Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 8th Oct 2025, 03:28:39pm IST

 
 
Session Overview
Session
Import to your local calendar
Keynote - Professor Ale Armellini: Beyond the myth of future-proofing: engaging students for uncertain futures
Time:
Friday, 30/May/2025:
9:30am - 10:30am

Session Chair: Dr Eamon Costello, Dublin City University
 Location: Auditorium

Main Building, SETU Main Campus, Waterford

Higher education is frequently challenged to "future-proof" its practices. Yet, the very concept may mislead institutions, educators and students. In this keynote, I argue that future-proofing is not only a fallacy but a distraction from our common goal: fostering and sustaining student engagement through active, resilient and creative pedagogic practices. Engagement, I propose, is best understood as a sustained cycle of initiative, purpose, action, reflection, responsiveness and resilience. Generative AI has made the future-proofing fallacy even more evident.


I will explore what "learning in a modern university" should feel like: a transformative process where students engage with complex problems and tools, take ownership of new ideas, critique and apply knowledge in diverse, inclusive environments. Whether synchronously or asynchronously, individually or collaboratively, on- or off-campus, learning must transcend content delivery and become a co-created, reflective journey - empowered by a new toolkit we did not imagine only a few years ago. 


Session Abstract

Higher education is frequently challenged to "future-proof" its practices. Yet, the very concept may mislead institutions, educators and students. In this keynote, I argue that future-proofing is not only a fallacy but a distraction from our common goal: fostering and sustaining student engagement through active, resilient and creative pedagogic practices. Engagement, I propose, is best understood as a sustained cycle of initiative, purpose, action, reflection, responsiveness and resilience. Generative AI has made the future-proofing fallacy even more evident.


I will explore what "learning in a modern university" should feel like: a transformative process where students engage with complex problems and tools, take ownership of new ideas, critique and apply knowledge in diverse, inclusive environments. Whether synchronously or asynchronously, individually or collaboratively, on- or off-campus, learning must transcend content delivery and become a co-created, reflective journey - empowered by a new toolkit we did not imagine only a few years ago.