Meeting Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional education systems - both for better and for worse. The pandemic accelerated a shift to online learning, which brings the potential optimize the educational experience for individual learners and deliver quality content to all students. At the same time, school closures and the ensuing lack of infrastructure they provide jeopardized the ability of under-served students to take advantage of such opportunities. How is technology improving the learning process and making education more equitable and inclusive? How can we ensure that all students have access to the best learning technologies through our education systems?
Education is a quintessential complex system but to date has not been a focus of complexity research and is not benefitting from the lessons learned from the study of other multiscale, highly interconnected systems. In this flash workshop, researchers, practitioners, and leaders from across the educational enterprise will address the role of technology in K-12 and higher education and both the opportunities and weaknesses in the systems that have been revealed by the pandemic.
Organized by: Susan Fitzpatrick, James S. McDonnell Foundation; Santa Fe Institute Science Board
Speakers:
Susan Fitzpatrick, James S. McDonnell Foundation; Santa Fe Institute Science Board | Overview & perspective
Michael Crow, Arizona State University | Online higher ed for all
Daphne Bavelier, University of Geneva | Games, plasticity & learning
Mitch Nathan, University of Wisconsin | Education psychology
Jared Joiner, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative | Education equity & changing the system
Additional remarks: Philip Regier, Arizona State University