This interactive, unplugged workshop will enable participants to reflect on critical approaches to digital learning design through the exploration of sustainability literacies. Modelling the reuse of ephemera through zine making, participants will examine creative approaches to embedding sustainability practices in their learning design and curricula. Drawing on previous generative and collective critical approaches, this workshop will support participants to develop their sustainability literacies through creative expression. (Thomson et al., 2023; Drumm et al., 2024; Molloy & Thomson, 2024).

In a higher education landscape that is “fragmenting and fragile”, with heightened anxieties about evolving AI technologies and global polycrisis, it is worth acknowledging that our design approaches are not neutral, and must respond to the current complexities. (Cronin & Czerniewicz, 2023). Leveraging a postdigital approach, which acknowledges the “broader social, political, economic and environmental conditions” intrinsic to learning design, participants will explore micro, meso, and macro levels of their design practice to address broader complexities, including the paradox of climate anxiety with an ever increasing demand for technological abundance and institutional and sectoral-led digital transformation. (Carvalho & Yeoman, 2023).

Rather than adopting a utopian/dystopian lens, participants will examine convivial approaches to embedding sustainability literacies, such as degrowth and rewilding. Through zine making, the workshop will explore “how technologies can be adopted and adapted in ways that lead to expanded freedom, creativity, autonomy and happiness”. (Selwyn, 2024, p. 191) Participants will be equipped with pre-folded zine booklets and an assortment of ephemera to create zines that represent their unique reflections on embedding sustainability, degrowth, and rewilding into their ed tech usage and design practices. The facilitators propose to develop a collection of crowd-sourced educator activities based on the workshop outputs for a collaborative OER, modelling the intersections of sustainability literacies, creative futures, and learning design.

References

Carvalho, L., & Yeoman, P. (2023). Postdigital learning design. In P. Jandrić (Ed.), Encyclopedia of postdigital science and education (pp. 1–7). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35469-4_38-1

Cronin, C., & Czerniewicz, L. (2023). Higher education for good. In Czerniewicz, L., & Cronin, C. (Eds.), Higher Education for Good (1st ed., pp. 35–52). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0363.28

Drumm, L., Beetham, H., Cronin, C., & McIlwhan, R. (2024). Generating AI alternatives: Collaborating and creating intersections. Proceedings of the International Conference on Networked Learning , 14(1). https://doi.org/10.54337/nlc.v14i1.8185

Macgilchrist, F. (2021). Rewilding technology. On Education. Journal for Research and Debate, 4(12).

https://doi.org/10.17899/on_ed.2021.12.2

Molloy, K., & Thomson, C. (2023). Humanising learning design with digital pragmatism. In Czerniewicz, L., & Cronin, C. (Eds.), Higher education for good (1st ed., pp. 397–420). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0363.17

​​Molloy, K., & Thomson, C. (2024). Humanising learning design with digital pragmatism. OER24 Conference. Association for Learning Technology. https://blokks.co/schedules/oer24/#/2024-03-28/qmv8976e62ga/workshop-122-humanising-learning-design-with-digital-pragmatism

Selwyn, N. (2023). Digital degrowth: toward radically sustainable education technology. Learning, Media and Technology, 49(2), 186–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2159978

Thomson, C.. Bell, F., & Drumm L. (2023). Guerrilla edtech responses to climate change: Reframing, rewilding, reimagining. OER23 Conference. Association for Learning Technology. https://femedtech.net/published/guerilla-edtech-responses-to-climate-change-reframing-rewilding-reimagining/

Thomson, C., & Molloy, K. (2024). Humanising learning design with digital pragmatism: OER24 workshop output (version 1). National Teaching Repository. https://doi.org/10.25416/NTR.25868365.v1

Since 2020 we have seen a great acceleration in the adoption of blended learning worldwide. In parallel to these changes in Higher Education, employers have witnessed an evolution of flexible and hybrid working practices. This shift in both learning and working requires us to think beyond current strategies for digital transformation, especially in the context of a growing student population with changing needs in a fast moving, competitive job market impacted by automation and AI. It's time to reclaim the pace of digital productivity.

Both in education and at work the frantic pace of productivity is determined by the speed of digital tools. Notifications, comments, emails and other content arrive ever more quickly and demand instant attention. In the advent of AI powered learning and working, the pace of digital content creation is ever increasing.

This kind of 'digital noise' can easily lead to digital overwhelm and as a result our senses suffer. From Zoom and listener fatigue to lack of movement, our bodies, our embodied selves and our senses are feeling the impact of our increased reliance on digital productivity.

This session will explore strategies for changing the cadence of our digital lives to be a little more… human. To proceed at a pace of thinking, of working and learning, that is more conducive to reflection and to criticality. In essence, to find one's own ‘Critical Cadence’.

Session focus:

• The impact of blended and hybrid learning and working on human senses and embodied self in the context of unplugged, low-tech and lo-fi approaches to digital education and research;

• The metaphor and practice of moving through a landscape, by for example walking, and its utility for contemplative pedagogies and outdoor learning (using the example of an actual or metaphorical walk);

• Developing digital literacy for students and staff that help navigate blended learning and hybrid working whilst maintaining balance and managing the impact on our physical, mental and social health.

The overarching aim of the session is to explore how to rewild critical digital literacies alongside digital pedagogies to empower students and staff to determine the pace of working and learning.

References

Bell, F., Campbell, F., Forsythe, G., Mycroft, L., Scott A. M., (2023) Chapter 10 In Higher Education for Good Open Book Publishers.

Carroll, S., Maguire, M., Ginty, C. (2024). Blended learning in higher education: N-TUTORR overview of blended learning and its impact on the student experience. N-TUTORR.

Deepwell, M. (2024). Global trends towards flexible, hybrid working and its impact for digital leadership in higher education. N-TUTORR. (due to be published late November 2024)

Deepwell, M. (2021) Leading Virtual Teams. Fieldnotes from a CEO. Association for Learning Technology, UK.

Doxtdator, B. (2017) A Field Guide to ‘jobs that don’t exist yet’. Long View on Education.

Everyone has a (visual) story to tell. Participants in this workshop will go on a hands-on journey of discovery - into thinking more visually in the world they already inhabit and the themes of this conference. We'll get wondering about the universal language of cartoons, visual storytelling and a human-centred creative process. This workshop is about communicating ideas - not creating art! We will learn how cartooning and creative listening can be used in day-to-day life. We'll learn how to grow ideas and how to get them to hang around. And together we will explore a more visual approach to communicating anything. We'll stroll through a bluffer's guide to cartooning, explore some creative techniques, and make a lo-fi story zine out of a single piece of paper.

Please note the time of this workshop in the timetable and please register in advacne to ensure a spot as places are limited.

As expectations around the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) can vary from discipline to discipline, or even module to module or assessment to assessment, it is important to set clear expectations for students regarding what is considered authorised or unauthorised use of GenAI at programme, module, or assessment level. Taking this a step further, explaining the reasoning behind the chosen approach and relating it to learning outcomes provides useful clarity and transparency for students. Additionally, clarifying the expectations of an assessment can reinforce learning outcomes and skill development.

Beyond providing much-needed clarity and transparency for students, the process of drafting a GenAI statement encourages us to think through our goals and intentions and, specifically, whether or not the use of GenAI is appropriate or relevant in our programmes, modules, and/or assessments.

This workshop will introduce participants to the key considerations and steps in drafting comprehensive GenAI statements. These steps include:

1. Reflecting on and articulating the purpose or goals of the programme, module, or assessment drawing on assessment briefs, rubrics, learning outcomes, etc.
2. Deciding how much, if any, GenAI use is acceptable using an adapted version of the AI Assessment Scale (Perkins, et.al., 2024) for guidance.
3. Explaining to students the reasoning behind your decision of which level of GenAI use is acceptable with reference to the purpose and goals as articulated in Step 1.
4. If GenAI will be permitted, explain how students should acknowledge and document their use.
5. Combine steps 1-4 into a programme, module, or assessment-specific GenAI statement to clarify the place of GenAI tools in your programme, module, or assessment.
6. Decide how and where you will share this GenAI statement with your students (e.g. posting to your virtual learning environment, adding to assignment briefs, including in programme documentation, etc.)

Workshop participants will be guided through the above steps and will leave the session with a draft of a robust and comprehensive GenAI statement they can use in their own teaching practice.

Patricipants should bring assessment briefs, module learning outcomes, rubrics, and any other relevant materials to the workshop for use in drafting their own GenAI statements.

References

Perkins, M., Furze, L., Roe, J., & MacVaugh, J. (2024). The Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS): A Framework for Ethical Integration of Generative AI in Educational Assessment. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(06), Article 06. https://doi.org/10.53761/q3azde36

Goff, L., Thelen, S., Writing a GenAI Statement. (2024). University College Cork. Retrieved December 4, 2024, from https://www.ucc.ie/en/ethical-use-of-generative-ai-toolkit/academic-integrity/writing-a-genai-statement/