What If Teachers Were Replaced With Avatars?!

This hour-long session includes the screening of a new film, The Digital Scholar (2025), & a hosted conversation with the makers: collaborative artists, Kilter, & University of Bath & Bristol researchers.

The Digital Scholar is a 25-minute tongue-in-cheek mockumentary offering a glimpse into a near future vision where photo-real avatars are increasingly deployed as substitutes for human lecturers in the semi-fictional University of Harbridge.

Kilter & members of the 'Cyber Security Everywhere' Centre for Doctoral Training working iteratively across 12-months, co-devised a scenario based on contemporary trends & emerging technologies whereby Universities could increase income & reduce outgoings by using 'Digital Scholars' to replicate expensive, time-limited, fallible organic human counterparts. But at what cost?

The fictional interviews in the film hear from the Harbridge Vice Chancellor as well students, lecturers in Arts & Humanities, local businesses & the newly appointed Digital Scholars themselves, recorded with pioneering avatar-generating platform, Synthesia.io.

The post-screening conversation will welcome questions from the audience on the themes the film raises as well as the technology involved & the 'making of' process. Some questions we can anticipate include:

• What does this mean for tuition fees?
• What is the impact on University cities?
• Will knowledge specialisms become hierarchical &/or homogenized?
• Is this the end for international student placements?
• Is this really going to happen?

The Digital Scholar was funded by EPSRC.

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