SlowTeching at ALTC2026: What is technology doing to us, while it does things for us?

SlowTeching at ALTC2026: What is technology doing to us, while it does things for us? By Mary-Ellen Simper and Naomi Grace Bignell If the unexamined life is not worth living, and the secret to a good life is knowing what questions to ask, surely this is the time — not only to think about how we are prompting AI, but for what purpose, and to consider how this might contribute, or otherwise, to our own human flourishing. Old Questions & New Technologies SlowTeching invites the human to press pause and prioritise the why over the how and what. The emerging framework is being developed by Mary-Ellen Simper, a learning designer exploring the relationship between human flourishing, technology, and education.  Informed by Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program (VanderWeele, 2017), the OECD Wellbeing Framework (Drumand, 2015), and the PERMA model (Seligman, 2011), which stems from positive psychology, our use of technology is reconsidered alongside questions from wisdom traditions centuries and millennia old. Questions around non-harming, truthfulness, ownership, self-control and attachment to outcome. These might seem like esoteric concepts that belong in the ashram rather than the classroom. But the truth is the world has never needed to slow down more — and big tech, if it is doing so at all, is only giving the merest lip service to these ideas in the face of more self-serving clickbait headlines around AI and human annihilation. As with so much social change over the course of human history, it behoves the user to examine these questions on an individual level first, before bringing them to a department- or institution-wide context. Meaningful change can be made through careful consideration of individual actions. As has often been said, if you want to change the world, change yourself. Flourishing, Reflection & Agency The emerging SlowTeching reflective practice focusses on flourishing, an ancient idea that stems from Aristotelian philosophy and asks what it means to live a good, full human life. It provides a lens through which to examine our shared experiences, including our sense of meaning, purpose, character, embodiment, belonging, and material stability. SlowTeching proposes that these deeply human concepts are underexplored in technology-mediated education, and that they matter not only for students, but for the people who design, administer, and teach within our educational contexts.  The practice encourages critical reflection beyond technology literacies or ethics by considering flourishing. It asks: where is technology enhancing, hindering, and transforming our experiences, and how can we take agency over the use of existing and emerging tools not for efficiency or automation alone, but for our own individual flourishing?   The SlowTeching Workshop at ALTC26 In this workshop we will be searingly honest about our AI use and hold it up against a framework built for asking better questions, of ourselves, and the tools we use. We hope to encourage individual and collective reflection in the service of greater human flourishing. There’s been enough shouting on this issue. Let’s SlowTech. The SlowTeching workshop will take place on Tue 20 Oct, 11am, Room 3, Session 1 Your facilitators: Naomi Grace Bignell is a Learning Technologist at King’s College London and a yoga teacher, bringing a wellbeing and contemplative lens to conversations about AI in higher education and beyond. She’s drawn to the questions that sit underneath the tools: what we’re really asking for when we prompt, and how we can all live with greater intentionality, both on and offline. Naomi Grace on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/naomi-grace-bignell Free wellbeing content on Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/ourhealingspace Mary-Ellen Simper is a Learning Designer specialising in online and distance education. She’s interested in the impact of technology on human flourishing, takes a critical perspective on dominant big tech narratives, and explores how we might bring more courage, agency, and reflection into technology-mediated education. Mary’s Blog: https://www.maryellensimper.com/  Mary-Ellen Simper on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-ellen-simper/  References: Durand, M. (2015) The OECD Better Life Initiative: How’s Life? And the Measurement of Well-Being, The Review of Income and Wealth (online) available at https://www.roiw.org/2015/n1/02%20-%2012156.pdf (accessed 25/08/2026)  Seligman, M. (2011) Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being – and How to Achieve Them, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Great Britain  VanderWeele, T.J. (2017) On the promotion of human flourishing, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, No. 31 (online) available at https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114 (accessed 21/06/2026)