Teams from 28 countries participated in the competition of the high-tech giant Microsoft for innovations in education named “The next AI Guardians”. One of the six teams that reached the final scheduled for the middle of June consists of students from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. The project of Kristiyan Vachev and Kaloyan Manev has a tree structure and is named “Leaf”.

“We thought about what we need, in order to gain more knowledge. We need sources of information, we need help when we have difficulties and we need a goal above all. With our model the acquired knowledge can be applied at the moment”, Kristian Vachev from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of theSofia University St. Kliment Ohridski told Radio Bulgaria. The model is defined as a “tree of knowledge”, because we organize each source of information like a leaf in a virtual tree through an online platform. Each leaf generates test questions using artificial intelligence. Thus, each student can check how well he learned the information. The visualization of the knowledge enables the teacher to learn in which area the student is not doing well and help if necessary. Students are also encouraged to discover sources on their own and actively seek help from classmates. Being a software engineer, I know that we organize the knowledge in our project in a way that can be useful in the universities as well, because it gets close to the real working process.”

A working version of the project of the young Bulgarian scientists is to be launched as a website. The jury of this competition is impressed by unique ideas, rather than brilliant performances, Kristiyan says further. The idea of the Bulgarian team is essential, in view of the current situation in the educational system globally – the transition to the online space. The Bulgarian students are trying to improve collaboration and the way knowledge is acquired and put into practice, because teaching all students at one rate is not effective.

Kristiyan and Kaloyan needed a mentor to participate at the international competition. They asked Georgi Kadrev – co-founder and manager of an innovative company for image recognition based on artificial intelligence, as well as Associate Professor Preslav Nakov from the Qatar Computing Research Institute, who also lectures at the Sofia University St. Kiment Ohridski, for help. Georgi Kadrev and Preslav Nakov responded immediately to their request.

Kristiyan and Kaloyan do not strive for victory at any cost. In their view, the experience they acquire and the contacts they make while working on the project are much more valuable. It cost them a lot of effort and time. However, they have had plenty of spare time due to the social isolation caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

Kaloyan contends that high-school students should have the opportunity to choose whether to study computer programming intensively, whereas Kristian believes that intensive studies are useful, because pupils develop abstract thinking necessary for all spheres in life:

“First, I want to go through as many professional difficulties as possible. Otherwise, I would not feel confident to teach other people. The road to achieving your goals, not the goal itself, is what matters the most. Not knowing what exactly will happen is most exiting”,Kristian Vachev says.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov