A national online conference spearheaded by recent graduates and students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign aims to address pivotal topics surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) in education.

The AI x Education Conference: Generating the Future of Education with AI will be held August 5-6, 2023, from 10 am-4 pm (CDT). It is free and is open to K-12 and Higher Ed educators, AI experts, EdTech leaders, students, and parents.

Organizer Johnny Chang (BS ’23, computer engineering) said he and fellow students saw the need to bring students and educators and start conversations about generative AI following the release of ChatGPT.

“We noticed there was a gap between how students are using ChatGPT and how instructors think we’re using it,” Chang said, adding that while some educators see the learning opportunities and have embraced it, others see potential drawbacks and ethical implications and want to ban it.

The conference aims to demystify AI and enhance understanding of its role and potential in education; provide insight into current challenges and how to overcome them; share innovative experiments and solutions; and foster future discussions and collaborations with educational experiments. A special emphasis will be placed on including students’ voices in the conversation and highlighting their unique experiences and insights as the primary beneficiaries of these educational transformations.

Chang said the conference will bring together about 30 speakers who are educators, administrators, and students from Illinois, as well as Harvard University, Stanford University, and beyond.

Kristen DiCerbo, Chief Learning Officer at Khan Academy will give the keynote address, ”Building AI Applications at Scale.” And Christopher Dede, a senior research fellow and the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard Graduate School of Education for 22 years, will give the plenary talk, “If AI is the Answer, What is the Question: Thinking about Learning and Vice Versa.”

Confirmed UIUC panelists and speakers include: Tawnya Means (Gies), Michael Twidale (iSchool), Julia Hockenmaier (Computer Science), Jinjun Xiong (Electrical & Computer Engineering), and CITL Emeritus Faculty Fellow Lawrence Angrave (Computer Science).

See the full schedule of events.

Chang said more than 1,000 people – mainly from the US and Canada but as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong – have already registered. He hopes to have more than 3,000 attendees.

“That’s a good start,” said Chang, who also hopes the conference is “just the beginning” and that the conversations will continue at educational institutions worldwide and in various formats.

“AI has the potential to transform education,” he said. “We hope these discussions will help educators understand students’ experiences with AI … and bridge the gap. That will help schools adapt to this technology faster and benefit from it.”

Learn more about the AI x Education Conference and register for free now!

For questions, please contact: organizer@aixeducation.com