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Keynote Speakers

International Conference on Open and Innovative Education Keynote Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Title: Insights from Systematic Reviews: Research and Practice in ODDE and AIEd

Olaf Zawacki-Richter
Professor of Educational Technology,
Director of Center for Open Education Research,
Director of Center for Lifelong Learning
University of Oldenburg, Germany
Olaf Zawacki-Richter is a professor of educational technology at the University of Oldenburg in Germany. He is the Director of the Center for Open Education Research (COER) and the Center for Lifelong Learning (C3L). For four years he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences (2021-25). Dr. Zawacki-Richter has over 25 years of professional experience in the field of open, distance, and digital education. He has authored around 200 publications and served as an invited keynote speaker, chair, and reviewer at many international conferences. Together with Professor Insung Jung (Japan, South Korea), he published the Handbook of Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE) in Springer's Major Reference Series (open access). His publications are available on GoogleScholar. Recently he launched a new diamond open access journal with an international team of scholars, the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education (JODDE).
Open, Distance and Digital Education (ODDE) has witnessed rapid evolution, necessitating a critical examination of its development and terminology. This keynote explores the role of systematic reviews in advancing this dynamic field of research and practice.
The presentation emphasizes the value of systematic reviews in synthesizing existing research, identifying knowledge gaps, and informing evidence-based practices within ODDE. It then delves into an umbrella review and quality assessment of systematic reviews with a focus on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED), highlighting key findings and trends.
Drawing upon insights from the first systematic review on AIEd in 2019, the keynote discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by integrating AIED into ODDE. It underscores the importance of engaging educators in the design and implementation of AIED solutions.
Furthermore, the keynote presents a study investigating the development of pedagogical scenarios for AIED through collaboration with faculty members. This qualitative and quantitative study provides valuable insights into educators’ perspectives and concerns regarding AIED application.
The presentation concludes by discussing the implications of this research for the broader landscape of ODDE.

Title: Generative Online Course: An Innovation in Theory & Practice for Adult Education in the Age of AI

Chen Li 
Professor
Former Vice President of Beijing Normal University
Vice President of China Association for Educational Technology (CAET) 
Prof Li Chen is a PhD supervisor at Beijing Normal University, of which she was the former Vice President. She is also serving as the Vice President of China Association for Educational Technology, CAET. She leads the master's program and PhD program on Online Education in Beijing Normal University. Her research mainly focuses on Big Data, Online Learning and AI in Education. She is deeply engaged in policy consulting in online education and lifelong learning.
The speech will present how generative online courses (GOCs) can provide more valuable content to adults. GOCs are a new type of online course that is based on the Regressive View of Knowledge and Connectivism. GOCs are a new type of online course, which is based on the Regressive View of Knowledge and Connectivism. Generative online course is a knowledge community, not knowledge transfer activity, which is focusing on production and sharing of practical knowledge instead of theory. The speaker has been devoted to the research of GOCs for 8 years with a team from Beijing Normal University. The team developed a third-generation online platform, which has offered more than 10 pilot courses of GOCs in Mainland of China. The speech will present the theory, the practices, and findings from the date of pilot courses. The speaker will emphasize that traditional courses are not good at delivering practical knowledge, which is the key nutrients for adult. The online space and AI support the production and dissemination of practical knowledge by GOCs, which is a historical opportunity for adult education in the age of AI.

Title: Transdisciplinarity: Knowing for the Future

Kate Maguire
Professor
Head of the Transdiscsiplinary Doctoral Programmes
Middlesex University
Professor Kate Maguire is head of the transdiscsiplinary doctoral programmes at Middlesex University in London. Her formative grounding, in knowledge and practice, is in political anthropology of the Middle East and trauma psychology for survivors of conflict. She is also a recipient of the Beacon award for services to community initiatives. She has been an adviser to the foreign affairs committee during past conflicts in the Middle East and was with Doctors without Borders for 10 years. In the last 12 years she has worked with colleagues to design, implement and establish a reputation for the inclusion of transdisciplinarity in higher education as a way to approach futures that encompasses all dimensions of the human being in balance. She does not engage in social media but prefers the quiet approach to facilitating critique in individuals who are in roles that can influence change in themselves and others through transdisciplinary thinking, complexity learning and attributes of the knowing practitioner.
Several higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are noted for their commitment to and campaigning for the introduction of work based learning into universities in the 1990s. Middlesex University in London was at the forefront of this professional educational initiative and the recipient of the Queens medal for innovation in this space. In these last years of turbulence and declining incomes for UK universities, we still cherish innovative ways of professional engagement and recognise, through that experience of the past, that professional engagement should not be solely transactional and transmissional, but a relationship of equals between professional practice knowing and academic knowledge. Professional knowing is more agile, adaptive, innovative and faster than many universities are, raising the question of the present and future purpose of a university. The corporate world perceives complexity, navigates complexity but does not always know complexity and therefore, can become entangled in its nature. We need to re-balance the dominant focus on knowledge and doing with the qualities of being that inform doing. This is not a philosophical fantasy that goes against the current trend of the politics of transactional futures. On the contrary, it is a response to leadership in a polycrisis world of reactive strategy instead of proactive growth, and attention to what one is intent on growing. Eight years ago, at doctoral level in the faculty of business and law, we made a shift from work based learning to trandisciplinary leadership development and practices to better reflect and respond to the complexities of everyday professional challenges. The purpose of this paper is to share with you why our 2-year doctoral programme for leaders, who already have significant portfolios of achievements, has made an impact. Through various means we immerse these trans – sector leaders in discourses and dialogues on transdisciplinarity, complexity learning, futures literacy and expanded literature, and why top tier leaders are increasingly drawn to the qualities of being that can perceive things differently and therefore see different things. It challenges inherited assumptions and releases inhibited creativity resulting in new products and outcomes, from publications to policies, to new, practice based concepts and workable frameworks. 85% of current candidates come in by recommendation and include global strategists, military trainers, cybersecurity leads, global CEOs, chair of UNESCO futures and Judge Business School, Cambridge University faculty to name a few. Fundamentally, the programme provokes thought, evokes senses and invokes old and new values and purpose. Education has two roots in Latin, 'educare' which means to train and mould, and 'educere' meaning to lead out of darkness or out of not knowing. The key obstacle to balancing knowing and knowledge is perhaps ourselves.

Title: Equipping World Ready Graduates: The T-Shaped Student, Work-Integrated Learning, and SoTL as Keys to Success

Michelle J. Eady
Professor
School of Education, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Wollongong
Dr Michelle J. Eady is a Professor in the School of Education, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is a Fellow of both the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) and The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISSOTL), and holds a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). Michelle, is a current Fulbright Scholar (2025), the past-president of ISSOTL, and holds an Australian national teaching citation for her work in quality teacher preparation. Her research interests include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Work integrated learning (WIL), Indigenous Studies and current issues in Education. She looks forward to making human connections with others who are passionate about Teaching and Learning!
Educators, academic leaders, researchers, and administrators, or anyone in higher education (HE) who balances these roles — face a pressing challenge: preparing students to be active, engaged members of society. How often have we heard that our teaching approaches were “ahead of their time”? Many educators, passionate about student learning, have been pushing for improvements that HE has not been fully ready for, but now urgently needs. Bass and Good (2004) asked 20 years ago whether we could balance subject knowledge with real-world readiness. In this keynote, I argue that the need for this balance in HE, between being a place for deep learning and one for preparing students for the future, has never been more crucial. In a world reshaped by the pandemic, universities must now address not only students' academic growth but also their development as global citizens. We are now tasked with supporting students to not only master their disciplines but also gain vital skills like problem-solving, teamwork, personal well-being, and life management. These are cultivated through the thoughtful planning, design, execution, and critical reflection of our work as educators in HE. A critical factor in this work is that we also take the time to publish our pedagogies and learnings through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) portals. Sharing our important work is vital for others to follow our lead. Let's explore how those of us who take the less traditional path can make a significant impact on higher education today.

Title: A Critical Perspective on New Trends in Higher Education and Lifelong Learning

Katarina Popović
Secretary General of the International Council for Adult Education, United Nations
Professor, Department for Andragogy, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Katarina Popović, PhD, is a Professor of Adult Education at the Department of Andragogy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia, where she also serves as President of the Faculty Council. She is a researcher at the Institute for Pedagogy and Andragogy and a visiting professor at several universities abroad.
She holds the position of Secretary General of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), Vice President of the International Society of Comparative Adult Education, and President of the Serbian Adult Education Society. Additionally, she is Editor-in-Chief of Andragogical Studies and a member of the editorial boards of several other academic journals. Dr. Popović has authored numerous publications in the field of adult education and lifelong learning.
She is a certified adult education trainer (Swiss) with extensive experience conducting hundreds of training sessions worldwide. For many years, she served as Vice President of the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) and as Regional Coordinator for South East Europe at DVV International. In these roles, she participated in and coordinated numerous projects in adult education, lifelong learning, and vocational training, serving as a policy advisor, evaluator, curriculum developer, and trainer.
Dr. Popović frequently serves as a UNESCO expert and is a member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. Her work bridges research, policymaking, advocacy, and practical adult education.
Driven by her deep engagement in global adult education policy, she actively contributes to the monitoring and implementation of Agenda 2030 within the UN system. She serves as Co-Chair of the Education and Academia Stakeholder Group and is a member of the Steering Group of the MGoS HLPF Coordination Mechanism for UN DESA's Agenda 2030 monitoring.
Higher education and lifelong learning are undergoing profound transformations, shaped by trends that offer both opportunities and significant challenges. This keynote examines key developments: digitalisation, ICT, and AI; economisation, marketisation, and internationalisation; skills-oriented learning; and the changing landscape of academic autonomy.
Digitalisation, ICT, and AI are expanding access to education, enabling personalised learning, and fostering new pedagogical approaches. Online platforms and AI-driven tools increase flexibility and adaptation. However, these technologies also exacerbate digital inequalities, undermine social-emotional and embodied learning, and raise concerns about privacy, algorithmic bias, and the diminishing role of human educators and social interactions in education.
Economisation, marketisation, and internationalisation have enhanced institutional efficiency, fostered innovation, and diversified funding streams. Stronger ties with industry and entrepreneurship link education more closely to employment. However, financial sustainability often takes precedence over academic integrity, shifting decision-making from educators to market forces and positioning universities primarily as service providers to industry. Meanwhile, internationalisation, while fostering collaboration and mobility, risks deepening global inequalities, marginalizing diverse perspectives, and reinforcing English-language dominance at the expense of local knowledge systems.
Skills-oriented learning addresses evolving labor market demands by promoting reskilling and upskilling. Competency-based programs offer flexibility and accessibility. Yet, an exclusive focus on skills reduces education to immediate employability, neglecting broader intellectual, civic, and cultural dimensions. This reductive approach undermines holistic learning and obscures structural power dynamics within education.
The shifting landscape of academic autonomy reflects evolving governance models and interdisciplinary collaboration, often framed as innovation. However, growing economic pressures threaten independent research and critical inquiry. Bureaucratic control, financial dependencies, and ideological pressures, including the influence of woke ideology, reshape academic priorities, narrowing the space for academic rigor and critical debates. As universities increasingly cater to external demands, students are positioned as clients, and knowledge is shaped by market and ideological imperatives rather than scholarly inquiry.

Title: Debates, Experiences and Solutions of Using Generative AI for Learning and Teaching

Maiga Chang
Full Professor, Athabasca University
Honorary Chair Professor, Multidisciplinary Academic Research Center, Dong Hwa University
Professor Maiga Chang is a Full Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at Athabasca University, Canada. He is IEEE Senior Member. Professor Chang has been appointed as an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor for 2023 to 2025 and received Distinguished Researcher Award from Asia Pacific Society on Computers in Education (APSCE) in 2022. Professor Chang is now Vice President (2022~) of International Association of Smart Learning Environments (IASLE), Executive Committee member of Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (2017~2024, APSCE), Global Chinese Society for Computing in Education (2016~2025, GCSCE), and IEEE Computer Society Technical & Conference Activities Board. He is editors-in-chief (2019~) of Journal of Educational Technology & Society (Open Access SSCI), International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (Open Access ESCI, SCOPUS, EI), and Bulletin of Technical Committee on Learning Technology (Open Access ESCI). Professor Chang has given more than 155 talks and published more than 250 conference papers, journal papers, and book chapters.
While the generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) is now well-known and popular with the public, the dataset used for training the generative AI is currently too broad to be helpful for teaching and learning. Moreover, the dataset used for training the generative AI has not been entirely vetted by experts — for instance, 60% of the dataset used for training the ChatGPT model comes from the Internet directly. This has important, understudied implications for both educators and learners who might wish to use generative AI tools. I will start this talk by summarizing the opinions and perceptions that educationists and researchers have on ChatGPT's deficiencies, found failures, challenges and risks. I will explain and show audience in the second part of the talk how non-tech savvy teachers can also adopt and use ChatGPT in their courses to design and create pedagogical agent that helps their students learning and practicing. Last but not least, many teachers might have concerns about their students using ChatGPT to write assignments instead of doing so on their own. At the end of this talk. I will introduce our research group's latest research, Authorship Forensic, that can correctly distinguish the works generated by ChatGPT 3.5, ChatGPT 4, and human authors with high precision rate (i.e., not mis-pointing finger on human authors and incorrectly labelling their works as AI-written ones) 98.06% and F0.5 score 0.96 in our preliminary study.

Title: Distance Education Universities in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities

Rahmat Budiman
Vice Rector, Universitas Terbuka
Secretary-General of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU)
Rahmat Budiman started taking up his office as the Vice Rector for Institutional Development and Partnership Affairs of Universitas Terbuka (UT) since 2021. In addition to serving as the UT's Vice Rector, he is also concurrently serving as the Secretary-General of the AAOU.
As the Secretary-General of the AAOU, Dr Budiman is responsible for running the administrative, technical, financial and organization work of the association. Various initiatives and innovations have been introduced to foster distance learning. Recently, a book entitled Open and Distance Education in Asia was published as an initiative to show how distance teaching universities in Asia emerged, developed, and gained their reputations. As a distance teaching practitioner and enthusiast, he dedicates his research and teaching to develop and foster distance learning in Indonesia in particular and in Asia in general. His research interests include student services, teaching assistance, and distance language teaching. Several publications, including book chapters, proceedings, and journal articles have been published. The most recent articles published were “The digital literacy of first-year students and its function in an online method of delivery” (AAOU Journal in 2023) and “Self-efficacy of students taking the English Writing 3 course in an online learning setting” (Jurnal Pendidikan Terbuka dan Jarak Jauh, 2023). With his propositional knowledge and professional experience in distance learning, Rahmat Budiman continues to promote, thrive, and disseminate distance learning, both theories and practices.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the global trend towards distance learning, and Asia has witnessed a significant increase in the number of universities delivering their programs exclusively through distance education. This keynote speech will explore the factors driving this phenomenon and the implications for the future of higher education in Asia.
Starting with the data from an Asian Development Bank report, the speech will examine the rapid growth of distance education universities across Asia. It will then delve into the two key factors contributing to this trend: the pandemic's impact on the shift to remote learning and the regulatory changes in countries like Indonesia that have facilitated the establishment of distance education programs.
The presentation will also discuss the unique characteristics of Asia, such as its large and growing population and the concentration of the world's “mega-universities” in the region. These factors suggest that distance education will play an increasingly crucial role in providing access to higher education and meeting the demand for skilled labour.
Finally, the speech will address the critical question of quality in distance education. It will introduce three key initiatives to ensure the development of high-quality distance education institutions, including the establishment of an international accreditation system, the promotion of cross-border collaboration, and the creation of a dedicated world university ranking for distance education institutions.

Title: Learning analytics in the age of generative artificial intelligence

Dragan Gašević
Distinguished Professor of Learning Analytics
Director of Research in the Department of Human Centred Computing of the Faculty of Information Technology
Director of the Centre for Learning Analytics at Monash University
Dragan Gašević is Distinguished Professor of Learning Analytics and Director of Research in the Department of Human Centred Computing of the Faculty of Information Technology and the Director of the Centre for Learning Analytics at Monash University. Dragan's research interests center around data analytic, AI, and design methods that can advance understanding of self-regulated and collaborative learning. He is a founder and served as the President (2015-2017) of the Society for Learning Analytics Research. He has also held several honorary appointments in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. He is a recipient of the Life-time Member Award (2022) as the highest distinction of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) and a Distinguished Member (2022) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 2019-2022, he was recognized as the national field leader in educational technology in The Australian's Research Magazine that is published annually. He led the EU-funded SHEILA project that received the Best Research Project of the Year Award (2019) from the Association for Learning Technology.
Learning analytics is a well-established field that aims to make use of vast amounts of digital data to understand and enhance learning and teaching practices. The rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has sparked discussions about the synergy between GenAI and learning analytics. This talk will explore this synergy, specifically focusing on two areas. First, we will explore how GenAI creates a new education context. Learning analytics can offer valuable approaches to assess the effectiveness of GenAI in this new context. By leveraging learning analytics, we can ensure GenAI is utilized effectively in education. Second, we will investigate how GenAI technologies themselves can drive the development of even more powerful learning analytics. The talk will be grounded in findings from numerous empirical studies with direct implications for learning and teaching practice.
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