The results of the semi-final of the innovation competition are announced

On June 16, 2021, a press conference was held on the results of the Competition for Innovations in Education (www.kivo.hse.ru). An overview of the competition was given and a discussion was organised on the situation in education: competition and alliances of new and old players.

At the press conference, Sahiev Sayabek, Acting Vice-Rector for Research and Digitalization, made a welcoming speech. He spoke about how Kazakhstan is changing its education and what innovations it requires in response to the challenge of the time, and about why the decision was made to participate in the CIE.

The Competition for Innovations in Education (CIE) is organized by the Higher School of Economics and the Rybakov Foundation and is being held in Kazakhstan for the first time in 2021 with the support of Abai KazNPU. The desire of one of the country`s leading universities to fulfil its mission of training educators who anticipate the needs of modern education based on cutting-edge methodologies, national heritage and global approaches has led our University to be active in collecting and researching educational innovations. Strengthening scientific ties with NSU HSE, the University has set a goal to create a base of educational innovations in Kazakhstan within the framework of the joint project «Selection and evaluation of educational innovations and conducting a pedagogical experiment». That is why it is so important for educator-researchers of different levels to take part in the competition with their ideas, already developed or in the project stage of innovation. We hope that teachers-designers, methodologists, developers and marketers who are ready to join the educational start-up will actively participate. The Education Innovation Competition (www.kivo.hse.ru) is being held for the 8th year by NSU HSE, and the Rybakov Foundation. According to the results of the semi-final, 19 projects were identified, submitted via the direct link KIvO-Kazakhstan. Of these, 5 projects were accepted to the summer school.

Project 1: Roqed Science-an interactive virtual laboratory. «ROKED Science». The program contains models and animations in the following subjects: Biology, Physics, Geography and Chemistry and is a solution in the form of training courses in 3D and VR (virtual reality) format for school education and distance learning organizations.

Project 2: Study Help-a platform for providing support in learning for schoolchildren, which allows you to provide qualified tutoring assistance in eliminating gaps in knowledge on a free basis by students of a pedagogical profile. The main goal of this platform is a win-win system-when both sides win, the student receives free qualified assistance in the subject; at the same time, the student receives the necessary pedagogical experience and an established process for working out teaching hours.

Project 3: Smart Classrooms is a blockchain-based mobile app where children earn pocket money for their grades at school, during training, with a tutor, and for household chores. The project solves the problem of reduced motivation to learn or its complete absence.

Project 4: QPSY-Digitalization of Psychology. The goal of the QPSY project is to create a trusting bridge between the student and the psychologist. QPSY promotes the implementation of activities aimed at preventing difficult life situations, suicide attempts, and situations of violence in the life of schoolchildren. Features of QPSY: anonymity, ease of use, hotline, emergency button, anonymous survey, statistics, organization of chats, availability of a «feed» for professional development of psychologists, accounts for specialists in «crisis intervention».

Project 5: Educational constructor «Qbit». The «Qbit» robot constructor allows you to simply introduce programming and a STEM approach to learning for pupils aged seven years and over. This constructor is distinguished by a large number of sensors, ease and ease of assembly, well-thought-out educational material suitable for school and designed for 20 lessons.