Digital Learning Week

Digital Learning Week is UNESCO's new annual flagship event on ⁠digital learning and the transformation of education. It convenes international policy-makers, practitioners, educators, private sector partners, researchers and development agencies to jointly respond to the new dynamics around digital innovation, and steer technology for education. Digital Learning Week is the rebooted version of Mobile Learning Week which ran for 10 years.

The inaugural edition of Digital Learning Week focused on public digital learning platforms and generative AI (GenAI), examining how both can be steered to reinforce and enrich humanistic education.

UNESCO

Core outcomes include:

Guidance for Generative AI in education and research, UNESCO’s first-ever global guidance on GenAI in education calling on countries to regulate its use was released.
An Ed-Tech Tragedy?, publication warning against the overuse of technology was launched.
AI Competency Frameworks for teachers and students, presented to collect feedbacks on the drafts in view of their finalization by early 2024.

UNESCO

The event also highlighted some important guidance produced by UNESCO in this area, and multiple UNESCO policy guidelines on digital learning and AI in education including AI and Education: Guidance for Policy-makers, Guidelines for ICT in Education Policies and Masterplans, Education and Blockchain, and K-12 AI curricula: a mapping of government-endorsed AI curricula.

During the week, UNESCO shared progress made in implementing the Gateways to Public Digital Learning Initiative launched at the Transforming Education Summit (TES) in September 2022.

The Award ceremony of the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education took place during the Week, with its latest edition focusing on the use of public digital learning platforms. 

Digital learning and AI in education: UNESCO’s integrated vision

As an introduction to Digital Learning Week 2023, Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education, gave a comprehensive speech on UNESCO's work to integrate new digital tools, including generative AI, into the education system.