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
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)
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 - Jimmy Jaldemark, 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)
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)
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.
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.
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: Jimmy Jaldemark, Lena Pareto, Stefan Hrastinski & Ylva Lindberg
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)