Blending machines, learning, and ethics

The expansion of possibilities drawn to individuals and institutions by the latest technological advancements is so far-reaching that reframing our everyday life according to new assets and tangible wills is no more an easy task. Even if we restrict the context and think on the challenges of introducing Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd) the horizon is still wide. But which society layers are being involved in the process of conceiving AIEd scope and what kind of debates are gaining traction in terms of AIEd potential, concerns, implications and contextual meaning? And, finally, what are the frameworks being considered in terms of the ethical challenges posed to the experience of learning itself? Committed with this context, this research will focus the ethical challenges of AI, in what concerns the signification of a learning experience in formal education, regarding the capacity to collect sense from content and stimuli. The Cultural-Historical Activity Theory will give the proper background to the understanding of the learning experience through the lens of control and agency. Throughout the research it will be explored if and how ethical impact assessment of AIEd (1) influences primary teachers' capacity to design learning sequences that intentionally and systematically address the challenges AI poses to learning signification processes, (2) benefiting students' critical thinking upon AI. A comprehensive socio-constructivist approach to an eLearning course is expected to contribute to teachers' capacity to intentionally explore the potential and limits of using AI in their systematic pedagogical action for the holistic development of their students.