AI and Educational Policy Workshop: Bridging Research and Practice

The workshop will be a half-day event collocated with the AIED conference. If in-person attendance is not possible, online participation will be allowed.

Interest and investment in AI for Education are accelerating and with it, concerns about the issues that arise when AI is widely implemented in educational technologies, such as bias, fairness, data privacy, and data security (Roschelle, Lester & Fusco, 2020; Santos et al., 2022). UNESCO’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education (Miao et al., 2021) emphasizes that public policies will likely not be able to cope with the pace of AI innovation, and calls for more participation from public institutions and researchers, like those in the AEID community, to address issues of ethics, sustainability, and equity of using AI in education. Thus, this workshop aims to become an important venue to discuss policy initiatives that leverage AI in Education globally, as well as embrace contributions that address the challenges of designing policy solutions to disseminate AI-enhanced education at underserved populations frequently associated with the global south.

As an international conference, AIED provides an ideal venue to build on the waves of AI policies in different regions of the world by shifting the focus toward what is most useful for education and learning. In an ecosystem of rapid AI innovation, government and non-government organizations around the world are beginning to establish policies and guidelines to support a safer implementation of AI in education. Japan’s minister of education is preparing for the next wave of educational technology by considering what needs technology can and cannot address, suggesting that curriculums must focus on human skills, strengthening liberal arts education. Both China and Singapore have placed focus on encouraging leadership in AI innovation and personalized learning, with China’s national plans for artificial intelligence (see also Roberts et. al., 2021) and Singapore’s National AI Strategy. The policy think tank of the Government of India has released a National AI strategy with a dual focus on AI’s ability to transform India’s economy and the need to develop AI for all in a safe and inclusive manner, and states have followed up by creating AI policy roadmaps (NITI, 2018; 2022).

Non-government organizations have begun to establish a policy think tank for AI in Africa[1] as a whole, while specific countries develop their own game-plan such as South Africa’s new data privacy regulations. Meanwhile, the U.S. recently released the AI Bill of Rights[2] and AI curriculum planning is beginning to occur on a state level through organizations like AI for K-12, while policies like COPPA and FERPA address privacy and security of student data nationally. E.U. Member countries are taking steps to implement AI and computing curricula in schools and as of April 2021 have released sweeping regulations on the use and development of AI.

On a global scale, some organizations are sticking together recommendations across regions; the Institute for Ethical AI in Education’s Ethical Framework for AI in Education, based in the U.K., sets international ethical standards, and the Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education lays out recommendations developed as part of a workshop in 2019’s AIEd Conference. The organizers of this workshop have identified paths to involvement in policy in a U.S. context, such as creating guidelines, working with lawmakers, joining local organizations, or creating pledges, and would now like to call on a more international community to expand and compare these paths to policy involvement in regions around the world.

Our workshop theme is “Opportunities at the Intersection between AI and Education Policy.”  For example, we are interested in exploring real-world applications and practical experiences of AI in Education, considering broader objectives such as increasing equity and access and responding to the digital divide, and important needs such as the intersection between AI technologies, curriculum integration, and teacher training. More specifically, our goals are to:

  1. Identify global challenges related to education including barriers and opportunities for the adoption of AI, with a focus on incorporating perspectives from the global south.
  2. Discuss the ways in which AI might support learning scientists in addressing those challenges.
  3. Learn about AI and Ed policy initiatives already in place.
  4. Identify opportunities for new policies to be established.
  5. Develop action plans, grounded in the learning sciences, that identify opportunities and guidelines for specific AI policies. As we identify opportunities, we will ensure we discuss related risks in the areas of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics of AI in Education.

We will further define the scope based upon participant interests.

The outcomes for the AIED society will be a shared list of readings about these issues and a position paper/blog post about the process and outcomes of this workshop, including participants’ action plans developed during the workshop. In addition, individual participants will emerge with better ideas for how they could be involved in these important issues in their region of the world.

[1] https://researchictafrica.net/2021/01/29/ria-launches-ai-policy-research-centre/
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/

Format and activities

This workshop will occur synchronously in a face-to-face format, although could be run virtually or hybrid if necessary. Prior to the workshop, the organizers will select a short list of readings about the state of AI and educational policy in a number of regions in the world (see this blog for examples), as well as a primer on AI technologies. The main focus of this workshop and its activities will be on engaging participants in important discussions about how AI can and should be used/considered during the design and implementation of public policies for education. The tentative agenda for the workshop is as follows:

  1. Introductions and an icebreaker activity about relevant issues 
  2. Short presentations to anchor the conversation, with at least 10 minutes of questions and discussion in between presentations. Presentations will cover various contexts for implementing policy, the education challenges presenters see in those contexts, and AI policy solutions they have found. 
  3. Whole-group and small-group discussions of major themes related to a specific AI and Ed policy. 
  4. Group reflection.
  5. Call to action and wrap-up.

Target audience: We are interested in attracting AIED researchers who see the potential importance of policy work for their research or those who are currently working with education policy. We also seek to attract participants who are diverse in their expertise in AI, Education, and Policy so as to contribute to a successful exchange of ideas. However, no specific knowledge of policy is required since one of the workshop’s goals is to provide the foundations to involve more people in the AIED community in the policy discussion. This workshop is intended for people at all levels of their careers, spanning faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, educators, representatives from government, NGOs, industry, and any other interested parties. We hope to attract a broad representation including people from countries traditionally not well represented in AEID. 

Previous editions of the workshop: This workshop is a follow-up to an AI and Ed Policy workshop held last year at ISLS 2022 by CIRCLS, as well as an AI and Ed Policy working group organized by CIRCLS in 2020 (https://circls.org/ai-and-education-policy). We also have a companion workshop, designed with the same themes and structure, that was submitted to ISLS2023. The audiences for ISLS and AIED are mostly different but complementary in their approaches, skills, knowledge and interests.

Submission Instructions

Participants of this workshop do not need to submit papers. We encourage anyone curious or interested in the workshop’s topics to participate and engage in the discussions. Nevertheless, if participants would like to present their work or policy as part of the workshop we invite applicants to submit a  2-page policy brief or 6-page paper (following the AIED conference template) of their current policy-related activities and/or results. Please submit your work directly to: sisotani@icmc.usp.br and ig.ibert@gmail.com with the subject: “Submission to AI and Policy Workshop”

Important Dates:

  • Policy brief or paper submission: May 15th, 2023
  • Notification of acceptance: June 2nd, 2023
  • Final version: June 12th, 2023

All participants who are working (or willing to work) with AIED in the Global South (e.g., working with researchers affiliated with the Global South; running experiments with students/teachers in Global South countries; or designing policies to address Global South challenges) are encouraged to submit their work to the Special Issue on AIED in the Global South of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. 

Workshop Chairs:

For the past 15+ years, Isotani has dedicated his research career to advancing the science concerning how people learn with interactive/intelligent educational technologies (EduTech). He is widely recognized for his work in the fields of Gamification and AI in Education. Since 2017, he has worked as a scientific advisor to the Brazilian Ministry of Education in designing and implementing public policies related to EduTech.

As a psychologist and computer scientist, Bittencourt has been promoting equitable learning and well-being by designing, developing, and experimenting with intelligent educational technologies that bridge research, practice, and policy. He also works as a scientific advisor to the Brazilian Ministry of Education. His contributions have been featured at the World Education Forum, UNESCO and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Erin Walker is a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, with joint appointments in Computer Science and the Learning Research and Development Center. She uses interdisciplinary methods to improve the design and implementation of educational technology, and then to understand when and why it is effective. Her current focus is to examine how artificial intelligence techniques can be applied to support social human- human and human agent learning interactions.

Organizing Committee Members:

This workshop initiative is supported by the  Center for Integrative Research on Computer and Learning Sciences (CIRCLS), a center that connects learning sciences projects in the United States, and where AI and Education Policy is a key topic in the intersection between research and practice. The organizing team is proposing AI and Ed Policy workshops here and at ISLS, in order to engage both communities in the discussion.

References

Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), P.R.China. (2017, September 15). Next generation artificial intelligence development plan issued by State Council. China Science and Technology Newsletter. https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/cefi//eng/kxjs/P020171025789108009001.pdf

European Union. (2021, April 26). New rules for artificial intelligence – questions and answers. European Commission.https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/qanda_21_1683/QANDA_21_1683_EN.pdf 

Friedman, L., Black, N. B., Walker, E., & Roschelle , J. (2021, November 8). Safe ai in education needs you. ACM.  https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/256657-safe-ai-in-education-needs-you/fulltext

Miao, F., Holmes, W., Huang, R., & Zhang, H. (2021). AI and education: A guidance for policymakers. UNESCO Publishing. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000376709 

NITI Aayog. (2022, November). Tamil Nadu Safe & Ethical Artificial Intelligence Policy 2020. https://indiaai.gov.in/research-reports/tamil-nadu-safe-ethical-artificial-intelligence-policy-2020.

NITI Aayog. (2018). National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. https://indiaai.gov.in/research-reports/national-strategy-for-artificial-intelligence

Roberts, H., Cowls, J., Morley, J., Taddeo, M., Wang, V., & Floridi, L. (2021). The Chinese approach to artificial intelligence: An analysis of policy and regulation.  AI & Society, 36, 59-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-00992-2

Roschelle, J., Lester, J. & Fusco, J. (Eds.). (2020). AI and the future of learning: Expert panel report, Digital Promise. https://circls.org/reports/ai-report

Smart Nation Digital Government Office. National AI Strategy. (2019). https://www.smartnation.gov.sg/files/publications/national-ai-strategy.pdf

Santos, J., Bittencourt, I., Reis, M., Chalco, G., & Isotani, S. (2022). Two billion registered students affected by stereotyped educational environments: an analysis of gender-based color bias. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 1-16. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01220-6

The Institute for Ethical AI in Education. (2021, March 30). Developing an ethical framework for ai in education, University of Buckingham. https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/research-the-institute-for-ethical-ai-in-education/ 

The White House.  (2022, October 4). Blueprint for an ai bill of rights: Making automated systems work for the American people, The United States Government. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/

UNESCO (2019). Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000368303