Scope
The International Conference on Sustainable and Intelligent Education: Towards a Future, addresses virtually nowadays most important issues of education, which are sustainability and artificial intelligence (AI). Both issues are urgent considering nowadays geopolitics that exposed needs for a new generation of sustainability thinking, affecting and demanding new education models as well, and the overall AI revolution that has potential, and in some cases already affects significantly, to radically change our education models, up to elimination of actual models in virtually all dimensions.
SIED2026
1st International Conference on
Sustainable and Intelligent Education: Towards a Future
21st - 23rd October 2026
Póvoa de Varzim Portugal
Keynotes
Keynote Lecture 1: From Education 1.0 to Education 3.0: Preparing Professionals for a New Era of Learning
Dr. Jackie Gerstein
Walden University (USA)
Keynote Lecture 2: Exploring EdTech Bricolage: Using Technologies to Create Meaningful Learning Experiences
Prof. Todd Cherner
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
Keynote Lecture 3: The Renaissance of Unlearning: New Ways to Think and Learn in the Digital Age
Dr. Pedro Pinheiro
ALGORITMI Research Centre/LASI, University of Minho, Portugal
Dr. Jackie Gerstein
Walden University (USA)
Abstract
Higher education professional preparation programs are being challenged by rapid technological change, increasing societal complexity, and the need to prepare graduates who can adapt throughout their professional lives. This keynote examines the evolution of educational paradigms from Education 1.0's teacher-centered, standardized model, through Education 2.0's collaborative and interactive learning environments, to Education 3.0, where learners become self-directed connectors, creators, and constructors of knowledge. Using the evolution of the Web as a conceptual framework, the presentation illustrates how changes in access to information and knowledge creation have transformed expectations for teaching and learning. While emerging technologies form part of this changing landscape, the emphasis is on how educators can cultivate learner autonomy, creativity, critical thinking, and innovation rather than on the technologies themselves. The keynote will explore the relationships among pedagogy, andragogy, and heutagogy and discuss their implications for professional preparation programs.. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on how educational design can move beyond content transmission toward developing adaptable professionals who are prepared to solve complex, interdisciplinary problems and engage in continuous learning throughout their careers. Ultimately, Education 3.0 represents not simply a technological shift but a fundamental rethinking of what it means to learn and to educate in the twenty-first century.
Dr. Jackie Gerstein’s motto is "I don't do teaching for a living; I live teaching as my doing, and technology has amplified my passion for doing so.” She has been teaching graduate courses for Walden University for over a decade, and in the past, graduate and undergraduate courses for a number of New Mexico, USA, universities. For the past decade she also taught gifted and talented elementary students with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). With a deep-rooted commitment to experiential learning, she infuses her teaching with hands-on/minds-on experiences. Dr. Gerstein is a published author, renowned for her book titled Learning in the Making: How to Plan, Execute, and Assess Powerful Makerspace Lessons, published by ASCD.
Dr. Pedro Pinheiro
ALGORITMI Research Centre/LASI, University of Minho, Portugal
Abstract
In an organizational context manifested by uncertainty, speed, digital transformation, and the continuous renewal of knowledge, unlearning should be understood as a dynamic process through which obsolete ideas intentionally lose influence and new knowledge emerges through action. Considering digital environments, where information flows quickly and organizational routines are increasingly mediated by technologies, unlearning becomes a critical condition for knowledge creation, adaptation, and liable action. Unlearning is defined as a time-dependent process in which reflection, feedback, and knowledge enactment interact to reduce the power of prior knowledge and enable new forms of action. Ethics is considered a contextual variable that may restrain or amplify the effects of unlearning according to internal and external conditions. This perspective frames the renaissance of unlearning as a fundamental mechanism for understanding and empowering knowledge creation, organizational renewal, and learning in the digital age.
Pedro Pinheiro, PhD, is a researcher at the ALGORITMI Research Centre/LASI, University of Minho, Portugal, and is the author and co-author of more than 20 scientific publications integrating engineering, organizational management, and complex systems thinking, with an emphasis on nonlinear dynamics, network theory, and chaordic systems. His current research work includes learning organizations using unlearning as a methodology for knowledge renewal, organizational adaptation, and self-organization in ever-changing contexts. Additional research areas include digital transformation, artificial intelligence in manufacturing, cyber–physical systems, Industry 4.0 and 5.0, collaborative engineering and organizational ecosystems, linking complexity, systemic adaptation and knowledge renewal to enhance organizational resilience and transformation.
Prof. Todd Cherner
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
Abstract
Bricolage is a classic term, meaning the use of available resources in creative ways, allowing for the improvisation of materials for novel purposes. Originating with Lévi-Strauss’ discussion of a bricoleur who improvises with available tools in contrast to engineers who follow blueprints, scholars, thinkers, and philosophers have contextualized bricolage within their fields. In education, we have an opportunity to rethink our use of digital tools for creating learning experiences. Artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, and collaborative environments allow us to become educational bricoleurs, bringing readily available technologies into our teaching to excite, engage, and prepare our students. The crux of utilizing these technologies is to balance them with the learning sciences. Like bricoleurs who understand the foundational principles of their respective fields, educational bricoleurs should improvise with readily available technologies while still using the learning sciences to anchor the experiences they design for their students. Woven into that work are the institutional policies, ethical concerns, and data privacy issues that must be navigated. Starting with a discussion of the bricoleur followed by an exploration of technologies and methods for leveraging them to design learning experiences, we will explore ways to enact the edtech bricoleur.
Dr. Todd Cherner is an educator, researcher, and innovator. His work focuses on developing the skills, knowledge, and mindsets that his students will need in their professional, academic, and civic lives. Dr. Cherner is a faculty member at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he directs both a graduate and a certificate program focused on innovation. Dr. Cherner publishes regularly in educational journals, with a focus on instructional technologies.