work.

We still do not have a good idea of what good AI pedagogy looks like. We still do not know what potential for learning AI can unlock. We still do not know whether these technologies will narrow or widen the equality and equity gaps of education around the globe.

And despite UNESCO’s AI and Education: Guidance for policy-makers, setting out the case for regulation, rules, and guidelines, we still do not know how to ensure that AI in education is responsible, safe, and fair.