Mid Sweden University

The rapid development of tools and techniques in the field of Generative AI (GenAI) has affected many sectors. One of these sectors is definitely education, where teaching, learning, assessment, curricula and policy document need to be revised and updated. Many research studies also highlight the necessity for teacher professional development regarding Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED), as AIED is also a field under constant development and will need continuous upskilling during the coming years. There are now teacher training courses in fundamental AIED available, and more are under development. There seems to be a consensus regarding what an introduction course in AIED should comprise, but not regarding which topics continuation courses should follow-up related to continuous lifelong learning. With the heutagogical idea of asking the learners about what to learn, this question was posted to participants in a course on fundamental AIED. In a discussion forum, course participants gave their suggestions and commented on other course participants' postings. Moreover, the forum postings were supplemented with suggestions and comments from email conversations between the authors and course participants. According to the concept of Open Coding, forum postings and email conversations were analysed and divided into the categories of: AI didactics, GenAI tools for teaching, Prompt engineering, Audio generation and Voice cloning, Customisation of AI models, AI and disinformation, Applicable takeaways and AI sustainability and ethics. All of the categories were found to be relevant in a second Axial coding reanalysis. The category Applicable takeaways was found to be the axial category that ties all of the categories together for a meaningful course design. The conclusion is that a continuation course, as in introductory courses on AIED, must contain both theoretical parts with themes such as AI sustainability and ethics, but also concrete applications such as AI didactics to fulfil the aim of Applicable takeaways. Finally, it could be difficult to involve all the categories in just one or two continuation courses. However, as mentioned earlier, AIED should to be seen as continuous lifelong learning.          

In the current Artificial Intelligence (AI) spring, the rapid development affects different areas differently, and the same is true for professional development on AI. In some areas there is a need for a narrow and specialised training on specific AI tools and techniques. Regarding artificial intelligence in education (AIED), several research studies have highlighted the need for a broader professional development that involves all teachers and instructional designers. This study has investigated the design and implementation of a 7.5 ECTS standalone distance course on AIED and its first preliminary evaluation. The course participant group consisted of a high percentage of fulltime working teachers with a clearly higher average age than most courses at a department of education. The aim of the study is to explore the course participants opinions and their feedback in the very first version of this course. With the idea of iterative design science research, the results from this study will be used for input for the updates and redesign of the next course versions. Data were collected in a mix of discussion fora postings, course webinars and the official course evaluation. Findings show that the heutagogical design approach was appreciated by the course participants. Solutions to several assignments could be seen as takeaways for further discussions on how to implement AIED in the course participants daily workplace activities. This also seems to be the case for course participants working in other professions such as journalists, lawyers and in digital media. What was appreciated most was the combination of concrete workshops, reflection essays and group discussions in course webinars. Regarding the assignments it was appreciated that it was clearly stated to what degree AI-tools were allowed in the creation of solutions. Areas of development could be found regarding the relatively high workload, and the problem of organising course participants in communities of practice for group work and the exchange of experiences. The conclusion is that the main course structure with the four sections of 1) Introduction and tool testing, 2) AI in Education, 3) Multimodal AI, and 4) Discussion webinars as knowledge cafés should be maintained, but that all sections should be revised and updated in the next course version.           

Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications have the potential to transform personal, social, and professional activities, including education. Education spans various sectors: K-12, higher education, lifelong learning, and workplace training. It intersects with other fields that are deeply involved in AI research and study. According to published literature, AI in education encompasses both the use of AI to enhance learning experiences and training on the broad applications of traditional and generative AI. In summary, appropriate education on the application of AI across fields and disciplines is essential.

A Master of Education credit-based seminar course was offered online at a large, publicly-funded university in North America. Participants engaged with scholarly readings, discussions, presentations, and written assignments. Their essays covered topics such as instructor support for and with AI, AI-generated images and audio in universal design for learning, and AI for language learning. At the course's completion, participants reported a clearer vision of AI tool use in the classroom and strategies for overcoming potential disruptions or losses.

In connection with this course, an open, nationwide distance course was offered at a publicly funded university in Sweden: "Artificial Intelligence - Theories and Applications for Education and Work-life," a 7.5 ECTS introductory course. The course comprised four main sections: 1) The history of Artificial Intelligence, 2) Artificial Intelligence in education, 3) Multimodal AI, and 4) Discussion webinars as knowledge cafés. Participant essays covered topics such as guidelines for AI use in different educational contexts, assessment and detection software, ethical aspects of AI-generated images, and a SWOT analysis of AI in education. Preliminary course evaluations indicated that the mix of AI theory and practical applications was appreciated, but group work and the concept of communities of practice were challenging to establish in an online course with many participants working full-time. The needs of adult learners studying at a distance remain the same when using and studying AI.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshapes education, professional development (PD) must go beyond tool training to foster critical, meaningful integration. Initial PD should introduce AI’s uses and challenges, but also address the impact on teaching and learning. This paper explores and reflects upon Phase II of the FAITH project, a transatlantic design-based initiative developing an AI and Education (AI&ED) model for higher education. Effective AI pedagogy is grounded in socially constructed, hands-on experiences where educators design lessons, generate content, and critically assess AI outputs. Such approaches build confidence, competence, and prevent mechanical adoption. Leadership and policy must further support a dual PD strategy: immediate classroom applications alongside preparation for broader societal shifts. Early FAITH findings show introductory courses spark essential dialogue, but PD must remain dynamic, ethical, and intentional. Phase II combines theoretical exploration (e.g., sustainability, ethics) with context-relevant practice. Ultimately, AI&ED should be understood as a lifelong professional learning journey.

In the current discussion on the reformation of higher education for continuous lifelong learning, there are several reports on the importance of opening up higher education. As highlighted by lifelong and work-integrated learning this is one of the main challenges in the rapidly growing knowledge society, where the Corona pandemic has acted as a catalyst for technology enhancement. One often-mentioned idea is that of work-integrated learning and to practice what is preached inside the university. Other emphasised ideas are flexibility, continuity, and the possibility to study anywhere and anytime (Rientes et al., 2023). However, there is no consensus on how professional development in higher education should be redesigned to best support continuous professional development. This study is part of the third phase in a modified four-phase Delphi study (Mozelius et al., 2023), building on suggestions by a global panel of experienced researchers in the field of lifelong learning. After a survey in the first phase, and a reading assignment in the second phase, data has been collected by structured interviews. Interview questions were partly created around the themes in the survey answers and the themes in the reading assignment literature.

The aim of the study is to analyse and discuss the Delphi expert panels' views on the need for reformation for quality lifelong learning in higher education. The research question that guided the study was: "What are the experts’ suggestions for a redesign of higher education to create conditions for continuous lifelong learning?”

Interview answers have been analysed according to the Grounded theory methods of Open coding and Axial Coding. In the initial Open coding phase, the focus was more on a general reformation of higher education for lifelong learning. Preliminary categories in the Open coding phase were later aggregated into 1) ' Digital literacy' 2) 'Multi-modal learning delivery' 3) 'Infrastructure' with the subcategories, 4) 'Quality considerations', 5) 'Pedagogical change', 6) 'Continuous lifelong learning', 7) 'Accessibility', 8) 'Equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI)' and finally, 9) Miscellaneous with the subcategories of 'Economy', 'Financial aspects' and 'The Corona pandemic'.

In the Axial coding phase, the same data were reanalysed with 6) 'Continuous lifelong learning' ' as the central or axial category. Other important supporting categories in this study were found to be: 'Infrastructure', 'Pedagogical change and multimodality', 'Accessibility', and 'Financial aspects'. All of these categories, based on the experts’ views, warrant deeper study for insight into possible formation of higher education. More research is needed to understand these crucial aspects of continuous professional development inside and outside of the university.

In the knowledge society today, there is a strong need for providing continuous lifelong learning opportunities. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for technology enhanced learning, involving new challenges for higher education. The main focus for this study has been the ongoing reform of higher education for providing lifelong learning opportunities. This study is the second phase of a Delphi study on higher education reform. Data were gathered by email interviews with an expert panel, where all respondents have genuine knowledge in the field of technology enhanced lifelong learning. The interview answers were analysed according to the Grounded Theory concepts of open coding and axial coding.   The central main category for the axial coding was ‘Higher education reform for the provision of lifelong learning opportunities. This category was later found to be dependent on ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Multimodal delivery’, ‘Pedagogical change’, ‘Financial aspects’, and ‘Quality and organisation’, ‘Digital literacy’, ‘Accessibility’, and ‘Equity, diversity and inclusion’.

In the current spring of Artificial Intelligence, the rapid development of Generative AI (GenAI) has initiated vivid discussions in higher education. Opportunities as well as challenges have been identified and to cope with this new situation there is a need for a large-scale teacher professional development. With basic skills about GenAI teachers could use the new technology as an extension of the existing technology enhanced teaching and learning. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the project FAITH (Frontline Application of AI and Technology-enhanced Learning for Transforming Higher Education). FAITH is a higher education pedagogical development initiative for institutional development for teachers with good fundamental skills in traditional pedagogy. A project with the overall objective of increasing the staff understanding of AI and to develop new competencies in the field of GenAI and technology enhanced learning. The research question that guided this study was: "What are the perceived opportunities, challenges and expectations of involving GenAI in higher education?" The overall research strategy for the FAITH project is design-based research, which involves iterative and cumulative development processes. In the early iteration that this study was a part of has been carried out inspired by Collective Autoethnography where members of the steering group behind the FAITH project, and members of the project team have constituted the main focus group. Data were collected by structured interviews where two GenAI tools also have been interviewed. Findings show that the expectations are high, but that the FAITH ambition of institutional development is depending on teachers’ motivation for taking an active part in the project. Another challenge could be that many teachers see GenAI as something that threatens the current course design, and that a general ban of GenAI is the appropriate solution. One of, several identified opportunities, is that a general revision of syllabi and assessment in an adaptation for GenAI enhanced learning would improve the current course design.

Det finns ett behov av kontinuerlig kompetensförstärkning och här spelar högre utbildning en viktig roll. Medan de traditionella universitetsutbildningarna ofta är utformade för studenter i tjugoårsåldern, kräver dagens kunskapssamhälle ett livslångt lärande för ett vidare åldersspann. Utifrån denna utgångspunkt genomförde Peter Mozelius, Marcia Håkansson Lindqvist och Jimmy Jaldemark vid CER, tillsammans med Martha Cleveland-Innes vid Athabasca University i Kanada, en studie där resultat från enkäter och intervjuer med en internationell expertgrupp indikerar en rad olika förändringsbehov. I denna kortrapport presenteras de aspekter som framkom i form av en konceptuell modell. Forskningsresultaten har tidigare presenterats vid två internationella konferenser: “Digging deeper with Delphi: The four step Alberta approach” (Mozelius, Cleveland-Innes, Håkansson Lindqvist och Jaldemark 2023a) och “The transition of higher education for continuous lifelong learning: Expert views on the need for a new infrastructure” (Mozelius, Cleveland-Innes, Håkansson Lindqvist och Jaldemark 2023b) samt i tidskriftsartikeln ”Critical aspects of a higher education reform for continuous lifelong learning opportunities in a digital era” (Mozelius, Cleveland-Innes, Håkansson Lindqvist och Jaldemark 2024).

In the current spring of Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI is purported to affect many areas, including higher education. To cope with this new situation there is a large-scale need for teacher professional development. The project FAITH (Frontline Application of AI and Technology-enhanced Learning for Transforming Higher Education) is a higher education pedagogical development project that aims to develop institutional teaching development and education programs further. Using AI and technology-enhanced learning, teachers in higher education will work and develop programmes which are adapted to work and study in a highly communicative, cloud-based, mobile and smart AI-based society.

The project has the following objectives: To take advantage of ongoing higher education pedagogical development initiatives within the university; To harness the power and benefits of already established models and teams, and to develop professional knowledge through new higher education pedagogy; and To increase staff understanding and competence in AI and technology-enhanced learning.

FAITH is based on design-based research, which involves iterative and cumulative development processes. The project will be implemented during 2024-2026. FAITH consists of three phases: preparation, implementation and evaluation. In the preparation phase, the project is planned in detail. A steering group is formed and a project team is created. In this phase, these groups are responsible for the staffing and scheduling of FAITH, including the development of a plan for the competence development action. Program managers have a primary responsibility for the pedagogical development of their respective programs. Therefore, they have a prominent role in the FAITH project group. The implementation phase includes training of teams, pedagogical development work and seminar activities. The focus is on the impact of technological development on higher education studies and its content and form. In the final evaluation phase, the experiences are compiled and, based on the conclusions drawn, proposals for further development are drawn up.

This paper presents an update of the FAITH project, including ongoing and planned processes within the project. This includes insights in the FAITH project as a model for pedagogical applications of AI and technology-enhanced learning in the context of higher education.

In the ongoing shift to a knowledge society, the idea of a technology-enabled lifelong learning has frequently been discussed. The shift also requires a transformation of higher education with new forms for teaching and learning deployment. This ongoing transformation was formulated in a research question that has guided this study: 1) Which key themes of lifelong learning emerge from higher education literature? This study was carried out as a scoping literature review to map literature in the field. Findings from a thematic analysis pointed out seven main themes or perspectives: The Policy perspective, The Value perspective, The Employability perspective, The Reform perspective, The Collaborative perspective, The Student perspective and The Workplace learning and Professional development perspectives. Five publications of the 26 selected publications from the literature search will be further used and analysed as part of a Delphi study. This Delphi study will involve a group of leading researchers in the field of lifelong learning as an expert panel to further explore and expand the key themes of lifelong learning in higher education and digital trends in higher education reforms.