Dr. Maha Bali: Beyond Fear and Hype in Educational Technology

Dr. Maha Bali is an educational technologist and professor at the Center for Learning and Teaching at The American University in Cairo (Bali, n.d.). She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Sheffield. Does her name seem familiar? If so, it’s because she read Chapter 23, The Return of Artificial Intelligence (Weller, 2021) for the serialized audio version of 25 Years of Ed Tech. 

I selected Bali because her work addresses a question that emerges throughout many of the course readings: how technology can support learning without losing sight of human values. My own learning journey has been expanded by technology, which makes Bali’s perspective especially compelling. Rather than celebrating or rejecting technology, she encourages educators to ask what technology should do and for whom.

At a time when discussions about AI in education often swing between fear and hype, Bali offers a more thoughtful path forward. She refuses to treat AI as either a threat or a solution. Instead, she encourages educators to think critically about how these technologies can be used ethically, responsibly, and in ways that genuinely benefit learners (Bali, 2024).

What makes Bali’s work particularly compelling is that she demonstrates these values in practice.

• Through Virtually Connecting, she used technology to make academic conversations accessible to people unable to attend conferences because of geographic, financial, or personal barriers (Virtually Connecting, n.d.).
• Similarly, Equity Unbound, which she co-founded, uses open and connected learning to foster digital literacies, intercultural collaboration, and equity across global learning communities (Equity Unbound, n.d.).

At the heart of Bali’s work is the belief that education is fundamentally human. Learning happens when people engage with ideas, with communities, and with one another through dialogue and reflection. For Bali, technology is a means rather than an end. Its purpose is not to impress us with what it can do, but to expand people’s capacity to connect, participate, and flourish.

Relevant Links

1. Maha Bali’s website: https://mahabali.me
2. Virtually Connecting: https://virtuallyconnecting.org
3. Equity Unbound: https://unboundeq.creativitycourse.org

References

Bali, M. (n.d.). Maha Bali. https://mahabali.me

Bali, M. (2024). Publications and scholarship on AI, critical digital pedagogy, and education. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8142-7262

Equity Unbound. (n.d.). Equity Unbound. https://unboundeq.creativitycourse.org

The American University in Cairo. (n.d.). Maha Bali. https://www.aucegypt.edu/fac/maha-bali

Virtually Connecting. (n.d.). Virtually Connecting. https://virtuallyconnecting.org

Weller, M. (2021). 25 Years of Ed Tech: The serialized audio version. Athabasca University Press.