Spotlight on AI at ‘Digital & Data Day’

“Artificial Intelligence is going to change everything, but it’s not going to change us,” said educator and historian Sir Anthony Seldon - one of the inspiring external keynote speakers - at Cambridge’s Digital & Data Day event on 12 March.

Julie Dennis, Chief Technology Officer, and John Rimell, Portfolio Office Director, opened the Digital & Data Day event
Julie Dennis, Chief Technology Officer, and John Rimell, Portfolio Office Director, opened the Digital & Data Day event

Sir Anthony Seldon spoke about the opportunities and challenges of generative AI in education in the opening keynote speech.
Sir Anthony Seldon spoke about the opportunities and challenges of generative AI in education in the opening keynote speech.

The event was an opportunity to share knowledge, innovations and inspiration in the digital and data space. The day consisted of over 50 talks from our own experts about various projects and initiatives happening across our organisation, as well as external keynote speakers from Epsom College, Ofqual, Microsoft, Amazon and Cognizant.

Colleagues joined in-person in our Cambridge and Manila offices and remotely from around the world.

Colleagues at our headquarters in Cambridge, UK
Colleagues at our headquarters in Cambridge, UK

Topics included digital accessibility, measuring the impact of learning, digital assessment, skills in the digital era, games based learning and open access publishing.

AI in education was a key theme of the day, and, for the first time, the event welcomed a panel of school leaders who discussed ways AI is being used by teachers and students in their schools.

School leader's panel, left to right: Jill Duffy, Chief Executive OCR; Ed Elliott, Head of the Perse School Cambridge; Cassie Martin, Head of English and CPD Lead at The King's School, Gloucester; Hazel Hatch, Assessment and Curriculum Deputy Lead and Computer Science Consultant, Harris Federation, MAT, London and Essex; Ali Kirkman, Assistant Principal, Hills Road Sixth Form, Cambridge; Dr David Paterson, Head of Digital Learning at Aldenham School, Hertfordshire.
School leader's panel, left to right: Jill Duffy, Chief Executive OCR; Ed Elliott, Head of the Perse School Cambridge; Cassie Martin, Head of English and CPD Lead at The King's School, Gloucester; Hazel Hatch, Assessment and Curriculum Deputy Lead and Computer Science Consultant, Harris Federation, MAT, London and Essex; Ali Kirkman, Assistant Principal, Hills Road Sixth Form, Cambridge; Dr David Paterson, Head of Digital Learning at Aldenham School, Hertfordshire.

Mark Maddocks, Chief Information Officer at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, said: “It’s inspiring to see how so many colleagues are grappling with, and innovating in, digital and data. It was brilliant to learn from thought leaders and practitioners, ranging from local schools to global tech giants.

“The Digital & Data Day made it very clear that advances in technology, combined with Cambridge expertise, are enabling us to better serve millions of students, teachers and researchers.”

Mark Maddocks wearing a navy suit smiling in conversation with a person wearing a grey jacket and glasses

Mark Maddocks (right), Cambridge's Chief Information Officer speaking with colleagues at Digital & Data Day

Five key learnings on AI

1. AI will transform education

Sir Anthony Seldon described AI as a force for good in education that will benefit all learners. While AI will transform each aspect of education, the world and society we’re preparing our young people for, technology, he emphasised, will never replace what it means to be a conscious human being.

We need to:

shape AI technology, ensuring it can support the development and deep learning of all young people especially the vulnerable
re-think how we’re assessing young people’s skills for the future

Sir Anthony Seldon holding his hands together during his speech on stage

Sir Anthony Seldon at Digital & Data Day

2. Put learners at the heart

This was a clear message from Seldon and many of our speakers, particularly on the school leader’s panel, facilitated by Jill Duffy, Chief Executive of our UK exam board OCR.

Michael Hanton, Deputy Chief Regulator at Ofqual – England's qualifications and exams regulator - said one of the key considerations for regulating in times of change is considering what’s in the best interests of the students. We have a duty as regulator, he said, to consider where innovation is desirable.

Michael Hanton stands on the stage speaking wearing a blue suit and holding his hands out slightly

Michael Hanton, Deputy Chief Regulator at Ofqual

3. Prioritising ethical practice

AI must be used in a way that is safe, ethical and responsible. Toju Duke, Responsible AI Advisor, reminded us of some of the challenges of AI including social inequities, data leakages, energy consumption, disinformation and copyright and privacy violations.

Duke spoke about building safe and trustworthy AI through a responsible AI framework which includes principles for data ethics, safety, fairness, explainability, human-in-the-loop and privacy.

Toju Duke wears a black outfit with a cream shoulder detail, standing on stage speaking to audience

Toju Duke spoke about building safe and trustworthy AI

4. AI as workhorse

School leaders shared how AI is being used to help teachers' unmanageable workloads, for example supporting with meeting minutes, action points, emails and school policies.

One school leader said they hope “AI is going to be a game changer” and a “workhorse” to allow teachers to spend more time on inspiring learning and building relationships which is the true “magic of teaching” and where education makes the most difference.

School leaders are sitting on chairs on the stage during a panel discussion

The School Leader's Panel

5. Preparing young people with the skills of the future

Many speakers highlighted the need to grow AI literacy in students, equipping them with the skills they will need in the future.

Liz Bailey, Global Industry Architect for Education, Microsoft, spoke about how AI offers an opportunity to accelerate and personalise learning, improve efficiency and unlock productivity. She considered what it means for the curriculum and how current assessments demonstrate the skills that workplaces will be looking for in the future, including:

- analytical judgement
- emotional intelligence
- writing the most effective prompts
- evaluating the outputs from the AI
- intellectual curiosity
- bias detection and handling