Annual Spring Teaching Symposium

Keynote Presentation: Building Student Agency & Belonging in an Age of AI

Description: In this complex and challenging era in higher education, how do we understand and navigate the forces attempting to shape learning and knowledge? And what are the uses and limitations of digital tools – including Generative AI – for building the sense of student belonging and agency so crucial for meaningful learning? This keynote will outline shifts in digital infrastructures over recent years, and how they have influenced educational priorities in ways that invite us to reimagine how technology can support creativity, connection, and growth. The talk will emphasize alternate pathways and approaches, rooted in participatory digital pedagogies and educational values, and share Dr. Stewart’s research and classroom practices for fostering agency, belonging, and critical digital literacies.

Dr. Bonnie Stewart is a longtime educator and digital researcher whose work in participatory learning has spanned all eras of the web. Associate Professor of Online Pedagogy and Workplace Learning at the University of Windsor, Canada, Bonnie explores the implications of digital information ecosystems for institutions and society. Bonnie was an early MOOC researcher and ethnographer of Twitter as an academic environment, and currently investigates what it means to know, to learn, and to belong – at the human level, with agency – in an era increasingly marked by digital automation.