Education can be a powerful equalizer, opening doors and creating new opportunities in people’s lives. As a proud University of Waterloo alumnus, I’ve experienced firsthand the impact that an innovative approach to learning can have on a career. Waterloo also provided many opportunities for my sister, who went there. I learned the importance of hands-on, experiential learning through the university’s world-class co-op program. Today, as part of the Technology & Society team I am still doing exactly that: imagining, co-creating, and prototyping ambitious technologies to benefit people in collaboration with industry trailblazers.
In an era of rapid technological advancement, ensuring education can continue to fulfill that promise for everyone is critical. That is why today, I’m announcing a strategic partnership between Google and the University of Waterloo to explore how AI can shape the future of learning and work readiness. Our AI expertise is combined with the innovative educational strategy of the University of Waterloo in this partnership. To get things started, we will contribute one million Canadian dollars to the establishment of a new Google Chair in the Future of Work and Learning to investigate novel approaches to teaching and learning. This partnership marks our shared commitment to redefine education and empower the next generation to thrive in an AI-driven world.
Professor Edith Law will be the inaugural Google Chair in the Future of Work and Learning. Professor Law is an esteemed Computer Science professor and Executive Director of the University of Waterloo’s newly established Future of Work Institute, widely recognized for her pioneering contributions to fostering human-AI collaboration in the pursuit of enhanced creativity. She will collaborate closely with students and researchers to co-create AI-facilitated learning technologies and provide answers to some of the fundamental issues that educational establishments currently face, such as how to best prepare students for jobs that do not yet exist. How do we evolve the learning experience to meet learners where they are? How do we make sure learners are ready for the workforce in an increasingly evolving world?
Learning by doing: The Futures Lab workshop
The centrepiece of this partnership is the Futures Lab: An AI Prototyping Workshop. The purpose of this one-of-a-kind, hands-on learning lab is to involve students in the development process. Gemini and AI Studio will be used by interdisciplinary student teams, faculty from the University of Waterloo, and Google mentors to construct brand-new AI-powered learning prototypes. The first workshop, kicking off on October 6, will have students co-develop cutting-edge prototypes and receive direct feedback as they tackle challenges at the intersection of learning and AI. Students will benefit from this hands-on approach in their critical thinking and imagining of AI’s place in society and education. The experience will culminate in a symposium where students will showcase their projects and share their insights.
Our constant dedication to Waterloo We have a history of working with the University of Waterloo, and this partnership reflects our shared commitment to applying technology responsibly to advance learning. Together we co-created Kids on Campus, a program that brings Grade 4 classes to the university for a day of STEM activities. Google has also provided funding for the university’s Women in Computer Science (WiCS) program and, most recently, we collaborated with the university’s Jimmy Lin Data and the Waterloo Data and Artificial Intelligence Institute to host a K-12 AI Day for Educators.
The University of Waterloo is recognized not only as Canada’s top institution for computer science and AI, but one of the leading computer science programs in the world. In addition, Google’s Kitchener-Waterloo office is our largest engineering hub in Canada, contributing to the development of Google products, such as Google Cloud AI, Workspace and Android XR, used around the world.
The combination of the University of Waterloo’s distinguished leadership position in education and Google’s expertise in artificial intelligence has the potential to produce transformative learning experiences. These initiatives aim to address the major issues that educators and students worldwide face. We look forward to sharing the research and ingenious prototypes the Learning Labs produce, as we help to shape the future of work in Canada and around the world.
