Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation in Education

“I earned both my Master’s and PhD degrees at ELTE, and I have built on the knowledge I gained here throughout the past twenty years. It feels good to give something back and to strengthen the professional work of the Faculty of Social Sciences,” explains Dr. Blanka Støren-Vaczy, who in recent years has delivered several lectures on the digitalisation of welfare services and, in connection with this topic, teaches her own course in the English-language Master’s programme in Social Policy. In her view, the greatest value of university cooperation lies in the flow of knowledge, collaborative thinking, and innovation—both in pedagogy and research. A clear example of this is the emergence of AI in higher education. “The question is not whether we accept the presence of AI in higher education, but how we can use it wisely and ethically in learning and in the transfer of knowledge. I am convinced that we cannot teach using the same methods we relied on ten or fifteen years ago,” she argues. Dr. Støren-Vaczy engages her students in the learning process through digital platforms and interactive tools. “My aim is for students to come to class prepared. Classroom work should be largely dialogue-based rather than simply a traditional, one-way lecture.” For this purpose, the Canvas platform is ideal, as it allows the integration of videos, quizzes, and sets of questions into the course materials.

“In collaboration with ELTE’s Faculty of Social Sciences, we conducted a pilot project at OsloMet in which my colleague Miklós Szabó and his team and I jointly tested the GoSchool AI platform. The system adapts to the course content and uses only materials approved by the instructor, with clearly indicated references,” adds Dr. Støren-Vaczy. The pilot also inspired the preparation of a joint Erasmus+ application involving ELTE’s Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet, and two universities in Tanzania. Dr. Støren-Vaczy emphasises that the goal is not for AI to replace instructors, but to complement teaching methods and to learn how to use and integrate it into education ethically. “But for this, students, instructors, and the entire higher education sector must remain open and collaborative.”

The message is clear: AI is not an adversary but a tool that is shaping the future of education.