Background of the ASEFClassNet Project Series
For over two decades, the ASEF Classroom Network has been providing capacity-building opportunities for collaborative teaching and learning and a platform to explore the potential of cutting-edge EdTech tools and the integration of ESD in secondary, high, and vocational schools in Asia and Europe. Its target group is broad, given its intergenerational & multi-stakeholder outreach. It ranges from students, teachers, school leaders, teacher trainers, researchers, policymakers, and to EdTech experts. Since its inception, more than 2,100 teachers from Asia and Europe have participated in various activities and become members of the ASEF Classroom Network. As a result, more than 35,000 students have been engaged in 430 Asia-Europe School Collaborations and local spin-off activities. Learn more about the Project series here.
ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration
The ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration was designed for academics and teacher trainers working at higher education institutions (HEIs) or Government Institutions responsible for teacher training, and focuses on the topic of “Learning about AI and Learning with AI”.
The key goal of the ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration was to enable academic experts build capacity and engage in critical and timely conversations, build awareness and exchange ideas around AI&ED as well as form partnerships to create collaborative resources on the topic based on the discussion findings.
Read the Concept Note to learn more about the topic and the design of this programme: here.
About the Topic
Building up on the last edition ASEFClassNet16 that focused on “Leading Change: Digital Transformation of Education in the Era of AI”, the 17th edition project series will focused on the topic “Learning about AI and Learning with AI”. It allowed us to dig deeper into issues on AI&ED and AIED, considering the significance and transformative role of AI in education. It explored two distinct yet interconnected dimensions of AI in education:
Learning about AI
This theme looked at equipping teachers and students with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand, utilize, and contribute to the evolving field of AI. Some of the key aspects include AI Literacy, AI Ethics, AI Industry, Skill needs. ASEFClassNet17 also explored building awareness, knowledge, and competencies of both the human and technological dimensions of AI, to understand what AI is and what it is not, how it works and how to create it, and its social, ethical, and human implications.
Learning with AI
Learning with AI refers to the integration of AI technologies into teaching and learning practices. It focused on building knowledge and understanding to critically evaluate the relevant use of AI and issues that concern the use of AI such as purpose, pedagogy, privacy, security, and ethics. ASEFClassNet17 showcased such tools and the critical thinking skill necessary for teachers before applying any of these tools.
Participants
Citizens from Asian and European countries who were:
- Academic experts (professors, researchers, etc.) or managers working at a Faculty of Education at a Higher Education Institution (HEI), or teaching pedagogy
- Teacher trainers working at the Ministry of Education associated teacher training centres.
Programme Design
The programme of the ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration consisted of 2 key stages:
a. Self-Learning [6 Weeks; 24 April – 29 May 2024]:
Participants learned from and interact with experts on the thematic/technical areas to build relevant knowledge on the project themes to improve their knowledge and understanding. They took part in self-reflective exercises on the lessons learned from thematic and/or technical sessions.
b. Cross-Faculty Dialogues [7 Weeks; 05 June – 17 July 2024]:
In this phase, the academic experts collaborated with each other and share ideas through a series of dialogues on the topic to identify crucial areas that need to be prioritised to support integration of AI tools in schools effectively and ethically. The dialogue involved:
- Individual Presentations: participants shared their ongoing work on the topic, exchange information with each other, and look for synergies. The sessions were interactive, allowing for knowledge exchange, and dialogues on the topic.
- Developing project proposals: participants developed ideas for collaboration among their institutions e.g., symposium, comparative research report, joint curriculum development, pedagogy enhancement, joint research etc. The key aim was to come up with actionable ideas that could lead to sustainable peer networks with concrete outputs. Actionable ideas were presented at the ASEFClassNet17 Conference.
c. Proposal Development [8 Weeks, 1 September – 31 October 2024]:
After the cross-faculty dialogues and the presentation of the research proposals, each proposal team had more time to work on their ideas in a more concrete manner.
d. Conference [11-15 November 2024 in Manila, Philippines]:
A 5-day long on-site conference was organised to bring the selected participants of ASEFClassNet17 together.
Testimonials from the ASEFClassNet17 Participants
Learn more about the previous edition #ASEFClassNet16 Faculty Collaboration here:
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