On September 12 and 13, the introductory meeting of partners within the Think XR project took place in the School Center of Slovenske Konjica-Zreče. The project is co-financed by Norway with funds from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism in the amount of EUR 662,987 (Education Program – Strengthening of Human Resources). It is carried out by 7 partners, namely the Slovenske Konjice-Zreče School Center as the project’s host, Technology Park Ljubljana (TPL); University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ULFE), University of Primorska, Faculty of Management (UPM), Hashnet d.o.o., Unior Kovaška industrija d.d. and Norwegian partner Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The introductory meeting was attended by partners, representatives of the Government Service of the Republic of Slovenia for Development and European Cohesion Policy, representatives of the economy and the local community.
The goals of the Think XR project are:
- increasing the digital competences of target groups (teachers, mentors, pupils, students, professional staff) in the field of content development, use and teaching with the help of augmented reality – innovative teaching for the 21st century,
- development of new innovative pedagogical approaches and didactic tools, through the establishment of the XR Academy and
- establishment of an innovative, open and creative learning environment through the cooperation of education and industry (XR partnership), which is also the basis for informal and lifelong education.
The project connects partners from education (ŠČ, ULFE, UPM, NTNU), industry (Unior, Hashnet) and technological support environment (TPLJ). Partners from education will contribute experience in the field of design and implementation of learning programs and development of didactic approaches. An additional role of universities is in the transfer of technical knowledge and experience of using XR technologies in education. Partners from industry and TPLJ will contribute specific knowledge, challenges and needs that we address with the project. The established XR laboratory will provide a safe environment for innovation. The partner from Norway, the Technical University NTNU, will contribute its insight into the use of augmented reality technologies in Norway and increase the efficiency of the exchange of ideas and the transfer of good practices to the Slovenian environment.