Finnish award-winning e-learning platform aims to promote education amid pandemic: developer

13 / 04 / 2021

By Xinhua - -

Collaborative online education platform “ViLLE,” which won the 2020 edition of UNESCO’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Education Prize on Tuesday, aims to help promote education amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said the platform’s developer.

The platform has been designed to help decrease the global learning debt caused by the pandemic, and ease teachers’ workload, Mikko-Jussi Laakso, director of the Center for Learning Analytics at the University of Turku in Finland, which developed the platform, told Xinhua recently.

According to Laakso, the platform, which is currently used by half of Finnish schools and in 40 countries and regions across the world, was first launched in 2010. An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) engine was introduced in the platform last year, enabling it to offer a personalized set of exercises based on students’ performance and provide teachers with detailed reports on their students’ progress.

Laakso said the platform also aims to push forward quality education, helping teachers to see “not only the forest but also the trees.”

Established in 2005, UNESCO’s ICT in Education Prize rewards individuals and organizations that are implementing outstanding projects and promoting the creative use of technologies to enhance learning, teaching and overall educational performance in the digital age.

An international jury selects two best projects annually. The other laureate in the 2020 edition is the “One College Student Per Village” program implemented by the Open University of China, which uses AI to provide learners in China’s rural and remote areas with quality learning opportunities. Enditem