Digital Twins : a virtual model, identical to the physical place, to explore new educational opportunities

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Presented as a major revolution in the world of industry, the concept of the digital twin is gradually making its way into the world of education. The general idea is to carry out simulations in a virtual world before using the scenarios, objects or actions in the real world.

 

 

  • What exactly is a Digital Twin ?

A digital twin is a perfect virtual representation, in digital form… an exact replica of something physical such as an object, system, layout, process, etc. Put simply, it could be considered as a ‘virtual prototype’. 

The role of the digital twin is to continuously understand, predict, simulate, monitor, analyse, and optimise the real world. To exist and function, the digital twin combines artificial intelligence, real-time data analysis, machine learning, human expertise, and reasoning to make decisions. It is a kind of bridge between the physical and the virtual world as it constantly interacts between the two realms.

The concept of digital twins is nothing new ! Digital twins already exist in urban planning to design future smart cities, in transport, in the management of renewable energy production, (e.g. to test the performance of wind turbines), in the automotive industry, as well as in the healthcare sector. 
So why not digital twins in education to improve learning!

 

  • What opportunities do Digital Twins offer ?

 

  • The ability to create unusual scenarios in order to determine risk management strategies and solve complex tasks.
  • The possibility of testing our pedagogical practices before implementing them in the real world. We will be able to test hypotheses, analyse results, and validate an exercise, before implementation on the physical campus. As a result, we will improve the overall efficiency and performance of our processes.
  • The opportunity of working in a more flexible way, since working together is done remotely in a single place where all the school’s stakeholders are assembled. Classrooms, for example, can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
  • The ability to monitor, remotely, in real time, the performance of the scenarios put in place, to detect any malfunctions and to improve them before their implementation.
  • The opportunity to reduce waste. A ‘virtual prototype’ is much cheaper to set up than a physical prototype and generates far less waste.

 

  • A Digital Twin as a learning tool

For Excelia, the Metaverse is only of interest if it benefits pedagogy and learning. This is the reason why we have created our own digital twin.
The general idea of Excelia’s digital twin is to recreate XL Factory and its innovative physical experimental spaces in order to explore new environments and enhance the educational experience. We will accurately reproduce environments in which learners and teachers can interact and enjoy lessons.

The XL Factory Digital Twin will make it possible to offer immersive learning experiences, complementary to those offered on campus. The aim is not to reproduce lectures but to offer interactive and collective experiences for learners and teachers.

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« Excelia’s digital twin will accurately mirror our XL Factory to ‘think’ up, ‘create’, ‘explore’ and ‘experiment’ new pedagogical approaches by creating new immersive situations. It will be possible, for example, to create an immersive environment that simulates the most dangerous scenarios possible where you can train yourself to make the right decisions in a crisis situation and to do so while interacting with other learners ».
Anthony Hié, Chief Digital Officer at Excelia

To reproduce an immersive experience, integrating pedagogical objectives and decision-making skills, you need to have all the ‘human’ expertise for both the pedagogical and technological aspects. It is the teachers, instructional designers, IT experts and scriptwriters who jointly build this virtual simulation.

 

« Another advantage of the digital twin is that it enables teachers and students to embrace digital developments by being actors of change. This is where the digital twin comes into its own in terms of complementarity and support. »
Anthony Hié,Chief Digital Officer at Excelia

 

  • Excelia’s digital twin: an opportunity to accelerate our CSR policy in terms of both the environment and society as a whole

 

CSR has always been a major focus at Excelia. It is one of the four priorities of Excelia’s Strategic Plan. Our ambition is to develop the knowledge and skills of learners so that they become responsible citizens, and to design campuses with positive social and environmental impacts.  By definition, the digital twin allows us to model, simulate, monitor, analyse, and optimise our educational experiences in real time, thereby reducing costs and waste. This is why the digital twin is one of the tangible levers contributing to the implementation of our CSR strategy and to the building of a more resource-efficient and sustainable future.

« According to a recent Cap Gemini study entitled ‘Digital Twins: Adding Intelligence to the Real World’, 60% of organisations leverage digital twins not only to improve operational performance, but also to achieve their sustainability objectives ».

 

Anthony Hié« By being able to simulate the physical world, digital twins can help organisations make better use of resources, reduce CO2 emissions, as well as increase employee safety which is a requirement of Corporate Social Responsibility ».
Anthony Hié, Chief Digital Officer at Excelia. 

 

In terms of Corporate Social Responsibility, the Metaverse firmly places humans and all school stakeholders back at the core of its operations. Indeed, the Metaverse recreates a social universe in which everyone interacts, learns from each other, and feels useful. The Metaverse is a community that aims to maximise the human experience, not replace it!

 

Discover our article "Why the place of Humans in the Excelia Metaverse is crucial !" 

 

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