Putting A.I. back in its box (In-person)
About this event
In his Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Dan Berger will explore how the recent and rapid rise of A.I. presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities across all industries and sectors, not least in education.
This event takes place on our Cambridge campus. You can also join us virtually.
Dan has explored the potential uses of A.I. in decision-making for over 14 years and, in doing so, has found that the widespread and democratised use of machine learning—and now large language models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini—was inevitable. However, due to their inherent limitations, this does not constitute the existential threat that many fear.
In fact, Dan argues, A.I. is the next logical step in unburdening educators from the heavy lifting of content delivery, allowing them to focus on the more exciting world of teaching and developing skills.
In this welcome new paradigm, A.I. becomes our faithful servant, not our master.
About our speaker
Dan Berger is Professor of Learning and Teaching Innovation, and the Deputy Dean (Education), in the Faculty of Business and Law at ARU, a position he has held for the past six years.
A passionate advocate for widening participation in higher education, Dan’s research interests explore effective and innovative learning and teaching methods to improve student engagement, performance and outcomes. His publications focus on awards gaps, social mobility, and academic achievement of under-represented groups. Dan is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
With his background as a company director, holding a law degree, as a qualified barrister, and with a PhD in Bayesian probabilistic reasoning, Dan’s academic and practice profile background is truly interdisciplinary.
Dan's primary research focus is on developing pedagogical approaches - such as his tech-enhanced Active Collaborative Learning (ACL) teaching model - to optimise students' critical reasoning skills, and, in doing so, values and champion each student's unique background and perspective toward the study. His background in Bayesian probabilistic reasoning, together with his role in learning and teaching practice and support, gives him a unique take on the challenges and opportunities AI presents in an educational context.
Dan widens participation through bespoke support, as provided by his 'Centre for Student Success'; embeds rich onboarding activities, such as his institution-wide 'Into ARU project'; and develops ARU students' graduate-level employability skills through his award-winning 'Anglia Ruskin University Certificate for Professional Development' (ARUCPD) programme, with over 3000 students participating each year across ARU.
Dan has written and published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers on these themes and supports colleagues to develop themselves professionally, through his 'Perfect Practice' staff CPD programme, PhD supervisions, and delivery of workshops with key interest groups, such as the Cambridge Diplomats and the Federation of Small Businesses, and at HEIs across the sector, including, recently, Birmingham City University and York St John University.