Maximizing Educational Opportunities with Artificial Intelligence: Insights from Didacta 2022

How this can be overcome is one of the important questions at the international education trade fair Didacta, which started yesterday in Deutz.

The central theme of the trade fair is still digitalization, which drives the entire education industry. Now that fast internet is available in many places and teachers and students are better equipped with PCs, tablets and laptops, the focus is now on designing the digital world in schools. This applies, for example, to the use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning.

The opportunities of artificial intelligence in schools

Programs like Chat GPT could help teachers create materials with relatively little effort that are specifically aimed at weaker and stronger students and that offer individual solutions and support options for each target group. For example, students with a migration background who have difficulty learning the German language could benefit from this. Didacta starts with the topic of early education in daycare centers.

In total, more than 730 exhibitors will be presenting their innovative concepts and products as well as new technologies and services at the largest and most important education trade fair in Europe until next Saturday. “Didacta is a place to look at such opportunities – a showcase for the future,” explains Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger in her video message at the opening on Tuesday morning.

Educational success still depends heavily on social background. “That has to change, we need a turnaround in educational policy,” says the FDP politician, referring to the StartChances program, in which ten billion euros will be invested in the coming years to provide special support for one million students at 4,000 schools.

The aim is to halve the number of pupils who fail to meet minimum standards in reading, writing and arithmetic. The focus here is particularly on primary schools. There is also a Digital Pact 2.0, which is intended to be more precise and less bureaucratic than its predecessor. “This also includes AI applications that open up new opportunities for teaching and learning.”

The Didacta was opened by NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU): “Education is the key for every individual to develop their talents, for a self-determined life and for professional success. But education is also important for the country and society, for cohesion, for prosperity, social security and for a strong democracy.”

The challenges in education are huge, says Wüst, particularly with regard to the integration of tens of thousands of children from families who have fled to Germany. “One in four children leaves primary school without being able to use the German language appropriately for their age. The education is already over before it starts. When it comes to education, it shouldn’t be a deciding factor where a child comes from. “These are all our children,” says the Prime Minister and promises that no savings will be made for children and young people as well as for education, even in times of tight budgets.

In the current year, 38 billion euros are being spent on education in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is a new record. A further 38 million euros would be invested in daycare centers to promote language skills at an early age. They also want to bring 10,000 new additional teachers into the school system by 2027 to ensure teaching.

“I expressly welcome the fact that the federal and state governments now want to support schools in socially disadvantaged areas with the StartChances program in the spirit of equal opportunities. But this measure alone will not be enough to better prepare our children for the future. Our curricula are still designed to reproduce ready-made knowledge. This means that the ability to creatively apply knowledge to new subject areas falls by the wayside. But it is precisely this quality that we need so urgently. So let’s redeploy – in favor of real future skills. Less classic educational canon, more looking forward to the major transformation tasks that our society has to master,” explains Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker in her welcoming speech.

2024-02-20 23:07:44
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