Presentation Panel
Data for Learning: Connectivity, Capacity and Cross-border Cooperation
Date Thursday, Nov 23 Time – RoomPotsdam I
In September 2023, the UNESCO-chaired working group on data for learning launched its final report, called “The Transformative Potential of Data for Learning”, which provides key findings about the current education data ecosystem globally and offers recommendations for how the international community can work together to close the digital data divide.
This session will bring together often separated perspectives – EdTech, government regulatory bodies, and education decision-makers – to discuss strategies for safe and sustainable data use in education, informed by the available tools and resources for assessing and developing vibrant local EdTech ecosystems while ensuring that education remains a common, public good.
Beth Havinga
Founder and Managing Director, Connect-EdTech, Germany
Beth Havinga is the Managing Director of the European EdTech Alliance and the EdSAFE AI Alliance. Beth currently serves on the Digitisation Council of the state of Berlin in Germany, is chair of the advisory board of Kids.Digilab.Berlin, and serves on the board of the Children’s Future Foundation and the international advisory boards of both CoSN and ISTE. Beth represents the EEA in UNESCO’s Broadband Commission and Digtial Transformation Collaborative as well as the EdTech Roundtables of both the European Commission and the Council of Europe. Beth consults to the Council of Europe on the topics of AI and equitable public-private partnerships as well as to the project management organization of the German Federal Education Ministry regarding the international interoperability of education platforms.
Beth represents Germany as head delegate to the European Committee for Standardization of Interoperability for Learning Technologies and EdTech, and has worked closely with multiple governments and data protection agencies on national definitions for data modelling and certification.
Previously, Beth has served on the special board of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economics in Austria, as an expert in the field of “digitalisation in apprenticeships", and as a member of the expert Platform, "Digital Future: Learning. Researching. Knowledge" of the German Digital Summit by invitation of the German federal Minister for Education.
In addition to creating her own consulting firm, Beth has taught in schools, managed education software and publishing houses, founded two startups, and worked in over 45 countries to develop digital structures and strategies.
Links
Velislava Hillman
Founder, Education Data Digital Safeguards (EDDS), United Kingdom
Dr Velislava Hillman is a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, associate lecturer at Goldsmiths, and founder of Education Data Digital Safeguards (EDDS) which researchers and evaluates educational technologies. The research work broadly lies in education, policy, and governance with focus on the impact of advancing digital systems on children’s learning and fundamental human rights. Dr Hillman is partner at Etoile Partners where she also leads research on education data with EU-Horizon consortium TRUSTEE.
Duuk Baten
Responsible AI Advisor, SURF, Netherlands
Duuk Baten is a responsible AI advisor at SURF, the Dutch National Research and Education Network (NREN). With a background in the philosophy of science and technology from the University of Twente, Duuk has developed a strong passion for responsible innovation and public values in technology. As a core team member of the Dutch AI Coalition's Education working group, he actively contributes to shaping AI initiatives in the Dutch educational ecosystem. He was an expert in the European Commission's AI in Education expert group, contributing to the creation of the European Commission ethical guidelines on the use of AI and data use in education. He has co-authored the insightful reports "Promises of AI in Education" and “Responsible Tech: On Public Values and Emerging Technologies” and has spoken at many events, sharing his expertise and viewpoints on responsible AI, ethics, and education.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dbaten/
Mastodon: https://mastodon.green/@duuk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/duukbaten
Moderator
Juliette Norrmén-Smith
Education Policy Specialist, UNESCO, France
With international experience in Education policy and practice, Juliette Norrmén-Smith’s work at UNESCO focuses on the nexus of digital technology, inclusion, and education.
Focusing on digital transformation policy within UNESCO’s Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, Juliette strives to deepen the understanding of how we can harness the potential of digital technology to drive the safe, inclusive, and equitable transformation of education, including through coordination of the Data for Learning UNESCO-chaired working group of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.
Juliette’s work in education policy is informed by her years as a teacher of students with special needs in an under-resourced public school. Driven by a belief in the complex social dimensions of digital technology, she strives to support multi-stakeholder dialogues and partnerships to improve international equity in the use of data-driven technologies in teaching, learning and system management.
The Ecosystem of EdTech Testing and Regulation, Beth Havinga
It is vital to bring together existing work on quality assurance mechanisms and evidence-based decision making to guide best practice, inform and connect, and lead the development of common European ideas for quality and safety standards in education.
Private and public initiatives are trying to explore the best evidence-based testing environments. This is supported through local and supranational policy efforts such as the Council of Europe's “feasibility study for an international review system for EdTech solutions” and the European Commission’s support in scaling EU-based solutions through cooperation and quality assurance.
The majority of current initiatives are exploring stand-alone or single purpose instances of testing and certification. In this presentation, Beth Havinga will explore the recommended components of a comprehensive testing and feedback environment based on research from the EU Commission funded EmpowerED project, and look at responses from the European EdTech map 2023 to consider the needs and appropriate support mechanisms for evidence-based decision making in EdTech.
Takeaways:
- The connections and feedback loops necessary between each piece of the EdTech testing and regulation ecosystem.
- The core components of a comprehensive EdTech evidence-based testing ecosystem.
- Some simple steps forward for all stakeholders within the digital education landscape
Licensed To Operate: Why Governing Edtech Through a Licensing Regime Is the Next Step in Safeguarding Public Education, Velislava Hillman
In this presentation Velislava Hillman will explore two main issues. Firstly, she will challenge the narrow focus on centralising discussions, policies, and visions of education around data and digitisation, emphasizing the need to consider broader educational matters and even what is desirable in education.
Secondly, she will address the proliferation of frameworks for EdTech, proposing the implementation of licensing regimes to ensure adherence to standards in areas such as cybersecurity, data privacy, accessibility, pedagogic, human rights, ethical principles.
The key takeaway of this presenation is the importance of independent systematic audits and monitoring of the Edtech sector and data use to safeguard both the EdTech industry and education itself in a rapidly changing landscape. This can begin through pilots (which EDDS does) and can be subsequently adopted by governments as a licensing regime of the sector.
Responsible Tech: How We Ensure New Technologies Meet Public Values, Duuk Baten
In this talk we will shortly discuss the role and importance of (public) values in the use of IT in (public) education. We will delve into the topic of public values in the digital transformation of education. Focusing on how we can ensure that new technologies meet public values, this is especially salient in relation to AI and data use in education.
Duuk Baten will discuss the content of the recent SURF discussion paper "Responsible Tech: On Public Values and Emerging Technologies” which recommends practical strategies for shaping technologies that preserve autonomy, justice, and humanity, such as assessing your situation and formulating ambitions, creating the right environment for ethical practice, involving stakeholders, holding yourself accountable, reflecting, and sharing.
Participants can expect to gain specific, practical, and applicable insights into how to make responsible tech a reality, with the goal of shaping technologies that benefit society as a whole.
Takeaways:
- New emerging technologies, such as AI, are increasingly shaping education and should not be seen as neutral tools.
- Educational institutions have a responsibility for the technology they use. This responsibility is a practice, something you do, a practical skill that needs to be developed.
- Five recommendations: assess your situation and formulate ambitions, create the right environment, involve stakeholders, hold yourself accountable, reflect and share.