EdCase Canvas (how technology can be integrated into teaching and learning activities)

How can we make informed decisions about the use of AI in teaching? How does it change learning activities, and what educational value do those changes create?

This workshop introduces the EdCase Canvas, developed by Nikolaj Sloth Kramer, as a framework for exploring, developing and discussing AI integration in teaching. The emphasis is on explaining how and why AI is used, connecting technological possibilities to students’ needs, learning objectives and the conditions of teaching.

Educational value depends on the relationship between what students need to learn, what they actually do and how their learning is evaluated. The EdCase Canvas helps teachers examine these relationships and make their didactic choices explicit.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Analyse a concrete teaching activity using Hiim and Hippe’s didactic relations model, considering the interrelations between learners’ prerequisites, contextual conditions, objectives, content, learning processes, and evaluation;
• Examine how the integration of AI may substitute, augment, modify, or redefine elements of a learning activity using the SAMR framework;
• Identify and articulate the cognitive demands placed on students within a learning activity, drawing on Bloom’s taxonomy;
• Evaluate where and how AI can meaningfully support learning while safeguarding opportunities for students’ independent judgement, critical thinking, and agency;
• Develop and compare alternative designs for a teaching activity that integrate pedagogical, technological, and cognitive considerations;
• Justify design choices in relation to their educational purpose, coherence, and feasibility rather than technological innovation as an end in itself;
• Develop a coherent and well-reasoned teaching design in which the use of AI is aligned with the intended learning processes and outcomes.

Nikolaj Sloth Kramer is an Associate Lecturer at VIA University College, Denmark, with more than 12 years of experience working at the intersection of professional creativity, design, emerging technologies, and higher education. His work focuses on exploring and developing creative processes, particularly how new technologies can expand the possibilities of design thinking, concept development, and professional creative practice. He is especially interested in the relationship between human creativity and generative artificial intelligence, emphasising critical thinking, intentional agency, and the integration of professional knowledge throughout the creative process. Combining practical experimentation with theoretical perspectives, Nikolaj develops frameworks and methodologies that help creative professionals and educators navigate increasingly technology-driven workflows. He is the creator of AI Rocket, a structured framework for integrating generative AI into creative processes while supporting professional judgment, critical reflection, and quality assurance. He has also developed the EdCase Canvas, a framework for designing engaging, practice-oriented educational experiences that connect creative methodologies with didactic reflection. Through teaching, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Nikolaj aims to bridge creative practice, technological innovation, and education, exploring how emerging tools can strengthen rather than replace human creativity and professional expertise.

AI Rocket (a foundational framework for getting started with teaching with AI

How do we use AI, what guides our decisions, and how does our involvement contribute to the result? This workshop focuses on reflecting on and presenting how we work with AI. Acknowledging its use is only a starting point; the academic substance lies in explaining the process, examining our choices and demonstrating our professional contribution.

Academic value in AI collaboration depends on how we exercise critical thinking, apply professional knowledge and retain agency throughout the process. The AI Rocket provides a method for making those contributions deliberate and visible.

We begin by exploring mindset, working with and without a method, value creation and agency. The AI Rocket is connected to Bloom’s taxonomy as a framework for discussing academic value and examining the thinking participants actively contribute, particularly through analysis, evaluation and creation.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Define a problem in terms of the desired input, output, and process of co-creation;
• Apply validation as a feedback loop, using evidence, professional knowledge, and the intended goal to assess and refine input;
• Apply dissection as a feedback loop by examining underlying concepts, components, and assumptions to develop more precise descriptions and requirements;
• Differentiate between and combine validation and dissection as complementary strategies for iterative improvement;
• Refine their input through successive iterations in response to insights generated through validation and dissection;
• Direct and evaluate the co-creation process in order to improve the relevance and quality of its results.

Nikolaj Sloth Kramer is an Associate Lecturer at VIA University College, Denmark, with more than 12 years of experience working at the intersection of professional creativity, design, emerging technologies, and higher education. His work focuses on exploring and developing creative processes, particularly how new technologies can expand the possibilities of design thinking, concept development, and professional creative practice. He is especially interested in the relationship between human creativity and generative artificial intelligence, emphasising critical thinking, intentional agency, and the integration of professional knowledge throughout the creative process. Combining practical experimentation with theoretical perspectives, Nikolaj develops frameworks and methodologies that help creative professionals and educators navigate increasingly technology-driven workflows. He is the creator of AI Rocket, a structured framework for integrating generative AI into creative processes while supporting professional judgment, critical reflection, and quality assurance. He has also developed the EdCase Canvas, a framework for designing engaging, practice-oriented educational experiences that connect creative methodologies with didactic reflection. Through teaching, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Nikolaj aims to bridge creative practice, technological innovation, and education, exploring how emerging tools can strengthen rather than replace human creativity and professional expertise.

Financing & Support for Creative Start-ups

The session explores key financing instruments and support mechanisms tailored to creative start-ups and early-stage cultural and creative enterprises. It examines public schemes (grants, guarantees, microcredit), EU-level tools such as the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility and Creative Europe, as well as incubators, accelerators and mixed models combining funding, mentoring and market access. Through case examples, the presentation highlights typical barriers to finance for creative entrepreneurs and outlines practical pathways to build investment readiness, diversify revenue streams and connect creative start-ups with appropriate financial partners and support ecosystems.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify key financing and support options available to creative start-ups, including public, EU and private instruments;
• Recognise common barriers to finance faced by cultural and creative enterprises;
• Assess which financing and support mechanisms are most appropriate for different stages and needs of a creative start-up;
• Identify practical steps towards investment readiness, revenue diversification and engagement with relevant funding and support ecosystems.

Dr. Diana Andreeva - Popyordanova is director of the Observatory of Cultural Economics (OCE), an organization for independent research in cultural economics in Bulgaria. She is a lecturer in the University of National and World Economy/UNWE/, Department "Media and Public Communications"- UNESCO Chair on Media and Information Literacy and Cultural Policies for Sustainable Development and National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts. She is co-editor of the Bulgarian profile of cultural policy in the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Director of the Centre for Media Research, Audiovisual Policy and Cultural Industries „Bilyana Tomova” in UNWE, Sofia. Diana Andreeva is part of the research team of the international Horizon 2020 CICERONE/Creative Industries Cultural Economy Production Network/ project. She is part of the focal point and representative of Sofia – creative city of film of UNESCO. Member of the National council of cinema(2012-2016). Member of the European Experts Network for Culture, a project of the European Commission since January 2025.

Are we Teaching for the Wrong Screen? The Rise of Vertical Storytelling

As audiences increasingly encounter moving images on smartphones and social platforms, vertical 9:16 video is becoming more than simply a format for social media. New forms of vertical fiction and short form micro-dramas are emerging alongside traditional film and television, influencing how stories are conceived, framed, produced, and distributed. This session explores what these developments mean for film and media education. We will look at how vertical formats affect composition, visual storytelling, pacing, audience behaviour and production workflows - and discuss how educators can introduce mobile-first storytelling without reducing it to “content creation for TikTok”. We will also explore how emerging tools, including AI-assisted previsualisation and development, can support the process of designing stories for new screens - from early ideas and visual references to storyboards and production planning. The session will combine examples, discussion and practical perspectives from current teaching and production practice.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explore how 9:16 changes framing, composition and visual storytelling;
• Examine the rise of short-form vertical fiction and micro-dramas;
• Reflect on changing audience behaviour and what it means for film education;
• Consider how AI and previsualisation tools can support development and production;
• Discuss how vertical storytelling can be integrated into existing film curricula without abandoning established filmmaking principles.

Oskar Fisker is an Assistant Lecturer at VIA Film & Transmedia, where he teaches film production, cinematography, and emerging technologies. With a background as an independent filmmaker, he brings hands-on experience from commercial productions, documentaries, music videos, and other creative projects, working across the entire production process - from initial concept to final delivery. His teaching combines practical industry experience with an interest in emerging technologies, vertical storytelling and how changing audience behaviour is shaping the future of filmmaking.

Evolution of the Ukrainian identity via the diachronical perspective of conceptual metaphor. Comprehensive scope of stuggle for sovereignty in War- and Peacetime

Participants will explore principles of mental consideration of the Ukrainian identity evolution via the prism of dynamic diachronic changes in the image component of the UKRAINE concept as an identity marker in the constantly reassessed linguistic and social consciousness – discourse. The algorithm is shown within the layer paradigm of the UKRAINE concept using the conceptual metaphor methodology by Lakoff and Johnson, where significance of mental changes in the Ukrainian identity evolution is presented as the frequency of association preferences in social attitudes toward the Ukrainian identity itself in struggle for sovereignty in war- and peacetime. The study is based on the General Regionally Annotated Corpus of the Ukrainian Language (GRAC) and is compared with previous research on purely foreign sources from the News on the Web Corpus (NOW). Thus, purely Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian considerations of Ukrainian identity will be represented for participants.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explain how the concept of UKRAINE functions as a marker of Ukrainian identity within changing linguistic and social discourses;
• Analyse diachronic changes in representations of Ukraine and relate these changes to the evolution of Ukrainian identity in war- and peacetime contexts;
• Apply Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor approach to identify and interpret associative patterns surrounding the concept of UKRAINE;
• Examine the frequency and significance of conceptual associations as indicators of changing social attitudes towards Ukrainian identity, sovereignty, and self-understanding;
• Use and interpret corpus-based evidence from the General Regionally Annotated Corpus of the Ukrainian Language (GRAC) to investigate representations of Ukrainian identity;
• Compare representations of Ukrainian identity in Ukrainian-language sources with those found in non-Ukrainian sources from the News on the Web Corpus (NOW);
• Critically reflect on how linguistic representation, social consciousness, and historical context contribute to the construction and ongoing transformation of Ukrainian identity.

Vitalii Stepanov is 32 years old. He is PhD in Philology and lecturer of foreign languages at Sumy State University (Sumy, Ukraine). He is supervisor of the research project "Evolution of Ukrainian Identity in Linguistic Consciousness: Past Experience, Current Challenges, and Prospects for Development". The project is implemented in January 2026 to December 2028. The current training has been prepared within this project.

Vitalii Stepanov is interested in studies of cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, discourse, synergetics, translation.