The United Arab Emirates University - today has launched the first smart lecture room project called "Future Class", which employs the artificial intelligence technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution requirements, in cooperation with Cisco international.

H.E. Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Minister of State - Chancellor of the UAEU, said that the UAEU has a pioneering and pivotal role in building the future of generations who contribute to creating and pioneering the future, especially since we are in a country that believes that the future is made by people of this country.  The UAEU also has a role in advancing higher education, creating a knowledge society, as well as expanding in the fields of industrialization and artificial intelligence, and linking different majors within an educational environment that simulates the work of industrial sectors, in light of the fourth industrial revolution and the artificial intelligence in line with the UAE national agenda and preparing for the next 50 years.     

The chancellor also stated that this kind of smart classroom enhances the university s role in smart learning, creates an artificial intelligence-based innovative environment, and helps students as well as researchers to use smart tools and advanced technologies in education and research.  In addition, it also practically employs knowledge of these sciences and creates new conceptual frameworks simulating artificial intelligence in various fields and academic majors. It further enhances partnership and cooperation between the university and certain bodies and institutions who are involved in such applications.

Mr. Shukri Eid - Cisco s Managing Director -Gulf region said: The UAE has always been working towards advancing the levels of education, and to employ the latest technologies and digital solutions. The UAE believes that traditional educational methods will not attract current students nor satisfy their ambitions, and that technology is the key to a successful and prosperous society. The "Future Class" project translates the commitment of the UAE and its pioneering educational institutions such as the United Arab Emirates University is not limited to advancing the education sector on future basis only, but to be global education leader as well.

Mr. Shukry praised Cisco s role in harnessing its accumulated experience in the field of smart cities, smart manufacturing and digitization in order to execute many technical projects with its partners in the country which contribute to shaping the future in various sectors as well as accelerating the achievement of the digital transformation agenda.

The "Future Class" project aims to reimagine the teaching and learning experience in the classroom through the using state of the art digital solutions and technological techniques, and to provide tools that enhance the role of positive interaction between the student and the teacher.  This class includes the registration of students' attendance automatically through the student geolocation. It also provides tools that achieve safe social distancing and precautionary measures.  In addition, it assimilates automatically the students' thinking, feelings and preferences in learning, allowing the teacher, in cooperation with artificial intelligence techniques, to choose the best method to communicate information to the students and facilitate the interaction between the two parties of the educational process.

The modular design of the classroom has also been adopted by reconfiguring the internal activities to enhance the desire to learn and transfer knowledge through the use of robots within the smart classroom, and the exchange of knowledge and roles between the robot, the student and the teacher. It is supported by Cisco s international smart systems to enhance learning methodologies in the classroom. Cisco s smart technologies allows the student to use the Timetable technology, which enables the student and the teacher to deal with the required information and classroom materials in addition to recent related reports. The "Class Collaboration" technology allows information sharing between students and teachers in an effective virtual environment for learning through seamless access tools to the classroom with access to materials and notes. The "A. I Note Taking" tool, based on artificial intelligence, is a "virtual Assistant" that takes lecture notes and automatically captures and highlights the notes received and delivered by the teacher, the student, and the academic materials.   Robot Assistance is a remotely-controlled integrated robot that performs several tasks, including facilitating interaction between students and their teacher in the virtual environment and the physical location in the future class. It is a new experience that enhances the effective interconnection between the student and the teacher at different times and places.  In addition,   Location-aware Feedback technology, which is a modern technique among others that make up the Future Class" project, to keep pace with the requirements of the future in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and artificial intelligence.