At the WISE conference in Doha, AI will change the future of education in the world

Mohammed Al-Shayazmi-Doha

What form of education looks forward? Will artificial intelligence eliminate the role of teachers? Such questions and others were the subject of the interventions of participants at the WISE 10th World Education Innovation Summit on Wednesday, entitled "Learn again, what does it mean to be a human being?"

WISE, one of Qatar Foundation's initiatives, reflects Qatar's commitment to tackling pressing education issues, including keeping pace with the rapid changes in technology and spreading successful global experiences and practices in education that respond to today's and future challenges.

At the opening ceremony of the conference, which was attended by the Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and the President of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Sarkisian, there were perceptions focused on the need to link innovation with educational pathways and to re-learn the skills that enable today's societies to advance the field of education and employ artificial intelligence. In education, the development of research programs that miss out on the challenges posed by and answer the supposed questions.

Any education for the future?
In more than 150 sessions, 3,000 international experts, education specialists and thought leaders from 110 countries will try to propose solutions that shape the future of education in Qatar and around the world, and identify behaviors, skills and attributes to be learned and re-acquired, leading to the integration of holistic learning. Understand the nature of the work of our minds and how we learn, global citizenship for sustainable development, and utilize technology to achieve positive educational outcomes.

These discussions are also dominated by pressing issues such as current trends in education, from discussing how to re-learn emotional and psychological skills, exchanging views on whether well-being should be taught in schools, and should schools get rid of scoring systems? Should students pledge a percentage of their future salaries to finance their higher education?

In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, Qatar's Minister of State Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Kuwari said that the WISE conference took root and became at the disposal of the world and not only Qatar, and innovation processes in education continue, and the world must keep up with it, and this is reflected in the title of the conference, which puts us all before major challenges as officials and manufacturers A decision, experts and educational researchers, expressing his aspiration to reap the fruits of these collective efforts in the near future.

corporate responsibility
In his speech, the Minister of Education and Higher Education in Qatar, Mohammed Al Hammadi, noted the participation of a large group of policy makers, thought leaders, researchers as well as teachers and youth in the work of the conference, which sees the message that education is not the responsibility of an institution or a particular entity, but a shared responsibility that has an impact on the present And the future.

Al-Hammadi added that while the debate on education has always been spontaneously focused on what should be taught, in recent times learning issues have been dominated by the educational arena, and there have been suggestions about whether it is necessary to reconsider some postulates about ways of learning, methods and outputs, so as to ensure Not to ignore talent.

At a time when the President of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Sarkisyan, in his speech, pointed to the role of artificial intelligence in the future educational process, at the same time pointed to the main role of teachers in the discovery of talent, and here lies the message of teachers to promote and develop, recalling that education is not accessible to all, and that not everyone can Access to the same educational privileges, as many are deprived of one of their fundamental rights.

In contrast, big questions are being asked about education. Classrooms in some countries are expected to soon move from the traditional learning framework to the use of robots and tailored artificial intelligence, and a large and growing proportion of students will benefit from more robust and flexible robots. Teachers have impacted their expectations for the future.

In this context, the former French Minister of Education, Najat Vallou Belkacem, in a statement to Al Jazeera Net expressed her aspiration for an educational future that includes everyone in the world, but called for the need to modernize the educational systems in line with the technological revolution in which we live, and discuss how to develop artificial intelligence to serve the educational process and education. And use it to achieve more efficiency to raise the quality of education.

The Wise Award
At the conference, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser presented Larry Rosenstock with the WISE Award for Education 2019 for his contributions to improving the quality of education through an innovative learning model that helps students succeed despite their diverse social and economic backgrounds.

In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, Rosenstock expressed his pride in the award, saying that the culmination of recognition that he has already been able to influence the future of education positively, which will push him to move forward, along with other experts and teachers around the world who have a great passion for education and eager to develop the skills of their students.

The WISE Award for Education, launched in 2011 at the initiative of Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, is the first honor of its kind to celebrate individual or collective achievement of those who have made outstanding global contributions to education and aims to raise global awareness of the pivotal role of education. In all communities, create a platform for innovative and practical solutions that help overcome some of the challenges to its development.

Over the past 10 years, WISE startups and initiatives supported over $ 28 million in support. In addition, WISE has supported 150 projects and startups, and outputs from previous summits have benefited more than 245 million beneficiaries.

Celebrating research projects
This year's World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) will celebrate the six research projects winning the 2019 WISE Awards, which were selected from among 481 projects submitted to the competition, as well as projects that have won the center position, in recognition and encouragement of innovative educational initiatives worldwide.

The winning projects announced last September include Family Business for Education from the United Kingdom, United World Schools operating in Nepal, Myanmar and Cambodia, Microbet World Education and Happy Child. In Brazil, the project "Urban" to care for the safety of children in India, the Institute "Akila" in Rwanda.

Eight new research reports will be launched that provide detailed insights and actionable recommendations for education challenges in Qatar and beyond. These reports of interest to educators, policy makers, school leaders and parents included topics such as local learning systems, language policies, student well-being, educational leadership, global citizenship education and excellence. In higher education, university students travel across countries, and report authors will present their findings and discuss them with conference delegates.