The 36th international conference on Modern Information Technologies in Education kicked off on June 25 – a practice-oriented platform bringing together mentors and education experts to exchange best practices and methods of leveraging digital capabilities in teaching. The business program also features workshops, discussion sessions and expert reports across several tracks: Training Engineers of the Future, IT in Schools, Preschools and Extracurricular Programs, Computer Science and Programming, and others.
The event brought together about 500 participants from Russia as well as from Belarus, Kazakhstan, China and Moldova.
As usual, the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ provided partner support for the conference. Director Andrey Vorobyev, who co-moderated the plenary session, commented: “This annual conference has brought together more than 22,000 teachers from across Russia’s regions and neighboring countries – professionals who teach computer science or use information technologies in the learning process.”
The plenary session opened with a welcoming speech by Vladimir Dudochkin, Head of the Troitsk Municipal Area Council of Deputies in Moscow:
“This is a very important event for me. When we planned the first conference at BYTIC in Troitsk over 35 years ago, no one could have imagined that the country would change in that time – how much technology would evolve, and how many life-changing events would occur – yet the conference has endured.”
Other speakers at the opening session included Andrey Sebrant from Yandex, delivering a report on the challenges of the AI world, Anastasia Gorelova from Domestic Software (Russian software deployed at educational institutions), Olga Chernyadyeva from ASCON engineering company (innovative methods of preparing schoolchildren for technology degree programs). Other speakers discussed Rosatom’s programs for students and young professionals and debated whether vocational college programs are a valid educational path for some or just a passing trend.
The Coordination Center set up a display at the conference’s virtual exhibition. This year, we are showcasing under the CC Academy brand – a portal featuring 50+ educational initiatives, including advanced training courses, educational projects, and academic literature.
One of the Coordination Center’s poster presentations, already published on the conference website (to be available throughout the year, until the next conference), is entirely devoted to the Academy’s structure, its content, as well as the opportunities it offers. Viktoria Bunchuk, Head of Social Projects at the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, made the recording for the conference.
Olga Yakovleva, Head of the Coordination Center’s Project Department, made the second poster presentation. Her report focused on integrating digital competencies into teacher professional development, highlighting Study the Internet School of Mentors – a professional development program on internet fundamentals, digital literacy, and digital mentoring for specialists who teach children and young people.
Running parallel to the Modern Information Technologies in Education conference is its youth counterpart – Smart World Made by Children’s Hands – a festival showcasing student and children’s projects from across Russia. During the livestreamed sessions, the speakers will present their projects in programming, robotics, physics, software engineering, 3D modeling, web design, VR, AR, STEM or IT fields.
To date, approximately 160 participants have registered to present nearly 100 projects, either individually or as teams.
Viktoria Bunchuk has been invited to serve as an expert for the Software Engineering track. The featured projects include Real-time water surface simulation and visualization, VR ichthyologist simulation, Feedback filter for online marketplaces, Environmental AI assistant for urban dwellers, and Voice-controlled Smart Home system. The jury’s role extends beyond evaluation based on several criteria – they also provide participants with recommendations for project refinement and potential promotion.
It should be noted that every student who presents their own project at the Smart World conference will also receive certificates for 7,000 reward points of the 14th Explore the Internet & Govern It online championship, which will be held in the fall of 2025 and will be dedicated to multilingualism on the internet and the 15th anniversary of the .РФ domain.
Both conferences run for two days. On June 26, participants can look forward to engaging presentations and practical workshops. Join the sessions online at 2025.itoconf.ru and 2025.um-mir.ru.
Both events are co-organized by the BYTIC foundation for new technologies in education, the Administration of the Troitsk municipal area in Moscow, the Moscow City Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, the Institute of Physics, Technology and Information Systems of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, and supported by Ascon, the NPO Coworking Center and the Troitsk City Lyceum.
