The Learning Ideas Conference 2022 was delighted to feature two keynote speakers: noted researcher and learning analytics expert Dr. Ryan Baker of the University of Pennsylvania, award-winning game designer and author Dr. Ian Bogost from Washington University in St. Louis and Dr. Antonella Poce, a world-renowned expert on research education methodology and evaluation from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Rome. Further information about our keynote speakers is below.

Dr. Ryan Baker

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education
Director, Penn Center for Learning Analytics
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Talk: Algorithmic Bias in Education

The advanced algorithms of learning analytics and educational data mining underpin modern adaptive learning technologies, for assessment and supporting learning. However, there has not been enough research on whether these algorithms are effective for all learners who use them.

In this talk, I discuss the evidence around algorithmic bias in education, cases where an algorithm works substantially less well for specific groups of learners. I review who is impacted, what the impacts are, and the gaps in the field's knowledge -- both in terms of "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns." I conclude with potential directions to move research and practice towards better understanding how bias impacts educational algorithms, and how to address these problems so that learning systems become fairer and more equitable.

About Dr. Baker
Dr. Ryan Baker is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn Center for Learning Analytics. His lab conducts research on engagement and robust learning within online and blended learning, seeking to find actionable indicators that can be used today but which predict future student outcomes. Dr. Baker has developed models that can automatically detect student engagement in over a dozen online learning environments, and has led the development of an observational protocol and app for field observation of student engagement that has been used by over 150 researchers in 6 countries. Predictive analytics models he helped develop have been used to benefit hundreds of thousands of students, over a hundred thousand people have taken MOOCs he ran, and he has coordinated longitudinal studies that spanned over a decade. He was the founding president of the International Educational Data Mining Society, is currently serving as Editor of the journal Computer-Based Learning in Context, is Associate Editor of two journals, was the first technical director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center DataShop, and currently serves as Co-Director of the MOOC Replication Framework (MORF). Dr. Baker has co-authored published papers with over 300 colleagues.

Dr. Ian Bogost

Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
Professor and Director, Program in Film & Media Studies
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Talk: How to Learn Playfully

Twenty years ago, building on the prior three decades of work in educational software, I started a company that built games for learning in corporate, scholastic, and organizational contexts. We believed that the technology of games and simulations, especially their ability to provide operational models for complex ideas, represented a sea change in educational practice. That potential is still there, but the truth is, very little really changed, in education or in games. Instead, the same methods and media re-entrenched—text, image, video, sound. Even as I continued to design and consult on game and software projects, I also looked deeper at what made games powerful learning tools. Maybe it wasn’t just the content that they could deliver, but their form and structure—specifically that games are media that are played. But even now, after publishing a book on play, speaking about play to a variety of professional and academic audiences, and deliberately incorporating play into my own daily life, I still find it a mysterious and difficult practice to describe, let alone carry out. In this lecture, I will talk through some of the lessons I’ve learned about play as I’ve tried to teach, and learn, by means of it.

About Dr. Bogost:
Dr. Ian Bogost is an author and an award-winning game designer. He is Professor and Director of the Program in Film & Media Studies and Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Bogost is also Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, an independent game studio, and a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. He is author or co-author of ten books, including Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames, Newsgames: Journalism at Play, and Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games.

Dr. Antonella Poce

Full Professor in Experimental Pedagogy
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Rome, Italy

Talk: Creating Cultural Assets to Foster Social Inclusion and Development

Developing innovative cultural experiences that link local, urban, and cultural heritage can lead to an increase in citizenship skills and social inclusion.

The use of new learning methodologies and innovative digital tools along with a focus on cultural heritage has been successful in fighting the realities of marginalization. We see this in many international programs, such as the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; Heritage Lottery Fund in the UK and programs in the cities of Pittsburgh and Dallas in the U.S. Programs like these enhance transferable skills—especially 4C skills: Creativity, Communication, Collaboration and Critical Thinking, together with digital skills—for a variety of different types of people, particularly those belonging to disadvantaged social groups such as migrants, people with physical or mental disabilities, and the elderly. In addition, such programs also encourage the creation of new social business models that can generate inclusive growth.

In this keynote, Dr. Poce will describe international case studies in which people participate in different experiences that use advanced technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to allow people to experience cultural heritage objects and places. Dr. Poce will describe experiences carried out within the European Inclusive Memory project along with data from field analysis of the project’s experiences thus far.

Under the model that Dr. Poce will describe, people’s active citizenship skills and their participation in cultural life and events will be encouraged. Industries in the creative and technological sectors, personal care organizations, universities, and heritage sites will form a network of collaboration for the promotion of social inclusion and well-being.

Cities change at a remarkable speed. Arts and culture are important drivers for the development of urban centers and identifying new models of effective development is not always so easy. Working in international contexts can facilitate the growth of new ideas, exchange and collaboration.

The recent changes in Pittsburgh and Dallas show how transformative such changes can be; urban areas which combine an active cultural life and properly designed public spaces attract investment, knowledge, workers and tourists, facilitate the creation of community and social capital, and reveal the distinctive local identity. But investments need to be well placed in order to be productive. The European Inclusive Memory project looks to promote change via the effective use of cultural assets and technology-supported learning experiences.

About Dr. Poce:

Dr. Antonella Poce currently holds the role of Full Professor in Experimental Pedagogy at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where she directs INTELLECT (Centre for Research into Museum Education, Well-being and Teaching Technology). She is the Head of the one-year post-graduate courses "Heritage Education and Digital Technologies” and "Museum Education: General Aspects," as well as the two-year post-graduate course "Advanced Studies in Museum Education." Dr. Poce coordinates national units within European project frameworks and she has been chairing international academic committees dealing with distance learning. She is the author of numerous publications of national and international relevance on the topics of innovation, assessment, and the use of technology in teaching and learning and in the context of heritage fruition.