Keynote Presentation at Classroom Conference 2015, Athens Open Discovery Space: Transforming schools into innovative learning organisations

1. Prof. John Garofalakis
Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics
University of Patras
Computer Technology Institute & Press “Diophantus”
Enhancing teachers’ digital skills
Developing digital competencies in the
school of tomorrow
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”

2. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly
important role in the way we communicate, learn and live.
ICT in education
“Applying ICT to Education: When is ICT not an appropriate tool for education?”, Ata Cisse
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Source: http://nextbillion.net/blogpost.aspx?blogid=3497

3. ICT in education
The use of ICT in education can
help individuals to compete in a
global economy by creating a
skilled work force and facilitating
social mobility (UNESCO UIS, 2014)
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
MDGs = Millennium Development Goals
Source: Digital Equity as an Imperative for the ICT Eco
system
http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/online-resources/databases/ict-i
n-education-database/item/article/digital-equity-as-an-imperative-for-th
e-ict-ecosystem/

4. Background in EU
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
In EU children become active online
From the age of 7
Eurostat data show that in 2013, a majority of
EU households -79% - had Internet access at
home
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/New-global-interactive-strategies-for-teaching-and-learning.pdf
 70% of teachers recognize the importance of digitally-supported methods
 Teachers are not adequately prepared for the digital revolution:
only 20% of students in the EU are taught by digitally confident teachers.
 The percentages of teachers using information and communication technologies
(ICT) in more than 25% of courses has not increased since 2006

5.  More than half the EU countries have reduced their investment in education and training between
2008 and 2011.
 It had been estimated that by 2015, 90% of all jobs will need at least basic computer skills.
 49% of EU citizens have no or low computer skills.
 A recently launched EU initiative – Opening up education – aims to bridge this skills gap by bring
ing the digital revolution into education.
 In February 2014, the 28 EU ministers responsible for education confirmed this strategy, encouragi
ng Member States to exploit the potential of new technologies and digital content to complement
traditional educational approaches.
Background in EU
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”

6. The schools in Europe are not using films and audiovisual material to
their full potential
A new EU study recommends including the film literacy in school curricula, promoting the
establishment of general rules for licensing schemes, then contributing to a wider use of
films and other audiovisual content in European Schools.
From the Digital Agenda For Europe…
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Published on 20/05/2015
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/schools-europe-are-not-using-films-and-audiovisua
l-material-full-concluded-eu-study

7. The majority of EU countries have online platforms, blogs, fora or other social networking sites
facilitating the sharing of experience and exchange of materials between teachers.
 One such example at EU level is the Learning Resource Exchange for Schools which offers more
than 200.000 open educational resources based on language, subject, source type, and age range
Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) for Schools
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
http://lreforschools.eun.org

8. Open Educational Resources
OERs consist of teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released
with an intellectual property licenses that allows free use, adaptation, and distribution.
OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio,
video and animation
Open Educational Resources (OERs)
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources

9. Massive Open Online Courses
Open Education Europa, indicates that in
March 2014 there were over 450 MOOCs.
Strong interest in MOOCs in Spain,
United Kingdom, France and Germany.
“Open Courses” in Greek Universities
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Source: http://epthinktank.eu/2014/04/01/di
gital-opportunities-for-education-in-the-eu/

10. Spain: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (150 MOOCs)
Spain – Latin America: Miríada X (facilitate exchanges and cooperation between Spanish and Latin American)
UK: FutureLearn (led by the Open University, comprises 26 partners in total, including the British Library, the British
Museum and the British Council)
France: France Université Numérique, (the first French digital learning portal. Its MOOC platform is one of the 1
8 actions in a five-year strategic plan for the digitalisation of learning and teaching in France)
Germany: iversity (German platform for online teaching offers MOOCs in German and English)
Digital Learning in EU
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Set up by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities unites partners from 11 countries
and currently provides access to over 60 free courses in 12 different languages
Source: http://epthinktank.eu/2014/04/01/digital-opportunities-for-education-in-the-eu/

11. A growing number of European schools are developing 1:1 computing projects involving mobiles
devices such as laptops, notebooks, and netbooks (1:1 stands for one device per user).
EU project & communities
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
http://1to1.eun.org/web/acer/projects
Open Discovery Space:
offers an open multilingual learning interface to encourage
the adoption of e-learning resources.

12. Top 10 education systems in the world
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
 South Korea tops the rankings, followed by Japan (2nd), Singapore (3rd) and
Hong Kong (4th). All these countries’ education systems prize effort above
inherited ‘smartness’, have clear learning outcomes and goalposts, and have
a strong culture of accountability and engagement among a broad
community of stakeholders.
 Scandinavian countries, traditionally strong performers, are showing signs of
losing their edge. Finland, the 2012 Index leader, has fallen to 5th place; and
Sweden is down from 21st to 24th.
Notable improvements include Israel (up 12 places to 17th), Russia (up 7 places
to 13th) and Poland (up four places to 10th).
Source: The Top 10 (And Counting) Education Systems In The World
http://www.edudemic.com/learning-curve-report-education/

13. But…
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD, 2015) in a recent study “Students
Computers and Learning” describes that using ICTs in school and/or at home does not mean that stu
dents will have by default better learning outcomes.
 For example it is measured that students who use regularly computers in math lessons score lowest
in mathematics.
 Similar finding also for reading skills

14. But… explained
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
 The OECD study concludes that ICTs and Computers must not
be the goal but the tool.
 To support and allow deeper and inquiry based learning.
 New trends of ICTs assist this approach:
 Interactivity
 Experimentation/Simulation
 Social networking tools
 Gaming
 Logging/analytics
 Teachers need to act as agents not just for the implementation
of innovations in classroom but also in their design.
 They should recognize their constant need for improving their
digital skills as an important asset towards this direction

15. Teachers Digital skills
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Foundational Skills
 Using Email to facilitate learning
 Creating and posting key course documents
online
 Technical skills for finding rich resources
 Technical Skills for adding posts to a blog /
wiki / intranet page
Pedagogy & Online Resources
 Using the online presence to promote student
engagement
 Pedagogical skills for Looking Tasks
 Using software to support Critical Thinking
 Pedagogical Skills for using Real, Rich and Relevant
resources
 Exploring Web tools to facilitate access to rich resources
Student Learning: Knowledge-building and Making Meaning
 Supporting student use of a Personal Learning Environment
 Facilitating student “Knowledge-Building”
Source: http://tommarch.com/strategies/skills-checklist/

16. What is ICT CFT?
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Src: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/
The ICT CFT is a framework that outlines
the competencies that teachers need to have
in order to
integrate Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) into their professional
practice.
It emphasizes the role that ICT can play in
supporting 6 major education focus areas
across 3 growth phases of knowledge
acquisition:

17.  an education standard - setting agency
– Strengthening the national capacity in localizing or developing their own ICT competency
standards for teachers
 the lead agency of “e-learning”: an advocate of ICT for quality edu
cation, life long learning and inclusive knowledge societies
UNESCO’s roles in promoting ICT CFT
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”

18. Four stages of Teachers’ development on ICT
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Emerging
Applying
Infusing
Transforming
Becoming aware of ICT
Learn to use ICT to teaching
Understand how and when to use ICT
Specializing in use/design of ICT
ICT usages
Applying productivity tools
Enhancing traditional teaching
Facilitating blended learning
Creating interactive e-learning
environments
Pedagogical usages of ICT
Source: ICT Competency Standard for Teachers and Institutional Strategy for Teacher Training on ICT -pedagogy Integration
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/UNESCO-Miao_TeacherTrainingonICT-pedagogyIntegration.pdf

19. A big community of relevant actors (teachers, schools, academia, etc) have delivered several innovative
tools and activities towards the provision of innovative learning opportunities in primary and secondary
education in Greece, as long as developing innovations to support teacher’s digital skills enhancement
The Greek Ministry of Education, in collaboration with Computer Technology Institute & Press “Diophan
tus” (CTI) have developed several actions such as:
 In-Service Training of Teachers for the utilization and application of ICT in the teaching
practice
 Greek Aggregator for Educational content
 Community building support. Web 2.0 services for teachers
 Greek School network e-services ….
What happens in Greece…
EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”

20. EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Digital School in Greece
http://dschool.edu.gr/
 Interactive text books
 Digital learning objects
repository (photodendro)
 Digital learning platform

21. EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Φωτόδεντρο (photodentro)
http://photodentro.edu.gr/aggregator/
Digital learning objects repository

22. EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Greek School Network
http://www.sch.gr/

23. EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Training of teachers to the use and application of ICTs in School
http://b-epipedo2.cti.gr

24. EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Specialized e-learning seminars
http://stop-bullying.sch.gr/
Training through an e-learning
platform, on the prevention and
dealing with school violence and
bullying phenomena

25. EDEN OPEN CLASSROOM 2015 – OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE CONFERENCE - “Transforming Schools Into Innovative Learning Organisations”
Social Networking applications
The provided educational platforms are enriched with new generation of e-learning using the
tools of the participatory web (Web 2.0).
 Web 2.0 Tools
 Blogs
 Wikis
 Social Bookmarks and Tags
 Social Media
 Social Networks
The development of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) seeks to addr
ess the learning needs of teachers by creating “communities of professionals
caring for and working to improve student learning together, by engaging in
continuous collecting learning of their own” (Hargreaves, 2008, p. ix).

26. The Digiskills Project showcase
CTI participates in R&D projects dealing with ICT as a tool to assist lifelong learning activities and
enhance professional development.
CTI contributes in those projects by:
• Design and development of advanced e-learning services
• Customizing social networking tools
• Developing educational training platforms
• Developing and deploying conventional and digital media, as well as specialized training
framework and supportive material in education and lifelong learning
• The Digiskills project (co-organizing today’s conference) is an example of such initiatives

27. Project DigiSkills: a Network for the Enhancement of
Digital Competence Skills
Digiskills is co-financed by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Program / Key
Activity 3 – ICT / Multilateral Project Framework
The goal of the DigiSkills project is
to support teachers of all levels of education to combine Information and Communication
(ICT) skills with pedagogy, to use ICT skills in the curriculum and in the institutional
organization.
The mails objectives of the project are
•to improve school/university/adult learning and teaching practice,
•to raise awareness of the educational community on the need for innovative teaching and learning
practices as well as learning to learn skills.
The core work of the network lies within the connection of best practices from various European
countries to show their own scenarios of use of learning tools and methodologies tested in their
own classrooms/institutions.
http://www.digiskills-project.eu/

28. Digiskills tools: the Platform
A social networking platform offering eLearning resources to meet
the educational and quality needs of School Education, Higher
Education and Adult Education communities
A number of best practices have been identified to support the
training scenarios of the project, including different types of
educational material. Several focus groups created a significant
number of good/best practices that has been uploaded in
DigiSkills Inventory and stored as electronic files.
The best practices shared in the directory, address a range of
subjects and all levels of education, and they are freely available
The platform has 220 registered users
According to the interim evaluation,:
– 78% of 600 users agreed that the proposed best practices had a
significant impact on their professional development.
– 82% said they would recommend the platform to their colleagues.

29. Digiskills tools: Communities of Practice
The DigiSkills users have created communities in
order to share their practices and resources
based on the offered best practices from the
Digiskills platform
A strong community of 1500 users was created
that developed about 600 education resources
expanding the initial pool of about 40 Best
Practices that were proposed by the project
team

30. Thank you!
Prof. John Garofalakis
Computer Technology Institute and Press – “Diophantus”
www.cti.gr
garofala@cti.gr