00:01:07
I am also here today with Marek Liska, who is founder of Four Classmates in Czech Prospolužáky, which is a Czech company revolutionizing education with technology. Today, we will be speaking more about, for example, how to examine the role of EdTech, which is exploring how technology can provide equal education opportunities or also share innovative tools and platforms such as, for example, Four Classmates and learn more about these tools. Hi, Marek. Hello, hello, Maria. How are you? Perfect, as always. What about you? That's great. I am also super busy today. It's a peak of all of the fields, it seems to me, before the summer, so quite rushing from here and there, but always up for some podcast and some discussion as we are having today. Yes, yes.
00:02:04
Can you tell us more about yourself, what you are doing, who you are? Okay, okay. So, I am Marek Iliška, as you said, and I am CEO of Four Classmates. It's an EdTech startup from Czechia, and we are focusing on online learning in a special way. I think it's not a normal way. I think it doesn't exist now in the world, so I think it's special, and we are focusing on online learning, especially now for math and chemistry, but in the near future, like I think weeks or months, in two or three months, we are focusing on other subjects like geography, chemistry, physics, and so on. And I think the target of our group or our Four Classmates is to explain anything for everybody or for anybody in an easy way, a gamified way, interactive way.
00:03:10
So, not boring lessons, not like frontal learning or frontal teaching, like in front of a whiteboard, just a gamified and funny, easy way how to learn anything in school. I have to say that I got in love with your idea of actually Four Classmates because we met together with Marek in the EU Startup Summit, where you actually explained to me what Four Classmates is, of course, in your own words, because you are the CEO, but also what is the idea of revolutionizing the education from your perspective, because you are actually not a professor, if I'm not mistaken, not really having a background in this kind of field. So, I really liked the idea, the niche, especially because it was really decoded for me of what is it doing, and I could really sympathize with the pain points that I had when I was, for example, younger at school.
00:04:10
And there was really like learning about the Word document, like we had the computer lessons, I think, at the secondary school, and it was a lot about just like learning different functions in the Word and paragraphs. Now, the education might be several. So, what is your actual background? Our background or my background is that when I was at the grammar school 10 years ago, I had a problem with math and I tried to change it. So, I started to learn math because I had a problem with math, but thanks to my, I don't know, talent of learning maybe, or I knew the way how to learn. I found a new way how to learn math and my classmates saw it and I told them that this is the way and you can learn it.
00:05:10
And they said, wow, it was amazing because it's easy and it's a little bit funny and it's a step by step. So, I found this method how to learn quite fast and effective. And thanks to this, we built or we developed textbooks of math. And these textbooks was written by students, not by professors, just by students with cooperation with teachers. But the core team was of students only, not professors, not teachers. And thanks to this project, we developed this new project online learning. And I was at the university of teaching, but after first year, I skipped it. I went out because I saw that on these universities, it's all about math, like all about the topic, all about the precision or terms and all about like math, but not about teaching, not about psychology, not about how to have attention of your students.
00:06:30
So, I skipped it and I spent all of my time in development of our application for classmates. Wow, I really love the story. And like, how is it actually from bottom up, not from up to bottom as usual structure? Is there some currently like real cases like that you actually applied for classmates in some schools? Are there already like in use? Yeah, with our textbooks, which we developed or which we printed, I don't know, eight, seven years ago. So, we had, now we have more than 300 schools in Czechia and Slovakia. And this online learning application, it's a new application. We develop it or we share it in a production in February. So, it's a very new function, a new application. And now we are reaching out all teachers in Czechia in primary, secondary and grammar schools.
00:07:37
So, now we have first feedbacks, first trying of our application in teachers. And from September, we have plan to have it, this application on tens of schools and then we will see how it works. But I think it will work because we have 10 years experience of teaching, of learning. So, I think it will be good, but we will see. I actually have a first question from the audience and it's how can educational technology bridge the gap in educational opportunities? For example, I don't know if you have the experience with some schools which are in the cities and in the villages. So, can actually EdTech be the solution for bridging the gap between the villages and the cities?
00:08:34
I think yes because in villages there's quite a big problem with quality of teachers because it's a small village and there is one teacher for many, many students in Czechia. We have like one class and in this class there are, I don't know, 5 or 10 people or 10 pupils. But every pupil has different age, so it's very complicated to teach them. And maybe thanks to our application or thanks to some technology, you can use better quality materials or individual approach because our system, for example, you can use it like self-learned, it means without teacher. So, I think yes, it could be a good way how to delete gaps between villages and cities. I also see it as a great opportunity, for example, like getting the professors because usually like in the cities you have really like bigger opportunities.
00:09:42
Usually people are, for example, now we can see the global trend of people moving to the urban areas because they can get the opportunities more in the cities than in the villages. However, with EdTech we can actually connect like a really high-level professors with the children which are living in the villages, give them the same level of education as they would get, for example, in the cities. I actually can, for example, see it with myself which is not really like powerful EdTech platform or something, but it's that my French teacher, actually because I live in Belgium and here there are like 3 official languages which is German, French and Dutch and I want to learn French, so like just to maintain it for the work purposes, etc.
00:10:31
And my French teacher, she's actually not from Belgium, she's like French friend from France, but she lives in Japan, so we actually connect every week, I connect to Tokyo to actually learn more about French language and we have discussion together and it's like really super cool because I mean what you want to discuss with the teacher who lives in the same country like all the time about the weather, it's raining, it's raining, I mean it's raining all the time. In Japan it's super like interesting to discuss more about the culture in French and I can imagine that EdTech can really bring and blend the societies together that actually people can get, for example, the knowledge of the skills that they would not maybe get if the internet and globalization would not be such.
00:11:25
That's true, for example, I have experience with italki and it's a platform for tutoring of learning languages and you have, I don't know, thousands of people with, you can speak like in English, Spanish, it depends on your needs, on your language, so you can also meet interesting people and people from the country. For example, I would like to learn Spanish, then I can speak with people from Spain and I can learn from them like language or culture. Yeah, technology is a very good way how to learn, for example, languages and you don't have to go to Spain, so you can be on a sofa and speak Spanish with somebody from Spain. Duolingo, if I'm not mistaken, is really like, for example, on the toilets, etc., you can learn the exact language there.
00:12:25
That's true. In the past, I think it was Angry Birds, now it's Duolingo. That's true. How is it actually with the device? Do, for example, schools need the exact equipment to use for classmates for their institution? It's good to have it, of course, because we would like to collect data of every student and if you use it, like you will, for example, answer the questions during the lesson, during some quiz, then it's better than to only use it like a presentation or digital board from teacher. So, yeah, it's good to have it like a tablet or mobile phone or computer, but it's not necessary, but for future data, for future tailoring lesson, it's good to have own device for each student. I have also another question from the audience, which is actually directed to you, which is about Marek.
00:13:35
Can you tell us about your inspiration behind the Four Classmates? As you mentioned that you made textbooks and that you were struggling with the mathematics, but how your company is revolutionizing education with technology exactly? So you mean like my inspiration or the other two questions? Yeah, but probably I think like the kind of blend between education and technology. So like usually like I mean, how did you blend the technology with education when you are not a professor and you are not an IT person? OK, Yeah, that's true. Maybe there is the power because I'm a little bit out of the box because I'm not the professor, like we call it like a table of things. It means like I can think out of the box.
00:14:33
And thanks to this, I can see the problem and I can analyze. For example, I analyzed myself when I learned. And that's why maybe I found the way how to learn because I liked studying. And also now I like study or learning. And I think I think the inspiration is that I a little bit hated school because I didn't know why I had to spend a lot of time at school. And in my heart or in my mind, brain, I have memory like not good memory because I spent a lot of time and I was a little bit in stress and I had stress. I hate very stress because because I think maybe nobody loves stress. And during final exam, during maturita in Czech, I have very big stress and I was prepared, but I also or I had stress.
00:15:47
So I would like to change it. I would like to make less stress in education, in learning, at schools, because stress is everywhere. So at school, it could be less than now. For example, our vision is delete or to remove all final exams at schools, because I think it's not good because only one day change your life. And the days like I think one hundred, maybe a thousand days before is deleted, is skipped. And only one day, like maturita or entering exam to grammar schools change your life. And I think it's not good. It's a big stress. And also if you don't have a fortune, then you will go to bad grammar school or to bad high school or to bad university. So I would like to I would like to change this for our, for example, method.
00:16:55
And it's about measuring your results or measuring your results during your studying. It means like from first year on high school to fourth year on high school. And your teacher or your maybe future employer can see how did you go and what did you learn? And if you are perfectionist or if you are like not so strict person. It happened to me one time I had an interview with some company and they actually asked me, I don't know if you know, these like 16 personalities. It's like super popular in Czechia. I think everybody in Czechia tested for that. But they actually wanted me to to fill it out for like interview because they are really they are really like taking the personal traits as their value.
00:17:51
And they want to combine the best possible team for the performance. And I found it quite interesting. I was like, yeah, I don't need to take it. I'm Czech. I already did it like everybody. But in abroad, not a lot of people know about this. So maybe something like this, but it's also about one quiz or one quiz or one test. So I would like to like measure the results during a long time, not only one exam. So I think this is the this is the thing which technology can use or can help. Because normally, if I don't, if I don't do, then I don't know if you are good or bad. You will you will tell me something like you are the best, of course, because every person, you know, yes, yes.
00:18:42
You have something in your CV. Yeah. Like, you know, this skill and you are good at this thing or this skill. But I don't have like the the true and the true, like the right things, because you can't change the history. You can't change the quizzes. You can't change the homework. What you did in your primary school, for example. And I can I can see it all of this, like your future employer or your next next teacher on university or on another school. So I think thanks to technology, thanks to database, thanks to collecting data, you can use it for this thing. And also there's another problem, for example, for teachers, because you have to teach or you should teach, for example, 100 people in one school year and you don't have so much memory or so much energy to know everybody in person and every skill and every strengths and weaknesses.
00:19:52
And thanks to technology, for example, in gymnasium, I think in Czech it's like number 58. Number 58 is here. Yes. You are just a number. Yes. Yes. And I hated this. In your university, you are just a number and you will go to final exam and it's very anonymized. So I hate it. I actually didn't think about this like data collection behind progress of students. I think that this is something that they learn new today. So thank you. Like we don't need to just shrink the progress of the people taking the test because each of our brain works differently as a human. For example, you will you will scale better in different things than me, et cetera.
00:20:40
And there is more like to do the average of the long term, because this is also what we do with our social media platform, with the websites that we are usually tracking over the time and not only like when I post one reel. And what does it get as a result? It's usually the long term commitment and the evolution of the person throughout the life. And this can be then rather supported in the future when the young people are entering the work environment, the labor market, because I was also struggling with like, OK, you are just like gone. You are just done with your education. And then what? Like, I mean, like I had so much energy when I just went out from the university.
00:21:22
I just wanted to do so many things, but nobody actually wanted to give me the word because they had some assumptions. They were like looking for something else. But I was like, I can do everything. But I just want to jump, you know, and they were like putting me into different categories without somebody actually ever like testing me long term. And what I'm good at, which I think it's really a groundbreaking thing, how we can revolutionize the education in this aspect. And with AI, it's even much, much more easier to collect this data and then make it more understandable for other human beings. Yeah, that's true. That's true. And also I have, for example, a question in my mind. And I don't know which is good or which is right, because it's maybe for like, I don't know.
00:22:19
It doesn't matter. It means. Yeah, I mean, which is more right. So to like you learn, for example, five minutes of vocabulary and you have mark one or grade one or you're learning vocabularies for two hours and you have mark three. Because the first person like he has five minutes before lesson and he has photographic memory and he has one grade. And for example, me, I had to learn or I had to learn vocabulary for two hours and then I had three grades. So which is right. Like it's good that I am. I am a good person and I learned for two hours. So I'm not a bad guy, but I have three. So it's not good or it's not so good.
00:23:13
And somebody, my friend, he make a sheet of it and five minutes before lesson and he pass it. So so I was angry, for example. So I don't know which is better. Yes, maybe, maybe. So I don't know which is which is good because the teacher can see only the result and he can't see my progress or my work during two hours. So so in his eyes, I'm a bad guy. And my friend is a good guy because he is one on the scale of who is smarter, which is not right, because it's just like different style of understanding things for me. Like what works is motivation. Like I need motivation. And for example, in my first grade, when I was seven years old, I was like excellent.
00:24:06
Like I was even recognized as the best student in the city. However, then I got a new teacher who actually was perceived as like I am stranger in her class. And she like put me down. And I even want to say that I was bullied at that classroom. And then my motivation just decreased so rapidly that I was really bad student until my 15 years old. So like I didn't want to learn. I was like, you know, this kind of like face what the kids does when the adults are speaking to them. I was really like this is where the puberty also shift. I was like, no, I don't like you guys. Like you are just doing me bad to me.
00:24:43
And it's also about like motivation and how you should approach the people individually, which I also think that is something underestimated in the education system that you don't learn how to actually learn. So, for example, my parents, like they were trying to teach me how should I learn and it was working. And then they just demotivated me in education, in general, the professors, which was unfortunate. But also I see, for example, around me, a lot of people, they didn't know actually how to learn. Because usually the professor needs to follow some kind of curricula, which is followed by the state. However, they don't see as important to teach how people can study that exact subject. Which in the EdTech, I think it can be like just one module, which is pre-recorded, which is explaining, for example, different styles.
00:25:41
And that, for example, one person has like the photographic memory, which is totally all right. But let's explore what is your style of learning. Let's take a quiz or even like a call the mentor, you know, like just like a jump on Calendly book to call the mentor and explore in what you are actually good. So like I think this can be also really interesting immediate support that the students might meet the individualism that you are not just number 15. I don't know what I have to do with number 58, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, but that's true. That is true. And thanks to technology, the teacher can see it because, for example, in our application, we would like to have it.
00:26:25
So maybe why I ask you the question is that I would like to have the progress so teacher can see my trying of learning. It means like he can see flashcards and he can see I was in system for two hours and I have a bad mark. So maybe something is back is bad, but it's not about I didn't have time for it. Engagement, like I also have it like when we have meetings, for example, in the Zoom, I'm getting how many people and how much they were engaged during the meeting that I was, for example, leading. Which can be, for example, because people are browsing, you know, Internet when they are on the tasking and stuff.
00:27:13
So then actually you can also see how much people are, for example, engaging in with the content, with the materials that is published on that specific platform and what they are doing with it. But then isn't it also like I think that the students will for sure find a way how to exploit that kind of system, you know, like you can watch the Netflix and just open that exact material next to the Netflix. Yeah, it's possible. But you have to move of your mouse. But some robot can. Every five seconds. Yes, yes, yes. That's true. Yeah, that's true. But I think it's it's up to it's up to everybody how to use it. So it's it's a very difficult topic about like bullying or about the cheating.
00:28:06
Cheating is everywhere and I think it will be. But we can do some functions how to how to prevent of this cheating. Yeah, but I think you can cheat. But it's also creativity for me. It's really to find the base. I mean, there is like people who are really clear, like going with a structured way, like never cheating, etc. And I really admire these people. But on the other hand, the cheating is teaching you like way of living. That's true. Like you should be like there are like some ways where you should not cheat, for example, on your partner, etc., of course. But it's for me how cheating actually helped me in the life is that I know how people can cheat on my own initiatives because we have this in check that I don't know.
00:28:58
The expression, but it's that like a check. Yeah, that's it. Just kidding. So it's always check people find a way around. Yes, around the different things. So it's really so it's I would say that both of the things are some kind of lesson for the life. And for me, it was always when I was motivated, I was not cheating. But making a cheat page, cheat list, cheat paper is also the method how to learn. So because thanks to this, thanks to making, you have to do or you have to read or you have to write and then you will learn the topics. It's also good, good learning method. I have another question from our audience. And it's can you share examples of successful community engagement strategies that have facilitated the adoption of educational technology?
00:29:58
So is there some like community aspect in for classmates, something that do and do you think that the community engagement is important in the EdTech? And you mean community like students, teachers or public or? Yes, some. It can be for example, that students are helping each other with somehow. Because like this is usually what is in in the real classroom that usually people are, for example, collaborating in the classroom in the real life on some project. So how how is this done in the EdTech usually? Yeah, I think cooperation or, for example, group learning or group teaching is the most effective way. So I think making a group or making, for example, tutoring, because, for example, in my story, I tutored my classmates.
00:30:54
And thanks to tutoring, I learn more than when I will be, for example, in library. Because if you read it, it's good when you write it, it's good. But when you teach it, I think this is the best way how to learn anything, not math, not anything. And also also I think the very important group is parents, because parents can motivate you or motivate students and can change. I think many things in learning or in a school in teaching method. Yeah, I think it's very important. For example, in students, there's a problem that students have a lot of a lot of interesting things, not school, not studying. And that's a problem. But maybe thanks to your classmates, thanks to some competition, thanks to some gamification, you can be motivated to be at school or at the learning process.
00:31:57
And thanks to technology, you can you can be motivated because it's more fun and you use tablet, you use technical things which you love. So, yeah, like this. Yes, the community is really important because then you can connect what you are actually learning to something positive that you know, and that might be more engaging for you to remember, etc. Yeah. Do you think that the Czech Republic is digitally prepared for EdTech? I would like to say yes. Yes. Yes. But I think 60, 70 percent of schools or not schools. It's not about school. It's about teachers, because I think, I don't know, 90 percent of school has have a good Internet provider, Internet connection or has a lot of computers in classroom somewhere. But teachers are a little bit like old, not because this profession is quite old.
00:33:13
And I think average year of teacher is 45, maybe 47. So in Czechia. So they like when they were a child, computers weren't here or maybe were, but it was a very big, big computers and not a smartphone in your pocket. They don't have a good feeling or relationship with technology and with computer. So I think it's quite a problem. But thanks to COVID, there is quite a exponential improving or increasing. So I think every year is better and better. So maybe in five years, it could be on 80 percent of teachers or schools in Czechia. Yeah. And thanks to our, I hope, thanks to our application, we will motivate teachers to learn technology, to learn how to use technology, because we would like to, we would like to publish like the good things and the pros of using technology.
00:34:22
For example, thanks to our application, teachers or students are more motivated. They have no more things. Their knowledge is better and bigger. So I think they need to see the benefits of learning in a technical way or via technology. And now I think they are like, I'm not sure we are thinking about it, but the blackboard is a physical thing and I don't need any electric and anything, nothing. So I think this we have to change and we have to show them the pluses of technology in education. It's really important because actually I wrote a study, I think like two years ago with the European Institution. And there we actually came up with the conclusion of that study was that digitization makes people happier because we could see it during the COVID times that if the governments were investing in the digital strategies, actually the population was less demonstrating during the COVID because they were used to the change.
00:35:38
And it was actually the government making the impulse like we need to actually invest in the digital. We need to provide digital education because this is the future and people can connect with other people from abroad. They can bring the initiative, they can innovate the different fields. I think that Czech Republic is currently behind the EU average, which is really a pity because Czech Republic definitely deserves to be more on the spotlight of this, especially like the geographical position of the Czech Republic is amazing for making the connections because it can be hub of the conferences and services, etc. And we are just behind currently because of the digital and I'm not speaking about the language because we are just really like big lovers of dubbing.
00:36:31
I mean, this is also like for me something that I learned here in Belgium because in Belgium all of the movies are in English and you have really like subtitles. When you go to cinema, actually like half of the screen are just subtitles in French and Dutch and then the movie is in English. But like all of the people here are trilingual because they are just like because they are just I would say even like lazy to dub in each language because it just would get crazy. But in Czech Republic, we are just dubbing everything in Czech because people don't want to go for a movie in cinema, for example, in English. But it's also then creating even bigger barrier because most of the softwares are sometimes in English, which might be then quite confusing for finding the tutorials, how to do things.
00:37:20
And this might be another aspect that goes hand in hand in digitization. But this also needs to come from the up to bottom. There needs to be more investments in digitization from the governments that would be interested and put really as the number one priority to be the digital. What do you actually think about the current atmosphere of the policy making around the tech digital and these kind of things? Is it something that would impact you as a four classmates or even like government or like government or if there is like investment flowing? I think also thanks to COVID is better because there are a lot of new tech startups or maybe where a lot of startups. And now I think they die because it was like a very fast idea.
00:38:20
They tried something and then the money wasn't there or the investor, for example. But there are quite investments in education, but it's only about like salary of teachers, for example, in Czechia. Not so buying, investing in technology, maybe buying computers or tablets. But for example, you have tablet. But what will you do with tablet? Because you have to have some good application or some application, mobile application, for example. And if you don't pay for application, you can't use it. And for example, now we are solving this problem thanks to donations because we have donations in Czechia for schools. For example, thanks to this grant program from European Union, you can buy our application for free. There is some investments for schools. So it's good, but it's from European Union.
00:39:28
It's not from Czechia government, I think. So there is a big problem because, for example, Minister of Education not so much know about online materials. They know books and they have some special guarantee that this book is OK. So they have this stamp. But of new learning way or learning online materials, they don't have it at this moment. But I think in the future they will have to change it and they will have to spend more time about thinking about this stamp or about these things. So, yeah, it's good. And for example, government, we will or we are we are looking for reaching government. But in government, there are a lot of people, a lot of politics and a lot of people like professors. And also professors has different opinion and strange opinion and maybe old opinion.
00:40:36
But of course, not every professors we will see. So I will I hope that it will be good. But reaching out, we have plan in September with like a very new application, like with new functions for teachers. So we are looking forward to this this September. Nice. So cross fingers for this, because this sounds really exciting. I'm really looking forward to hear more about this than in September. Also, like what is then the future for the four classmates? Do you also plan some other activities than, for example, what you have just shared? Is there something else in the pipeline that you are planning? Yeah, I have I think nothing's nothing new, but it's about AI. It means artificial intelligence, because I think this is the topic in every department.
00:41:39
And I would like to talk with you about it, because in our application, for example, we can use it in a very, very big way. So a lot of ways, for example, like we have video and I showed you in Malta that we have video. And normally you have, you know, video. Now we have video. But for example, we talk about 50 minutes now. And if somebody will see our meeting, you know, record play record it. And so he has to pay attention every minute of my words, your words and or he should or she should. But thanks to our video, you have questions every minute. And thanks to AI, we can transcript our our meeting, our interview, and then it can make questions by AI.
00:42:40
So you only check the result if it's OK, because it's AI. It's a very new employee. We talk about like it's employee, but very new without any experience. So you have to pay attention of him or her. And then it's a very good saving time of your time and your energy. So, for example, the first use case, how we use artificial intelligence, AI. And I think this is a very good way how to improve learning, how to improve creating materials, how to improve like a lot of jobs. And no, not only at school, but mainly at school. If you are talking about education. So I think this is this is a very good topic. And we have a lot of functions which will use it like interactive video.
00:43:40
And we now have it so you can you can check it out in a forecast.com. And also we are preparing a assistant which will help you during the lesson, during the learning of some topic. And we have, for example, very good explanation of math. But somebody tell us that it's not so good. So I would like to like re rewrite the text or maybe translate the text because now it's in a check. For example, topic of math and things to assistant. He can speak of your language, of course, and he can adapt your needs. For example, you have ADHD, it's like a disability, I think. So he can, he can of your of your learning, of your teaching. So, for example, this is the second use case, which we will have it in September.
00:44:43
I love it, especially like that you are integrating AI, because nobody is like when I am, for example, investing in some field or in some hardware or software or whatever. And I don't hear the AI in their speech that they are even like planning to integrate it. I mean, for me, it's already dead because there will be just coming to similar solution, which will be powered by AI and you will be just out of the table like so fast. So this is great that really like this is the part of your platform, because I think that it's really needed. And we actually met now after EU Startup Summit, we were then in Paris in the conference called Vivatech. And we met a stand, which is, I think, from Singapore.
00:45:29
And it's a device which is powered by AI. But it's exactly what you were saying, that it's a device which you can actually have on your phone. I don't have it, but you can put the magnetic wallet here. And this device is actually like when you turn it on, it's recording the voice. So when you are in the meeting, you can just turn it on by tapping in and then it makes you a meeting notes. And you can use the different templates. So this may be something that you can also leverage with the AI, because they made it quite nicely structured that they have the different templates. So are we speaking about the class? Are we speaking about the meeting? Do you want me to summarize it?
00:46:16
Do you want me to write your action points? And the person then just clicks on the different templates. What do you want to get as an outcome from the AI? And it's also really cool because it can also record actually the calls. So when you are calling like this, you can just like tap it. And it can even record the calls because of the vibrations, which is also really interesting because you cannot really record the calls because it's like inside a phone. But this kind of device is recording the vibration and therefore can know what is inside the call as such. So I can imagine really like for classmates that, for example, the student, for example, is interested in this recording what we are doing now and now either wants summary or wants to have the action points, what needs to be done to revolutionize the app tech or education industry or wants to, for example, have the full transcription to then maybe load it in another AI model for some purposes.
00:47:31
So this is something that can be leveraged really to the full potential and with the AI-powered data collection of engagement, etc. It's like explosion. I think the future of AI is very, very, very big and it's near because every industry can use it. I think every because there are a lot of use cases, but you have to find the right use case because it's not so easy. It has to be effective. Of course, not so expensive because AI is sometimes expensive like tokens and the requests. But I think it's a very, very good future. And I'm very happy that I can be in the first row, the first line. So, yeah. And I'm still puzzled by what you said, like the average age of the professors.
00:48:33
And I think that the average age of the politician is slightly similar to the average age of professors. And usually the politicians are actually professors themselves. And I'm just like now thinking like maybe brainstorming what we really need here, like how we can really digitize Czech Republic from the roots. If like really, how can we like more, I mean, like, of course, there's like the motivation aspect, like, yeah, you should really start to use the technology because it's really going in every field and it will make your life much more easier. And also you will be able to transfer the knowledge on other generations and beyond. But is there something else what you think that is needed in the Czech Republic to change that we will really be even the pioneers in the digital age, like people really take our future in our hands, like, OK, like let's just deal with this.
00:49:30
Like it's just the reality. Yeah, I think not to be afraid or not to be scared, because sometimes a lot of people think about like security, like my data, where is my data or data. So, yeah, it's of course very important, like where is your data or your passwords and so on. But sometimes they are scared like of using anything. And they are like they have, I don't know how to say, but like we are so much scared. And that's why they don't use it so much time, like for only for calling. So they they buy an iPhone 15, but they use it only for calling and making photo. Yeah, but the technology and the chipset and the processor can do many, many things, and they don't use the power of technology because they are scared of scams, because there are a lot of scams in the Internet.
00:50:34
And also, yeah, it's like, I think the scaring or the, yeah, like there's some fear of using technology in a normal way, in a daily using, there's a quite big problem. I don't know why. So I think this can be changed. And the thing about some upskilling, because it's also like, for example, the corporations, all of the EU institutions turned into like virtual environment. And what actually these entities did was like upskilling. So people needed to go through the training of don't click on the weird links, like hover over the links to see if it's not weird. And like, you really needed to, you really needed to bend through this kind of upskilling of the people, which I don't think that it actually happened with our education.
00:51:29
Maybe like the professors, they just went on the home office, they just gave them the Skype and now teach like 30 people behind the camera. Like, did they even receive the training on like, what does it mean to be digital and what data are out there? It's, I don't know if you have this answer for me, but. Yeah, maybe it's like conservative, like because a lot of people say in Czechia, maybe old people or older people say that when we were at schools, we also didn't have it. So you also don't need to have it. So, yeah, like in my days, like we were playing all the time in the nature, we were standing in front of the screen like so many, so many times.
00:52:18
And it's also like, it's like just a bit of a stupid example, but I was just with my colleagues at work and you know, like how the millennials do the heart like, like this. And then like there is a Gen Z way of doing it like this. And I was teaching it to my colleagues that actually if you want to be young and cool, you have to do this. And they were like, oh, my God, it's so painful. Like what fingers you are even using. Like, is this even like normal? It's not even like the shape of the heart. The shape of the heart is like this. This is now cool, you know, like we like this. And they just didn't want to like they some of them like tried.
00:52:58
Some of them were like, no, I don't want it. I know my shape of the heart and I like it like this. And it's like when we also grow older, like to be like open minded about the changes that like the next generation is coming and they have their way of living. And it's totally all right. They will find a way how to survive. It's also important to sometimes like spend time with also the younger generation. And sometimes I feel that a lot of people like the older we are getting, the more time we are spending with older people as well. And a lot of time like hanging out with young people to see what is out there. And what I, for example, really love is to go to the students initiatives because I learn the most from the students.
00:53:46
Like I, for example, go this year I was in I went to London for the full week of trip with it was average of 24 years old students. And it was we were sleeping in a hostel. We had like a really like it was really like for me a survival. Like I was even working during that time. So I was like with my computer, like like running around London with them. And they were like super like Gen Z and cool and vegan. But I learned so much about them, about the targeted audience, because it's also when you do it for classmates, you are actually creating it for the younger generation. So what is the interface that they actually want to have? So, for example, maybe some kind of like a real daily reels about the chemistry.
00:54:37
Yeah, yeah. I think it's about micro learning. It means like learning in a very short way, so very short sections. So, yeah, my learning, I think, is the is the first method because Instagram or Instagram Instagram people are used to see, I don't know, some story five seconds, 10 seconds and then another and another or TikTok. And so so I think my learning is, I think, the only way how to learn about school is built for 45 minutes of a lesson or 60 minutes. It depends on school, but you have to pay attention for 60 minutes or 45 minutes and there's no micro learning. I think this is a quite big problem. But in our application, for example, we have a lot of small pages like micro learning.
00:55:33
So you can go through topic in a in a small cases, small parts. And so this is the first method. And second is also like writing or reading in a human way, like step by step or watching videos, because I think videos is also still modern. But with questions like interview is better because you have you have to pay attention. Now you should or you can, but you have to pay attention. And yeah, and also maybe good topics, but it depends on the curriculum. And it's not on our back. It's up to state, up to government. But I think this is also changing because it has to change. But the changing is very, very slow. But it starts. And I think this is the very good point for future people.
00:56:31
Yes, definitely. So I have a last question. And you are not you are not only in the EdTech currently active, but you are also a businessman because the business itself is really a demanding work about itself. I'm always saying that actually I have more jobs than you can, for example, see because I am my own accountant, my own business owner, etc. And it requires a lot of persistence. So when you are seeing your journey where you are currently, what advice would you give yourself? Like, for example, when you were starting or what advice would you give your younger self that you, for example, know now, but you didn't know at that time? I think it's quite easy answer for me.
00:57:18
And it's take taking care of mental health, because my previous me tried to work every minute, every every day without any pause, without any any spa wellness. So my body wasn't good. And I had 120 kilograms. So it's more than 40 kilograms more than today. And I didn't feel good. And two years ago, I changed my mind and I told myself that I would like to be more pretty, more healthy, more effective. And so I tried to or I started to exam to exercise in a gym and to eat more healthy, and it's two years and I now have four kilograms less. And I try to make a meditation like once a week and like thinking about me and spending more time with me and taking pause, pauses and so on.
00:58:42
So I think mental health is like the first thing you should do and your person should be on the first place in your life. It's very it's very maybe egoistic, but you are you are the best and you are the one person in your life or you are the most important person in your life. And even though you have children, but you should you should you should survive and then you can help other people. Yes, others. So mental health. Well, I cannot agree more, actually. And congratulations for this big achievement, because you actually won over yourself. Like it was a lot of work that you have made in a really long journey that you that you went. And I'm always saying no health, no wealth.
00:59:39
And I really believe that a lot of people, they do the opposite, that they say that if I am not wealthy, I cannot be healthy, which is really wrong. And I can see a lot even in Czech Republic or here that a lot of young people, they just have diabetes because they overwork themselves with their initiative. It's actually one of the really one of the biggest shoe brands in the Czech Republic, the guy like overworked himself because he wanted to achieve the dream and the dream came true. However, with the expense of the health and this should never happen. And I really believe that every of us should be selfish in the health aspect. Like if I don't feel all right, I don't think that I can make the right job there.
01:00:28
And just actually like it went quite well into my new initiative. And it's that I signed up yesterday because we were in London for the health optimization summit. So I like to also dive deeper into the new innovations in tech, because you don't need to spend so much time sometimes with making meditations, etc., because there are also technologies which can help you. So, for example, one of them, it's like Pulsato, it's my favorite device, which is like which is stimulating the vagus nerve. So it's like a band which you put on your on your neck and it's stimulating the vagus nerve. And it's two minutes of this technology. It's like 20 minutes of fuming. So like doing like and it's stimulating the whole nervous system. So you feel much less stressed.
01:01:22
You feel it's also used, for example, against the panic attacks, etc. And I really love actually to combining the health with business. And yesterday I signed up to be a certified coach in the somatic breathing because I really love the exercises of the breathing. And because then you can first time I actually tried it earlier this year with Wim Hof himself. So I was with him in his training in his camp and he teached me somatic breathing, which is actually that you can find yourself inside. And this weekend I did it again and I had the same experience and I signed up to be a coach, which actually in the level number five and nobody in the Czech Republic or Belgium currently have such a level in the somatic breathing.
01:02:13
So I'm really excited currently going on this journey because I really feel that like technology can really take a lot of energy from you, like the screen time. Also now we already spend like one hour in front of the screen with the podcast and I really feel like more during the weekends I want to spend time with the like minded people who are really valuing the health and who wants to heal themselves after the whole week of work. And this kind of training can actually secure me that the people will look for me in these aspects and we can create some kind of community, which is blending business together with health, finally, because I feel that not a lot of people are speaking about it, but you actually came to the same conclusion.
01:02:58
And this is maybe why we also felt the connection in this EU Startup Summit. So maybe, yeah, good, good, good. And I also tried the Wim Hof Method and I was in the training two weeks ago. So I also had the achievement of being two minutes in ice. So, yeah, it was wonderful. And I quite hate ice, ice, ice water. Yeah. And also there was a briefing like the big briefing or that briefing. So, yeah, it's a good experience. And it's also about mental health. I think, yeah, this is the I think the end of our interview. What should what you take from our interview? So use technology in EdTech on education and think about your mental health. Yes. Think about yourself before learning on EdTech platform. Good. All right. So thank you. And bye. Thank you so much. Thank you.
