In a welcome to convention attendees, Forum president & CEO, Melissa Torres mirrored that the 2024 conference permits “the opportunity to commemorate and recognise the robust learning and strong connections that have been made over the past two decades”.
“It’s also a chance to collaborate to set the direction for the next 20 years of the field of international education,” she stated.
To honour its dedication to entry and sustainability, the Forum introduced a hybrid convention, with periods supplied each in-person and on-line. With over 90 periods mixed, the occasion hosted greater than any previous Forum assembly.
During each the digital and in-person parts of the occasion, finest practices in AI took centre stage.
Assistant director of study abroad at Salve Regina University, Joe Meringolo, polled attendees to search out that 60% of the 90 attendees shared that they’d newbie degree or no expertise with ChatGPT.
While synthetic intelligence and lots of of its standard platforms equivalent to ChatGPT proceed to rapidly evolve, Meringolo believes it’s important that conversations evolve alongside the know-how.
“Although I consider myself to be a technology and systems enthusiast in international education, I recognise the spectrum of conversations may involve enthusiasm, hesitancy and scepticism,” Meringolo instructed The PIE.
“All these feelings are valid and all of us in the field need to do our best to recognise both the upside and the potential challenges related to this technology and its connection to international experiential learning.”
Meringolo stated practitioners should acknowledge that the facility of this platform is right here and we discover a approach to leverage its energy or a minimum of coexist with it.
In one other AI session, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore study abroad coordinator Marketa Lepicovsky shared her analysis on utilizing AI to create schooling abroad prediction fashions, assigning the highest phrase classes that finest predict faculty-led program success.
Her analysis additionally considerations increasing using textual content evaluation to guage pupil outcomes.
Lepicovsky instructed The PIE, “Words are a powerful communication tool but we need to make sure we fill them with the same meaning or they can create big cultural gaps.”
During an modern and full of life closing ceremony, government director and SVP at AIFS Abroad, Emily Merson led an influence panel on collective management together with colleagues from AIFS and throughout the sector Kyle Rausch, Christina Thompson, Kelly Holland and Martha Johnson.
“Post pandemic, it is time for global education to take its place as a powerful force for good in the world and that can only be achieved if we work together as a collective – addressing the challenges that can only be solved together,” Merson instructed The PIE.
She added that the Forum’s 20th anniversary was “a time to turn the page for our field and to look forward with optimism and courage and to leave the trauma of the pandemic behind us”.
“I wanted to create an experience that empowered and celebrated our achievements and inspired innovation focused on our potential for global good,” she stated.
“It is time for global education to take its place as a powerful force for good in the world”
Speaking to The PIE in regards to the hybrid format, The Forum’s government director of coaching, packages and companies, Marissa Lombardi stated it had been designed to “maximise inclusion and our commitment to sustainability”.
Zac Macinnes, affiliate vice chairman of campus partnerships at WorldStrides, who introduced a digital session earlier this month on navigating a profession path in schooling abroad, stated it allowed for “an extremely rich dialogue”.
“It can feel easier and less intimidating to network with colleagues in a virtual format compared to in person,” Macinnes stated.
Likewise, John Lucas president and CEO of ISEP and chair of the Forum’s board of administrators instructed The PIE, “The Forum is one of the few, if not the only, organisations that still maintains a virtual component of the conference”.
“My sense in talking to participants is that this really does facilitate increased access to the content especially for young professionals.”
Next 12 months’s convention will happen at The Sheraton Centre Toronto March 19-25, 2025.
