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Study visit group report

Group No 200Title of the

visitCreating and developing sustainable Internet-based

partnerships - Web based partnerships

Topic 03 (Use of ICT in learning)City, country Sofia, BulgariaType of visit G

Dates of visit 23.4.2012 - 27.4.2012Group

reporterPaul Dolan

Dear participants,

The purpose of a study visit is to generate an exchange of experience and good practice between the country you visit and the countries you all come from. Thus, participating in a study visit can be an exciting experience and an important learning tool for you.

During the visit you are invited to prepare a group report summarising your discussions and learning. This will help Cedefop disseminate what you have learnt to others, who share your interest but did not participate in this particular study visit.

On the first day of the visit, you are to select a reporter who will be responsible for preparing the final report and submitting it to Cedefop. Everybody should contribute to the report by sharing their views, knowledge, and practices in their respective countries. Please start working on the report from the first day of the visit.

You will, of course, be taking your own notes during presentations and field visits; but the group report should highlight the result of the group’s reflections on what was seen and learnt during the entire visit and the different perspectives brought by the different countries and participantss. The report should NOT read as a travel diary, describing every day and every session or visit.

Cedefop will publish extracts of your reports on its website and make them available to experts in education and vocational training. When writing the report, please keep this readership in mind: make your report clear, interesting, and detailed enough to be useful to colleagues throughout Europe.

By attaching any photos to the report, you agree to Cedefop’s right to use them in its publications on study visits and on its website.

Please prepare the report in the working language of the group.

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Please do not include the programme or list of participants.

The reporter should submit the report to Cedefop (studyvisits@cedefop.europa.eu) within ONE month of the visit.

I FINDINGSThis section summarises the findings of the group while visiting host institutions, discussing issues with the hosts and within the group. You will be reflecting on what you learnt every day. But to put them together and give an overall picture, you need to devote a special session to prepare the final report on the last day of the visit.

In this section, it is important that you describe not only things you learnt about the host country but also what you learnt about the countries represented by group members.

1. One of the objectives of the study visits programme is to exchange examples of good practice among hosts and participants. Cedefop will select well-described projects/programmes/initiatives and disseminate them to former participants and a wider public, including potential partners for future projects. Therefore it is important that you identify and describe all aspects that, in your view, make these projects/programmes/initiatives successful and worth exploring.

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Describe each of the good practices you learnt about during the visit (both from the hosts and from one another) indicating the following:

title of the project/program

me/initiative

country name of the institution that

implements it (if possible, provide

a website)

contact person (if possible) who presented the

programme to the group

whom the project/ programme/

initiative addresses

what features of the project/programme/initiative make it an example of good practice – online

partnerships

Who are we? BG Principal of the 137th Secondary school

Mariana Zakovamzakowa@gmail.c

om

n/a

Project-Based Education integrating technologies for effective and modern educational process

BG Bourgas University "Prof. Assen Zlatarov", President of the Association Education and Technologies

Rumi Papanchevapapancheva@yahoo

.com

http://itlearning-bg.net/

RumyanaPapancheva.aspx

Project based learning (PBL) not very popular in Bulgaria.Five dimensions of 21st century learning - collaboration/knowledge building/ICT/self regulation/real world problem solving and innovation.A whole class talking together is not classed as working together. We disagree - We think that whole class discussion can have it's place if used in the correct way. For example, the start of a Philosophy for Children class in which an entire class work together to develop questions and vote on which ones they would like to take forward.The start of the talk is focused on pedagogic approaches rather than technology.Rumi explains about shared responsibility. Her perception is that student feedback is not an example of joint responsibility. We disagree on this point.We think there are macro and micro levels of responsibility in a classroom, and that skilful teacher interventions will develop macro level activity. Otherwise it is likely that binary responsibility judgments will occur within the

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micro level. Macro in this case would be a whole class commitment and development of responsibility.Substantive decisions- Again, we disagree with some of the examples of what constitutes substantive decisions or not. Our thinking is more towards a spectrum paradigm in which some of these decisions may be considered inconsequential but with the teacher scaffolding, can contribute purposefully to an overall sense of classroom community and specifically, decision making.Rumi has a coding system for determining the level of skill in PBL : collaboration/knowledge building/ICT/self regulation/real world problem solving and innovationIs this a hierarchical system> Perhaps not - 1, 2, 3 - are they of equal importance? With 4 as an overall goal?We look at examples of knowledge building- we think the point is to distinguish between reproduction, copying and pasting. An interesting question at this point is how is prior learning established within lessons?Another question would be - how to teachers respond to this PBL assessment frame? How do they use it in class?ICT is not a distinct subject in Bulgaria. There are discussions about whether or not this is a good idea.ICT use is assessed on whether or not it supports knowledge building.The example about whether ICT should be used or not in information retrieval - why use the internet when a newspaper is available? We think they are absolutely different and a completely different set of skills can be gained from using online data. Students with different learning preferences are catered for.'Self Regulation' seems comparable to

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independent learning/autonomy.We see some images of computer use - although not of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL).'The digital literacy of teachers is low.'There are elements of practice that are not directly connected to sustaining online partnerships, or technology.We see some parents who have attended classrooms.

The beginning – Our 1st school project

BG Headteacher in School 137,natural-mathematical sciences

Dorotea Ilieva Junior achievement program- business and economics training for young people aged 16-23 years oldThe students make a company. It has an European Commission award for best practice.They have lots of awards. It would be nice to know more about the best practice- the details, practical information.We wonder how this is related to sustaining online partnerships?There is an exchange part of the program, although we are not sure how technology is involved.Enterprise without Borders – (EWB) recommended by the EC in business education.They use a dedicated web platform.There is more information about the Junior Achievement Program.We think a key thing to think about is how online partnerships grow out of existing face to face or distance relationships. How do you start an online relationship from scratch?They are clearly very proud of the work they have done. There is, however, little mention of the problems and challenges faced whilst undertaking the project. We think it would be interesting to discuss the difficulties as well as the successes.They use 'banks in action', an online program.

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Hewlwtt Packard Global Business Challenge.

eTwinning and the following projects

BG eTwinning ambassador for Bulgaria, assistant-Principal–Elementary level, cultural-creative school activities in 137 Secondary school

Rositsa Dimovar_dimova_137_sou

@abv.bg

Rositsa has 7 years of experience doing eTwinning projects. etwinning.net,There is a web portal that acts as communication point between partners.An international perspective can help children to prepare for the future.The main language involved is English - 60% of projects use this as the first language.The other 40% are European languages.The project can be in any field of knowledge. It doesn't fund individual projects.What skills do teachers need? Leadership, technical skills, is this specific for online space?One partner is nominated leader. The rest are followers.There should be more than one leader.Once you register online you can search for partners.

CARE – one of our last projects

BG IT teacher in 137 Secondary school, elementary level teacher, school innovations supervisor in 137 Secondary school

Danielina AntonovaLina.antonova@gmai

l.com

Desislava Milenkovamilenkova@teacher

.bg

Part of the Microsoft innovation projects, selected from 200 schools from around the world.They took students to Washington for a meeting.They presented the project in Lisbon, at a European forum.The students helped to create the idea. They organised themselves during parts of the project.Topics included: solar system/ caring for the earth /They use Envision and Kinect.WEB 2.0 - glogsterIt's funded by microsoft so they use a lot of microsoft kit.They use Qr codes and QR readers on smart phones/tablets in a kind of quest/mission

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based activity.They then had to develop computer games based around the topic of ecology.The students went for a trip to a mountain for research purposes.Microsoft Tag - QR code technologyKodu - software for making gamesWeb 2.0 and Web 3.0They use Facebook as a communication system between teachers and students.They are Microsoft Partners in Learning.This looks like there is some connections with school activity in Europe.

Juniour Achievement program

BG assistant-Principal –administrative and economic matters,Teacher in Economics

Stefka Manoilova

Anelia Stefanova

„Envision – engaging education through student participation“

BG manager and owner of NIMERO company, co-author of the project ENVISION

Kiril Rusev office@nimero.com Envision Presentation - Developed when the team were graduates for the Microsoft Imagine Competition, as an alternative to tablets and other expensive technology.

Multi-mouse use in classroom using 2.4 GhZ wireless USB mice + desktop applications for windows.Kiril is one of the founders of the system.They want students to be more active in the classroom. 'If the student is more engaged, the student will work better in the classroom.'What software does it work with?Typical classroom environments in Bulgaria have tables - fairly high - on which mice can move. They are designed to work with the

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teacher’s projector.The software can track student performance.There are three modules to it: content / content builder / community and publishingParents can access some of the content on lines.Content templates: quiz, drag and drop, writing, anonymous voting, individual questions, map (placing points on a map).There is a max of 128 mice, although most computers can use up to 35 mice.If the computers are slow then students might have to share mice.‘Hands up!’ is used so the teacher can gain absolute control of cursor. The teacher can also freeze the mice.There is a teacher code (left click-left click right click, ENTER - this is important because they are the only person with a keyboard) to open up a teacher dialogue box. The teacher cursor is always black and larger than the student cursors.Students choose their name by clicking on their name - Paul asks if they ever misbehave - he says 'you'll have to ask the teachers, although usually we do not get complaints;The teacher can unclick names if students choose the wrong name on purpose/accident.They then choose an avatar or picture. The student cursors are displayed as the little avatars.

The cursors disappear when the students have clicked on an answer. The teacher can then see who needs to answer a question (three people left!)The teacher has a screen with all the student scores on it. They can use this to add or minus points at milestones.There is also a timer, so the teacher can add

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time limits. It can be stopped and restarted.Although the system is open for ‘group-think’ and convergence, they have devised strategies in which it is difficult for people to cheat. For example, they use click codes for students to input answers, so their choices are not visible to the rest of the class.Another strategy is that each avatar has its own question - there are many questions on screen and you can only answer the one for your avatar. Only 8 questions can be shown in this way due to ‘screen real estate’.Another strategy is that they asterisk student answers as they appear on screen.It is designed with 'no child left behind' in mind, so questions are randomly selected (no differentiation) although the developers could change this.They use an on-screen keyboard - there are some issues with locating the 'hot point' of the avatar cursor.They have drag and drop tasks.

In a way this is an alternative to the reducing dominant computer use within the classroom.What impact does the technology have on the 'classroom community'?

The manager module helps teachers create content from scratch or import Powerpoint presentations. Some textbooks are being published specifically for use with envision.

How confident are teachers to use this? How much training do they need? How long does it take for a teacher to prepare content?How much is it? What support is available to customers? Are students using it as a tool? Spain and Cyprus are using it now. Over 50% of Bulgarian schools are using it since it

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became available for sale. The most expensive package is 100EUR per class. The pricing structure is based more around primary systems (1 class, 1 teacher).

Kinect, ENVISION - in our lessons

BG elementary level teacher, school innovations supervisor in 137 Secondary school

Desislava Milenkovamilenkova@teacher.bg

They use it during the break for games, and also during the lesson for learning.There are special quizzes that can be used.We watch some demos.There is a ‘block-reveal’ task that might be useful for language learning for vocabulary.We wonder how many students could use this simultaneously.Desi gives a presentation moving the slides with hand movements that the Kinect tracks.Desi works with a guy called Ray Chambers in the UK who is helping to program the Kinect. WWW.RAYCHAMBERS.WORDPRESS.COMThe software is still in development.We see the drawing program which looks fairly difficult to control but the student is super focused. It would be suitable for simple drawing or a 'drawn anything' game.It seems more suitable for primary level education. One issue is that there is a limited amount of students that can use it at one time.The games are based around individual user input or small groups.Would work well for starter activities and plenaries where behaviourist style right/wrong answers are useful to recap on knowledge learned during the lesson in an engaging way.

LLL programme in Bulgaria

BG Human Resource Development Centre

Milena Karaangovamkaraangova@hrdc.bg

Yasen Spasovyspassov@hrdc.bg

Europe 2020The Lisbon strategy has not worked. A new strategy has emerged.Europe 2020 is the replacement.It is aimed at developing growth, employment, productivity and social cohesion and climate change.

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It also aims to reduce school drop out rates below 10% at least 40% of 30-34 year olds completing third level education (masters)Youth on the move: mobility with a view to increasing employment.Education and Training 2020: (ET 2020) - strategic framework for educationErasmus for all 2014-2020:Learning mobility of individuals/ cooperation for innovation and best practices (strategic partnerships, large scale partnerships) / support for policy reform;Engaged with activity at school/vocational level - tertiary level and lifelong learner level.

School/vocational level:-Comenius sectoral programme (projects in schools and Kindertgartens/training of Bulgarian teachers abroad);-eTwinning - the platform for EU partnerships in Comenius;-163116 teachers are registered in EU - not necessarily active however;-Leonardo da Vinci sectoral programme - (projects in vocational schools, 13 projects of organisations);-Euroguidance network -funding for conference.

Tertiary level:

Erasmus: (projects and training)Grundtvig sectoral programme: (training and projects)EUROPASS: online documents - replacement for the European CV?Eurydice: translation of European educational research in Bulgarian and storage ofyspassov@hrdc.bg

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BG Ministry of Education, Youth and Science

We talked about efforts to integrate the Roma community into mainstream schooling.

BG Sofia Municipality

We talked about exam structures and the coordination of school assessment. We also talked about the assessment of teacher’s work and standards. We had a discussion about integrating students with special needs.

BG Lyulin Municipality

Minko Mladenov We talked about ways of financing schools.Lulin quarter (part of town), Mayor’s office, Milko Mladenov schools are financed from the

central budget money distributed though the

district municipality schools are maintained by the

district municipality schools can make money

independently by letting premises municipality involved in retraining

programmes for adults standardisation of administration

of schools determined by Sofia Municipality, district municipalities coordinate and

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cooperate autonomy very little, but good

ideas can be put forward and discussed

no direct involvement of the municipality in web-based projects, only though schools

Comenius regional project with the Canary Islands underway

future co-operations involving NGOs, municipalities not just between schools, universities

the responsibility of the regional inspectorate

ministry provides the methodology for the education of pupils with special needs, the municipality provides the school equipment

UK Newcastle University

DOLAN Paulpaul.dolan@newcas

tle.ac.uk

Self Organised Learning Environments – SOLES. This model is a method for developing the thinking skills, collaboration and information retrieval skills of students, by altering the teaching approach and activities.Self-Organised Mediated Environments – SOMES. This is a method of using videoconferencing to connect schools, teachers and students across the world. We are currently recruiting schools and developing the pedagogic foundations for the method.

Digital Tabletops – we are researching how

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Digital Tabletops can be used for collaborative learning and the development of thinking skills.

Digital Kitchen – we are researching and developing the use of radio frequency tags (RF Tags) to enable collaborative learning in a ‘real life’ situation.

SP IES FUENTE NUEVA CONSEJERIA DE EDUCACION DE LA JUNTA DE ANDALUCIA

RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ

Rafaelrafaelrodriguez200

1es@yahoo.es

Economy and Management teacherHe teaches at a secondary school which also doubles as an adult education Centre in the evening.He is involved in a lifelong learning project 'Education Permanente', which uses a blended learning approach.They use open source operating systems - they have a modified Linux system based on Ubuntu.They use Moodle to take care of the organisation/ communication systems of the courses.They use a standardised amount of units and topics for clarity.On Moodle there are links to theory/tasks/resources/links.Theory - looks like Bloom's taxonomy.Exelearning eXe - open source web authoring support for teachers and studentsThey use mind maps.Youtube is allowed in the internet.

FR Collège de Lucciana

CARTIER Julie-amélie

julie.cartier@free.fr

College de LuccianaJulie is a teacher-librarian - collaboration with teachers and studentsThe French educations system - looks complicated. 11- 15 year olds.15+ high school;Average number of students 500;

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Teachers in France have a centralised curriculum;CAPES (secondary education teaching competency certificate) it takes 5 years.New CAPES in documentation (since 1989)Develops partnerships, foresight, intelligence and research, manages the documentation centre.Responsible for educating students about information retrieval.The main problems they face are: Lack of innovation, lack of money for technology.Try to insure a new concept of ‘library’- like ‘Learning Centre’.

FR ministère de l`éducation nationale rectorat de Rouen

Etienne Delabouglise

etienne.delabouglise@ac-rouen.fr

Etienne is a headteacher from France - Normandy.He has to change schools every 4 years. Principles have to cycle their roles in different places.Secondary school with 670 students. There are 50 teachers.There is little innovation with regards to web-based partnerships. There is no one thing to blame. There just needs to be an impetus for teachers to become motivated.I think he is on the study tour to get ideas to share with his staff.

IT Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Biagio Pascal

CANNA Silvestroiispasca@fausernet.

novara.it

He is a head of a school (technical business and language secondary);1000 students aged 15-60 (includes adult education);Limited experience of eLearning. Students want 'real' exchanges.Sylvestro has been on 4 study tours (this is his fifth).Experience of working with Comenius and Grundtvig exchange programs.Experience of distance learning (not clear

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whether online or not)Comenius Regio - has the aim of creating a macro region Piemonte - PACA

PL Nauczycielskie Kolegium Jezykow Obcych w Starym Tomyslu

MACIERZYŃSKI Jakub

macierzynski.jakub@gmail.com

Jakub works for a teacher training college - focus on languages. And a secondary school.coordinating student practices in secondary schools and co-responsible for international partnerships (including Thailand, Australia and Kenya).The raised funds for the Kenyan school.They have hosted a study visit recently (in German).

RO ŞCOALA CU CLASELE I-VIII SOLONŢ

TABACARU Neliatabacaru_nelia@ya

hoo.com

Nelia is a maths teacher and educational advisor.50% of students don't have access to a computer at home, so teaching of ICT in school is even more important.Her school is called ŞCOALA CU CLASELE I-VIII SOLONŢ, in the SOLONŢ commune.Pre school (3-6 year old), Primary School (6-10 years old)The rest 10-15 year olds ADLIC is the national computerised systemBased educational system - (SEI) an educational technology program, which includes teacher training, leadership trainingportal.edu.ro?

AEL software platform - educational computerised system. It sounds like a VLE.Lessons are created by SIVECO and teachers (including Nelia)?

Nelia has been involved in eTwinnning projects and Comenius projects.EURODIDAWEB - pedagogical use of internet and multimedia tools. This is a teacher training project that Nelia took part in.

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PL Zespol Szkol w Jankowie Pierwszym

JANCZAR Urszulaula.janczar@gmail.

comGROUP 2 √Teacher trainer/primary and secondary English teacher.The schools are in very rural areas. The main industry is agriculture.Some schools are closing due to lack of children.298 pupils at the school.Experience of working with international projects.

MT Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology

CALLEJA Christian

callejachristian@gmail.com

GROUP 2 √One of the smallest counties in the world.Primary/secondary: private/church/publicPost secondary: public colleges (including MCAST (Malta College of Arts Science and Technology -Christian's workplace)There are very few alternatives to public collegesHe has links with Microsoft, although Malta Microsoft have to share their budget with Microsoft Cyprus.18-22 years old studentsUsing a customised version of Moodle and two other in-house information systems catering for attendance and assignment life cycle.Using PTPs (Private tuition providers) outsourced. Causes difficulty with communications having three partners involved.

NO Sogn og Fjordane Fylkeskommune

NØRINGSET Norvall

norvall.noringset@sfj.no

Norval's home country is full of natural resources.19 counties - Oslo is the biggest.HIs county is highly agricultural, with manufacturing also. Not much financial business.

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Employment is an issue - agriculture is difficult due to the landscape.They are keen to have a strong local identity. They are keen for people to be involved in volunteering programs.The political focus seems to be that education should perform a strong role in preparing students to be entrepreneurs.The ways in which business access funding and business seems very lenient and organised by the government rather than through banks.There are strong relationships between schools levels - transition stage is not a problem.Government are keen for young people to stay in the country and maintain business and industry.

IT UFFICIO SCOLASTICO REGIONALE - AMBITO TERRITORIALE DI VIBO VALENTIA

FALDUTO Francafrancafalduto@libe

ro.it

Works in a Regional Office (U.S.R. Calabria) connected with the National Ministry of Education (M.I.U.R. Ministry Instruction University Research) The object of her work is to engage young politicians promoting students’ participation and the relationship between school and family like some of strategies the school must encourage in order to bring citizens and institutions together. Franca train students because School requires that young generations greatly increase their commitment and participation. It’s important help Students that need to assert their critical independence, therefore assuming a wider responsibility to stand for their rights and to observe the rules regulating the democratic coexistence. It is by those rules that the good quality of life in general and of life in school is assured.On this point, the General Direction for Students, Participation and Integration of M.I.U.R has among its main aims that of

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promoting students’ participation, as an essential moment of the strong relationship that links school and civil society. It also aims to stress the central role played by the Province Council in representing the students in the public world. Thus it is important for the Councils to involve students, headmasters and all the other people working in the school. The Province Students Councils are active on the national territory as stated by the D.P.R 567 10th of October 1996 regulating “Discipline of complementary and integrative activities in school institutions”. After more than 15 years after their constitution, the PSC’s

Italian reform has changed to allow two students to have an official role within the school.www.spazioconsulte.it is an institutional website - kind of a resource for students.www.diregiovani.it is an online journals, online counseling. Looks well designed and illustrated.She gives us some information about children's festivals and the activities that the school are involved in.

HU Kecskeméti Humán Középiskola Szent-Györgyi A. Eü-i és Szoc. Szakközépisk. és Szakiskolája

FODORNÉ B. HORVÁTH Juditfbhjudit@gmail.co

m

Education system in Hungary - compulsory education from 5-18 ( soon to be 3-16)Mandatory preparatory year for a schoolcomplex, patch work system - different routes through which are difficult to track.High standards, focus on theoretical knowledgeThere are reforms in higher education

National legislature (in compliance with EU) can be quite rigid.Pre-school> general school level> secondary>upper secondary (although more complicated that that)

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Judit works at a 4 year secondary vocational school also there are 4 secondary courses.YILL - year of intensive language learning3100 studentsvocational -2751They have designed their own VLE system - looks quite tightly designed. Not a lot of extraneous graphics.The educational problems (lack o motivation) come from society itself.Use Skype occasionally.Uses closed Facebook groups to keep in touch with classes.

PT

dfdiana.oliveira@gmail.com

Previously a headteacher. No longer has the role since merger.Marinha Grande - is where the school is.Diana works in a Basic school.1834 students in the school, 141 teachers.Experience of working with Comenius for over ten years. (since partnerships were done via telephone).Lots of international - inter country communication strategies – they have a sound book with same thing in 4 languages.Looking at transition stage between primary/secondary.Experience of eTwinning - kids in touch twice a week via different devices.She has coordinated Comenius projects in several subjects since 1996.

CY Nicos Philippou

nphilippou@kepa.mlsi.gov.cy

Nicos works for the government.His role is to develop European projects related to education/employment.He is involved in eBusiness services. - Cyprus business portalEgnosis- an eLearning platform for industry and post grad (management diploma program)-eSkills for allhealth and safety in the workplace

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-eBusiness practices-career skills

There is free access to everyone, videos, simulations, self-assessment tools, etc.eDemocracy Portal - www.kepa.giv.cy/enimerose-me

* You can describe as many good practices as you find necessary. You can add rows to the table.

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2. The study visits programme aims to promote and support policy development and cooperation in lifelong learning. That is why it is important to know what you learnt about such policies and their implementation during your visit. You are invited to describe your findings concerning the following:

2.1 APPROACHES TAKEN BY PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES (BOTH HOST AND PARTICIPANTS’) REGARDING THE THEME OF THE VISIT. ARE THERE ANY SIMILAR APPROACHES/MEASURES IN PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES? WHAT ASPECTS ARE SIMILAR AND WHY? WHAT ASPECTS ARE DIFFERENT AND WHY?

Similar approaches include: eTwinning in all the European countries. European programmes (Comenius, Leonardo, Grundtvig). Information systems used in Hungary and Malta to help students,

academics and administration in their work.UK has a lot of different programmes that are currently being studied and experimented with including Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLE) and Self Organised Mediated Environments (SOME).

In many countries, web-based approaches are become more popular and more commonly used. Nowadays, web-based partnerships are not ‘new stuff’ anymore but is becoming more and more used and hence more standard.

2.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES (INCLUDING HOST) IN THEIR EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT POLICIES RELATED TO THE THEME OF THE VISIT. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES? ARE THEY COMMON CHALLENGES? IF SO, WHY? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

It is the case that in some academic institutions the technology is already in place but is not being used in the most efficient way as possible. The academic staff are not appropriately trained to use these technologies. One of the reasons identified for this is the lack of funding that needs to be invested to make full use of these technologies. Sharing of resources (infrastructure, human, technological, knowledge and teaching materials) across countries can mitigate the problem. Many countries do not have the same possibility to acquire/possess/build up resources as other countries already have, and therefore a situation where a disparity of resources gets created. This is a common problem in many countries, especially those where public funds devoted to education are very limited.

Some countries are also unwilling to promote change in their academic structures. They are afraid that promoting innovative means of teaching can have more negative aspects that positive ones. This study visit should therefore act as an agent of change where countries that have already experienced positive outcomes out of their innovative action should encourage those that have yet to start making innovative changes. The main reasoning behind this is that if it has worked effectively in one country, it should also be possible for the same innovation to work in another country. In France, there is a contradiction in the way ICT is being encouraged in teaching. At the national level, ICT is encouraged to be used during

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teaching. However, the teachers that are expected to use ICT in their lessons do not receive the necessary training required to learn the required ICT skills.

2.3 NAME AND DESCRIBE EFFECTIVE AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED THAT PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES (BOTH HOST AND PARTICIPANTS) APPLY TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES MENTIONED IN QUESTION 2.2. PLEASE MENTION SPECIFIC COUNTRY EXAMPLES.

Some Bulgarian institutions continuously encourage innovation in their teaching methods. One of the latest innovations introduced was the use of Microsoft’s Kinect technology. This technology was originally created for people to play video games on it, much similar to Nintendo’s Wii. The major difference is that the controller of the Kinect is the player’s whole body. Bulgarian institutions have identified the potential of this device, and are trying to examine the possibility of using the device’s potential for educational purposes. Although currently there is very little software available on the Kinect platform for educational purposes, this is a problem that can be solved if the demand for such applications is strong enough. The Bulgarian institutions have already commissioned a development company to start developing software for the Kinect platform that is specifically targeted for educational purposed.

In countries where funding is a major problem, open source software is a possibility that should be examined. This is a solution that has already worked successfully in Spain. Licensing of software can be very costly, especially that of the most popular software. Using open source operating systems, as well as open source applications will drastically reduce the costs of the academic institutions, leaving more funding for different areas such investment in hardware.

2.4 ASSESSMENT OF THE TRANSFERABILITY OF POLICIES AND PRACTICES. COULD ANY EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE PRESENTED IN THIS REPORT BE APPLIED AND TRANSFERRED TO OTHER COUNTRIES? IF SO, WHY? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

Firstly, we must acknowledge the difficulty that exists to transfer policies from one country to another. Most countries are still following procedures they have built for themselves along the years, and thus it is very difficult to encourage change in standardised procedures. What can be done, however, is improve each of the countries’ current policies in such a way that only slight changes are made in order to fine-tune the existing polices whilst at the same time keeping intact each of the countries’ traditions.

However, what can be learnt from the Bulgarian institutions is the outlook they have regarding innovation. This study visit has showed how many countries can imitate the same spirit that the Bulgarian institutions when it comes to promoting change and instilling a sense of innovation in their teaching methods.

3. Creating networks of experts, building partnerships for future projects is another important objective of the study visit programme.

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Please state whether and which ideas for future cooperation have evolved during meetings and discussions.

eTwinning would be a good way of starting partnerships between the participants. The presentation was useful for those of us who did not know about the program.

Franca has suggested that this website may be useful for business learning: http://www.economiascuola.it/

We discussed the use of Facebook as a tool for communicating between partners and students. In some countries, including England this is not best practice and is actually banned for teachers to communicate with students in this way. It may be a viable way for other countries to keep in touch. There are risks involved with this also – safeguarding issues. There needs to be guidelines or regulation to control how these online tools are used and in order to protect the safety of young people.

Kinect and Envision were interesting ways of using the interactive whiteboards effectively within classrooms, although we felt that the technology was not especially relevant for supporting online partnerships.

We are exploring ideas for future collaboration although this is still in development.

TO SUM UP

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4. What is the most interesting/useful information that the group believes should be communicated to others? To whom, do you think, this information will be of most interest?

At the hosting institution there is a remarkable innovative team which could serve as an example. It is composed by the principal, the school psychologist, the administrative staff, and the methodological council, the teachers, assistant principals, head teachers, the innovation manager and the civic education manager. We find it unique that such a big team can cooperate so well. This cooperation could be useful for the principals and perhaps some local authorities.

In schools where there is a shortage of teachers, they should consider employing private tuition providers just like it is done in Malta.

The presentation of our colleague from England was very informative, and full of innovative ideas. Perhaps they should organize a study visit based on the ideas of the presentation. It seems to have very good practices that would be adoptable in European schools. Some of the key words are: Enquiry based learning, SOLE (self-organized learning environment), P4C (philosophy for Children), learning to learn, metacognition, Hole in the wall, the kitchen that speaks, digital tabletops etc.

The various platforms used for educational matters to support the teachers’ work are also worth considering by any educational institution, such as the internal Information network used in Hungary, Moodle, ATS intranet used in Malta etc.

ENVISION is a software package to help teachers at school. At the moment ready-made lessons and contents are available only for primary school. ENVISION provides engaging education through student participation. Controlling is simple trough a PC with a projector, a keyboard and a mouse for the teacher and the pupils need a wireless mouse each. It is an interactive system and it has 3 platforms: presentation, administration and a community site. The system tracks individual student results, and the tasks include multiple choice, drag-drop, writing,) anonymous voting, individual questions and, mapping. In addition to ready-made materials, teachers can make their own. For further information please consult the website: www.nimero.com.

II Organisation of the visit

This part of the report will not be published but it will be made available to the organiser and will be used by national agencies and Cedefop to monitor and improve implementation of the study visits programme.

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We recognise the value of ongoing feedback as a way of ensuring that the programme is at all times a responsive and dynamic initiative, meeting the needs of its various participants and target audiences. In this section you are invited to give us your feedback on several factors that, in our opinion, contribute to an effective visit.

1. Discuss within the group and check if you agree or disagree with the following statements. Please mark only one box () that expresses most closely the opinion of the entire group. Please use Question 2 of this section to elaborate on your responses, if needed.

All agree

Most agree

Most disagr

ee

All disagr

ee

Not applicab

lee.g. The size of the group

was good.

1.1. The programme of the visit followed the description in the catalogue.

1.2. There was a balance between theoretical and practical sessions.

1.3. Presentations and field visits were linked in a coherent and complementary manner.

1.4. The topic was presented from the perspectives of the following actors of the education and training system in the host country:

1.4.1. government and policy-makers

1.4.2. social partners 1.4.3. heads of institutions 1.4.4. teachers and

trainers

1.4.5. students/trainees 1.4.6. users of services 1.5. There was enough

time allocated to participants’ presentations.

1.6. The background documentation on the theme provided before the visit helped to prepare

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All agree

Most agree

Most disagr

ee

All disagr

ee

Not applicab

lefor the visit.

1.7. Most of the group received a programme well in advance.

1.8. The information provided before the visit about transportation and accommodation was useful.

1.9. The organiser accompanied the group during the entire programme.

1.10. The size of the group was appropriate.

1.11. The group comprised a good mixture of participants with diverse professional backgrounds.

1.12. There were enough opportunities for interaction with representatives of the host organisations.

1.13. There was enough time allocated for discussion within the group.

1.14. The Cedefop study visits website provided information that helped to prepare for the visit.

2. If you have any comments on the items 1.1. – 1.14 above, please write them in the box below.

We thought it was a shame that the welcome meal was cancelled. It resulted in some confusion about where to go/what to do, which wasn’t a good start to the Study Visit.

III Summary

1. Having summarised all your reflections and impressions, please indicate how satisfied you are with your participation

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in the study visit. Indicate the number of participants for each category, e.g.

Very satisfied

Satisfied

6 Somewhat satisfied

4 Not satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

4

2. What elements and aspects of the study visits do you think could be changed or improved?

We appreciate the hospitality and the efforts of the organisers. The last day and visit to the school was particularly good and we felt very welcome. It was very interesting to see the school and to see what the practical reality of the teaching and use of eleaning was like.

We would like to point out some fields that need improving.

The first aspect of the visit to be improved is the timing of the events – the organizers should be more punctual and stick to the agreed timetable. The group discussion time was left until the end of the day. Often the days finished late which made it difficult to talk together as one big group. This had an impact on how much discussion could take place across the whole group. Being assigned groups didn’t work – perhaps they could change every day or we could have chosen our own groups?

Setting all the presentations for one day is not a good idea. Despite everyone’s efforts to make the presentations interesting, after a few hours of listening to them, they become monotonous. It could be a good idea to send the presentations to participants in advance so they can familiarize themselves with each other’s work and experience. It might save some time during the schedule too. Being strict with presenter’s time would not be rude and is in fact a good way to show respect for participant’s time and attention.

The thing to be modified, if possible, would be to engage all the participants more in activities in which they would be able to come up with the solutions on their own and be joined actively in doing exercises (like during doctor Rumi Papancheva's sessions). It would probably be the best way of learning for the study visit participants. Active and practical strategies in which participants can move around, talk and learn would work best.

We would have appreciated more of a balance between practical and theoretical activities in order to develop our knowledge and skills further.

We felt it would have better for the group to have the option to eat in different places for dinner. Eating in the same place every night at a given time limited our ability to explore the city and spend our free time independently.

THANK YOU!

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We appreciated the flexibility of the hosts in organizing a visit to their school on our request. We felt very welcome and really appreciated the effort that went into the visit. We would have liked to spend more time at the school.

We felt that the use of a travel agent was not the most financially efficient way of organizing the visit and there was a financial issue with a bank charge that was not made clear before the start of the visit. Detailed information and advice should be given in the information pack to avoid such issues.

3. If there is anything else you would like to write about that is not included in the above questions, please feel free to write below or attach a separate sheet.

We have all found it very valuable to meet people from different countries and to learn more about their education system, cultures and people.

Please submit the report to Cedefop (studyvisits@cedefop.europa.eu) within one month of the visit.