I had an interesting day at the Washington Canvas Conference. The theme today was AI and I presented on ethics and student privacy. It was a good crowd too. I love working in the community and technical college environment – it is definitely all about the students. I get a sense that there are faculty that really care about their students and they are rightly anxious about technological change – especially in a time of political upheaval. I started out the day on the panel for AI and the Future of work. My main points there were student preparation, AI and Information Literacy, and policies to support students and faculty. Hector Luhan started us out with a framing presentation: “AI is transforming the workforce, challenging traditional jobs, and reshaping education. As automation reduces the need for human labor, questions arise about economic sustainability, equity, and the role of higher education. With AI systems becoming deeply integrated into daily life, their impact on work and human agency will be profound. Gain insights into these shifts and their potential implications for the future.” I also think (ideas from Stephen Downes and George Siemens) that the most important thing we can do is prepare the students to manage technological change: the AI we are working with today is not the AI of tomorrow. Brianna Rockenstire from Bellevue and Jill Donnelly from Renton Tech also provided perspective on this – I am glad that technical colleges were well represented. <\/p>\n
I did a presentation (below) on Ethics and Data Privacy later that morning.<\/p>\n
All in all, I made some great connections (and reconnections) and some great conversations later in the afternoon. It was a testament to the conference with how many were there at the end of the day!<\/p>\n
I don’t think anyone mentioned Canvas! Tomorrow is on accessibility so I am sure Canvas will definitely come up. <\/p>\n