The EdTech Austria Team: Project Manager Julia Pichler

EdTech Austria has been around for almost two years now. We have achieved a lot: almost a hundred members, many network meetings, our first EdTech Summit Austria, we have launched several projects, such as the innovation lab Inter-Di-Ko, and much more. The team has also grown to three committed and motivated women. And now we would like to introduce you to the people behind all this work.

First of all: Curtain up for our new project manager Julia!

Julia comes from the beautiful Attersee region in Upper Austria. She studied International Business at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. At Teach for Austria, she taught in a middle school in Vienna for four years from 2017. During this time, she established an iPad focus in the school, founded an app for Austrian Sign Language with her mother and co-developed a programme for apprentices in the area of organisation and communication. Julia is fresh out of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she completed her Master’s in Education Policy and also taught students at Harvard as a Teaching Fellow. Julia introduces herself in our interview:

What is your name?

Julia Pichler

When did you join EdTech Austria?

Since August 2022*

Describe yourself in three words:

Warm-hearted, curious, motivated

What are your tasks at EdTech Austria?

Project management and everything that goes with it!

Why are you committed to education in general and digital education in particular?

I can still remember a day at primary school when I came home with the homework to write about my parents’ dream job. My parents are deaf and at that time they could choose exactly between two teachings. That day I realised that not all people have equal opportunities and that educational success depends on your background – and that is not only because you are deaf or hearing, but because of what your parents do, what level of education they have attained and where you come from – education is inherited in Austria. My goal is to help people to have a good life – and education is the biggest lever for me. Equal and fair opportunities for a good life also include skills that are needed in the present (and future) – this is where digital education comes into play, but also digital access to education, which can open up worlds.

What is your favourite way to learn?

Definitely together – exchanging ideas on topics, discussing, sharing opinions. I learn best in a team. When I am surrounded by other people, I can concentrate better.

What do you think school will look like in 20 years?

School will not be just one place where we go every day – but many different places that are used according to needs and goals. This can be anything from nature, forest or lake, to a makerspace or public places. School is no longer isolated, but integrated into life.

Your first experience with digital educational technologies that you can remember?

I loved playing Sims as a child – a game where you create neighbourhoods with houses and people and then influence the lives of the people. I used to borrow old architecture magazines from my dad and then recreate the houses in the game. I learned so much about house planning and neighbourhood planning and spent so long building that I didn’t really feel like playing the actual game anymore.

What is the best way to reach you?

The best way to reach me is through phone calls. I also look at my missed calls before I send messages.

What else would you like to learn?

There are so many things I don’t know where to start. I would like to learn a new language, or a musical instrument (I started learning to play the piano when I was 25), or a new programming language – preferably Python. But then I would also like to learn from other people’s ideas, exchange ideas with them, read about them. I also want to learn a lot more about other cultures and immerse myself in them – in all kinds of aspects. The question is not what else I want to learn, but what I want to learn next.