1) The document discusses the introduction and increasing integration of ICT (information and communication technology) into Norwegian education from the 1980s to present day. 2) It describes how ICT is now seen as an essential basic skill in the national curriculum and how teacher training is adapting to emphasize digital competency. 3) The challenges of ensuring all students and teachers have adequate access to infrastructure and digital resources are also addressed.

1. ICT in Norwegian
Education
from projects to part of
mainstream educational policy
Senior Adviser
Jan Peter Stromsheim
STOCKHOLM 03.03.2010
On the Agenda
• A Brief Story of … ICT in Education
• The need for Digital Competency
• What PISA-studies tell us
• ICT and the new National Curriculum
• Teacher training – challenges and
opportunities
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2. The Introduction of Computer Technology in Schools
• Experimental activity at schools
• Development and testing of teaching programs
•
1984-88
Pioneer 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
4 schools/PC
phase
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IT in Norwegian Education
“Using to learn” applies to IT used as
an aid in the learning process.
2004-08
Teacher training
-Initial teacher training
- Further training
-Teachers of teachers
World Wide Web
(Internet)
1996-99
1984-88
Pioneer 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
phase
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3. ICT in Norwegian Education
Some Challenges
• eNorway plan:
• ICT in itself as a factor for economic development
• ICT Competency important for the development of the Society
• PISA – ICT and Learning Outcome (RoI)
• ICT and Socio-Economic Status/Equity
• Access to knowledge and to technology
The National Budget for 2000:
• additional funding:150 MNOK (17,5 M€)
2000-03
for each of the four years
1996-99
1984-88
Pioneer 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
phase
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Innovation and growth in Norwegian
business and industry
• Value creation, innovation and restructuring
• Digital services adapted to needs of business and
industry
• Increasing value creation based on re-use of
public sector information
• Electronic purchasing contributes to increasing
competitive edge
• The will to research
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4. The Educational System must provide students with competencies
and skills needed to earn a decent living in a labor market created
by computers and globalization.
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Fewer to carry the burden –
need to work smarter
1967: 3,9 2003: 2,6 2050: 1,6
Ratio of workers to those retired
Source: Norwegian Ministry of Finance
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5. The individual in the digital Norway
• Basic digital skills are important, both in order to
prevent expulsion from the labour market and to
make it easier to find new work.
• Development of digital skills will
also be used by the labour and
welfare administration as
qualification measures in situations
where lack of such skills prevents
the priority groups in labour market
policy from returning to the labour
market.
• Digital participation for everyone
• Digital skills
• Digital services to the population
• Digital rights
• Digital access to knowledge and
culture
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Program for Digital Literacy
2004-08
2000-03
1996-99
1984-88
Pioneer 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
phase 4 pupils/PC
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6. Infrastructure
• All pupils/students should have access to PC
and broadband
• Developing guidelines and recommendations
for supporting and developing infrastructure
within primary and secondary schools
Identity Management within the educational sector
(i.e. FEIDE)
• Building upon a policy for Federation
• Based upon Open standards
• Single Sign-On
– One single username + password for access
to multiple digital services
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Developing Competency
• Learning Network: Network comprising of
schools and Teacher Colleges
• In-service training for teachers
Research and Development:
• How to meet the challenge – RoI regarding ICT
in education
• Improving methods for utilizing ICT in education
• Monitoring
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7. Digital Learning Resources
• ICT and assessment
• Educational portal: utdanning.no
• Strategy for digital learning resources
– Higher education
– Adult education
– Primary/sec. Education
• Private actors launched an initiative - DigLib
– A portal where DLR from commercial actors can be found
• National Digital Learning Arena (Political initiative – 2007)
– Owned by the counties (school-owners)
– Aimed at providing upper secondary schools with (free)
DLR
– A controversial measure (i.e. -lack of fair competition)
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Francesc Pedró
1. Technology use is connected to a
significant increase in performance
Frequency of use of computers at home and student
performance on PISA science scale
Frequent use Moderate use Rare or no use
600
550
500
450
400
350
300
Turkey
Australia
Slovak
Thailand
Canada
Slovenia
Latvia
Lithuania
Portugal
Poland
Switzerland
Italy
Chile
Korea
Croatia
Colombia
Finland
Ireland
Macao-
Russian
Belgium
Norway
Austria
Bulgaria
Liechtenstei
Iceland
Japan
Sweden
Germany
Hungary
Denmark
Uruguay
Czech
Spain
Serbia
Greece
Qatar
New
Jordan
Netherlands
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8. Francesc Pedró
2. However, no matching evidence
regarding use in schools
Frequency of use of computers at school and student
performance on PISA science scale
Frequent use Moderate use Rare or no use
600
550
500
450
400
350
300
Turkey
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Korea
Slovenia
Russian Federation
Portugal
Australia
New Zealand
Switzerland
Norway
Macao-China
Croatia
Lithuania
Latvia
Ireland
Thailand
Belgium
Canada
Austria
Italy
Uruguay
Bulgaria
Serbia
Colombia
Sweden
Greece
Poland
Chile
Germany
Denmark
Netherlands
Finland
Iceland
Liechtenstein
Japan
Spain
Jordan
Hungary
Qatar
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Students reporting a moderate use
of computers to perform a
range of tasks
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9. Francesc Pedró
A new digital divide emerges
3
2
1
0
Equal start SES effect ICT effect
No background capital With background capital
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Some challenges
It is the quality of ICT usage, rather than
necessarily the quantity, that will determine
the contribution that these technologies make
to students outcome. (OECD/PISA)
• How can we further improve the impact of ICT
in education?
– Are there special kinds of computer usage
that raise performance?
– What about teacher education and
background?
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10. 2006: New National Curriculum for
Primary & Secondary Education
• Basic skills as basis for all learning and
development:
– to be able to express oneself orally
– to be able to read
– to be able to express oneself in writing
– to be able to do arithmetic
– to be able to use information and
communication technology
• Digital skills are more than being able to master
technology itself. Meta-cognitive skills
embedded in subject matters
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MATHEMATICS
• Being able to use digital tools in the
mathematics subject involves using these
tools for games, exploration, visualisation and
publication, and also involves learning how to
use and assess digital aids for problem
solving, simulation and modelling. It is also
important to find information, analyse,
process and present data with appropriate
aids, and to be critical of sources, analyses
and results.
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11. Competence aims after Year 10 (Mathematics)
After year 10 The aims for the education are that the pupil shall be
able to
Numbers and algebra • use, with and without digital aids, numbers and
variables in exploration, experimentation, practical
and theoretical problem solving and technology and
design projects
Statistics, probability and • carry out investigations and use databases to search
combinatorics for and analyse statistical data and demonstrate
source criticism
• order and group data, find and discuss and elaborate
on the median, mode, average and spread, and
present data with and without digital tools
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NATURAL SCIENCE
• Being able to use digital tools in the natural
science subject means being able to use such
tools for exploration, measurement, visualization,
simulation, registration, documentation and
publication when performing experiments and
fieldwork. Digital animations, simulations and
games are good aids for stimulating creativity,
and demonstrating and visualising natural science
problems and research questions. Critical
assessment of internet-based information
reinforces the work in this subject. Digital
communication systems make it possible to
discuss natural science problems and research
questions.
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12. Competence aims (Natural Science)
After year 4 The aims for the education are that the pupil shall be
able to
The budding • collect and systematize data and present the results
researcher with and without digital aids
The universe • find information with and without digital tools and tell
others about some of the planets in our solar system
order and group data, find and discuss and elaborate
on the median, mode, average and spread, and present
data with and without digital tools
After year 7 The aims for the education are that the pupil shall be
able to
The budding • use digital aids and natural science equipment for
researcher experimental work and fieldwork
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SOCIAL STUDIES
• Being able to use digital tools in social studies means
being able to search for information, explore websites,
critically assess sources, exercise netiquette and select
relevant information on topics in the subject. Having
digital skills also means being knowledgeable about
privacy protection and copyrights, and being able to
use and comply with rules and norms that apply to
internet-based communication. Using digital
communication and cooperation tools means
preparing, presenting and publishing one's own and
joint multimedia products, and communicating and
cooperating with pupils from other schools and
countries.
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13. Competence aims (Social Studies)
After year 7 The aims for the education are that the pupil shall be able to
Sociology • explain how information from mass media and commercial
influences can impact consumer habits
After Vg1/Vg2 in The aims for the education are that the pupil shall be able to
Up Sec Ed
The individual • calculate income, and plan family budgets using various tools
and society and assess how saving and loans influence personal economy
• use digital tools to find information on the scope of crime in
Norway, provide grounds why the community punishes
lawbreakers and assess how crime may be prevented
Working and • use digital tools to collect information on numerous
business life professions and discuss opportunities and challenges in the
labour market today
• find and extract the main figures and information from the
profit and loss accounts and balance sheets of enterprises
using manual and digital tools
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New Teachers– who will they meet?
Many young people today…are growing up surrounded by digital
technologies and quite extraordinary rich media content. They take
all this for granted because it’s part of their everyday lives.
….
Today’s under-10s…have no memory of a world before mobile
phones or broadband. …to engage them with content, including
educational content, we will have to move well beyond fancy
graphics, to the development of really imaginative and motivating
environments for learning.
(Lord David Putnam, London, 10 Jan 2005)
GENERATION M2:
Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds
URL: http://www.kff.org/entmedia/8010.cfm
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14. The Challenge(s) for our Educational System
• “We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies
that don’t yet exist.. In or order to solve problems that we don’t
even know are problems yet.”
Richard Riley, Former US Secretary of Education, Clinton adm.
• An ICT and Innovation driven Knowledge Society challenges the
rationale of Education;
– Education needs to redefine its mission
– Education will be of greater importance
• Schools/institutions themselves need to be creative
• The requirements for orientation and analysis of the world
around us increase
• Any implications for future Teacher Education?
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Some lessons from: Programme for Teacher
Education, Technology and Change (1999 – 2003)
• Changes require involvement from the entire
organization
• Talented and committed leaders - on all levels
• ICT as a catalyst for change must involve all parts of the
institution (e.g. methods and assessment)
• New Models of Education (context and relevance)
• ICT supports the new models (catalyst for educational
and organizational change
• New roles for teacher educators
• Students with a new type of skills (ICT skills,
collaboration skills)
• New forms of cooperation with the practice fields
• Increased awareness of the technology used
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15. Generic policy framework
• Systemic and comprehensive policies are
necessary in order to optimize the impact of ICT
• Integration of ICT into the curriculum
– … and the assessment
• Changes in assessment and evaluation as
curricula change
• Teacher competencies and
– school leaders as technology leaders
• Home use – school use gap should be bridged
• Infrastructure and digital content: Standards and
quality criteria
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Status ICT in Norwegian Education
• A New Centre for ICT in Education established
– URL: www.IKTsenteret.no
• On-going work regarding ICT and assessment
– For administrative purposes
– How to assess competence aims where ICT is
integrated?
• A secure and safe infrastructure for all
– Teachers can rely upon the technology to
functions as it should
• Identity Management (Feide) for the entire
educational system
• New Teacher Education underway
– Our National Curriculum: ICT as a basic skill
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16. Thank you for your attention
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Aurora Borealis
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