Media & Learning 2026: Co-creating the future of learning

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Welcome speech by

Margriet Van Bael, Vice Rector of Education Policy, KU Leuven, Belgium

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

Sharon Klinkenberg, psychometrician, statistician, and educational innovator at the Department of Communication Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Multimodal learning: Where technology meets pedagogy

Dr. Sharon Klinkenberg will guide us through the transformative landscape of educational technology. Drawing from his research and experience, he will explore how personalized learning and media diversity can foster student engagement and success through multimodal learning materials and well designed educational pathways. The keynote will delve into the realm of emerging technologies and AI in education, where generative AI and learning analytics are reshaping the roles of learners and educators. Through real-world examples, Dr. Klinkenberg will examine innovative assessment methods that drive learning and promote critical thinking and self-regulated learning. Showcasing how authentic, multimedia-rich assessments can better foster the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Additionally, the discussion will highlight the importance of co-creation, emphasizing the power of open educational resources, and the benefits of collaborative practices. This keynote aims to inspire attendees to envision and implement impactful changes in higher education, fostering a future where technology and pedagogy co-create meaningful learning experiences.

Rob Morgan, Visiting Fellow at King’s College London & Creative Director at Playlines, UK

The Age of “Reality Literacy”: XR, AI and Reskinnable Realities

As XR and augmented reality technologies move out of sci-fi and into the mainstream, reality is becoming increasingly entwined with digital media. Accelerated by AI, these billion-dollar technologies ultimately promise to bring all the potential of the internet  – and all its pitfalls – up off the screen and out into real classrooms. 

Educators are already dealing with AI-driven un-reality: slop, perception alteration and even nudification all mediated via mobile screens. As smart glasses proliferate, AIs will become everyday assistants entwined with our everyday experience of reality – and will also increasingly allow users to radically reskin reality itself. And, potentially, allow giant platform-holders to curate versions of reality for their users.

It’s not sci-fi anymore. Veteran XR experience designer and Visiting Fellow at King’s College London Rob Morgan will present provocative questions about the huge potential learning value of these technologies – and the risks they could represent to the consensual foundations of our reality. Come be part of the discussion around media and learning in an era where navigating reality itself will require ever more media literacy – and ever more empathy.

Agne Limante, Legal Officer at the European AI Office, DG CNECT, the European Commission & Chief Researcher at the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act and Its Implications for AI in Education

This presentation considers the impact of the EU AI Act on the growing use of AI in education, with particular attention to the AI Act’s risk-based approach to regulation. It addresses the prohibition of certain practices, including the use of AI systems to infer emotions in educational institutions, and explores the classification of specific applications used in the area of education as high-risk. Noting that AI systems used in education for admission, evaluation of learning outcomes, determining appropriate educational levels, and monitoring student behaviour during assessments are classified as high-risk under the EU AI Act, the presentation aims to clarify the scope of this classification and its implications for stakeholders operating in the educational sector.

Laure Michelon, Design Solutions Architect at Fuser, a Lecturer at UCLA AUD, and a creative technologist based in Los Angeles, USA

Sound Architecture

Architecture has historically privileged sight over the other senses. In her Sound Architecture courses, students have aimed to shift the focus to the acoustical aspects of architectural space by considering sound as the design medium. Digital technology has provided new opportunities to explore the relationship between sound and space. 

How can digital technology be used to influence space? How can sound contribute to the phenomenological experience of architecture? How can audio technology be employed to evoke emotions or memories associated with a place (or create new ones)? This coursework and research showcase the leaps in the perception of what design can be by asking participants to think beyond a retinal approach to architecture, inviting them to explore the aural dimensions of space.

Jean-François (Jeff) Van de Poël, AI & Teaching Advisor at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland

The Augmented Teacher: Navigating AI as an instrument, not an oracle

Artificial intelligence is increasingly finding its way into higher education, yet most discourse oscillates between uncritical enthusiasm and defensive rejection. This talk proposes a third path: the augmented educator — a teacher who deliberately uses AI as an extension of professional expertise rather than a substitute for it.

Teachers today face well-documented pressures: cognitive overload from administrative and preparatory tasks, growing heterogeneity in student needs, the challenge of providing timely and personalised feedback, and mounting tensions around authentic assessment. When thoughtfully appropriated, AI holds genuine potential to address these challenges and restore space for what matters most: the pedagogical relationship.

Drawing on Rabardel’s instrumental approach, we explore how generative AI tools become meaningful instruments only when teachers develop purposeful, scheme-driven uses aligned with their pedagogical intentions. Laurillard’s Conversational Framework further provides a structured lens to map AI affordances onto the learning dialogue — between teacher and student, concept and context, design and reflection — ensuring that adoption remains pedagogically grounded rather than opportunistic.

Augmentation, however, demands critical agency. AI competency in higher education must include ethical reasoning — around bias, transparency, data governance, and the power dynamics embedded in algorithmic systems. Frameworks and ethics alone are not enough: what ultimately defines the augmented educator is the deliberate, informed choice to remain the driving force of their own pedagogical practice — curious, critical, and fully in control.

📸Arnaud Absil, MLA Conference 2026, CC BY-SA, Image from Media and Learning
Association

Crediting photos from the Media& Learning conference.

Stephen Downes, Canada

According to Stephen, “AI represents a significant increase in human capability, augmenting and sometimes exceeding our natural capacities to perceive, reason, create and remember. Ubiquitous access to these capabilities changes the definition of what it means to learn and to be educated. Skills once reserved to the domain of experts are now in the hands of everyday people, while most every discipline is devising new models, methods and pragmatics of work alongside, or teaming with, these new tools.”

Join this session to discuss the implications of AI in higher education with Stephen and let’s try to decide whether the advantages really do outweigh our fears.

Moderators:  Lana Scott, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA & Zac Woolfitt, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands

*Stephen Downes will be joining us online

16 Jun 2026, 13:30 – 17:00 CEST

This pre-conference workshop explores how higher education can prepare graduates for future professions and integrate AI to enhance teaching and learning. Participants will examine the skills and competencies needed in future roles, discuss strategies for embedding AI into institutional planning, staff development, and curricula, and explore the Hybrid Collaborative Classroom at KU Leuven. The workshop includes interactive exercises, idea exchange, and opportunities for reflection.

AGENDA

13:00 Doors open

13:00 Welcome

We will begin with a brief introduction at 13:15 by Dovilė Dudėnaitė (Media & Learning) and Andy Thys (KU Leuven).

13:30 How can we prepare the future workforce? led by Steven Verjans, UCLL Belgium

In the age of Generative AI it is not enough for higher education to make sure that staff and students become AI-literate. In some cases, we need to prepare our students for jobs that will be fundamentally changed by the omnipresence of generative AI. For example, how do we train future software developers, or creative media professionals? In this part of the workshop, the participants will participate in a scenario exercise in which we try do identify the core professional competencies of our future graduates and which level of self-reliance (without AI) is needed in their future jobs.

14:25 From isolated initiatives towards sustainable integration led by Sonia Hetzner, FAU, Germany

Participants of the workshop will be invited to examine and discuss how universities can move beyond isolated AI initiatives toward sustainable integration in teaching. Drawing on the KI-Komp project at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Sonia will introduce a stepwise model for advancing AI in higher education. The approach highlights three key dimensions: (1) institutional strategy and governance, (2) capacity building for teaching staff, and (3) curricular integration supported by tools, resources, and peer exchange.

15:20 Coffee Break

15:40 Creating educational apps led by Julian van der Kraats , Leiden University, The Netherlands

Platforms like Cogniti are enabling us to easily and safely create and share educational apps with AI, allowing for new educational experiences like the ones discussed here. In this workshop, we will be using publicly available tools to test out your ideas. So bring a laptop and a Google account, and maybe already try out https://aistudio.google.com/apps before the workshop!

16:30 Hybrid room at KU Leuven led by Thy Tran Khanh, KU Leuven, Belgium

Participants are invited to explore Synchronous Hybrid Education and its potential research opportunities via a simulation in the Hybrid Collaborative Classroom, where the Pre-conference takes place. The session will also introduce key technical strengths and limitations of this classroom, followed by a group discussion to improve the classroom’s design and operations.

17:00 End of official programme

Participants interested in the hybrid room’s functionalities are welcome to further discuss on research and technical aspects with a colleague, Michiel Spaepen from Didactic Equipment team of KU Leuven. 

The pre-conference event will be moderated by Andy Thys, KU Leuven, Belgium

This on-site event will take place in Leuven, Belgium. Participation in the pre-conference workshop is open to registered conference participants only. To attend, you have to first register for Media & Learning 2026: Co-Creating the Future of Learning. Don’t miss out! Seats are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note that the schedule might still be adjusted!

1. From One-Size-Fits-All to Flexible Learning Pathways
Digital media makes it possible to move beyond a single way of teaching the same content. Instead of one fixed format, educators can offer multiple options, such as videos, short texts, interactive activities, or audio, allowing students to choose what works best for them. This theme explores how to design flexible learning pathways while ensuring fairness, shared learning outcomes, and meaningful assessment for all students.

2. AI-Driven Co-Creation
Generative AI tools for text, image, video, speech, including multimodal GenAI, synthetic video/audio, translation/localisation, AI storyboarding, accessibility automation (captions, audio description), and AI-assisted editing are transforming how media is produced in higher education. Proposals may also address provenance and trust in an era of synthetic media (C2PA, disclosure, institutional credibility). This theme explores how these technologies enable learners and academic teaching staff to move from consuming media to co-creating content with AI, and how this shift reshapes authorship, creativity, assessment, and pedagogical roles.

3. Playful and narrative-driven learning experiences
Play, storytelling, and simulation are increasingly used in higher education to design engaging learning experiences. This theme explores how narratives, game mechanics, and multimodal media, including XR simulations, branching video, interactive storytelling, spatial audio, game engines, and virtual production, can support learning goals, assessment, and inclusion. Contributions should critically examine sustainability, scalability, accessibility, and the balance between meaningful learning and novelty.

4. Augmented agency: learners, media agents & AI companions
AI agents or media companions, RAG/knowledge assistants, AI tutors embedded in the LMS, and companion interfaces (voice, avatar, chat) that scaffold, tutor, co-author — what does it mean to give agency, control, transparency, and how do we address the implications of these emerging roles in higher education?

5. Media, memory & futures 
In higher education, so much of what we create — from videos and simulations to online courses — can be short-lived. How do we preserve digital heritage, keep valuable media accessible and manage versioning as technologies and formats change in a sustainable way? 

6. Evidence-based and responsible use of learning technology
Under this theme researchers, teaching staff, designers, and policymakers are invited to separate myth from evidence in learning technology. Which tools genuinely enhance learning, which fall short, and why? Contributions could draw on research studies, data, standards, interoperability and case analyses to reflect on the effectiveness, ethical implications, and responsible use of technology in higher education.

7. Rethinking Assessment and Learning in the Age of AI
Assessment in higher education is evolving beyond traditional exams and essays. Educators are exploring new forms of assessment, including portfolios, podcasts, XR simulations, and interactive dashboards, while also focusing on learning processes rather than depending solely upon final products. At the same time, the widespread adoption of AI by students raises important questions about critical thinking, authorship, creativity, and academic integrity. This theme invites contributions that examine both innovative assessment practices and the broader consequences of AI on learning, teaching, and evaluation. The challenge is designing assessments that are meaningful, fair, and trusted while supporting authentic student learning. Proposals may address authentic assessment using media production workflows, iterative process evidence, provenance tools, watermarking, and assessment design for AI co-authorship.

8. Using analytics to refine and adapt learning media

The use of analytics tools to help educators continuously refine and adapt learning content is on the increase. This theme welcomes examples of how engagement data, A/B testing, and media-level metrics are used to evolve courses and media in real time, improve learner engagement, and respond to students’ needs. Emphasis is on practice, iteration, and actionable strategies. Proposals may also address privacy-safe media analytics, video engagement analytics, and classroom AV analytics.

9. Mapping the skills and resources needed by educational media producers at a time of dwindling budgets
The rapid pace of change in media production within higher education brings a number of challenges. As budgets shrink, roles blur, and new tools emerge, the boundaries between professional media creators, educators, students, and non-professionals are shifting. What does it mean to be a professional media producer in 2026? How are student skillsets outpacing (or reshaping) staff expertise? How can institutions maintain high production standards with reduced budgets and rising expectations?

10. Gamification & playful design 
Gamification is no longer just points and badges — today it’s deeply embedded in learning environments through quests, narratives, AI-driven challenges, peer review systems, and game-like assessments. How do we ensure such gamification is sustainable, inclusive, aligned with learning goals, scalable and not just a novelty effect? 

11. Designing learning for cognitive balance
How can we design courses and learning media that challenge students without overwhelming them? This theme explores strategies to reduce unnecessary cognitive load while supporting engagement and learning, such as the use of breaks, pacing, microlearning, narrative structure, and multimodal content. It also addresses ways to promote resilience, focus, intrinsic motivation, and well-being in high-pressure higher education environments.

12. Through the learner’s ears and eyes – finding ways to ensure student feedback
There is often a gap between what educators, designers, and institutions aim to achieve with media and how students actually experience it. While staff may design with clear intentions, learners frequently interpret, adapt, or repurpose media in unexpected ways. Examining these differences highlights the importance of student agency, feedback, and co-creation, and helps us understand how media genuinely supports — or sometimes fails to support — learning in higher education.

13. Beyond the degree 
Micro-credentials, lifelong learning, and skills for unpredictable futures — how do we rethink recognition and achievement? What role should CTLs play in ensuring quality, equity, and sustainability in credentialing beyond the degree? How can learners be better supported in navigating lifelong learning journeys across disciplines, platforms, and borders? And how do audio-visual departments contribute? 

14. Lifelong learning without barriers: digital media for inclusive, flexible education
Digital media is transforming how learners access education, acquire skills, and demonstrate achievement. Sessions addressing this theme will explore how digital tools and media can support lifelong learning journeys, remove barriers to participation, and enable recognition beyond traditional degrees. Proposals may address accessible learning designs, micro-credentials, adaptive media, and strategies for inclusive, flexible, and sustainable higher education.

15. Centres for Teaching and Learning: Driving Innovation
Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) play a key role in supporting faculty, enhancing teaching, and fostering innovation in higher education. This theme invites CTL staff and practitioners to share case studies, lessons learned, and practical insights on operational management, curriculum design, pedagogical initiatives, staffing requirements, faculty development, and cross-departmental collaboration. Proposals may address innovative learning spaces and renewed classroom strategies such as hyflex delivery, lecture capture policy, accessibility, remote participation, spatial audio, camera tracking. Proposals can include service design for AI, XR, studio support, hybrid classrooms, maker/media labs, and workflow automation for media production at scale.

16. Next-Generation Educational Media Production and Learning Environments (Audio, Video, XR & AI in Practice)
Higher and further education are entering a new era of educational media production, where quality expectations are rising while budgets and time remain constrained. This theme focuses on the practical use of innovative technologies and workflows that enable institutions to design, produce, and deliver high-quality multimedia learning experiences at scale. It is aimed particularly at audiovisual and media professionals, XR developers, studio and learning space specialists, learning designers, and CTLs supporting teaching staff. Proposals may address approaches, tools, and case studies on topics such as AI-assisted production pipelines (pre-production, editing, captioning and localisation), virtual production, immersive and spatial media, XR content creation and deployment, innovative learning spaces, advanced lecture capture and hybrid classroom ecosystems, interactive and narrative media formats, and sustainable models for re-use, archiving, and distribution. Sessions may explore staff training models, quality frameworks, service design, equipment choices, workflow automation, governance and standards, and ways to maximise educational impact while ensuring accessibility, ethics, and responsible innovation.

17. Co-Creating Learning: partnerships between students, teaching staff, and CTLs
Co-creation can enrich higher education, but it requires thoughtful design and management. This theme explores how teaching staff, CTLs, and students can collaborate to develop courses, learning materials, and educational experiences. Proposals may address practical insights, strategies, or case studies on maximising collaboration, balancing roles, and achieving meaningful learning outcomes.