2023 Conference | e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies Research Network

Sixteenth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Smart Education 4.0 Empowering Learners and Educators
13-14 April 2023
University of Malta, Malta + Online

CGScholar Event Microsite Conference proceedings

Smart Pedagogies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

We have in modern times experienced a series of socio-technical revolutions. On one count, after the industrial revolutions of steam, electricity, and digitization, we are now encountering a fourth revolution in which artificial intelligence will be central. World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab calls this Industry 4.0. However, much of what we do in education remains in older industrial models. Even digital learning frequently follows old models of curriculum delivery, instruction and assessment.

What will be the shape of Education 4.0? If industry 4.0 is characterized by smart technologies, what will smart pedagogies be like? Optimistically, these will take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution to enhance the effectiveness of e-learning, integrating of advanced technology to support innovative digital pedagogies that deepen learner engagement, provide on-the-fly feedback, and customize learning to align with the specific needs and interests of different learners. Education 4.0, it is optimistically argued, will support creativity, social presence, critical thinking, and participatory design within added-value learning spaces. These developments, however, are not without their dangers ranging from surveillance of students and teachers, privacy to learner profiling. They also come in the context of what has been termed “platform capitalism” where a handful of large corporations dominate the spaces of pedagogy and learning.

This conference sets out to take a balanced perspective, measuring potential progress in the era of Education 4.0 against its potential pitfalls and dangers.

The Sixteenth International Conference on e-Learning and Innovative Pedagogies featured plenary sessions by some of the world's leading thinkers and innovators in the field.

For each conference, a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards are given to outstanding graduate students and emerging scholars who have an active research interest in the conference themes. Emerging Scholars perform a critical role in the conference by chairing the parallel sessions, providing technical assistance in the sessions, and presenting their own research papers. The 2023 Emerging Scholar Award Recipients are as follows: