The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is accepting nominations for the 2019 edition of the King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education to recognize innovative approaches in leveraging new technologies to expand educational and lifelong learning opportunities for all, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goal 4 on education.
The theme of the 2019 edition is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to innovate education, teaching and learning.
Recent technological progress, including the proliferation of frontier technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advancements in neuroscience, opens a new horizon of possibilities for learning, teaching and the delivery and management of education. Keeping in with Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education, UNESCO is working with governments and other partners to explore the effective and ethical use of AI applications to reduce barriers to access education and optimize learning processes with a view to improve learning outcomes. It also aims to ensure that the deployment of AI in education does not exacerbate digital divides, and everybody can reap the benefit of new technological developments.
In 2019, the Prize will award programmes and projects that use AI-powered solutions to:
Enhance education: AI-enhanced education management information systems (EMIS); AI-powered delivery modes for large-scale education, trainings, and lifelong learning systems; (big) data-boosted education planning systems;
Improve learning outcomes: use of AI, including in neuroscience, to enable personalized learning, support creation of collaborative environments, lifelong learning and new forms of learning; AI applications or solutions for subject-specific areas or interdisciplinary activities, or development of creativities; learning management systems (LMS) or other AI in education applications to analyze learning patterns in order to automate the optimization of learning processes; use of data, machine learning and other AI technique to inform the understanding of human learning, AI for learning assessments;
Empower teachers: application of teacher-facing AI to release teachers’ non-teaching workload, augment teachers’ capabilities in teaching and coaching learning, and enable more creative teaching methodologies.
Prize Information
An international Jury selects two best projects annually. Each prize winner receives US$ 25,000, a medal and a diploma during a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
Criteria
National Commissions of the Member States of UNESCO and international non-governmental organizations maintaining official relations with UNESCO are invited to elicit, nominate and submit candidates for the Prize, thus contributing to a greater diversity of the projects.
Individuals, institutions, non-governmental organizations or other entities that use AIpowered solutions to provide quality and inclusive education, learning and teaching.
Selection Criteria
The nominated projects/programmes should be ongoing for at least 6 months and meet the following criteria:
Be relevant to the specific theme of the year;
Be innovative, specifically in the application of AI;
Demonstrate measurable positive and sustainable impact in the lives of the targeted beneficiaries;
Provide evidence for potential replicability and scalability.