9th July - The Illusion of Polish with Gelareh Keshavarz

In this week's episode, Tim Burnett chats with Gelareh Keshavarz, EdD(c), CMP, President of the Athabasca University Graduate Students' Association and a Board of Governors member at Athabasca University, ahead of the IAEA conference in Toronto. They discuss: The "illusion of polish" — why finished, authoritative-looking AI-assisted work can hide the fact that nobody has questioned the thinking behind it Whether AI is an equaliser or a divider in education, and how it might be more of an agent of social change for learners with disabilities and difficulties than a leveller between rich and poor Why trust in AI comes down to judgement, not the tool itself — and how self-determined, "heutagogical" learning is helping practitioners build their own capability ahead of policy Gelareh's doctoral research uses interpretive phenomenological analysis to explore how generative AI is reshaping the lived experience of multilingual educators, and the conversation ranges from cognitive laziness and hybrid AI-human work to the story of a finance professor in Kenya who taught herself qualitative research methods using AI. Gelareh puts it simply: "What I have learned from using it is that it can take the lower-order thinking off my hands and handle the basics for me, so I can focus on my higher-order thinking. I am the boss. The decision-making is always mine." The episode closes with a reflection on "learning under the tree", and why the informal, in-person moments at conferences like IAEA can't be replaced by any article or polished presentation. Connect with Gelareh Keshavarz on LinkedIn:   / gelareh-keshavarz   Connect with Tim Burnett on LinkedIn:   / tburnett   IAEA Conference: https://www.eqao.com/iaea-annual-conf... If you would like to join Tim on a future episode or sponsor the Test Community Network then get in touch with Tim to schedule a call: https://calendly.com/educationtech/15... Events: https://www.testcommunity.network/upc... Podcasts: https://www.testcommunity.network/pod... Marketplace: https://www.testcommunity.network/mar... Subscribe to the Test Community Network here: https://www.testcommunity.network 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/57805973...