AI SUPPORT FOR TUTORING IN THE NETHERLANDS
How are people using AI?
Here at GA, our software is focussed on the world of vocational education and, as a result, we have a particular interest in the use of AI in that field of course. What we most want to see is practical, real-world use of AI tools in training and related administration.
A recent report from the European Commission describes usage of AI in Vocational Education and Training in some of their member states with some great concrete examples:
- Austria: lesson design, adaptive feedback and administrative support
- Belgium: administrative automation, content creation, personalised tutoring and project-based learning
- Slovenia: intelligent tutoring system and immersive simulations
- Spain: self-directed learning, dual-training exposure, transversal digital-modules and project-based learning
- Netherlands: intelligent tutoring, formative feedback and administrative automation
Let’s look at one specific example from the Netherlands …
The Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam has incorporated AI tools at the core of their vocational courses in the form of a specialised educational chatbot which supports tutors. Students can use it out-of-hours when the human instructor is not available.
Erik Woning, Innovation Program Manager, explains: a team of tutors has been formed for each subject and each typically commits half a day per week to share their teaching techniques and resources with their colleagues – but also with the chatbot tools. These standardisation meetings were already occurring, but additional time has been invested and is already paying dividends in terms of time savings for tutors.
It is important to note that well-being is at the heart of the process. Erik states that “the chatbot proactively asks students how they are doing and refers them on if they indicate that they need help.”
For the full EU report which describes over two dozen case studies from similar projects across these five EU nations go to the following link (and then click on the PDF download at the bottom of the page):
