Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1499169
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 MAY 2023 9 COMMERCIAL Gaming and AI are the future of education AI has taken digital skills to a totally new level. The gamifi- cation of education is fast be- coming a very powerful tool to engage students. eSports are being used to educate children with autism. Therefore, unless we lay the groundwork to de- velop talent through these new digital tools, we will fail in the race for the future. These are some of the key messages that have emerged during "Transform-ED: Edu- cation Through Gaming and AI", a symposium organized by the European Commission Representation in Malta to dis- cuss the future of education in Europe and how games and AI can be turned into a powerful educational tool to provide a more dynamic and engaging learning experience. With a line-up of exception- al both local and internation- al speakers, Transform-ED brought together educators, professional trainers, thought leaders, and various industry actors, including from leading firms such as Microsoft, Game- plan and AOZ Studio. Addressing the opening of the symposium that kicked off the European Year of Skills, European Commissioner He- lena Dalli stated that whilst digital technology makes us want to learn more, digitiza- tion is transforming how we learn, how we teach and how we work. "This is why we should look at gaming and artificial intel- ligence not as potential threats but as two opportunities that can play a crucial role in a new approach to education by help- ing us capture the attention of students in a way that mo- tivates them to want to learn better and more." Commissioner Dalli ex- plained how supporting young people to approach digital technologies in a more critical and constructive manner not only nurtures better citizens but also creates an opportu- nity for a stronger and more meaningful education experi- ence that makes citizens want to learn and upskill themselves more. "Skills are transformative and generate more work and wealth. This is why continuous skilling, today, is at the very top of the agenda at EU policy lev- el. This is reflected in the over 170 initiatives undertaken by the EU Commission to encour- age citizens to keep re-skilling themselves. As a result, almost 58% of adults across the European Un- ion are participating in upskill- ing courses every year." "However, the digital divide is still a challenge not only in terms of gender, where only 19% of those working in ICT are female but also on a wider level where only 54% of peo- ple in the EU have basic digital skills. At the same time, 90% of jobs require digital skills and two thirds of places of work are still finding it hard to find peo- ple with advanced digital skills. Our work now is to tackle these divides," added Helena Dalli as she called for education and labour market stakeholders to come together to encourage a more positive mindset for a more sustainable and inclusive Europe. The three-day training sym- posium included several in- teractive breakout sessions that allowed participants to discover how effective games like Minecraft, integrate the educational curriculum with an element of discovery and competition to provide a more collaborative, engaging class- room experience, especially for students who might struggle to focus through traditional class- room methods. As expected, AI technolo- gy was a key highlight of the proceedings as education- al systems worldwide find themselves facing imminent disruption particularly with the advent of tools such as ChatGPT. The symposium in fact, brought to the fore sever- al opportunities revealing how these tools can be put to good use to engage young learners around Europe. Speakers encouraged educa- tors to embrace AI rather than fear it and seek to grasp the prospects which it provides to them, particularly to develop personalized learning plans for individual students based on their strengths, weakness- es, and learning preferences. AI can also be used to devel- op assistive technologies for students with disabilities or learning differences, making education more accessible and inclusive. The new face of Coco Mademoiselle fragrance CHANEL is delighted to an- nounce that Whitney Peak will be the new face of the COCO MADEMOISELLE fragrance. Whitney Peak is a young Ca- nadian actress of 20 years old, at the dawn of her career. She landed one of the lead roles in the reboot of the Gossip Girl series, and also starred as the lead in Hocus Pocus 2 by Anne Fletcher. Whitney Peak's joy, spirit, and energy are contagious. She is the embodiment of today's youth whose curiosity, confidence in life, appetite for experiences and lack of preconceptions echo the temperament of the young Coco Chanel. She is the incarnation of COCO MADEMOISELLE's original personality, a young woman who moves towards her destiny to become who she truly is and wants to be. The new CO- CO MADEMOISELLE advertis- ing campaign staring Whitney Peak will be unveiled in March 2023.