Privacy Preserving Technologies and AI in Education Forum

October 11, 2022 at the Georgetown University Law Center, 500 1st Street NW, Washington DC

PRESENTED BY

ABOUT THE FORUM

The Massive Data Institute at Georgetown University and DXtera Institute invite stakeholders from government, institutions, firms, foundations, and research in the K-12 and higher education spaces to an all-day intimate convening to discuss the state of privacy preserving technologies (PPTs) and artificial intelligence (AI) in education.

This event follows MDI’s recent report on PPT implementation in education agencies and postsecondary institutions, as well as the successful launch of the EdSAFE AI Alliance (ESAA). ESAA is a cross-sector partnership of companies, non-profit organizations, education regulators, and associations that aims to increase public trust in AI in the education sector by establishing voluntary benchmarks and standards to measure the quality of new AI for education technologies.

The collaboration between MDI and DXtera for this event sets the stage for a nuanced conversation on the information systems, data infrastructure, and research questions that education stakeholders need today to best provide for their learners.

FORUM DETAILS

The PPT and AI in Education Forum will be held at the Georgetown University Law Campus at 500 1st Street NW, Washington DC on October 11, 2022 from 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM. Select sessions will be offered virtually for those who cannot attend in person. The registration fee is $150. Contact Lauren Lopez (lauren@dxtera.org) if you need registration fee accommodations for your organization.

EVOLVING AGENDA

		8:30 am – 9:00 am
		Coffee & Breakfast
		9:00 am – 9:15 am
		Welcome Dale Allen, Ph.D., President & Co-Founder, DXtera Institute; Co-Founder, EdSAFE AI Alliance
		9:15 am – 10:00 am
		PPT and AI 101 Dr. Amy O’Hara, Research Professor, Massive Data Institute Jim Larimore, Chief Officer for Equity in Learning, Riiid Labs; Co-Founder, EdSAFE AI Alliance Privacy Preserving Technologies and Artificial Intelligence – What are they? What are common misconceptions about the two? How do we address existing challenges and public concerns surrounding them? Our speakers will discuss how current institutions and agencies are using these technologies and tools to improve student outcomes through deeper data insights and more efficient service delivery.
		10:00 am – 10:50 am
		Federal Agency and Foundation Perspectives Dr. Mark Schneider, Director, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education Kumar Garg, Vice President of Partnerships, Schmidt Futures Dr. Joshua Marland, Partnership Manager, Data Funders Collaborative Speakers will share perspectives on the state of privacy technology infrastructure at their organizations, current needs for advanced data sharing and mining using PPTs and/or AI for research and evaluation and operational tasks, and guidance they can provide for state and local agencies in implementing these technologies in their own institutions. The philanthropy community will also speak to what their organizations can do to support these efforts.
		10:50 am – 11:20 am
		Structured Networking To support the goals of the forum to increase collaboration from across the ecosystem, we have designed structured networking times to enable this interaction to occur. All participants will be encouraged to join specific conversations at tables based on topics of interest. Each table will have prompt questions.
		11:20 am – 12:20 pm
		Key Issues, Risks and Solutions Sara Kloek, Vice President, Education and Children’s Policy, SIIA Dr. Andrew Rice, CEO, Education Analytics Steve Smith, CIO, Cambridge (MA) Public Schools and Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community Susan Bearden, CETL, Director of Digital Programs, InnovateEDU Speakers will represent their segment of the ecosystem – ranging from the private sector, to a public school district, to state systems activity – to share perspectives on the key issues affecting them. Speakers will delve into the numerous topics, including the challenges and public concerns related to PPTs and AI and which solutions exist to solve these potential issues.
		12:20 pm – 1:15 pm
		Lunch
		1:15 pm – 1:45 pm
		International Perspectives Doug Casey, Executive Director, Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology; Chair of SETDA Dr. Borhene Chakroun, Deputy Director of Lifelong Learning, UNESCO (virtual) Dr. Manolis Mavrikis, Professor in AI and Analytics in Education, UCL Institute of Education, The University of Edinburgh; Turing Fellow, AIED (virtual) Panelists will share work related to policy and best practices to support the use of PPTs and AI in education abroad. This will include presentation of the Broadband Commission Data for Learning Working Group’s Interim Report findings and enable discussion for feedback.
		1:50 pm – 2:25 pm
		Research and Development Opportunities Jeff Merriman, CTO and Co-Founder, DXtera Institute Russell Shilling, Ph.D., Sr. Strategic Adviser, EdSAFE AI Alliance Rich Silva, Senior Director of Analytics & Technology Infrastructure, Bay Path University Massive Data Institute representative The research and development opportunities will be explored including topics such as the purpose of synthetic data, Open Authentic Data and open source infrastructure necessary to support research demands, and safe product development. Panelists will also explore R&D innovations in AI and analytics to support the education sector.
		2:25 pm – 2:55 pm
		Structured Networking
		3:00 pm – 3:45 pm
		Power and Potential of SAFE AI Beth Havinga, Managing Director, EdSAFE AI Alliance (virtual) Jon Medin, Vice President, Learning Sciences & Innovation, Renaissance Learning Dr. Jeremy Roschelle, Executive Director, Learning Sciences Research, Digital Promise Dr. Michelle Barrett, Vice President of Research and Learning Engineering, Edmentum Learn from panelists about the collective effort to create a global network of education data infrastructure leaders that are developing a safer, more equitable, and more trusted education ecosystem of AI innovation.
		3:45 pm – 4:00 pm
		Closing Remarks Jim Larimore, Chief Officer for Equity in Learning, Riiid Labs

SUGGESTED READINGS

In advance of the event, here are some suggested readings/viewings:

Massive Data Institute report: Privacy Preserving Technologies in Education (official writeup on McCourt School of Public Policy’s website)

U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) and Digital Promise Artificial Intelligence listening session recordings
DXtera and the OAD in ED Community response to IES RFI on the existence and use of large datasets to address education research questions.