Speakers at CanvasCon Philippines 2024 emphasized the importance of lifelong learning for preparing Filipinos for the future.
It is an annual event for the education community from Instructure, the leading learning ecosystem. Also, the company created the Canvas Learning Management System, which many PH schools use.
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The conference various education and tech experts and speakers from local universities like De La Salle University and the University of Sto. Tomas.
Insights from CanvasCon PH 2024
The first speaker was Martin Bean CBE, a professor at the University of New South Wales and CEO of The Bean Center. He emphasized the global challenges of skills mismatch, deficit, and redundancy.
AI advances will render many job roles obsolete. In response, institutions must provide lifelong learning opportunities to prepare students and workers for the ever-evolving job market.
“Across the globe, including in the Philippines, the value of traditional university degrees is being questioned as technological innovation outpaces the relevance of existing qualifications,” explained Professor Bean.
The professor stated that lifelong learning will become more important as AI will impact 55% of future roles.
Ryan Lufkin, Instructure’s Vice President of Global Academic Strategy, spoke about the best educational technology (EdTech) strategies for enhanced learning and AI literacy.
“The more we help overcome the fear of AI, the more empowered we become to embrace these tools,” stated Lufkin.
“This helps develop a key skill in AI literacy, the ability to critically evaluate AI tools and understand which ones are appropriate for student needs.”
He also showed data from the Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey 2024.
It reveals that 58% of students feel they lack enough AI skills and knowledge. Moreover, 72% agree that universities should offer more AI courses in their curriculums.
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CanvasCon PH 2024 also featured speakers from local universities that use Canvas LMS:
- De La Salle University
- The University of Sto. Tomas
- Ateneo de Manila University
- University of the East
- Holy Angel University
- CIIT College of Arts and Technology
They shared how they use the platform to enhance faculty development and adjust learning strategies for diverse student needs.
The Philippines, lifelong learning, and AI
The Inquirer had an interview with Martin Bean and Ryan Lufkin after their CanvasCon PH 2024 speeches. They discussed how the Philippines can start adopting artificial intelligence.
“The first thing is to recognize that a very, very large percentage of the population is already using it,” Professor Bean said.
“It can actually help the human, help people become more productive, save time, and unlock creativity.”
“Number two is that universities, schools, governments, parents, people of all types have really open conversations with each other around where it can really be fantastic and create a lot of opportunity.”
Bean explained that this phenomenon makes universities more important than ever:
“Societies need universities because they, increasingly, are a source of truth, trust, and confidence.”
Then, the interviewer asked how educational institutions can regain trust as more people worldwide avoid college degrees.
In response, Ryan Lufkin cited an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education from January 2020.
“Students are going to school to get jobs,” the article allegedly stated.
“I was like, it’s 2020. Do universities not really know that’s why students are going?”
“The vast majority of people go to university to get jobs,” Lufkin noted. Then, he affirmed that Professor Bean’s skills-based lifelong learning will help people regain trust in higher education.
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“That’s how we build trust. We say, ‘Look, you’re getting these skills, they map to these jobs, [and] we are preparing you for the future in ways you’re not racking debt without a tangible outcome.”
Martin Bean emphasized universities must ensure graduates leave with soft skills or “human skills” that will become more valuable in our AI future.