AI‑Driven Interactive Educational Avatars for Smart Education

This paper explores the engineering innovations and implementation of advanced AI-driven interactive educational avatars as key components of Serbia’s smart education initiatives. The integration of artificial intelligence into educational contexts has significantly transformed traditional pedagogical methods, offering highly personalised and adaptive learning experiences. This study specifically investigates Serbian teachers’ attitudes toward using educational avatars informed by non-formal training experiences. Employing a quantitative research design, data were collected from 173 teachers across various educational levels, from preschool to university, using a structured online questionnaire. Statistical analyses revealed significant positive correlations between teachers’ experiences with avatars and their attitudes toward avatar integration, highlighting particularly strong associations with interactive avatars capable of two-way communication and content adaptation. Furthermore, the paper details the sophisticated engineering underpinning these avatars, encompassing machine-learning algorithms, deep-learning architectures, natural-language processing, speech recognition and multimodal emotional and behavioural analytics. Real-time adaptability, scalability and ethical considerations—such as data security and user privacy—are crucial aspects emphasised in the design and implementation phases. Institutional roles, notably the contributions of the Centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education (CRAIE), are discussed, emphasising structured professional development and interdisciplinary collaboration. The study concludes that comprehensive educator training, robust ethical governance and interdisciplinary partnerships are essential for the successful integration and widespread adoption of interactive educational avatars in Serbia, thereby advancing inclusive, equitable and globally competitive educational practices.