Impact of ICT/data

on education
the Leuven perspective
Georges Gielen
vice-rector Science, Engineering &
Technology Group
KU Leuven

What is the role of education ?

Pouring
knowledge into
students brains ?

Role of education
transform 18-year old freshmen into mature students,
equipped for their (carreerlong) role in society
o knowledge
focus on the basics/essentials
o learn students how to solve problems

learn way of thinking and reasoning in the domain
o create a broad interdisciplinary mindset
o add transversal skills and competences
o teach students how to keep on (lifelong) updating

education is a transformation process !!

how can ICT help in this ??

KU Leuvens educational model

developing the future disciplinary self !!
o
o
o

focus on person development within the chosen field

train with hands-on real-life-like projects
keep broad interdisciplinary education

The entrepreneurial student

education: teach students basics of enterprising (econ, IP)
o
o

elective package or honors program

student entrepreneur
start their own company

KU Leuven participates actively in several EIT-KICs

proactive technology transfer office

KU Leuven :
on average 2.5 spinoffs per year
108 since the start of the TTO office

Role of ICT in education

good electronic course text material everywhere, MOOCs
shift from knowing to finding what you need
educational technology in classroom to activate students
and create interaction with the instructor

Role of ICT in education

good electronic course text material everywhere, MOOCs
shift from knowing to finding what you need
educational technology in classroom to activate students
and create interaction with the instructor

how to use ICT for the student transformation process ?

support personalized learning and evaluation

still need instructors for :
structuring and contextualisation
coaching

Data explosion : research

sensor networks, internet of things, health monitoring,
genetic screening, etc. generate tons of data
o wheres the information in the data ?
o large challenge for data science research
o large challenge for the design of real-time smart systems

focus on novel algorithms, but also systems/hardware
Example :

Data explosion : education

increasing number of publications
o
o

relevance ? what is essential ?

how to keep track ?
> 1400 conferences

IEEE
conferences

Evaluation of professors
qualitative assessment of all 4 aspects
BeCo guidelines discipline specific

Education
portfolio

Education
Research

Servicing

Leadership

Thank you