Working with Generative AI to support interactive learning and teaching: reflections from the European Distance and E-Learning Conference in 2024

The annual conference of the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN, https://edeneurope.eu) held this year in Graz, Austria offered a timely opportunity to listen to researchers who are addressing a range of issues that are of interest to teachers, learners, policy makers and other stakeholders in various levels of education. Gathered under the umbrella theme of “Learning in the Age of AI: Towards Imaginative Futures”, the three-day conference (16–18 June) covered a range of issues/themes in AI in education including pedagogical experiments with Large Language Models (LLMs), customising these tools for thebenefit of teachers and students, ethical issues concerned with Generative AIs (GenAI) in education, future challenges for AI researchers, AI in vocational and adult education, and a view (often optimistic!) of AI from the perspectives of technology developers and vendors.