91�鶹������Ʒ����

ViLLE, a collaborative digital learning platform developed by the Centre for Learning Analytics, University of Turku, Finland, is one the laureates of the 2020 . The platform, while ensuring strong evidence-based approach in utilizing data, learning analytics and AI techniques, supports teachers and individual paths of learners. ViLLE is developed as a public good and used by 50 per cent of Finnish schools.

In this interview, Dr Mikko-Jussi Laakso, Director of the , tells us more about the vision behind the project, what makes this platform different from other Learning Management Systems and how the platform supports schools, teachers and learners in Finland.

Could you tell us more about ViLLE’s main goal and how the platform has been created? 

The project has been my team’s and my passion over the last two decades. With a mission to create better learning outcomes and experiences for learners and teachers, we combined many successful techniques into one package (automatic assessment, immediate feedback, gamification, continuous assessment, visualization, and blended learning) and applied a research-based approach. From an in-house university system providing assessments using data to identify learning gaps, we grew into a data-driven platform that caters to all levels of education from pre-primary to university level.

Our goal is to build a nationwide ecosystem of learning to be able to measure the effects and impacts of educational investments and changes, let it be investing in new learning materials, additional teachers, implementing new pedagogical ideas or revisions of the curricula. In other words, we want to make the actual learning visible, in the classrooms, lecture halls and at homes. By making this learning visible, we make every student visible. We want to help teachers to see the trees, and not only the forest, and that educational policymakers could have reliable a real-time understanding about the wellbeing and growth of the ‘forests’.

What makes it stand out from other Learning Management Systems?

We have designed the system with the teacher in mind from day one. Its strength is in providing everything a teacher needs in just one ‘package’.  The platform includes personalized learning paths for learners, research-based teaching and learning diagnostic tools and an advanced AI engine that enables teachers to provide learners with personalized tasks.

In simple terms, could you explain how the platform functions?    

 In elementary and secondary schools, learners use regularly gamified and interactive exercises aligned with the national curricula. By utilizing data mining and machine learning techniques, our AI engine detects and highlights students’ strengths and weaknesses and ‘flags’ those students who side track. From this point onward, educators can provide tailored support and guidance to those learners and further monitor and observe their reaction to the intervention. 

At the university level, we collect multifaceted course level data (classroom exercises, homework, attendance, etc.) to create an Early Warning System that can identify dropouts early in the course.

In addition, ViLLE supports a large variety of pedagogies. It promotes practicing and learnings via gamification for elementary school students, and transforms traditional lectures into interactive sessions and collaboration at universities.

What do you think should be taken into account when integrating AI into the classrooms?

 AI should play a solely supportive or complimentary role towards the decisions that educators, administrators and other educational authorities make. We collect data to improve our educational system and therefore, every single learner within it. This is the essence of Learning Analytics and the rationale for gathering data should always be aligned with the aforementioned goal. When it comes to the so-called big data, the integration of AI is essential but the reasoning behind the data collection and the implications that these data develop should follow a clear and transparent rationale.

Do you have any examples of how the platform supported the continuity and quality of learning during the COVID-19 learning crisis?

 In Finland, when the COVID-19 crisis emerged, we provided training to about 1,000 teachers in just two weeks. Teachers were able to utilize ready-made digital content without having to go through the burden of preparing material in ‘legitimately’ no time. Moreover, while we were just two weeks into the first wave of the pandemic outbreak, we developed, together with teachers, new visualizations to compensate for the lack of classroom interaction.

What does receiving this UNESCO Prize mean to the project? How will it affect your work?

The Prize brings new possibilities for global collaboration, which can help us reach a new level. There are hundreds of millions of learners who could benefit from our approach and this is our mission -- to provide quality education for all. It would be awesome to work closely with a global organization like UNESCO and contribute toward the mitigation of the educational issues that are present in every educational system worldwide.

Looking ahead, what are your plans for the future of this project?

Nationally, we are developing a research-driven Learning & Teaching ecosystem by bringing together experts, teachers, and researchers from all the relevant disciplines. This collective effort aims at tackling two important yet challenging questions: How can we maximize the potential of every individual learner and how can we help or guide this learner to find his future profession?

Learning basic skills is a global challenge but remains one of the fundamental rights every child has. I would like to conclude this interview with my personal motto which is “The future of any education system lies in learning analytics”. So, let’s tackle this global challenge together!