News Story

OUAnalyse at the Digital Ethics Summit 2025: Advancing Responsible AI in Education

Tuesday 9 Dec 2025

KMi is proud to see Prof Miriam Fernandez present at the Digital Ethics Summit (#DigitalEthics2025), showcasing the OUAnalyse team’s work on Responsible AI in education as part of the Fairness Innovation Challenge. Key takeaways from the project can be found in a report published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), but more information about the specific activities and outputs of our project is available on the project website.

Prof Fernandez emphasised the importance of responsible use of predictive learning analytics in education and the need to transition beyond traditional performance metrics toward a structured, context-sensitive approach to fairness. This includes addressing biases from a socio-technical lens and investigating not just how algorithms may perpetuate biases, but also how humans (both staff and students) interact with AI-driven predictions. She also highlighted the need for (i) establishing clear institutional values around equity, (ii) selecting fairness metrics aligned with those values, (iii) ensuring fairness is monitored continuously, not assessed only once, and (iv) recognising that fairness is dynamic, varying across time and across different student groups.

The event also brought together an exceptional line-up of leaders, sparking critical conversations about ethics, governance, and assurance in AI. Discussions on AI regulation highlighted gaps in current laws, particularly around technology-facilitated harms affecting women and minoritised groups, a key focus for the OU’s Centre for Protecting Women Online.