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:Education Futures Studio]

Policymaking

The Education Futures Studio also conducts policy-related activities focused upon emerging technologies in education. We are currently testing a collective policymaking process which spans diverse stakeholders, expertise, and governance scales. The aim of this ‘technical democracy’ inspired approach is to address the distributed tensions and possibilities of socio-technical controversies and systems in education to inform measured action.

Policymaking process

Reports

White papers

Briefs

Policymaking process

The participatory design and development of emerging technology policy and governance can be applied across Australian education contexts in multiple ways. This process requires collective learning and experimentation which draws upon diverse stakeholder scales and expertise: including teachers, parents, students, leaders, EdTech vendors, and policymakers.

Recognising that emerging technologies in education are distributed across multiple locations and jurisdictions is crucial to successful policy development and implementation in this area. Multidimensional and multi-scalar action is urgently needed which draws upon distributed policymaking experiences and builds stakeholder networks across policymaking scales: including classrooms, schools, organisations, and state, territory, and national jurisdictions.

Reports

Education, work and Australian society in AI world: A review of research literature and policy recommendations.

Authors: Gulson, K.N., Murphie, A., Taylor, S., & Sellar, S. (2018, updated 2022). https://www.gie.unsw.edu.au/research/education-work-and-australian-society-ai-world

This review looks at the ways we must entertain the possibility that in an AI world our conception of learning and education could change, as could our perception of the world and ourselves through our engagement with AI embedded in new media. This report tentatively considers these wider potential implications of AI for education where reasonable evidence is available. This report addresses three key questions and makes related recommendations: 1) What is education itself going to look like in an AI world?; 2) How do we prepare people to work in an AI world?; and 3) How do we prepare Australian society to adjust to an increasingly AI world?

White papers

Gulson, K., Thompson, G., Swist, T., Kitto, K., Rutkowski, L., Rutkowski, D., Hogan, A., Z hang, V., Knight, S. (2022). Automated Essay Scoring in Australian Schools: Key Issues and Recommendations (White Paper). Education Innovations White Paper Series ISSN 2653-6749. Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC), University of Sydney, Australia.

“This white paper outlines critical issues associated with the use of Automated Essay Scoring (AES) technology in the Australian education system. The key insights presented in this paper emerged from a collaborative, multi-stakeholder workshop held in July 2022 that explored an automated essay scoring trial and generated future possibilities aligned with participant interests and expertise. Drawing on the workshop and our expert understanding of the wider landscape, we propose recommendations that can be adopted by various stakeholders, schools, and educational systems.”

Briefs

Gulson, K., Thompson, G., Swist, T., Kitto, K., Rutkowski, L., Rutkowski, D., Hogan, A., Zhang, V., Knight, S. (2022). Automated Essay Scoring in Australian Schools: Collaborative Policymaking (Policy Brief). Education Innovations Policy Brief Series ISSN 2653-6757. Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC), University of Sydney, Australia.

“We encourage readers to consider how they can identify opportunities to propose, or implement, a particular collaborative policymaking idea. Actioning next steps include:

  1. Share this policy brief with your networks who would like to trial and test a particular collaborative policymaking idea.
  2. Connect with leaders who can allocate funding and resources to support implementation of a particular idea.
  3. Communicate your collaborative policymaking experience (successes and failures), from which others can learn.
  4. Build stakeholder networks across policymaking scales which can inform collective learning, experimentation, and action.

We hope you are inspired to explore collaborative policymaking. In doing so, the present and future uses of AES systems in Australia can be developed in the interests of diverse stakeholders.”