17th ASEF Classroom Network (ASEFClassNet17) Faculty Collaboration

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.

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ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration The ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration is 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”. Learn more about the project in the Concept Note here. The key goal of the ASEFClassNet17 Faculty Collaboration is 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:

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 focuses on the topic “Learning about AI and Learning with AI”. It will allows us to dig deeper into issues on AI&ED and AIED, considering the significance and transformative role of AI in education. It will explore two distinct yet interconnected dimensions of AI in education: Learning about AI This theme will look 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 will also explore 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 focuses 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 will showcase such tools and the critical thinking skill necessary for teachers before applying any of these tools.

Participants Citizens from Asian and European countries who are:

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 consists of 2 key stages:

1. Virtual Knowledge Building and Dialogue Stage [April – July 2024]

a. Self-Learning [6 Weeks; 24 April – 29 May 2024]:
Participants will learn 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 will take 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 will collaborate 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 will involve:

Individual Presentations: participants will share their ongoing work on the topic, exchange information with each other, and look for synergies. The sessions will be interactive, allowing for knowledge exchange, and dialogues on the topic.
Developing project proposals: participants will develop ideas for collaboration among their institutions e.g., symposium, comparative research report, joint curriculum development, pedagogy enhancement, joint research etc. The key aim is to come up with ideas that could lead to sustainable peer networks with concrete outputs. Actionable ideas will be presented at the ASEFClassNet17 Conference.

2. Hybrid Collaboration in Action Stage [1 September – 31 November 2024]

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 will have more time to work on their ideas in a more concrete manner.

d. Conference [Late Oct/Early Nov 2024 (tbc)]:
A 4/5-day long on-site conference will be organised to bring the selected participants of ASEFClassNet17 together. This is by ‘invitation only’ to showcase and further develop the Joint Proposals.

Expected Contribution from Faculty Collaboration Participants

Full participation in 11 online sessions between April-July 2024 (est. 16 hours)
Come up with ideas for collaboration (e.g., symposium, conference, capacity building programme, curriculum development, teacher training module, research report)
Conceptualise collaboration ideas into proposals, start collaborations

Outcomes

The Faculty Collaboration aims to achieve the following key outcomes:

Promote Asia-Europe cross-cultural cooperation among Faculty of Education in HEIs in Asia and Europe
Raise awareness and promote meaningful discussions on the significance of ethical AI innovation for effective quality teaching and learning in HEIs’ Teacher Training Departments
Create new resources to support the leadership of secondary school stakeholders on the significance of ethical AI innovation for effective quality teaching and learning
Provide a global dialogue platform to reflect on existing academic resources, teaching resources, practices, and partnerships on the ethical AI innovation for effective quality teaching and learning
Provide an intergenerational mentorship platform between academic experts and teachers as well as teachers-to-be to not only have meaningful conversations on the topic but also to build innovative education initiatives (ITPs) through joint collaboration
Evaluate the impact of education initiatives built as part of spin-off activities after the project and generate new insights and resources on better integration and use of AI tools in schools
Inform education policymakers in Asia and Europe with relevant insights gathered from Faculties of Education to improve secondary-level education scenarios in Asia and Europe.