The seventh session that I am blogging from the European Distance Education Network 2023 annual meeting is:

Plenary Session 10 (Live Streamed via EDEN YouTube)

2:00pm – 2:45pm

• Venue: E218 Main Lecture Theatre

Title: “Hope on the Horizon: Setting out in a New Direction for Digital Education”

Plenary 4 – Chair Dr Wim Van Petegem

– Dr Maren Deepwell

Abstract: Over the past five years we have seen digital education scaled up, with fully virtual, blended and hybrid learning expanding to more and more learners. As we move beyond education in crisis response mode, we have a unique opportunity to shape what’s ahead and also a responsibility to apply the lessons learnt in 2020/21.

We saw what’s possible in an emergency, and also what isn’t. I want to acknowledge that we are seeking hope at a time when many are battling burnout, still picking up the pieces in a world in which many are still feeling the lingering impact of the global pandemic.

How do we find optimism, and a vision for a better future? Grounded in new research from ALT, on how professional practice in digital education is changing, and aligned with the Framework for Ethical Learning Technology (FELT), I will explore:

• Who has a say in shaping the future and whom we may be missing?
• What the future will hold for our students moving from hybrid learning to hybrid working?
• What do we need to consider in order to avoid going back as well as moving ahead into a future that doesn’t deliver?

Let’s find inspiration to create our visions of the future, without losing a critical perspective on digital innovation but with a renewed sense of hope and empowerment.

Maren Deepwell is the chief executive of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), the leading professional body for learning technology in the UK with around 3,500 members. She has led the organisation since 2012 including a strategic transition to becoming a virtual team in 2018. Her particular focus is on professional recognition for learning technologists, the development of a new ethical framework for professional practice and the future of technology in education. As a trained sculptor and anthropologist, she brings both her creative and executive expertise to her professional practice as a leader, strategic adviser and coach.

While the terms are the same ones we often associate with K-12 distance, online, and/or blended learning in North America, but the session was primarily focused on higher education.  Having said that, there were some things that I wanted to pass along.  For example, she had a slide up from the 10th anniversary of ALT, which hit right after the year of the MOOC and all of the news was how MOOCs were going to fundamentally change higher education – and now we are hearing the same kinds of things around AI and generative text AI like ChatGPT.  Again, while focused on higher education, she also referenced the UK Office of Students’ blended learning review, which may be of interest to some readers.

Maren discussed ALT’s own Trends in Learning Technology report is available at https://alt.ac.uk/annual-survey – as well as their Framework for Ethical Learning Technology (FELT) at https://www.alt.ac.uk/about-alt/what-we-do/alts-ethical-framework-learning-technology .

Finally, the presenter herself posted an entry with some notes and embedded her own slides at https://marendeepwell.com/?p=4083