South East Technological University to host top names at Digital Education Conference

South East Technological University’s (SETU’s) inaugural Digital Education Conference (DEC) 2023 is set to take place over two days - Tuesday 12th December and Wednesday 13th December - at the O’Connell Bianconi Building, at SETU’s Cork Road Campus in Waterford. 

The conference brings educators, researchers, and industry professionals together to stimulate debate on innovative uses of technology in education.

'Among the topics to be discussed are digital education, digital pedagogies, teaching and learning online, instructional design, inclusive digital education, leading digital education, expected trends and dialogue on generative AI, and challenges and potential long-term implications of emerging technology for education, research, and industry.'

They will discuss developments of AI tool ChatGPT, 'to illuminate the transformative opportunities of education in society.'

Some top names in the industry will speakers at the conference including;

Dr Katriona O’Sullivan

• Senior Lecturer in the Assisting Living & Learning Institute, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
• Author of the bestselling Irish non-fiction book ‘Poor’
• Principal Investigator on the STEM Passport for Inclusion project (which recently featured on the RTÉ Changemaker series)

Dr Orna Farrell

• Associate Professor of Education at the Institute of Education at Dublin City University (DCU)
• Part of EDEN Digital Learning Europe
• Research centres around digital innovative pedagogy and includes online pedagogy, learning design, digital assessment, e-portfolio, and open education

Dr Daithí Ó Murchú

• International consultant and expert advisor in education, AI, sustainability citizenship, disruptive technologies
• Holds the diplomatic position of Honorary Consul for Côte d'Ivoire to Ireland

Grace O’Sullivan

• Green Party MEP
• Works as an environmental and peace activist, an environmental education specialist, and an ecologist
• Peace and environment activist within the political sphere
• Served three years as a Senator in the Irish Parliament
• Elected to the European Parliament in 2019

Panel sessions are also set to be delivered by Sean Aylward, Chair of the National Training Agency- SOLAS and of Waterford Community Safety Partnership, Ciara Ni Fhloinn, SOLAS Flexible Learning Manager, Dr Michael Hallissy, founding partner of H2 Learning, Dr Tom Farrelly of GASTA and Senior Lecturer Academic Developer with the N-TUTORR at MTU, Claire McGee, Head of Education and Innovation Policy with Ibec and Pierre Peiclier - VP, IT Architecture, Data & Strategy at Sun Life. 

Dr Zeta Dooly, Lecturer, Course Lead, and Researcher at SETU, commented on the upcoming conference, 'Whilst cognisant of the transformative nature of education we are posed to access knowledge easier now than ever before. However, we are also gatekeepers of emerging technology, thus responsible for the ethical standards maintained in our society.

'As we move from augmented intelligence to augmented wisdom in pursuit of phronesis I am confident that this conference will enable much dialogue and future planning on how emerging technology such as AI needs to develop in a human-centric, transparent, and trustworthy way.'