Dr. Samantha-Kaye Johnston Presents "From Personalisation to Critical Thinking: Introducing the CCDA Principle for AI in Education", UNESCO 2025

Dr. Samantha-Kaye Johnston, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Assessment & Evaluation Research Centre, presented at UNESCO Digital Learning Week 2025 on Wednesday, 3 September. Her presentation introduced the CCDA (communal, cognitive, and dispositional autonomy) framework, designed to strengthen critical thinking skills and dispositions in young people.

Held under the theme “AI and the Future of Education: Disruptions, Dilemmas and Directions”, UNESCO Digital Learning Week 2025 explored how education systems worldwide can integrate AI equitably, ethically, and in ways that keep human needs at the centre of innovation.

Dr. Johnston shared emerging findings from her Tracking AI in Education (TRAINE) Study, which highlights the risks AI poses to student autonomy. In response, she unveiled the CCDA framework—a new model for designing AI-enabled personalised learning that nurtures communal, cognitive, and dispositional autonomy, providing the scaffolding students need to think critically and independently in an AI-driven world.