The enterprise with a budget of 50 million złoty was carried out in partnership with Poland's top technical universities: Warsaw University of Technology, Gdansk University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Technology, and AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. The I Love Math and Cyfrowy Dialog (Digital Dialog) organizations also participated. 40,000 students and 1,500 teachers benefited from the national grant project aimed at raising the competences of teachers and stimulating young IT-savvy younger students.
The conference concluding the CMI project organized by Lodz University of Technology at the end of November brought together an elite group of experts, educators, and practitioners in the field of informatics and high technologies. The inspiring two-day event was held under the theme 'Key to the skills of tomorrow'. An introduction to the topic was provided by Hubert Gęsiarz, CMI project manager, and dr inż. Anna Firych-Nowacka, substitute project manager. The first panel, moderated passionately by Radosław Brzózka, focused on AI, a.k.a. artificial intelligence, and in particular on its applications in education. The panel included experts Barbara Halska, the CMI Curriculum Council, dr inż. Radosław Roszczyk, Warsaw University of Technology, and Andrzej Jakubowski, Intel Polska. Important issues were addressed concerning the advantages, opportunities, but also the threats of deploying artificial intelligence in teaching.
The significant achievements of CMI's male and female grant holders were also presented. Dr inż. Marcin Markowski of Wrocław University of Technology, dr hab. inż. Bartłomiej Stasiak of Lodz University of Technology, Magdalena Wachulec, CMI coach at the AGH University of Science and Technology, and Grażyna Kędzia, CMI grant holder from the Jerzy Kukuczka Elementary School No. 58 in Poznań, presented their reports. Their output includes publications that aggregate the knowledge of the female and male experts and, above all, the experience they gained in the course of the CMI project.
The conference attendees were also transported to the US during the 'Play, Peers, Projects, Passion' panel. Michael Resnick of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, inventor of the Scratch programing language and the developer of the OctoStudio app released in October 2023, made a special guest appearance, connecting from the USA. The online meetup was a follow-up of the visit the grant holders paid to MIT in May and June of this year. Students from the School and Kindergarten Complex in the Ornontowice Municipality, chaperoned by Paweł Bednarczyk, a CMI grant holder, also participated in the panel.
The first day of the conference ended on a festive note. The highlight of the evening came with a concert by the Academic Orchestra of Lodz University of Technology and the presentation of awards to those who made particularly notable contributions to the CMI project. The awards were presented by Daniel Duda, Director of the Office of the Center for Digital Poland Projects (Centrum Projektów Polska Cyfrowa), dr hab. inż. Andrzej Romanowski, prof. of TUL, Vice-Rector for Education, and the individuals in charge of the CMI project.
The gathering in Łódź also featured theory and practice sessions. Workshop modules were run by experts in different fields of informatics and education. The topics of the workshops spanned across a spectrum from robotics to applications of high technologies in teaching to creativity in teaching. Dr hab. inż. Grzegorz Granosik, prof. of TUL, talked about robotics as a tool aiding education of adults, whereas dr Krzysztof Wojewodzic, a researcher and business practitioner, gave a lecture under an intriguing title ‘Harnessing AI for learning and teaching?' (Jak pracować wydAIniej?).
The conference, packed full with interesting discussions, exchange of experience, ideas, and opinions, is a valuable contribution to the development of IT education.