Mapping
the
Future
Language and Culture Education in the Age of Disruptive Innovation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
May 2–3, 2025
About the symposium
Mapping the Future: Language and Culture Education in the Age of Disruptive Innovations will explore the transformative role of digital technologies in language and intercultural education. The event will bring together scholars, educators, and innovators to critically examine and shape our field’s relationship with technology, reflecting on both the affordances and challenges it presents to meaningful and transformative learning in collegiate world language education.
This symposium is organized at a pivotal time when educators are tasked with navigating two major disruptions in education: the sweeping digital shift following the pandemic and the rise of generative AI. In response to the rapid transition to digital instruction, educators worldwide have made unprecedented advances in digital language teaching, cultivating new approaches that foster community and cultural engagement mediated through technology. Yet, this shift has also revealed limitations in digital tools in fostering deep learning and a meaningful sense of community. Further complicating the landscape, the advent of generative AI—symbolized by services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT—has introduced a wide range of new possibilities with the potential to enrich and energize the humanities. But the technological breakthroughs of the recent years have also raised new questions about authenticity and truth as well as the value of (human) creativity.
The symposium is an opportunity to examine these shifts in depth and to collaboratively build a roadmap for the future, with an emphasis on thoughtful integration and purposeful engagement with technology in our field.
More information and full program available in Spring 2025.