Date and time<\/strong>: March 9, 2026, 10:00 – 15:00 EET (UTC+2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Location<\/strong>: Vaarinkallio, Koli<\/a> and online in Zoom<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organising partner: UEF DigS Research Community.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 10:00 – 10:15, Professor Emeritus Erkki Sutinen<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Welcoming and Opening Words from the Host<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10:15 – 11:00, Professor Kinshuk<\/a>,<\/strong> University of North Texas<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and Their Impact on the Future of Education<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abstract: Recent advances in the technologies, particularly the emerging visualization technologies and generative AI, are changing the landscape of education. Many of these advancements have significant potential to be disruptive, bringing both excitement and concern. They can foster deeply engaged learning experiences by providing the affordances that were not possible before and provide means for continuously monitoring, assessing, and guiding students in their learning process to ensure they receive tailored support. These same advances also have potential for creating biased content, spreading false information, sharing private information by mistake, causing job loss, and raising questions about human dependency and accountability. This talk will look into the vision for future of education and investigate how to exploit these emerging technologies before they exploit us. We shall explore, instead of trying to stop the progress due to the various concerns, how we can make effective plans and rules to reduce those risks and take advantage of the opportunities such technologies bring to transform the current education, with constraints and safeguards in place to make learning process safe and reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11:00 – 11:30, Professor Matti Tedre<\/a>,<\/strong> University of Eastern Finland<\/p>\n\n\n\n Generation AI: A National Strategic Program for AI Education<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abstract: Generation AI is Finland\u2019s national strategic program for AI education. It develops and studies hands-on approaches in which children and teachers learn about AI by making real AI systems, and working with data, AI training workflows, and societal questions. The program combines pedagogically grounded tools, large-scale school interventions, and research on children\u2019s rights, data agency, and AI educational technology, demonstrating how AI education can be implemented nationally without treating AI as a black box, see https:\/\/gen-ai.fi\/en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 11:30 – 12:00, Niko Jokela, MSc student, University of Turku<\/p>\n\n\n\n Science and the Nature of Reality<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abstract: Science describes how phenomena behave but leaves open the deeper question of what these descriptions ultimately mean. Addressing this question is the task of metaphysics, the branch of philosophy concerned with the fundamental nature of reality. The dominant contemporary metaphysical view is materialism, according to which reality is ultimately composed of physical entities or whatever physics identifies as fundamental. However, because science operates primarily from a third-person perspective, it does not by itself account for the first-person dimension of experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This presentation explores an alternative metaphysical framework: idealism, the view that reality is fundamentally experiential. I argue that this perspective offers a way to connect scientific descriptions of the world with first-person experience, potentially providing a more unified understanding of reality. Although this worldview may initially appear counterintuitive, it possesses significant explanatory power. The aim of this presentation is to make this perspective intuitive and to explore some of the conceptual consequences that follow from adopting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13:30 – 14:00, Martti Havukainen<\/a><\/strong>, Doctoral Researcher, University of Eastern Finland<\/p>\n\n\n\n Artificial Intelligence as Part of Students’ Digital Game Design<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abstract: This research setup will be a creative process where children’s play and art will serve as a starting point for developing new digital games. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) here will be a part to speed up the creation of games and assist, among other things, with the visual and auditive design of the games. AI will be a tool in the creative process. It will be a fundamental question to see how the adoption of AI produces content and gamification ideas. We will examine how AI carries out each task or goal presented by a child, and how children conceptualize the design process, and how AI, children and professional software and other designers work together. The human part of the design process will be based on inter-contextual design, which is a fundamental theme of my dissertation (April \u2013 June 2026). Children and programmers will work together by a communication model, developed in my dissertation, as independent groups from their own background, but communicating with each other for a common target, the digital game. The research objectives will concern the role of AI in design, how children perceive and experience their own ideas being refined by AI. We will also consider whether mastering AI is a basic skill similar to literacy or understanding the fundamentals of mathematics. Such a research setup will be possible in a classroom as part of art or ICT education, specifically in teaching creative writing and visual art. The research will be carried out as part of a school’s or another organization’s everyday activities. As a research method, phenomenography and design research will be used here. The time schedule is open, but the estimated for the research will be at June-September 2026. This depends of my other studies for PhD degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14:00 – 14:30, Ilkka Jormanainen<\/a><\/strong>, University Lecturer, University of Eastern Finland<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Educational Robotics to Robotics Education \u2013 Local Trajectories and Global Trends<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abstract: Educational robotics is widely used in technology education across all levels of schooling worldwide. Grounded in constructivist learning theories, it has proven particularly effective in teaching programming and computational thinking. Both academic research and practice-oriented teacher training programmes have played a key role in supporting classroom adoption. In this presentation, we review our research group\u2019s decades-long work in educational robotics and identify key milestones that have contributed to the development of a comprehensive portfolio of robotics courses and an upcoming minor degree in robotics at the University of Eastern Finland. Finally, we outline emerging trends in artificial intelligence education and discuss how robotics can serve as a powerful vehicle for addressing these future challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSchedule<\/h4>\n\n\n\n