The NAVOICA education platform provides its services to over 30,000 registered users. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a surging demand for professional online trainings. With modern technologies developed by specialists from the National Information Processing Institute (OPI PIB), every person—regardless of their place of residence—can now safely improve their qualifications for absolutely no cost. NAVOICA is an innovative education platform offering professional courses designed by over 30 Polish universities and institutions.
“The numbers speak for themselves. We have issued over 12,500 certificates of completion. We have over 30,000 registered users and that number is still growing. Poles need access to professional, essential education tools designed with the use of state‑of‑the‑art digital technologies. With the NAVOICA platform, every person—regardless of their age, place of residence, or level of education—can improve their qualifications absolutely for free,” says Dr. Jarosław Protasiewicz, Director of the National Information Processing Institute (OPI PIB).
“The quality of the content of all courses is ensured by specialists from over 30 Polish universities and education institutions. Our ambition is to offer courses in various fields to suit the needs of every user. We’re not limited to one specific scientific area. NAVOICA is a tool that provides access to knowledge in many domains,” adds the director.
Almost 150 completed course editions
NAVOICA is an educational platform offering free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). The only thing a person wishing to participate in a course has to do is to register. No certificates are required.
NAVOICA offers trainings for everyone who would like to improve their skills and broaden their knowledge. Platform materials can also be used by students and teachers to support remote learning/teaching, which is of particular importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of our interdisciplinary courses is constantly increasing. Since the launch of the platform, we have completed almost 150 editions of courses from various fields. Platform users can participate in any number of courses. No restrictions with that respect are imposed.
As OPI‑PIB is making efforts to expand its offer, users are invited to regularly check the catalogue of courses and follow NAVOICA in social media, where news about the platform are put out on a day‑to‑day basis. The vast majority of courses are held in Polish, although some are also available in English or even Russian. The course topics focus on information technology, programming rules, key business competences, methodology of writing university theses, and many more. Users can also take part in practical trainings on corporate management or games development and learn how to turn their scientific projects into a lucrative business.
NAVOICA – the name to commemorate the first Polish university student
NAVOICA is a nationwide education platform offering only free online courses designed by universities and education institutions. This modern tool developed for broadening your knowledge and improving your skills took its name after Nawojka, the protagonist of a legend telling the story of the first Polish university student.
NAVOICA was developed within the framework of the “Polski MOOC” programme, under an order placed by the Ministry of Education and Science. This modern education tool was created by the National Information Processing Institute, which is responsible for its technical development.
Additionally, OPI PIB, as the platform operator, supervises the development of the project and is responsible for the methodological quality of the published courses and for ensuring that trainings are interesting and cover a wide range of areas. Before 15 July 2020 content-related issues were taken care of by the Foundation for Polish Science (FMN). NAVOICA is supported institutionally by the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP).
The platform is available at www.navoica.pl.
National Information Processing Institute (OPI PIB)
OPI PIB is an interdisciplinary scientific institute and a leader in IT system software development for Polish science and higher education. It holds knowledge about almost every Polish scientist, and their projects or research apparatus. It gathers, analyses and compiles information on the research and development sector, which allows the institute to influence the shape of the Polish scientific policy. OPI PIB develops intelligent information systems for the public sector and for commercial use.
The key areas of research at OPI PIB include: machine learning algorithms, natural language processing algorithms, sentiment analysis, neural networks, discovering knowledge from text data, human-computer trust, computer‑assisted decision making systems and artificial intelligence.
OPI PIB’s research activity is driven by interdisciplinarity. Research is conducted in seven laboratories, which employ specialists in a variety of fields. The OPI PIB’s team of information technology experts is supported by economists, sociologists, lawyers, statisticians and psychologists. This convergence of approaches is conducive to in-depth analysis of research issues, and serves as a driving force for innovation.