Despite considerable research into the use of technology in higher education, there is still a gap between what teachers might perceive as valuable digital curriculum design and what students perceive as valuable digital learning experiences. We need to understand how students engage with digital learning, so that we may forge pedagogically-led educational technology. Frequently, TEL interventions appear to be technology-led, rather than responding to identified teaching and learning needs. While the TEL research may add to the body of literature, impact on improvements in practice are more difficult to ascertain. While those researching education technology would argue that they do provide evidence of the benefits of educational technologies, those engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) would counter this, arguing that TEL researchers are too distanced from practice. Hence research and practice would appear to be progressing along parallel, but largely independent tracks. If we are to bridge the gap between research and practice, and to produce sensible and actionable innovations, we need to adopt a SOTL approach to digital technologies. This talk explores these tensions and examines the relative merits of SoTL in applying educational technology to bring about transformative changes – not just doing things better, but doing better things.

A recent acceleration of innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a wide variety of domains from speech recognition and image classification to genomics has made it a hot topic during the last few years. AI has been increasingly seen as a high potential tool to help in education as well: indeed, it offers the opportunity to enhance learning environments for the educator to better evaluate the learning process, as well as to help learners improve their learning experiences. In this context, it is expected that AI will have a significant influence on education at all levels, starting from schools, to university education, to continuous learning. It will impact both the way we deliver education and the way students will be able to learn, get deeper knowledge on subjects of interest, and improving professional skills. This talk will describe a variety of ways in which AI is used in personalized learning as well as future trends.

Universities around the world introduce thousands of students to dozens of disciplines every year. For most of the last century, this kind of education at scale has been delivered in narrowly constructed, industrialized ways. In today's world of digitally mediated education, it is possible to personalize this student experience, even when teaching thousands. Personalization at scale empowers students, providing each individual with the feedback, encouragement, and advice they need to study more effectively, acquire desired competencies, and make more informed academic choices. This talk will describe a variety of ways in which data and information technology are being used to support equity, inclusion, and student success in large university settings.