e-Learning in Bulgaria – the State of the Art
Daniela Tuparova, South West University, Bulgaria
Georgi Tuparov, South West University, Bulgaria
If one looks a year ahead – they plant a garden.
If one looks ten years ahead – they plant a tree.
If one looks far ahead in the future – they educate their people.
Motto of the Bulgarian Virtual University
Summary
The study discusses the development and the state of affairs of e-Learning in Bulgaria in
recent years. Statistical data is introduced regarding the educational system in the country.
The main catalysts of development in this sphere of education in Bulgaria are introduced and
analysed. These catalysts are the participation of educational and research institutions in a
number of international projects; the measures taken by the state to accelerate the process of
introducing e-Learning technologies at all stages of the educational system; and the
readiness, attitude and problems of teaching staff in higher and secondary education.
In the final years of the process of pre-accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, the
conditions for involving and efficient use of e-Learning in different educational institutions
were significantly improved. The basic factors that positively influenced the improvement of
the e-education index in Bulgaria could be summarised as follows: the participation of
educational and research institutions in a lot of international projects; government policy;
initiatives by universities, educational and research institutions; well-qualified experts in
information and communication technologies, didactics, psychology and other subject areas
that, with enthusiasm, add value to the development and dissemination of e-learning content.
Unfortunately, there are problems, such as lack of sufficient e-Learning content, especially in
the humanity areas; insufficient preparation and readiness of university lecturers and school
teachers to use e-Learning technologies; insufficient didactical readiness of teachers to use
e-Learning technologies; lack of a regulatory system in schools and in some universities to
stimulate school and university teachers to develop and use e-Learning content.
In our view, to overcome the above problems, a regulatory system has to be approved to
stimulate, develop and use e-Learning content at all educational levels; good practices need
to be disseminated; open-source software and e-learning environments with Bulgarian
language interfaces should be popularised; joint research concerning the technological and
didactical issues of e-Learning have to be conducted on a larger scale; and more universities
should offer Master’s programmes in e-Learning education.
Key words: school, university, implementation, teachers, attitudes
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Introduction
The Lisbon Strategy of the European Council in March 2000 outlined for the European Union
the strategic goal for European society to become the most competitive and dynamic society
in the world, based on knowledge. The Barcelona summit of the European Council in March
2002 reiterated this important role and formulated as the main objective for European
education to become the world standard.
The EU Ministers of Education were united in outlining three main goals which should be
achieved by 2010:
- Improving the quality and efficiency of EU educational systems.
- Assuring access to education to everyone.
- Opening European education to the rest of the world.
To support the introduction of information and communication technologies and their
integration in education, the European Commission adopted the eLearning Action Plan.
Since January 1, 2007 Bulgaria has been a full member of the European community. Ever
since 1997 Bulgaria has been trying to satisfy the requirements of the European Council in
the sphere of education and introduction and integration of ICT at all stages of the
educational system.
The present study presents and analyses the major catalysts of the development of e-
learning in Bulgaria:
- The participation of educational and research institutions in a number of international
projects.
- The measures taken by the state to accelerate the process of introducing the
technologies of electronic education at all stages of the educational system.
- The human factor. Discussed are the readiness, attitude and problems of the teaching
staff in higher and secondary education.
- The conclusion discusses the possibilities and appropriate measures for the solution
of some of the problems that still exist in the sphere of e-learning in Bulgaria.
Statistical data for Bulgaria and the structure of the Bulgarian Educational System.
According to the National Institute of Statistics- http://www.nsi.bg at the end of 2005 the
constant population of Bulgaria was estimated to 7 718 750. In the educational system at the
different levels of education for the 2005/2006 academic year a total of 1 398 751 students
are engaged in 6 750 educational institutions. The teaching staff in all educational institutions
for the 2005/2006 academic year amounts to 122 339. The distribution of students,
educational institutions and teaching staff according to the levels of the international standard
classification of education – (ISCED-97) are given in Fig. 1, 2, 3.
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Fig. 1 Number of students in levels of education
Fig. 2 Number of schools in levels of education
Fig. 3 Number of teachers in levels of education
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According to Bill Robinson (Value Scope Bulgaria):
“Bulgaria has an unusually well-developed educational system specializing in
electronics, engineering, and computer sciences. There are more than 47 universities
in Bulgaria, located in 26 different towns. At any one time, there are more than 5,000
Bulgarian students majoring in computer science and another 5,000 majoring in
electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, and biotechnology. Bulgaria’s advanced
education is right up with the top countries in the world, ranking fifth amongst all
countries in sciences and eleventh in mathematics, according to The World Bank and
The Economist. Ranking second in the world in IQ tests (MENSA International),
Bulgaria also ranks second in the world in SAT scores.”
Historical overview
In the early nineteen eighties a large-scale introduction of personal computers in the
Bulgarian educational system makes it possible for software to be designed for computer-
aided education in Bulgarian.
In 1981 a connection put up for the first time between the terminals in Bulgarian Academy of
Sciences and Academiac K. Popov- High School specializing in Mathematics-, Plovdiv to
meet the needs of teaching Bulgarian Language and Literature, English and Biology. In 1983
in the same high school in Plovdiv the first computer class was formed in which tuition was
based on using personal computers and computer-aided lessons were developed in all
school disciplines. (http://omg-bg.com/?page=history&setlang=2 )
Bulgarian researchers have worked in the sphere of using LOGO (Nikolov, 1983) to develop
interactive teaching and learning programs with applications in a variety of disciplines
(Ganchev &Kuchinov, 1987, Buchvarov & Stefanov 1988, Totkov 1988) as well as in
computer based knowledge assessment (Ashkenazi, 1978)
After the political changes of 1989 a steady decrease has been observed in the interest
displayed towards using computers in education. This is the result of the economical
problems which the educational institutions of the country have been experiencing.
In the late nineteen nineties the first university on-line courses appear with the introduction of
the Internet in the Bulgarian educational system:
- Clement Ohridski Sofia University, Introduction to the Internet, I. Nikolova, 1996/1997
(Nikolova, 1996a), Telecommunications and Distance Learning, I. Nikolova,
1996/1997 (Nikolova, 1996b)
- Neophyte Rilski South-Western University, HTML Documents Design Applications, G.
Tuparov, 1996/1997, Internet Programming with JavaScript 1997/1998 (Tuparov,
1998).
- Anguel Kanchev Rousse University, Parallel Programming, D. Todorova,
1996/1997/1998 (Todorova, 1998).
These courses are a direct or indirect result from the participation of academic staff in
projects which were part of various European programmes.
During that period the high prices of the existing virtual environments for teaching and
learning and the lack of interface in Bulgarian proved to be the main obstacle to the emerging
Internet-based education. This was the reason why in a number of Bulgarian universities
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enthusiastic professors and students started designing their own environments for virtual
education which provided interface in Bulgarian as well. This was usually done within the
frameworks of different research projects. Examples of such environments are (note that the
media are listed alphabetically):
In the Information Technologies Department of Sofia University the first prototype of a virtual
environments for distance learning, namely VEDET, was designed (Nikolov&Nikolova, 1996).
“It consists of four types of educational institutions:
- virtual university;
- virtual school;
- virtual enterprise;
- virtual center for language learning.” (Nikolov, 1997)
In 1998 the idea emerged for the PeU system of Plovdiv University, which has been
perfected throughout the years. (Totkov &Doneva, 1998)
In the last 7 years research project teams in most Bulgarian universities have been working
on the design of e-learning information systems with Bulgarian interface, which undoubtedly
contributes to the popularization of e-learning among academic staff, students and teachers.
Some of these systems are listed below in alphabetical order:
- ARCADE – Sofia University (System Arcade, 2007)
- eОбучение – Sofia Technical University (E-learning at Technical University, 2006)
- DeLC – Plovdiv University (Stojanov, 2003)
- Didact@Net – Southwestern University (Tuparova &Tuparov, 2002)
- ELSE- University of Rouse, e-learning Shell (2001)
- FLAME – Military Academy/Sofia Technical University (Nenova 2004)
- IALMS – Mining and Geological University (Ivanov & Zabunov, (2004)
- MUS-portal – Medical University of Sofia (Kosekova, 2004)
- PeU – Plovdiv University (Totkov & Somova&Sokolova, 2004)
- VEDA – New Bulgarian University (Asenova, 2004)
At present about 70% of the universities in Bulgaria use e-learning environments. As a result
of the development of open-code e-learning environments many universities adopted such
environments for their electronic tuition.
International projects and the development of e-learning in Bulgaria
A major accelerator of the development of the theoretical and applied aspects of e-learning is
the participation of educational institutions providing both formal and informal education in
the international programmes of UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank, DAAD, ЕU programs: Sixth
Framework RTD Programme, Fifth Framework RTD Program, Fourth Framework RTD
Program (INCO COPERNICUS), PHARE, Socrates - Minerva, Leonardo, Comenius,
Erasmus etc. It is not possible to present all projects associated with e-learning within the
limited space of a single study. However, We would like to list a number of these projects.
Within the framework of Phare Multi-Country Program for Distance Education (1995-1999) a
National Center for Distance Education was created (http://www.see-
educoop.net/education_in/pdf/ncde-bul-enl-t03.pdf). Teams from a number of universities
took part in projects for the development of modules for distance learning based on web
technologies:
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General and Financial Management of Public and Private Not-for-profit Entities-
-
Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia - Leading partner
Development of Distance Education in Energy Spare and Conservation Based on
-
Advanced WWW Technologies Technical university, Sofia - Leading partner
Virtual Learning Environment - Electronics Computer Aided Design and English
-
Language Learning Through Subjects in Electronics Technical University, Sofia –
Leading partner
Design, Implementation and Management of Telematics (an On-line Course)
-
University of Sofia, Department of Information Technologies - Leading partner
Rapid and In-depth Introduction to Information Technology University of Plovdiv -
-
Leading partner
Maritime English for Emergencies RDESC, Varna - Leading partner
-
European Economic Statistics University of Sofia, Department of Economics and
-
Business Administration – Partner
The greatest number of international projects associated with e-learning was contributed by
Sofia University, Technical University – Sofia, Plovdiv University and the Bulgarian Academy
of Sciences. Table 4 presents some of the projects and the Bulgarian participants.
Table 4. Projects associated with the research and application of e-learning
Project Bulgarian Partner
I*Teach – Innovative Teacher – Leonardo da Vinci programmed. University of Sofia
IDWBL - Innovative Didactics for Web-Based Learning – Minerva project University of Sofia
6FP NoE Project KALEIDOSCOPE “Concepts and methods for exploring University of Sofia
the future of learning with digital technologies”
World Bank Project “Market-Oriented MSc Programs and Internet University of Sofia,
Environments for Education in Microelectronics, Software Engineering Technical University-
and Management” Sofia
World Bank Project “Improving the Quality of Education in Sofia Sofia University
University by Integration of Intellectual and Information Resources”. The
project aims at: developing a system for quality management and
monitoring; introducing European Credit Transfer System; integrated
university information system (ERP) with an e-Learning course authoring
and delivery platform; development of multimedia foreign language
resource bank supporting implementation of the European Language
Portfolio strategy of the Council of Europe
World Bank Project “Virtual Department on Computing “John Atanasoff”. 15 Bulgarian
Builds a network of 15 Bulgarian universities and the Bulgarian Academy Universities and BAS
of Sciences aiming at providing world class e-Learning services
5FP IST Project \"DIOGENE: A Training Web Broker for ICT University of Sofia
Professionals\"
5FP 2001/C 321/17 (2002-2005) GEM-Europe Project: “Global Education University of Sofia
in Manufacturing” – http://www.sintef.no/gem
5FP IST Project \"WebLabs: new representational infrastructures for University of Sofia
learning
PHARE TEMPUS Institutional Building Project IB_JEP-14047-1999 University of Sofia
Center of Excellence in Information Society Technologies
PHARE Multi-Country Program in Distance Education (1998-1999): University of Sofia
\"DEMAND: DEsign, implementation and MANagement of telematics
based Distance education\"
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INCO-Copernicus Project PL961125 under EC Directorate General XIII: University of Sofia
Multimedia Applications for Educational Telematics Networks - MATEN
(a continuation of COP 1445)
INCO-Copernicus 1445 project \"Flexible and Distance Learning through University of Sofia
Telematics Networks: A Case Study of Teaching English and
Communication and Information Technologies\"
INCO-Copernicus Project 960106 under EC Directorate General III: University of Sofia,
Multimedia Authoring Environment for Children MATCh
Eenovate (http://www.eenovate.info/default.asp )Elearning: a New University of Sofia
Agenda for Universities in Candidate Countries- Eenovate is a Socrates-
Minerva financed project.
FP6/2002/IST/2. INTRAWEBS “Intelligent Framework for Generating Bulgarian Academy of
Open (Adaptable) Development Platforms for Web-Service Enabled Science (BAS)
Applications Using Semantic Web Technologies, Distributed Support
Units and Multi-Agent Systems” /2004-2007/
FP6 INCO-CT-20030003401 HUBUSKA “ ” (http://hubuska.com/ ) /2004- Bulgarian Academy of
2007/ Science
LEONARDO DA VINCI PP-159052 JASON “E-learning in the working Bulgarian Academy of
place for work with digital objects from culture heritage” Science
(http://jason.mediaprimer.pt/ ) /2004-2006/
LEONARDO DA VINCI PP-114025 KNOSOS \"New Media Knowledge Bulgarian Academy of
Village for Innovative e-Learning Solutions\" /2003 - 2005/ Science
LEONARDO DA VINCI PP-136029 ADONIS \"Advanced On-the-job e- Bulgarian Academy of
Training Solutions in e-Business for SME's\" Science
(http://www.adonisproject.hu) /2002 - 2004 /
INCO-COPERNICUS PL961104 AGILE \"Automatic Generation of Bulgarian Academy of
Instructions in Languages of Eastern Europe\" /1998 - 2000/ Science
(http://www.itri.brighton.ac.uk/projects/agile/index.html)
INCO-COPERNICUS PL961060 ARCHIMED \"Advanced Multi-media- Bulgarian Academy of
System Architectures and Applications for Educational Telematics\" /1998 Science
- 2000/
TrainSEE - Training in Information Technologies. Contract no.: IST-2000- Bulgarian Academy of
28181, http://www.acad.bg/rismim/projects.htm Science
Program SOCRATES ERASMUS 3 (Thematic Networks) Project EUI-Net Technical University-
– European University-Industry Network 2004/07 г. Sofia
ALIPRO Supporting the ALIgnment of IST research PROgrammes on Technical University-
mobile communications in the new member states, FP6-2004-IST-3, Sofia
2005/06
Program SOCRATES THEMATIC NETWORK Project THEIERE-DISS - Technical University-
Thematic Harmonisation in Electrical and Information EngineeRing in Sofia
Europe- DISSemination, 2004/05.
CEEVU UNESCO Project of the Open Virtual Campus of E-learning Technical University-
Centers, Technological and Engineering Universities of Central and Sofia
Eastern Europe, 2004/07
Socrates 2 Thematic Network Project THEIERE: “Thematic Technical University-
Harmonisation In Electrical and Information Engineering in Europe”, Sofia
2002/2003
PHARE Project VLE-ECADELL: ETF/97-99/VET/0085 \"Designing a Technical University-
Distance Education Course in Automated Design of Electronic Circuits” Sofia
TEMPUS SJEP 07388/1994 \"Establishing an Innovation Center for Technical University-
Distant Learning and Multimedia”, 1994/97 Sofia
Rapid And In-Depth Introduction To Information Technology, Phare Multi- University of Plovdiv
Country Program for Distance Education
Software Engineering: Computer Science Education and Research University of Plovdiv
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Cooperation\" http://www2.informatik.hu-berlin.de/swt/intkoop/daad/,
DAAD
EUROPEAN VIRTUAL LABORATORY OF MATHEMATICS, Leonardo University of Plovdiv
Da Vinci programme, http://www.matematika.sjf.stuba.sk/EVLM/
MISSION - Multi-country Integrated System Support for Improved ODL University of Plovdiv,
Networking South- West University,
Blagoevgrad
e-Taster - short, free on-line courses - \"tasters\" - for multilingual, University of Plovdiv
international delivery, Minerva Programmed
Leonardo Da Vinci programme “Internet-based Evaluation and New Bulgarian university
Professional Certification in Human Resources Management”
Leonardo Da Vinci programme, Up2Scilling UML New Bulgarian university
Leonardo Da Vinci programme, “International Logistics Education University of Rouse
through Language Modules and E-learning”(ИНТЕРЛОГ 2), INTERLOG
II, CZ/01/B/F/LA-134016
Leonardo Da Vinci programme, “Multimedia in teaching Physics” University of Rouse
SUPERCOMET 2, № 2004-04/B/PP/165008
Leonardo Da Vinci programme, “Ubiquitous FLL” LinguaNet, University of Rouse
BG/05/B/F/LA-166019
Apart from universities, secondary schools and NGOs also take part in international projects
associated with e-learning.
National programs and projects in the area of e-learning
Research in the sphere of e-learning as well as its application in the various forms of formal
and informal education has become part of the national policy of many countries including
Bulgaria.
Regardless of the fact that there are trained specialists in the sphere of ICT, that universities,
researchers and academic staff are trying hard to implement ICT in the educational process,
The eEurope index ranks Bulgaria last in the list of 28 European states. To bridge the gap in
the sphere of ICT the Bulgarian government undertook serious initiatives. The national
programme i-Bilgaria was started in 2004. The objective of this programme is for the average
levels of the European indicators of development of the information society to be reached at a
faster rate. Within this large-scale programme several educational projects were started
under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Government
Agency for the Development of ICT:
- i-Centers – a project aimed at establishing a network of public telecenters throughout
the country, based mainly in smaller towns and villages;
- i-Class – a project for computerizing Bulgarian schools;
- i-University – a project for setting up computer laboratories and e-learning sites in the
state universities;
- i-Net – a project establishing a high-speed information highway connecting the
universities, research institutions and European research networks;
- i-Zone – a project assuring WiFi access for academic staff and students on campus;
As a result of the i-University programme at the end of 2004 equipment was provided for over
100 computer laboratories for e-learning at universities and research institutions. The
Bulgarian Virtual University was established. Its mission was formulated as that of “active and
efficient utilization of the properties of ICT to realize the humanistic idea of freely accessible
life-long education adapted to the individual needs providing equal opportunities for all
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Bulgarians, living in or out of Bulgaria, to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for an
active life in the information society”. (Smrikarov&Kouzow, 2005)
The Bulgarian Virtual University is the home for the virtual information center for Ph.D.
students, virtual libraries, etc. A national competition was held for the development of
electronic courses in all areas of higher education. At present about 70% of the universities
have e-learning environments where they offer e-learning courses to support full-time tuition
or for distance learning.
The e-Class project created the pre-conditions necessary for the use utilization of the
electronic teaching and learning materials at the secondary-school level. It provided
hardware equipment and Internet connection for schools. Each school in the country received
at least one computer class, video projector and a laptop. By June 2006 nearly all Bulgarian
schools have computer networks. (e-Bulgaria 2006, 2007)
The National Strategy and Action Plan for Introducing ICT in Bulgarian schools (Decision №
81 of the Council of Ministers since 09.02.2005.) were accepted like an answer of the
eLearning Action Plan1 of the European Commission. The aim of the national strategy is
efficiency use of modern information and communication technologies to increase the quality
of education, to enrich of learning content and involving of innovative educational technology.
In national action plan the follow major measurements are foresee:
- Establishment of suitable law documents for support of ICT education and integration
of ICT in educational process.
- Computerization- establishment in all schools of computer’s classes.
- Development of information network for all schools and their connection with
broadband Internet.
- In- service teachers training in using ICT in all school subjects.
- Establishment of national educational portal, platforms for distance learning end e-
learning content for all school subjects.
For implementation of this strategy the government foresees to spent around 70 000 000
euros for period 2005-2007. How this strategy is realized?
The data from National Pedagogical Center show that in the end of 2006 more 80 000
teachers have been trained in ICT skills (Annual report of National Pedagogical Center,
2007). In 2006 the national educational portal started (http://prosveta.eu). The project
“National Educational Portal” is a first crucial step for implementation of e-learning
technologies in Bulgarian schools. All students and teacher in the secondary schools have a
free access to the e-learning content. Up to now 21 e-learning courses for different secondary
school subjects are approved from the Ministry of Education and published. In the future the
teachers will have a possibility to develop and publish own e-learning content.
The e-learning content for the schools is enriched by the students’ works in frame of national
competitions and Olympiads in IT.
In January 2007 has been started second stage of development of broadband internet
access for the school.
The foundations such as “Minio Balkanski” (http://balkanski.openfmi.net/BG/deinosti.htm ),
“St. St. Cyril and Methodi” (www.cmfnd.org) etc. contribute to the implementation of e-
learning in the schools.
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In 2005/2006 the master program in e-learning has been started in University of Sofia. This
program will provide high qualified young experts, which will actively participate in
development and application of e-learning content.
During the last 2 years the implementation of e-learning content in Bulgarian schools has a
significance grow. Independent of the achieved results the teachers and students needs from
high quality e-learning courses. The teachers still have not enough didactical experience,
knowledge and skills in using of e-learning content. Even tough the university lecturers have
some experience in this area it has not to be mechanical translated to the secondary schools.
It is necessity the efforts of researchers and teachers to be directed to the improving of
pedagogical approaches for use of e-learning content in secondary schools.
In the last 2 years there is a trend for increasing of e-learning research projects funded by
National fund “Scientific Research” at the ministry of education. Some of the funded projects
are presented in Table 2. (www.nsfb.net ).
Table 2. List of projects funded by National fund “Scientific Research” in 2004-2006 years:
Project Partners
Model and architecture of mobile educational services, directed to the University of Plovdiv
users
Transition of video information through Internet for distance learning of Technical University- Sofia
people with deaf disabilities
Infrastructure and e-learning content for software engineering education University of Plovdiv
Establishment of e-learning interuniversity center DeLC
Development of Grid Infrastructure for scientific research and education University of Sofia
Technological and didactical problems in e-learning South Western University-
Blagoevgrad
CBR- platform for management of ontology based knowledge University of Plovdiv
Intelligent educational portal for secondary schools University of Plovdiv
Models and tools for development of task oriented environment for University of Rouse
mastering of structured knowledge
Contemporary methods, tools and technologies in diagnostic and University of Plovdiv
consulting of people with disabilities
Modeling of learning processes and management of e-learning projects University of Plovdiv, BAS,
South West University-
Blagoevgrad, University of
Plovdiv
DDL – language for specification of DELC infrastructureа University of Plovdiv
Even though the research in e-learning area has intersubject issues, most of the proposed
projects have been consider by Mathematics and Informatics scientific commission. In our
point of view we agree that is necessity the special program for e-learning to be established
in the funding programs of the National fund “Scientific research” at the Ministry of education.
The attitude of the university lecturers and school teachers toward electronic based
learning content
In the frame of the project “Technological and didactical problems in e-learning”, funded by
National foundation “Scientific research” was carried out the survey about the teachers
attitude to the e-learning. The results from this study are published in Tuparov at all
(2006).Here we will present summarized data from the study.
The questionnaire for the university lecturers and school teachers aims to determine:
- the types of electronic technology used in the teaching process;
- the reasons for preferences or lack of preferences for using e- learning materials;
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the correlation of these preferences with lectures’ competence and experience as well
-
as with their computer and Internet skills.
The questionnaire consists of 14 questions divided in 3 basic groups that aim to
-
determine:
lectures’ profile: educational level, subject, teaching experience, weekly usage of
-
computers and Internet;
used electronic learning materials: scope, technology, development method;
-
advantages and disadvantages to apply lecturers’ own developed e-learning content
-
reasons for preferences or lack of preferences for the use and development of e-
-
learning courses.
Results from the survey
Our questionnaire was spread over 119 university lecturers teaching natural sciences,
mathematics, informatics and technical sciences and 91 persons involved with the
humanities. Also the school teachers ware respectively 152 teaching natural sciences,
mathematics, informatics and technical sciences and 122 involved in the humanity subjects.
The distributions of the lecturers and school teachers according to their teaching practice is
presented at Fig. 4.
Fig.4. Teaching experience of the lecturers
Over 97% from the university lecturers use computers for word processing and Internet
access that is a positive trend. Also the positive trend for the school teachers is that more
than 80% of them use computers for word possessing and Internet (Fig. 5).
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Fig. 5. Using computers by lecturers and teachers
Only 2% of the university lecturers have pointed that they do not use computers in their work
and 2% have not responded to this question (Fig. 6a). Meanwhile 5% of the inquired have
responded that they do not use Internet at all and 2% have not answered this question (Fig.
6a and 6b). For the school teachers this percentages are higher- 8% from the school
teachers have pointed that they do not use computers in their work, 15% do not use Internet
for work. (Fig. 6a and 6b)
a) b)
Fig. 6 Using computers and Internet for working
About 8% of the lecturers do not use electronically based teaching materials and 18% use
them occasionally. More than 50% of the school teachers do not use electronically based
teaching materials or use them occasionally. (Fig 7)
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Fig. 7 Using of ICT based learning materials
Most of the university lectures (about 61%) who do not use electronically based materials
during the preparation of their talks; handouts, etc. appear to have a long practice - over 10
years. Data for school teachers show that 79% from non users of electronic based learning
materials have teaching experience more than 10 years.
For the university teachers there is no a statistically significant difference relating to the
subject they are engaged with. And about 18% do not use electronically based materials in
their classes at all. For the school teachers the data show more different results: For the
teachers that do not use electronically based materials the ratio of humanity teachers is
signified higher than ratio of the math and science teachers-
The lack of proper electronic materials seems to be main reason these materials not to be
used in the humanities both for university lecturers and school teachers. As it concerns the
lecturers in natural sciences they do not use e-content due to missing financial stimuli from
the university. For both groups of university lecturers, it turns that the lack of proper technical
and software facilities when developing electronic learning materials is also a significant
reason to decline alike activity. For the non users of electronic based learning materials
school teachers in humanity area the basic reason of non use is lack of ready learning
materials in their subject area. For the science school teacher basic reason for non use of e-
content is insufficient didactical readiness for using of e-content. (Fig. 8)
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Fig. 8 Reasons for non- use of e-content
Actually, the two main groups of university lecturers (humanities and natural sciences) use
predominantly their own authors’ materials (about 75%).
Different technologies in developing and delivering the electronic learning content are in use
(Fig.9). In order to compare the relative partitions the Z criterion using independent values at
significance level α=0.05 has been applied. In this case the critical value of the Z-statistic is
1.64. The value of the Z-statistic for the answer “specialized application software” is -3.8, for
the answer “e-learning environment” is -1.8626, for “web-based course” is -3.832. For both
groups of lecturers multimedia presentations are widely applied to illustrate and deliver
learning content. The Z-statistic for the answer “presentations” is 1.2217.
The school teachers in both groups (humanity and natural science) use similar technologies
for development and demonstration of electronic based learning content. (Fig. 9.)
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Fig. 9 Type of used technologies
For both groups of university lecturers (humanities and natural sciences) and school teachers
the development of electronically based learning materials is attractive because of the
possibility for their easy update and reusability. The use of multimedia effects to retain the
students’ attention is statistically more valuable for university lectures in humanities than for
those in natural sciences. The Z-statistic is 3.4647 (Fig. 10a).
a) b)
Fig. 10 Attractive reasons for preparing and using of e-learning materials
According to the participants in this inquiry the preparation of the materials is time consuming
(Fig.11a, Fig 11b). In the opinion of both university lecturers groups there is no a statistically
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remarkable difference. The Z statistic when comparing these relative partitions is -0.7959.
The answer “not regarded as a publication” can not be statistically discriminated between the
groups of humanities and natural sciences lecturers (Z statistic -1.489). There is a difference
for the answer “not regarded as an academic work loading” (Z statistic - 1.8521).
Fig.11a. Not attractive reasons for preparing and using of e-learning materials- university
lecturers
Fig.11b. Not attractive reasons for preparing and using of e-learning materials- school
teachers
As a whole, academic lecturers and school teachers definitely have positive attitude towards
using computers and Internet in their work. Currently multimedia presentations appear to be
widely used in the overall teaching process. The possibilities to draw the students’ attention
and to modify the learning content are attractive factors towards the development and use of
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self made learning materials. The deficit of academic recognition and financial stimuli as well
as the fact that the preparation of e-materials is a time consuming activity could be specified
as negative factors. The lack of adequate hardware and software facilities represents an
additional embarrassment. The use of ready made electronic content is poor especially in
humanities because of its lack or inappropriateness. In addition university lecturers and
school teachers with significant teaching experience (more than 10 years) are less inclined to
develop and apply electronic learning materials.
The university lecturers have more experience in using electronically based learning
materials and in using e-learning environments than the school teachers.
We think that in the near future e-learning environments are to be made popular among
academic lecturers. Moreover an adequate improvement of the academic regulations
towards the recognition of the e-learning content development as a substantial professional
activity is also important.
Conclusions
In the last years of the pre- assessing process of Bulgaria to The European Union the
condition for involving and efficiency use of e-learning in different educational institutions had
been significantly improved. One of indicators for that is index e-education 2006, presented
by foundation “Applied Research and Communications” in “e-Bulgaria Report 2006”. From
4.47 in 2003 this index has been increased to 6.93 in 2006.
The basic factors that influenced to positively to the improvement of e-education index in
Bulgaria could be summarised in the follow groups:
- Participation of educational and research institutions in a lot of international projects.
- Government policy.
- Initiatives of universities, research centers and schools.
- Well qualified experts in information and communication technologies, didactics,
psychology and different subject areas, that with enthusiasm add value to the
development and dissemination of e-learning content.
Unfortunately there exist still opened problems such as:
- Lack of enough e-learning content especially in humanity areas;
- Insufficient information and readiness of university lecturers and school teachers for
using of e-learning technologies. For some of teachers the e-learning consist in
delivering of learning content in word or pdf formats;
- Insufficient didactical readiness of the teachers for using in right way e-learning
technologies;
- Lack of law documents in schools and in some university for stimulation of school and
university teachers to develop and use of e-learning content.
To overcome of the above problems in our point of view it is necessity of:
- Up to time approve of the law acts for stimulation development and use of e-learning
content with high quality by the teachers at all educational level.
- Dissemination of Good practice in front of the wide number of teachers.
- Make popular open source software and e-learning environments with Bulgarian
language interface.
- Accreditation in more universities of master program in e-learning, directed to the IT
experts and to the teachers in different subject areas.
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Enlargement and exclusive funding by the Ministry of Education and Universities of
-
joint researches regarded to the
• The methodology for the development and implementation of e-learning
courses;
• The usability of e-learning courses;
• The effectiveness of a given e-learning course.
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Authors
Daniela Tuparova
South West University, Bulgaria
ddureva@aix.swu.bg
Georgi Tuparov
South West University, Bulgaria
georgett@aix.swu.bg
Citation instruction
Tuparova, Daniela & Tuparov, Georgi (2007). e-Learning in Bulgaria – the State of the Art.
eLearning Papers, no. 4. ISSN 1887-1542.
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