In the first episode of a three-part series on innovation at Cned, a topic we also covered in 2023, Jérôme Villot, Deputy Director and Director of Learning, Pedagogy, and Digital, highlights the institution’s key challenges in this area.
Always at the forefront, the teams spare no effort in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality—just to name a few—to provide engaging content for learners, helping them achieve success in their educational journeys.
Cned, an institution with over 80 years of history, has consistently been at the cutting edge of technology throughout the decades. Today, technology in education revolves primarily around AI, an area where the institution is innovating at full throttle.
AI is currently used by the teams to produce videos and develop tests for students. “We only adopt AI when it offers real value to students, particularly in terms of memory retention, rephrasing, or its ability to better guide learners” emphasizes Jérôme Villot.
A Highly “Structured” Approach to AI
The idea is to test! At present, ongoing experiments are being conducted in areas like course creation, scripting, and more.
“Our goal is to determine, first, if AI brings value to us, and second, if it benefits the learners” he adds.
While numerous tests are being carried out, only a small portion is ultimately adopted.
A Collective Learning Approach to Harness AI’s Potential
All internal skills are maximized, though Cned doesn’t rule out collaborating with startups or external groups to gather new ideas.
“However, our main focus is to develop new competencies within our institution. We rely on our strengths to form hypotheses, create working groups, and build a structured process around collective learning” Villot explains.
While he acknowledges that this approach is time-intensive, all efforts are directed toward creating resources for students.
As a result, Cned’s learning curve in this domain is remarkably strong!
Cned’s teams are constantly monitoring and staying up to date on emerging trends. In the fast-moving field of AI, what works today might not be relevant tomorrow.
“In AI, there’s almost a new breakthrough every week—a product or tool that can evolve rapidly over the coming months” notes Villot.
“This demands constant vigilance and monitoring, but it’s incredibly motivating for the teams” he concludes.
For more information: www.cned.fr
Image source: Cned website
