The Learning Ideas Conference 2024 was pleased to feature three keynote speakers:

• Dr. Chris Dede, Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a world-renowned expert in the fields of emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. He co-founded the Silver Lining for Learning initiative and serves as an advisor to the Alliance for the Future of Digital Learning. Among many other roles, Dr. Dede is also a Co-Principal Investigator and Associate Director for Research of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education.

• Dr. Christina Katopodis, Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate at the City University of New York’s Humanities Alliance, is an expert in humanities education and transformative learning. She founded Engaged & Ready, empowering faculty with antiracist active learning tools, and has delivered over 50 talks globally. Dr. Katopodis co-authored The New College Classroom, winner of the AAC&U 2023 Frederic W. Ness Book Award.

• Dr. Alina von Davier, Chief of Assessment at Duolingo and Founder/CEO of EdAstra Tech, is a renowned psychometrician specializing in computational psychometrics, machine learning, and education. With over 20 years of experience in EdTech and the assessment industry, she also serves as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Chris Dede

Associate Director for Research, National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE)
Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Talk: Complementing Human Minds with Digital Brains: The Role of GenAI in Learning

The global economy is moving into an era of Intelligence Augmentation (IA). Science fiction often portrays “intelligence” as involving complementary roles of reckoning and judgment. For example, In the Star Trek series the judgment and decision making of ‘Captain Picard’ are enhanced by the reckoning skills (calculations, analysis of multidimensional information, predictions) of the android ‘Data,’ a machine without human capacities like emotions. The human and machine work synergistically together to be better than their individual abilities. In the next few years, many occupations will shift to require working with a generative AI-based agent that has complementary skills and knowledge to the human worker. This talk will discuss what types of learning are most valuable for students and workers to prepare for these IA interactions in work and life, as well as how AI may aid in upskilling, reskilling, unlearning, and transfer.

About Dr. Chris Dede
Dr. Chris Dede is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was its Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies for 22 years.  His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership.  From 2001-2004, Chris was Chair of the HGSE department of Teaching and Learning.  In 2007, he was honored by Harvard University as an outstanding teacher, and in 2011 he was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.  

In 2020 Chris co-founded the Silver Lining for Learning initiative. He is currently a Member of the OECD 2030 Scientific Committee and an Advisor to the Alliance for the Future of Digital Learning, sponsored by the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiative (MBRGI). Also, Chris is a Co-Principal Investigator and Associate Director for Research of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education.

His most recent co-edited books include: Teacher Learning in the Digital Age: Online Professional Development in STEM Education; Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Realities in Education; Learning engineering for online education: Theoretical contexts and design-based examples; and The 60-Year Curriculum: New Models for Lifelong Learning in the Digital Economy.

Dr. Christina Katopodis

Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate
CUNY Humanities Alliance
New York, NY, USA

Talk: Connecting Learners to Their Internal Motivations for Success

For deep and meaningful learning to happen, students need to feel that they have a stake in learning, some skin in the game. How do we make the transition from the top-down, hierarchical, inequitable, output-driven academy and workforce we inherited from the nineteenth century to models that empower all learners to be their own best selves, building a more democratic, flourishing, and just society? How do we make this transition in our own classrooms and offices? In this interactive keynote, Dr. Christina Katopodis, coauthor with Cathy N. Davidson of the award-winning book The New College Classroom (Harvard University Press, 2022), presents what the latest science of learning tells us about inclusive learning. She shares teaching strategies that anyone can adapt easily and effectively into their classes and office meetings to make structural changes as well as grab-and-go activities that educators around the world are using successfully every day to ensure learners’ lifelong success--and to revitalize their own commitment to a better world. 

About Dr. Christina Katopodis:
Dr. Christina Katopodis has delivered more than 50 talks and workshops on teaching and learning topics at colleges and universities and regional, national, and international conferences across Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the U.S. She is a Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate at the City University of New York’s Humanities Alliance, pursuing research on the indispensable role of a humanities education in a just society. She is also the former Associate Director of Transformative Learning in the Humanities and founder of Engaged & Ready, a project that empowers faculty with antiracist active learning tools to democratize their classrooms. Dr. Katopodis was the winner of the 2019 Diana Colbert Innovative Teaching Prize and the 2018 Dewey Digital Teaching Award and has authored or co-authored articles published in The Chronicle of Higher Ed, English Language Notes, ESQ, Hybrid Pedagogy, Inside Higher Ed, ISLE, MLA’s Profession, Times Higher Ed, and Zeal: A Journal for the Liberal Arts. With Cathy N. Davidson, Dr. Katopodis is author of The New College Classroom (Harvard University Press, 2022), winner of the AAC&U 2023 Frederic W. Ness Book Award.

As a result of years in academic programs devoted to structuring equity into college classrooms, she discovered that others are struggling to make their classrooms more democratic and student-centered without burning themselves out in the process. Combined with her first-hand teaching experiences, years of research in the learning sciences, and desire to help, she took to the stage with the goal of reaching as many people as possible to transform higher ed from the inside out. 

Dr. Alina von Davier

Chief of Assessment
Duolingo
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Talk: Building Digital-first Assessments in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent automation have revolutionized educational assessments, with a focus on scalable content generation. In this talk, I discuss a new human-centered AI framework for high-stakes testing along with a new system called the "item factory." The item factory system merges human expertise and AI for efficient, high-quality test development, mirroring the processes of intelligent automation in manufacturing. This new system integrates test design, generation, and review, improving efficiency while ensuring that AI enhances, not replaces, educators and developers.  

AI-powered content generation allows the development of diverse test items and personalized assessments, making high-quality assessments more affordable and accessible. However, a careful balance is needed between technological progress and human-centered design. This presentation will emphasize the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and discuss a human-centered AI framework that integrates AI with human expertise to create assessments that adapt to students' needs. The presentation will describe the item factory system and the quality assurance metrics that were developed for the Duolingo English Test, a digital-first, high-stakes language test.

About Dr. Alina von Davier:

Dr. Alina von Davier is a psychometrician and researcher in computational psychometrics, machine learning, and education. Dr. von Davier is a researcher, innovator, and an executive leader with over 20 years of experience in EdTech and in the assessment industry. She is the Chief of Assessment at Duolingo, where she leads the Duolingo English Test research and development area. She is also the Founder and CEO of EdAstra Tech, a service-oriented EdTech company. In 2022, she joined the University of Oxford as an Honorary Research Fellow, and Carnegie Mellon University as a Senior Research Fellow.