GRADE 2025: Gothenburg

GRADE-research Consortium Symposium – May 7–8, Gothenburg

The GRADE Research Consortium will meet in Gothenburg on May 7–8, 2025, for a symposium focusing on inspiring future research on the connection between grand challenges in education and learning, and digital technologies.

The goal of the meeting is to formulate our grand challenges—what we should or could do to address them, as well as how we might organize our efforts. We will explore these questions through a combination of individual and collective activities, inspired by engaging speakers. You can find the program for the symposium below, or click here for the PhD/alumni or the Symposium program.

The outcomes of these two days will guide future:

Symposium themes
PhD courses
Invited guests
Research visits to other environments
A special issue on GRADE and grand challenges

The material developed will serve as a shared resource for all participants in future writing, applications, and related work.

Questions or practical concerns? Feel free to contact the symposium organiser:
Marcus Kristensen, firstname.lastname@ait.gu.se

Program

May 6th

You can find the full program for the PhD/Alumni event here. Please read the following literature beforehand: Hrastinski et. al. - 2019 - Critical Imaginaries and Reflections on Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Postdigital K-12 Education

12.45 PhD/Alumni-specific event, starting with lunch (Archie's, ground floor)

13.45 Welcome and introduction (Caspar Ghost, 3rd floor)

14.00 Preparation group work

15.00 Fika and group check-in

15.15 Seminar - Hot seat discussion

17.15 Group reflection

20.30 Evening Dinner (Gogogaga, 26th floor)

May 7th (Parhelion, 24th floor)

You can find the full symposium program here.

Theme for the morning: Grand Challenges - The symposium responds to recent evaluations (Swedish Research Council) identifying a lack of research beyond limited empirical, descriptive, and evaluative studies. To be relevant, we need research that addresses Grand Challenges.

09.00 Introduction and a silent minute / in memoriam: Lars

09.15 Keynote - Gerhard Fischer (University of Colorado Boulder)

09:45 Postcard from the future of GRADE

10.30 Fika and group check-in

11.00 Brainstorming

12.00 Virtual 'gallery walk'

12.30 Wrap-up and discussion of brainstorming

13.00 Lunch (Archie's, ground floor)

Theme for the afternoon: Grand Challenges - Continuing the Collective Conversation

14.00 Grand Challenges - As formulated by GRADE-alumni and PhD-students - coordinated by Charlotte Arkenback-Sundström

14.30 Sorting, grouping and naming

15.15 Fika

15.45 Grand Challenges - As formulated by the GRADE-board - Johan Lundin, Lena Pareto, Stefan Hrastinski & Ylva Lindberg

16.15 Plenary discussion of Grand Challenges raised during the day

17.00 Crowdsourcing written reflections on Grand Challenges

17.30 Free time

20.00 Dinner (Archie's, ground floor)

May 8th (Parhelion, 24th floor)

Theme for the day: Approaches- The symposium will build on our work to formulate Grand Challenges and develop approaches for addressing them through our research.

09.00 Keynote - Jo Tondeur (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

09.30 Selecting Grand Challenges to work with

10.45 Fika

11.15 Formulating Grand Challenge approaches

12.00 Presentation of Grand Challenges/Approaches

12.50 Wrap-up

13.00 Lunch - End of symposium (Archie's, ground floor)

Keynote: Gerhard Fischer,
University of Colorado Boulder

Design Implications Addressing Grand Challenges for Rethinking Learning, Teaching, and Collaborating in the Age of AI
Grand Challenges are ambitious, complex, urgent, and socially significant problems that require collaborative, interdisciplinary, and long-term efforts to solve. They have transformative potential to yield systemic change and innovation and have been articulated and explored in many disciplines (including health, environment, democracy; a specific example being the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations).

My remarks will be focused on Grand Challenges for “Rethinking Learning, Teaching, and Collaborating". I will

Identify problems (e.g.: wicked problems, Rethinking Education in the AI Age) that require grand challenge approaches and
Describe specific contexts illustrating their potential (e.g.: quality of life, lifelong learning, meta-design, critical thinking) and their pitfalls e.g.: being too vague, overemphasizing technical solutions).

I will describe design implications and actionable design principles that can contribute and inspire future research directions of the GRADE Research Consortium.

Keynote: Jo Tondeur,
Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Teachers and Machines: Is Something New Happening
In the fast-evolving landscape of educational technology, the introduction of new artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked both excitement and concern. This keynote explores the interaction between teachers and AI advancements, focusing not only on the feasibility of these tools but also on the broader context, vision, and strategic planning required for their meaningful integration into future educational practice. The talk aims to provide a perspective that empowers teachers in selecting and implementing AI-enabled technologies.

Grand Challenges – Perspectives from PhD Students, Alumni, and Board Members

PhD Students and Alumni Insight
Coordinator: Charlotte Arkenback-Sundström

Panel Discussion with the GRADE Board
The panelists will deliberate and discuss ways forward, highlighting innovative approaches and collaborative strategies

Panelists: Johan Lundin, Lena Pareto, Stefan Hrastinski & Ylva Lindberg

Location

The GRADE Research Consortium Symposium will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, with both accommodation and the event itself taking place at Jacy’z Hotel & Resort, located at Drakegatan 10, 412 50 Göteborg.

The hotel is approximately a 20-minute walk from Gothenburg Central Station. For those using public transport (Västtrafik), you can take the following options from Drottningtorget (just outside the Central Station):

Tram 1 to Ullevi norra (approx. 700 meters from the hotel)

Tram 2 or 3 to Ullevi södra (approx. 700 meters from the hotel)

Bus 60 to Ullevi norra (approx. 550 meters from the hotel)

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