booklet_conference_strands_EN

Conference Strands Booklet

www.eu2010.es Presidencia española de la Unión Europea

Conference Strands Booklet Models of ICT integration in Education Madrid, 16th – 18th of March

We present in this booklet the working documents for the three strands of the conference. The aim is to highlight some of relevant aspects that the discussions and de bates might address. The three strands: • • •

Models of Pedagogical innovation in terms of contents and learning approaches.

Models of Professional Development Models of Organization and Technological Innovation

have been identified in most studies and reports as key elements for an effective introduction of the ICT in schools.

By now, most countries have had an extensive experience dealing with these issues through national or regional plans as well as in innovative pilot programs, and evaluation of them has taken place or it is on its way.

At the same, time emerging technologies might play also a role in the educational context soon, in and out of school: netbooks, games, geolocalization, mobile learning, social networking, personal learning environments, etc.

Therefore we are at a point where we can, and we need, to share experiences, espe cially good practices, in order to identify a safe ground that allows us to face the challenge of integrating ICT at school in ways that make a difference in the education of our younger generations, particularly in a time driven by continuous technological change.

We are confident we can learn from each other in this endeavor.

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WORKING GROUP 1: MODELS OF PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION IN TERMS OF CONTENTS AND LEARNING APPROACHES Introduction This congress aims to promote the effective integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as an everyday working method in the educational community of the European Union. In order to achieve this, this working group will contribute with analyses, discussions and suggestions which focus on the final part of this process of integration, assuming that there is an adequate infrastructure in place which allows the use of digital resources. This infrastructure must include equipment, facilities and teaching staff trained in the use of these media.

Studies and surveys carried out in the last few years have shown that the effective integration of ICT in classrooms is gaining a lower percentage of penetration than expected, even when there is an adequate infrastructure and enough digital educational content (DEC). Thus, as a starting point for this working group, we suggest that the complete process of DEC generation must include its integration into the classroom, and that this process must therefore include the following stages: Production stage  Detection of didactic needs  Design of tools, didactic materials, services...  Software implementation  Experiments in the classroom Integration stage  Distribution and extension  Curricular Innovation The purpose of this group is to analyse, discuss, reach conclusions and offer proposals on each of the following topics:  The presentation and analysis of different production models for digital educational content which are successfully being adapted in the educational world, in different countries.  The demonstration and analysis of useful models which favour the effective integration of digital educational content in classrooms.

Both analyses must be independent of the infrastructures of each state or autonomous region, in the sense expressed above, even though the production of digital educational content is obviously not alien to these infrastructures and the recommendations will therefore have to be adapted, in each case, to the circumstances of the educational community.

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The following paragraphs are a brief introduction to the topics to be considered, relating the different elements of some of the possible models to each other as a reference for proposals, studies and analyses which will be presented and discussed in the congress.

1. Analysis and description of the main digital educational content production processes, in the terms mentioned.

The use of ICT as a didactic resource has been promoted in Europe over the last 25 years. The evolution of technologies has had an impact on the infrastructures and has modified the expectations related to the design of DEC and, as a consequence, there has been a change in the products obtained. However, the production models are still sound. We will therefore try to describe the stages which have taken place in each case and determine the degree to which the expected aims have been reached. a)

Common features

At present it seems that DEC must comply with most of the following features: 

Openness. Teaching staff must be able to intervene to change, delete, add or create different items or processes: texts, images, objects, sequencing, evaluation systems...

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Flexibility. It must be possible to combine, separate or mix different DEC elements to create new content.

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Adaptability. The teaching staff must be able to easily modify every item to adapt the material to the didactic requirements necessary in each case.

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Accessibility. Anyone must be able to use the DEC, whatever the system used to interact with the technological resources.

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Inter-operability. It must be possible to use DEC on any platform and standard operating system, whether open or proprietary.

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Usability. The interaction and access system must be simple and intuitive, both for teachers, who design the activities, and students, who use the content.

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Standardized. The materials may be included in the standard European repositories, where they may be retrieved by any user.

Multilingual. Content should be created at least in the official languages of the country and the EU. The aim is to enable any teacher to comfortably access the DEC at their disposal and put together their own didactic material for use in their classroom; and to enable any student to use the DEC without any restrictions. 

b)

Production sources

The generation of DEC can (and should) be carried out through very different means.

The specific methodology may vary in each case, but there should be a series of common aspects, although their importance and priority may vary according to the volume and scope of the production. There are differences between a teacher creating a teaching unit for her students and an educational institution developing the 3

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whole syllabus of a given area. In any case, there is an indispensable condition: a teacher (or teachers) of the area corresponding to the development must participate actively and continuously during the whole process.

c)

d)

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Industrial production. The firms or institutions in the education sector, either at their own initiative or at the proposal of other private or public institutions, produce and market or freely distribute DEC, depending on the specific case, using their own distribution channels.

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Independent commercial production. Teaching staff or firms that create didactic materials which they tender and/or offer through the usual marketing channels or according to the conditions specified by the rules of tender.

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Autonomous production by the teaching staff. The teaching staff creates DEC either individually or in groups, according to the guidelines given by some public or private educational institution, but with complete didactic autonomy.

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Independent production by teaching staff. The teaching staff creates its didactic materials with some freely usable tool. Sometimes the materials are distributed, but they are often not.

Detection of didactic needs 

Objectives. The production of content is framed within a global plan that specifies the general objectives, the reasons and aims.

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Tools. The aforementioned objectives will help to determine the adequate tool or tools needed to achieve them and work with the contents to be produced.

The tools might already exist or they may be specially built for that generation of DEC.

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Syllabus. The details of each of the items in the syllabus is specified in detail.

Design of tools

If the tools are to be used by IT experts, the standard methodology will be used. Here we will concentrate on tools used by the teachers to create and modify their own didactic materials.

The specific tools for a given area of knowledge are aimed towards their use by the teachers in that area. The technological training of the teaching staff and the characteristics of their area of expertise are therefore decisive in the definition of the design of functionality and the way the tools operate and interact, that is to say, the design of a tool must take advantage of the special professional and technological training of the teachers in a given area. 

Objects. The objectives of the tool, that is, the type of objects that the teachers will be able to create, are defined.



Professional characteristics. The main specific characters of the community for which the tool is designed are analysed and defined precisely (languages, skills, strategies, training, interests, didactic habits, possible technological training, etc.)

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

e)

f)

Specifications. The specifications of the tool are defined to satisfy the objectives, taking into account the characteristics of the teaching staff.

Design of didactic materials 

Educational design technical sheet. Each of the items in the syllabus to be developed is defined in as much detail as possible, indicating all the curricular aspects: competencies, objectives, contents, methodology and evaluation.



Alpha script. An educational multimedia script is designed which considers each of the processes, interactions and items in detail for each of the educational objects to be created, so that there is a precise idea of the DEC to be produced before the software implementation.

Services design

The current production of DEC must take into account the huge educational utility of the Internet and, in particular, what is known as Web 2.0, which adds two new dimensions to classrooms: a connection to the real world and the possibility of communicating with any other user in the network; this allows teaching activities to include what used to be a world outside the classroom and which used to be (and in many cases still is) unrelated to teaching and learning.

Information services. 



Alfa script. A definition of the information which one wishes to offer and how to carry out the task: by the users in the network (teaching staff, students, others), in-house services carried out by the institution's staff, the teacher him- or herself or some other person or institution employed to this end.

Classification and selection of public or private services of interest.

Communication services.  Alpha script. A definition of the media which will be used and an analysis of the repercussions in terms of safety and access control, with restricted access for unwelcome users.  Classification and selection of useful services on offer on the Internet.  Design of new services which satisfy the needs detected and are not covered by existing services. g)

Software implementation  Development control. The software implementation should be a clear and precise process based on the alpha script both with regard to contents and services, but experience shows that the development should be constantly supervised by the teaching staff that has participated in the tailoring of the alpha script, in order to prevent sidetracking or mistaken interpretations, which commonly occur.  Beta stage. A totally functional and operational beta version is created which allows the expert teaching staff to check if the product is faithful to the design 5

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 h)

and the alpha script. The product may be modified in order to adjust it to these specifications.

Final stage. The product is complete and totally operational and debugged.

Experiments in classrooms

In this process, a group of different teachers, guided by a teacher trained in the use of ICT, continuously use the DEC produced for at least two months. This stage should, on the one hand, allow the teachers to acquire adequate strategies for the use of the DEC and, on the other, offer the opportunity to check the different aspects related to the usefulness of the resources produced: 

Adequation of the DEC to the teachers' needs.  Learning to use the resource (difficulty and time required)  Adaptability of the resources to the methodology that each teacher wishes to use.  Difficulty of preparing specific teaching activities.



Adequation of the DEC to the students' needs.  Usability.  Degree to which the curricular objectives are reached using the DEC.  Change of attitude and/or motivation by using DEC.



2.

Analysis of the process, establishment of the strong and weak points and proposals for the improvement of DEC, from both teachers and pupils.

Analysis and description of the main processes for the effective integration of digital educational content into classrooms.

It is quite common for non-profit organisations which generate DEC to distribute this content through their website, under the belief that free public access will allow any teacher to use it. The real world, however, is quite different because the massive information load accessible to European citizens frequently blurs relevant information with all the other information, and less relevant data. Thus, it is necessary to create methods which allow teachers to discriminate among different items of information and choose the significant ones according to their objectives and which simplify the access to that information. Lastly, it must allow acquisition of methodological models which are progressively in accordance with the new advantages provided by ICT. a)

Distribution and extension 

Training. The DEC generated will be distributed through the professional training or educational networks organised by each educational community, so that the teachers can devote enough time to learn about the available resources in detail, how to gain access to them and the methods and services used.

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Experimentation. Once the teachers have gained knowledge of the teaching materials, a new experimentation stage must be considered. This will improve the professional training of the teachers, who will in turn contribute significantly to the improvement of the DEC that they have used.

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Extension. The teachers participating in this process will become distributors 6

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of the DEC and the new methodologies among their peers both in their local community (their institution) and the wider environment (virtual communities, social networks,...). b)

Curricular innovation

It is common to use the same methods and procedures that have been used with traditional technologies when the new technologies are included as a teaching aid.

The process of renewing these methodologies is a personal process that each teacher must adopt, follow through and assimilate in order to incorporate the new possibilities offered by the new technologies. ď Ź

Personal innovation. One of the greatest difficulties faced by teaching staff when including ICT is the radical change in methodology implied in their use.

Experimenting helps to solve most of these difficulties, but this requires time and good models in order to get each teacher to find the best procedure in order to include ICT in an effective and efficient way, that is to say, each teacher needs to follow their own innovation process until adequate levels of independence and confidence in the use of ICT are reached. Encouraging this personal innovation improves the integration of ICT into classrooms.

ď Ź

Process innovations. Confidence in the adequate and efficient use of DEC in a large group of teachers will favour educational innovation, especially if this innovation is framed within a communication system which allows the teaching staff to spread the word about their achievements, ask questions, share and compare their opinions, promote collaborative work, encourage creativity and show the results of their experience.

ď Ź

Social network. At present, most of the processes described in this section and in previous ones would achieve a greater extension and greater success in a social network in which teaching staff could find an efficient system to access educational information and didactic innovations. The network would be a meeting place and a setting for communication among peers.

These reflections and examples aim to suggest new proposals and examples to be taken into account in the discussion on the different models for the production of DEC and, especially, in the design of strategies that favour the widespread use of ICT in our classrooms.

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WORKING GROUP NUMBER 2: MODELS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. The ten most demanded jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. Many of the current university degrees did not exist only ten years ago, and we are not referring to changes in the title or creation of new degrees from existing ones, but of new areas of knowledge where it is necessary to certify professional competence.

But if we take into account not only professional competence, but skills needed to get along in current everyday life, in the second decade of the 21 st century, we notice that the exponential growth of information and the services related to its retrieval, management and distribution demand that citizens acquire skills to use them. In addition, it is not only necessary to acquire these skills, which are intrinsically ephemeral and changing, but to be willing to change them over time, recognising the need to develop competence related to the capacity to face continual learning as an essential characteristic of one's vital integration in the world.

Given this evidence, is it right for teachers, at any educational level, not to adapt their methodologies and resources? Can the educational systems and authorities allow these competences to remain outside the classroom? Can the idea of a school bounded in time and space be defended? Can the communication line needed for the teaching-learning process be maintained when the codes used by the students as everyday tools to construct their world are alien to the teachers and, therefore, to the educational institutions?

At the beginning of the second decade of the 21 st century there is a general consensus on the fact that correct curricular integration of ICT and development of accepted digital competence in European educational systems require immediate and strong support of training programs for teaching staff at all educational levels, and that such training must be undertaken by considering and using all current types of education: distance, classroom-based and combinations of both.

Moreover, the exponential acceleration that has taken place in applications has exposed the fact that, for a significant part of the teaching staff, their initial training during their time at university, both formal and informal, is not sufficient to face the new challenges and paradigms of teaching-learning processes. We must inevitably 8

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start to think up and plan ways to make learning and training a continuous process throughout the whole professional career (lifelong learning) and that the agents professionally involved in such processes must incorporate this paradigm and to have access to the tools and resources necessary to put them into practice.

This working group will consider different strategies or points of view to try to tackle these challenges.

The working group will concentrate on two basic lines of analysis, which are applicable to the different interventions that will take place and on the definition of the conclusions.  The analysis and discussion of the initial education of teaching staff and their training for the correct curricular integration of ICT into the teaching-learning processes.  The permanent education of teaching staff for recycling and/or updating of teaching staff, and its application through different modalities, in order to achieve the same objective: the curricular integration of ICT into the teachinglearning processes.

The group's work will centre on education and training, taking into account both the digital literacy of the teaching staff and the consideration of new methodological strategies and teaching practices with ICT. The following lines are a summary of the topics to consider and a suggestion of study and analysis contents for the group.

1.

Description of syllabi or measures put into practice during the initial training of the teaching staff.

It is obvious that the initial education of the teaching staff currently plays a fundamental role in the training of the future teaching staff and in their acquisition of digital competence. Thus, the members of this group must take into account and analyse the following aspects, among others: 

Analysis and comparative studies of syllabi in the initial training of teaching staff, and of the treatment of contents related to digital competence of the teaching staff in different areas and subjects. Examples from different European countries and/or different regions or autonomous communities in the European Union.

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Local, state-wide and supranational repercussions of the Bologna Plan.

Homologation of ICT competence in the European Union.

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Revision and study of specific methods of initial teacher training, including the modalities of distance learning, classroom-based learning or combinations of both.

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The degree to which teletraining or e-learning are incorporated, and, where 9

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appropriate, a description of the characteristics of the platforms used. 

Accessibility and availability of sufficient quality technical resources to take advantage of teletraining systems, and their adequacy and suitability.

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Production and content distribution systems for the initial training and types of licences used for such distribution.

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Systems of certification and recognition of the training and their repercussions in the training programme.

Evaluation of the impact of the initial formation (training or education) received, in its different modalities, on professional practice and in the classroom.

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2.

Analysis and comparative study of the plans of the teaching staff with regard to permanent education, measures adopted and proposals to promote the technological training of working teaching staff.

The effort to achieve the objectives of curricular integration of ICT in all educational areas, subjects, stages and levels, requires the involvement of active teaching staff, whatever the initial training received. The work proposal can be specified with the analysis of topics such as the following: 

Analysis of the current situation in the development of the digital competence of the teaching staff and its influence in their professional development. Future perspectives.

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Description and critical study of some of the examples of evaluation and certification of ICT competence started by the European Union, and their relevance and usefulness. Possibility to move towards shared models.

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Training plans and policies implemented in the different countries and European regions for the development of digital competence of working teachers. Case studies of successes and good practice.

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Analysis of existing training networks: teacher centres, organisation, competence and duties carried out. Models and training methods used.

Classroom-based learning, distance learning and combinations of both.

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Use of on-line training systems, e-learning platforms, solcial networks and web 2.0-style services. Repercussion of these methodologies and technologies in the further training of teaching staff and their practices in the classroom.

Qualitative and quantitative analyses.

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Availability of sufficient quality technical resources for teachers to take advantage of teletraining systems, and their adequacy and suitability.

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“Decentralised” or peer to peer training: development and availability of platforms for shared knowledge, distribution through social networks.

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Interoperability and standardisation of teletraining systems, formats and training content developed and/or implemented. Creation of interstate or interregional training networks.

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How to face or tackle the special training of teaching staff with distinctive characteristics: itinerant teachers, teachers who serve specific social groups (disabled or immigrants) or in areas or subjects considered cross-curricular: health education, coeducation, etc.

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Evaluation plans for the permanent education of teaching staff, in any of its modalities. Proposals put into practice and analysis of their impact in daily practice.

WORKING GROUP NUMBER 3: MODELS OF ORGANISATION TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN ICT INTEGRATION IN EDUCATION

AND

The working group will focus on two fundamental axes of analysis which will be applied to the development of the different interventions and the drawing of conclusions.

The following topics will be examined: 

The definition of institutional projects for educational innovation based on the application of technological media: how decisions on equipment are related to the other aspects of the project.



The role of successive technological innovations in projects which introduce ICT into educational institutions.

Therefore, this working group will focus special attention on the whole technological area thus complementing the points of view of the other two working groups participating in the congress, which are related to digital contents and resources in education, and the different approaches to learning using ICT and the training of teaching staff in these media.

The following paragraphs briefly introduce each of the topics that will be discussed, and suggest possible contents to be studied and discussed by the group.

1.

The definition of institutional projects for educational innovation based on the application of technological media: how decisions on equipment are related to the other aspects of the project.

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It is now obvious, after the many lessons learnt in the last decades, that the design of a project for the introduction of ICT in the area of education cannot focus exclusively on the aspects related to IT equipment –especially if the project is promoted by an educational institution or authority– even though the features and functionality are decisive for its development. The project should be structured in a way which clearly reflects all the variables or dimensions that should be simultaneously taken into account and should establish their interrelationship, taking into consideration the many processes which should be planned and their adequate synchronization. The following areas already seem to be the most relevant at the initial planning stage of the project: Definition of the project and pedagogical aspects

a) 

A clear definition of the project and effective communication of its objectives and the evaluation and monitoring procedures, including both those carried out internally and those performed by the external agents incorporated into it.

It is especially important to plan an initial and on-going evaluation –in addition to a final evaluation or one on the results of the project– which offers information and generates shared knowledge on specific key aspects.

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The changes required and instigated in the educational area and in the area of didactics connected to the project, that is to say, the improvements in the organization of teaching work and the degree of educational innovation generated by the participating institutions and teaching staff in the project.

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The improvements pursued and the method to determine the degree to which they have been achieved: improvements in the school environment, improvements in communication among the members of educational communities, in the teaching processes and in school learning and the degree to which formal learning is transferred to the students through their use of the technology.

Technological aspects

b) 





The technological infrastructure to be reinforced in educational institutions: internal connectivity of the local area and/or wireless network, access to the Internet and network infrastructure, in-house servers.

The software and educational contents that will be used: general purpose software for browsing and safety, applications and services provided by cloud computing, specific commercial educational resources, shared content accessible on the Internet, institutional platforms of resources, and the services to be accessed...

The specific hardware that will be introduced in the classroom for both teachers and students. Technical evaluations, acquisition, installation, maintenance and technical support services.

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c)

Training and support of teaching staff and participating institutions ď Ź

ď Ź

Teacher training: both in the technical aspects of the hardware and in all the different variations of the methodological aspects: classroom based learning, e-learning and/or blended learning.

Pedagogical advice and support networks for the teaching staff participating in the project: ICT consultants from specific support centres for teachers or from the University. Horizontal collaboration through the Internet: forums, educational blogs and professional social networks.

Working group study content: The working group contents will consist of the interdependence of the above mentioned dimensions in the formulation of the projects for ICT integration into education and their simultaneous consideration, and how they influence each other in the practical development and managing processes of the projects. Special attention will be paid to the relation between the decisions taken in the technological area and the remaining aspects of the project.

2.

The role of successive technological innovations in projects which introduce ICT into educational institutions The first institutional initiatives to introduce new technologies into education took place in the 80s of the last century, with the appearance of what would become the first milestone in the technological revolution we have witnessed in the last few decades: the personal computer, now a popular instrument in educational practice in all schools, but which had to earn its place by proving its pedagogical usefulness.

We can situate the next technological milestone in the 90s, with a great impact in the educational area: the expansion of the Internet as a global network. Although the production of content and services on the Internet during the 90s was basically unidirectional, with universities, companies and public authorities offering information and resources to the end user, with the coming of the new century the communication possibilities of the medium and its suitability for the development of all types of cooperative projects, consolidated a new paradigm which, for want of a better name, was called Web 2.0. In Web 2.0, social networks and the protagonism of the users are preeminent in offering, sharing and exchanging information and knowledge. Wikipedia is a relevant example of this movement, given its educational interest. E-services (e-administration, e-commerce‌) and cloud computing architectures, which use productivity applications and shared services, quickly followed. All that is needed is a device to access the web. Whether it is fixed or portable and has more or less technical features, the only indispensable requisite is that it has connectivity.

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As a consequence of the above e-learning and b-learning services make their entrance into the educational area, together with professional social networks for teachers offering multiple formats and different support applications, interoperable libraries of digital educational objects and other types of educational resources and services obtainable from the Internet, often thanks to institutional portals implemented by the educational authorities that bring them together. As regards the area of technological equipment for schools, teachers and students, there has been a shift from the model of specific IT classrooms with desktop computers which the different groups of students took turns to use during the school week, to the installation of computers in the usual classrooms, with the support of video projectors and digital whiteboards, transforming them into what is known as a “digital classroom�. At present, the 1:1 model, which consists in providing a laptop computer or tablet-PC to each student for their own personal use for all school activities, is becoming more and more important. Similar programmes are being promoted in countries with very different degrees of economic development, and it is only fair to recognize that the starting point was the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, based on the production of a low cost computer. Lastly, with a modest look into the future, it is not difficult to predict that there will soon be a new technological device for personal use which is portable but endowed with great processing capacity and permanent access to the Internet, highly ergonomic and with technical features that come from a mixture of the functionality and characteristics of current devices. This new device, which will be portable and user-friendly, and which could be called a light tablet, will no doubt be directly applicable to the educational environment in the next few years and will, together with the other elements, form an integral part of digital classrooms.

Working group study content: The different institutional projects of ICT integration in education that have been carried out in the past and are being implemented at present are directly dependant on the current technology on the market at any one time and the accessibility of educational institutions and schools to it, assuming its acquisition is economically viable. Fortunately, in the last few years the educational technology market is gaining considerable importance, as there is an increasing supply of products and services; and educational authorities, and even the educators themselves, have more of an influence with the producers when it comes to adapting technical resources to the specific needs of schools. This working group’s mission is to further the definition of the current equipment models and to establish which technological advances will be needed for education in the coming years, and which changes will have to be made in the educational institutions to favour their introduction.

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