EVENT – Planes, trains, and generative AI: Recentering open education values in new technology adoption

Many educators have felt pressure to climb aboard the generative AI train since it came barreling down the tracks. But what happens when we leap into new technologies without first pausing to imagine harms, such as surveillance, bias, and discrimination? Join host Brenna Clarke Gray and guest speaker Autumm Caines for a conversation about the pedagogical implications of generative AI. Can recentering the core values of the open education movement—equity, inclusion, transparency, and social justice—in our pedagogy help us move forward in a good way? How do we introduce these considerations to our students and empower them to make informed decisions with new technologies? We’ll consider these questions and more in our hour together.

This event celebrates Open Education Week (March 4-8, 2024). It is organized by the BC Open Education Librarians group (BCOEL) and generously sponsored by BCcampus, with additional support from Kwanlten Polytechnic University, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ – Langara College, and University Canada West.

Our speakers:

Autumm Caines (she/her/hers) is a liminal space. Part technologist, part artist, part manager, part synthesizer, she aspires to be mostly educator. You will find Autumm at the place where different disciplines and fields intersect, always on the threshold, and trying to learn something new. Autumm currently works full-time as an Instructional Designer at the University of Michigan – Dearborn and part-time as instructional faculty at College Unbound where she teaches courses in Digital Citizenship as well as Web and Digital Portfolio. Visit Autumm’s blog and website to learn more about her work.

Brenna Clarke Gray is Coordinator, Educational Technologies at Thompson Rivers University, where her research interests include the pedagogical implications of generative AI, the history and future of open tenure processes, the role of care and care work in the practice of educational technology, and scholarly podcasting. Prior to her transition to faculty support, she spent nine years as a community college English professor and comics scholar. She holds a PhD in Canadian Literature from the University of New Brunswick. Outside of the academy’s walls, Brenna co-hosts Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr, a podcast about young adult literature and film adaptation, and pretends at the role of a public intellectual on social media, when you can find her many places – but not Elon’s X – as @brennacgray. Visit Brenna’s website to learn more about her work.