A platform with intelligent tutoring serving special needs
Fondazione Mondo Digitale is partnering with Google to create an artificial intelligence-based learning platform that features intelligent tutoring to support caregivers (teachers, support teachers, health and social workers, and parents) and children and young people with specific learning disorders (SLDs) in their educational journey and safe online life. The title chosen for the project is Pathway Companion, evoking an accessible and engaging educational process through an artificial intelligence system that functions as a constant companion and guide.
The Italian school system has long since chosen the model of maximum inclusion. Pupils with disabilities among the desks are steadily increasing, almost 338 thousand, or 4.1% of total enrollment. While the number of support teachers is growing (+10%), with good pupil-teacher ratios, learning effectiveness is not progressing because one out of three teachers has no specific training and 12% are assigned late. Another problem is poor training in educational technology: only in one in four schools (24%) have all support teachers attended at least one specific refresher course [Pupils with disabilities increase and critical issues for school inclusion persist, Istat Report, February 2024].
There is no shortage of technological and information technology tools, and they are constantly evolving. But they need to be known to be used. They are "traditional" tools that do not adapt flexibly to the needs of learners. To effectively support the efforts of educational communities engaged in highly vulnerable and fragile contexts, Fondazione Mondo Digitale, together with Google, has decided to focus on an adaptive and customizable platform, based on artificial intelligence, to provide specialized content and guarantee the rights of all children and youth in school, as our Constitution asks us to do.
PLATFORM
Pathway Companion has two service objectives.
- Support educators, teachers and caregivers
- Facilitate the learning journey of children and young people with special needs.
The proposed platform is enriched with content and materials, such as games and tests, also directly from educators, to provide a facilitative learning environment, adaptive and customizable, which can help realize the principle of maximum inclusion and the highest quality of education. The first content made available is on digital citizenship, developed from Live the Internet at its Best, the program that trained more than 20,000 teachers and nearly 70,000 students in online safety and digital well-being between 2020 and 2024. The training offerings will also be enriched with open-source resources and additional content shared by European nonprofit organizations working on the same issues. In addition, the platform can be adapted to several languages, starting with English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
PARTNERSHIP
A partner in the initiative is the Fondazione Don Gnocchi, the largest nonprofit rehabilitation institute in Italy, which has 25 residential facilities and 27 outpatient clinics distributed in 9 regions. Technical partners are IT LogiX and Roma Tre University, which are following the entire project path, from development to testing and training of operators, to adaptation for other countries, starting with Spain and Portugal.
RECIPIENTS AND NUMBERS
- 570 schools, Child Adolescent Psychology Neuropsychiatry Operative Units (Uonpia), and parents for platform pilot action
- 5,000 teachers trained in Europe
- 5,000 parents and caregivers trained in Europe
- 2,500 children/youth with SLDs trained in Europe
- 10,000 children/youth with no SLDs trained in Europe
