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Rethinking educational spaces. Future Classroom, metaverse and AI

 

Online symposium April 12, 2024 at 09:00 - 16:00

Welcome to an online symposioum entitled:
Rethinking educational spaces. Future Classroom, metaverse and AI

Download Programme April 12, 2024

The symposium is co-organised by two research groups:
University of Salamanca:
Umeå University: Learning and ICT

Background

We live in a society in which few things remain untouched by technology, whether they are objects, actions, or behaviors, either because of its appeal and its way of making everyday tasks easier, or simply because it is hard to ignore. Increasingly devices are comfortably exceed the number of people living on the planet (Floridi, 2014; Statisa, 2019). Such is the magnitude of these changes that the literature has already suggested we are facing a process of (re)ontologising our world (Floridi, 2015). In some way, the transition to a culture dominated by the screen and the internet is having major ontological implications. One of the first consequences of this social transformation is that we are increasingly living in a digital world, and less so in an analogue one. Some authors even argue that this situation is leading boys and girls to suffer from a nature deficit (Gutiérrez et al., 2024). Technological devices that were initially introduced as instruments to support our way of being and behaving have ended up creating new realities, spaces that are qualitatively different to the ones we were once familiar with. In other words, human experience is increasingly being digitised. We may contend that we are living an onlife existence; that is, a world in which it has become impossible to distinguish between online and offline because cyberspace encompasses and occupies everything.

All these transformations also have their correlation in the field of education. Some of these transformations range from remote learning (Petterson, et al., 2022), the design of new physical educational spaces like the Future Classroom (Martín-Lucas & Sánchez-Rojo, 2022), and new ways of conducting education in these spaces (Bergström & Wiklund-Engblom, 2022), to fully digitized spaces like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, or more immersive experiences with Artificial Intelligence (Ortega, 2022). These changes come with political and ontological implications for the educational domain.

In the latest decade the research in education has shown more interest in studying technology from an instrumental perspective, dealing more with what that technology can offer us as “means to an end”, without stopping to think that, regardless of the use we make of it, this technology also educate us (García del Dujo et al. 2021).

Perhaps it's time to conduct research that focuses on technology as a tool with inherent educational implications, as a technology that is transforming our educational spaces and our ways of educating.

Some topics for discussion

• New spaces: future classroom, metaverse, IA… What implications do these new digital spaces have? Can they be considered equally as real as physical space? Are we talking about new materialities?
• The role of educators, teachers, and pedagogues in the design of educational technologies and resources. Should educators be involved in the design process of these technologies? What educators/teachers are being affected by these new spaces? What do they think about it?
• Ontological implications of these new spaces
• Politics. Implications for policymakers

References

Bergström,P & Wiklund-Engblom, A. (2022) Who's got the power? Unpacking three typologies of teacher practice in one-to-one computing classrooms in Finland. Computers & Education, 178,

Floridi, L (2014) The 4th revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford, Oxford University Press

Floridi, L (2015) The onlife manifesto: being human in a hyperconnected era. London, Springer

García  del  Dujo,  Á.,  Vlieghe,  J.,  Muñoz-Rodríguez,  J.  M.,  y  Martín-Lucas,  J.  (2021).  Thinking  of  (the  theory  of)  education  from  the  technology  of  our  time.  Teoría  de  la  Educación. Revista  Interuniversitaria, 33(2),  5-26.

Gutiérrez-Pérez, B. M., Ruedas-Caletrio, J., Caballero Franco, D., & Murciano-Hueso, A. (2024). Connection with Nature as a Key Factor in the Formation of Childhood Identities: A Systematic Review. Teoría De La Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 36(1), 31–52.

Martín-Lucas, J. & Sánchez-Rojo, A. (2022). Technology and Teaching Space: A Pedagogical Approach to the Classroom of the Future. Tenth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality. Salamanca, España.

Ortega Rodríguez, P.J. (2022). From extended reality to the metaverse: a critical reflection on contributions to education. Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 34(2), 189-208.

Pettersson, F., From, J., & Lindberg, J. O. (2022). Special Issue: Theory and Practice in Remote Teaching, Online Learning, and Distance Education for K-12. Journal of Digital Social Research, 4(2), 1-6.

Statisa Research Department. (2019). Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices installed base worldwide from 2015 to 2025. Available via Statisa website:  

Programme April 12, 2024

9.00-9.10
Introduction and welcome
Judith, Fanny, J Ola

Theme 1 - New spaces: future classroom, metaverse, IA… What implications do these new digital spaces have? Can they be considered equally as real as physical space? Are we talking about new materialities?

9.10-9.50
Presentations

• Classroom Environmental Quality and Furniture Design: Is there any evidence of its impact on students' academic performance?
  Neuza Pedro, Edson Pimentel, Joao Piedade and Ana Lucia Miguens, Institute of Education University of Lisbon
  
  
• Video games: new socio-educational spaces also for seniors
  Alicia Murciano-Hueso, Bárbara-Mariana Gutiérrez-Pérez and Antonio-Víctor Martín-García, University of Salamanca
  
  
• The pedagogical added value of immersive virtual reality in history education from an experts' perspective
  Elisa Serrano, Umeå University

9.50-10.30
Discussion

Theme 2 – Implications for policymakers, Political and ontological implication

10.40 – 11.30
Presentations

• The future classroom according to the ed tech industry
  Ingrid Forsler, Michael Forsman, Emanuele Bardone and Pirjo Mõttus, Södertörn University and Tartu University
  
  
• The value of the classroom of the future as a learning space but not as a place of study: a pedagogical approach
  Alberto Sánchez-Rojo and Judith Martín-Lucas, Complutense University of Madrid and University of Salamanca
  
  
• Future classrooms with teacher shortage - technological responses to social issues?
  Gerard Fischer and Johan Lundin
  
  
• The Digital Age and the Impossible Joke. Some Political and Pedagogical Implications
  Bianca Thoilliez, Autonomous University of Madrid

11.30-12.00
Discussion

12.00-13.00
Lunch break

Theme 3 - The role of educators, teachers, and pedagogues in the design of educational technologies and resources. Should educators be involved in the design process of these technologies? What educators/teachers are being affected by these new spaces? What do they think about it?

13.00-13.40
Presentations

• The pedagogical potential of ChatGPT in university teaching: experiment in Educational Theory
  Tania Alonso-Sainz and David Reyero, Complutense University of Madrid
  
  
• Toward Innovation: Living Labs as Bridges Between Tradition and Innovation in Education.
  María Teresa Silva Fernández, Jesús Ruedas Caletrio, Sara Serrate González and José Manuel Muñoz Rodríguez, University of Salamanca
  
  
• Teachers’ Digital Relational Competence
  Annika Wiklund-Engblom. Umeå University

13.45-14.15
Discussion

14.30-15.00
Summary and conclusions
Judith, Fanny, J Ola

Questions

Proposal for the symposium

Here you can submit your proposal for the symposium. Deadline 15/3 2024, notification of acceptance and presentation 22/3 2024.

Contact

Judith Martín Lucas
Assistant Professor
University of Salamanca
judithmartin@usal.es

Research group:

J. Ola Lindberg
Professor
Umeå University
ola.j.lindberg@ͯÑÕÊÓƵ

Research group: Learning and ICT

Fanny Pettersson
Docent
Umeå University
fanny.pettersson@ͯÑÕÊÓƵ

Research group: Learning and ICT