23 April 2024 – The national and final conference of the project Establishing New Education Modules in the Field of Augmented and Virtual Reality (Think XR) took place in Ljubljana. The project, which is co-financed by the Norway Grants under the programme Education, Scholarships, Apprenticeship and Youth Entrepreneurship, establishes innovative practices in the introduction of new educational programmes in the field of virtual or augmented reality, trains teachers and trainers, and develops new didactic tools.
The participants were first addressed by Mrs. Jasmina Mihelak Zupančič, M.A., Principal of the School Centre Slovenske Konjice – Zreče, acting as the project promoter. She summarised the results of the project, which exceeded expectations. She highlighted the XR (extended reality) partnership, which brought together education and industry, and stressed that the purchase of equipment under the project had enabled more interactive learning, visualisation and practice, which had been previously unfeasible. All this requires new skills, which is why training of educational staff is crucial. New professions are here, so it is important to think now about strategic measures and new paradigms for education.
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Opening speeches were given also by Mr. Urban Kodrič from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation and Mr. Aleksandar Sladojević from the Slovenian Centre for Vocational Education, who stressed the importance of the use of new technologies and digital education, as digitisation is an opportunity for the development of society.
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Mr. Aleš Pevc, representative of the project partner Technology Park Ljubljana, presented the results of the project in figures. More than 420 participants took part in the various activities, a 100-hour programme for mentors, a 40-hour XR Academy training programme, pilots of the XR Academy for teachers and mentors, students and staff, and high school students. A long-term plan for introducing XR content in education and training programmes, various e-materials, learning about good practices in Norway, establishing institutional cooperation and an XR partnership network, etc. have been developed.
The day-long event continued with a wide range of speakers presenting the use of XR technologies for various purposes (e.g. smart classroom design, foreign language learning, immersive e-textbooks, heritage education, architectural solutions, etc.) and highlighting the importance of participating in the XR partnership. They also presented the results of the XR Academy, digital tools for the development of innovative pedagogical approaches, such as working on a CNC machine in virtual reality, which was one of the results of the successful cooperation between teachers and students of the School Centre Slovenske Konjice – Zreče.
Mr. Gabriel Hanssen Kiss, representative of the Norwegian project partner Norwegian University of Science and Technology, presented the use of augmented reality (AR) technology in education at their university and the students’ experiences.
Various round tables provided reflections on strategies for introducing new technologies into educational programmes in Slovenia, challenges and opportunities for introducing new XR software modules and curricula into educational institutions, the development of digital competences and the education and industry working together, as well as on the future of XR technologies and the role of the teacher in the future.
Students Adam Macuh (School Centre Slovenske Konjice – Zreče), Timon Gorjan (School Centre Nova Gorica), Jaka Kordiš (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UL) and Žiga Gobec (Faculty of Computer Science and Informatics, UL) reflected on the future of using new technologies in education and inspired the participants with their pragmatic and critical thinking. They agreed that new technologies are very useful, but their use requires prudence, moderation and safety. The training of teachers to deliver the knowledge is also very important. They are aware that young people grow up with short videos and social networks that require short attention spans and allow quick accessibility, so they still consider it is important to learn from books and write in notebooks that force them to longer concentration and attention. New technologies are the future, but they are not for always and everywhere.
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During the event, participants were also able to try out various virtual reality equipment to see for themselves its wide range of applications.
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The Think XR project is the result of cooperation between different institutions: the project promoter is School Centre Slovenske Konjice – Zreče, Slovenian project partners are Technology park Ljubljana Ltd, Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana, University of Primorska, Hashnet Ltd, Unior Forging Industry and the Norwegian project partner is the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.