Resetting education and training for the digital age

The International conference was held on November 8 and 9, ogranised by the the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia, the Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and Educational and Training Programmes (CMEPIUS) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, together with other interested organisations and individuals as part of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2021.

First of the conference focused on teaching in the digital age – what it means for students and for teachers; what are the advantages and pitfalls; what we need to pay attention to and what we must not forget. Frequently used ‘key words’ and addressed terms were: digitalization, individualization and personalization, and on the other hand, humanity, empathy, inclusion. There is still a lot of duality, divergence, expectation and caution. Examples of good practice have been presented, proving that it is feasible and possible.

Conference webpage: First day recodings

On the second day the focus was on on artificial intelligence (AI) in education and teaching. AI is the inevitable future of us all, in one form or another. The latter cannot be disputed. Thus we all need to learn more about AI, get to know it, and (at least in part) understand it. We need to teach teachers and students about the usefulness of AI. Not all at once and not all to the same extent. But AI can help teachers teach, nut big differences in the language of AI engineers and teachers remain. AI is smart, but not as smart as humans. Questions of ethics and morality remain open. Personalization is not necessarily focused on those goals where we are currently weak: collaboration, communication, emotional intelligence. AI cannot replicate the teacher, it can replicate the learning process, but the context of socialization and culture is lost.

During the plenary session on the 2nd day, our project colleague prof. dr. Colin de la Higuera fro the University of Nantes presented our project ‘Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers’. The recording is avaialble on the conference webpage (Tuesday, 9 November 2021, Plenary Session 1, Great Union Hall) and below: