Digital Literacy & AI Webinar Series #2: Artificial Intelligence and Disruptive Innovation in Education

Session description:

To continue this five-part international series on artificial intelligence and digital citizenship in higher education, this webinar will provide an overview and framework for bridging the global digital skills gap through expanded educational opportunity. Expert panelists will provide a frame and pathways for understanding and engaging in global coalition-building and systems-level change.

Takeaways:

  • Learn more about the ongoing global change-making and coalition-building work happening across higher education institutions and supporting organizations
  • Engage with OLC and UNESCO’s framework for closing the global digital skills gap, particularly related to artificial intelligence and digital citizenship. 
  • Create expectancy for future webinar topics, guests, and opportunities for collaboration and community-building.

Intended audience: 

Higher Education Administrators, Higher Education Faculty, K-12 Administrators, K-12 Faculty, Online Education Directors, Instructional and Educational Technologists, Learning Experience Designers, Education Policy Makers, Educational Futurists, International Community

Please note: This webinar will be recorded and all registered participants will receive a link to the recording after the webinar.

Speaker Bio

(Moderator) Alex Case
Associate Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Grants – Online Learning Consortium

Alex Case was named OLC Associate Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Grants in November 2020. His responsibilities include growing OLC’s reach in the areas of grants, strategic partnerships, and consulting, particularly in the growing international and K-12 sectors. Prior to joining the OLC, Alex served as the Interim Director of Student Services (Dean of Students) and Associate Director of Instructional Design and Development for the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Online program. At NOVA, Alex oversaw an online portfolio of 400 online asynchronous courses spanning all academic pathways and serving 23,000 students per year. Alex completed his B.A. in history, political science, and secondary education from the University of Mary Washington, instructional design coursework from George Mason University, and a M.Ed. in Education Leadership from the University of Virginia. He is presently completing a dissertation towards a Ph.D. at George Mason University.
man in bowtie
Michael Torrence, Ph.D.
President – Motlow State Community College

Dr. Michael Torrence is the president of Motlow State Community College in Tennessee. He has spent his career embracing the use of technological literacy as a platform to increase student access, engagement, and success. He has served as the Co-Chairperson for TNeCampus, a Tennessee Board of Regents statewide team leader for the integration of Emerging Technology and Mobilization in the areas of Gaming, VR, AR, and MR into teaching and learning. He has trained faculty, students, executives, and community members and developed immersive curriculum focused on STEAMB (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Aviation, Mathematics, and Business focused on Entrepreneurship) for all grade levels and utilized these platforms teaching undergraduate and graduate students in his own classes where VR and entrepreneurship is a norm. He earned a Ph.D. in exceptional learning at Tennessee Tech University and a BA and MA in English at South Dakota State University.


George Saltsman, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Educational Innovation and Digital Learning; Associate Research Professor – Lamar University

Dr. George Saltsman is an Associate Research Professor in the Center for Doctoral Studies in Global Educational Leadership and currently serves as the Director of the Center for Educational Innovation and Digital Learning at Lamar University. This role follows 17 years as the executive director of the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning at Abilene Christian University. While at ACU, George helped design ACU Connected, the world’s first one-to-one program to provide all students and faculty with an iPhone or iPad as a platform for exploring advanced digital learning. Dr. Saltsman is an Apple Distinguished Educator, mobile learning policy advisor to UNESCO, and winner of multiple awards, including Campus Technology Innovator of the Year, Blackboard Catalyst award, and The New Media Consortium’s Center of Excellence award. George is a higher education consultant to numerous technology corporations and over 50 educational institutions.

Bijay Dhungana
Vice President – International Centre of Excellence for Innovative Learning (ICEFIL)

As Vice President of ICEFIL, Bijay leads an education consortium of 26+ European and African Universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to advancing the use of technology in education for teacher training (and which includes appropriate use of AI). He has 20+ years of experience helping education institutions achieve and implement their digital transformation journey across EMEA and emerging markets of Asia and Africa. Bijay Dhungana is co-coordinator of the Teacher Task Force working groups on ‘Education in Emergencies’ and ‘ICT and Distant Learning’.

Szymon Machajewski, Ph.D.
Assistant Director Learning Technologies & Instructional Innovation – University of Illinois at Chicago

Dr. Szymon Machajewski is a codewright and a gamification sherpa focused on student engagement through learning analytics. Authoring of open-source projects such as BbStats and LoginAs was recognized in 2011 with an award in Innovative Code Development and a U.S. patent in e-learning. While teaching Computer Science since 2003, he is certified in Mental Health First Aid and most recently recognized with a national award for Optimizing Student Experience and an award for Leading Change in 2021. For his work at University of Illinois at Chicago he was invited to the Blackboard Community Leadership Circle, a governance board appointed to lead and influence initiatives for the global education community. He also serves on the EDUCAUSE Student Success Analytics CG Steering Committee and UIC Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Policy Committee.