Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Innovation is disrupting the economy at an unprecedented pace. Emerging technologies increasingly compete with traditional skill sets. Consequently, both students and educators can feel the effects of a changing career landscape. Within the education system, two important questions arise: 1) How can we inspire our students to proactively overcome novel challenges? 2) And how, as educators, can we stay current on emerging literacies? A relatively young research field frames these inquiries as heutagogy, which is also known as self-determined learning. Heutagogy describes a proactive and self-sufficient approach to problem-solving. This presentation explores heutagogy in the context of recent AI developments. Specifically, the presentation explores an ethical yet competitive use of AI technology in education. The first part provides a theoretical overview of heutagogy and its application areas. The second part introduces AI for educational use and provides several concrete examples of AI-based problem-solving. Attendees are welcome to participate in several reflective activities.

Participants will be able to:

1. Familiarize with heutagogy and its relevance for students and educators

2. Familiarize with AI technologies relevant for educational use

3. Explore concrete examples of self-determined, AI-based learning

4. Discuss the relevance of AI-based problem-solving to their own fields