augMENTOR’s partners intertview

We asked Eleutheria Tsourlidaki, Project Leader at UNI Systems and George Garofalakis, Project Coordinator at Uni Systems their views on augMENTOR.

Eleutheria Tsourlidaki

Q: Could you tell us what augMENTOR is in a nutshell?

A: augMENTOR is a pioneering project that aims to introduce emerging technologies in different educational settings. The goal is to deliver the technological as well as the pedagogical tools to practitioners to move from technology-rich to technology-augmented educational experiences. Using AI-technologies, the augMENTOR solution will offer the means to personalize learning pathways and facilitate the development of 21st century skills. 

Q: Could you tell us more about the real-life pilots you will run to test augMENTOR?

A: augMENTOR will run four pilots, two in Greece, one in Serbia and one in Lithuania. Our pilots will include practitioners from formal secondary education and adult education, pre-service teachers as well as non-technical experts working in civilian common security and defense policy missions. The diversity of the target groups will give us the opportunity to test our tools in different settings and demonstrate the versatility of the augMENTOR solution. 

George Garofalakis

Q: What is the greatest advantage augMENTOR will bring to the existings educational settings?

A: Diversity and inclusion especially in educational settings have become more important than ever. Nowadays they are considered essential elements of any learning process. augMENTOR’s greatest advantage in my opinion is that it can offer exactly that to educational settings. Through AI technologies, the augMENTOR solution will be able to offer targeted recommendations thus personalizing the learning process, fostering inclusion and diversity.

Q: What would you advise to any educator reluctant to the use of emerging technologies, such as augmented intelligence in the classroom or any other educational setting?

Just like any new technological tool the use of AI technologies in education can sound a bit overwhelming at first. It takes time for educators to step outside their comfort zone and explore the possibilities it brings, and that is ok. My advice would be to take it slow. With proper training and some personal work, they will be able to gradually integrate it in their teaching practices and exploit all the great opportunities emerging technologies bring in the classroom.