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Friday, 29.03.2024, 11:30
Digital skills in teaching and education: Commission’s initiative and SDGs
The Commission’s new
initiative is an integral part of a more general European Digital Education Action Plan. At the
end of October, Commissioner for Education, Youth, Culture and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, unveiled some
new tools in digital teaching: most important has been SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by fostering the use
of Innovative Educational Technologies), which is one of the 11 initiatives of
the Digital Education Action Plan presented by the Commission
in the beginning of 2018. The Action Plan aims at boosting digital skills in
the member states and supporting the innovative use of digital technologies in
teaching and learning.
European digital teaching: an action plan
The action plan has three priorities, setting out measures
to help EU member states meet the challenges and opportunities of education in
the digital age:
- Making better use
of digital technology for teaching and learning (Action 1 to 3):
Action 1 - Connectivity in Schools;
Action 2 - SELFIE self-reflection tool &
mentoring scheme for schools; and
Action 3 - Digitally-Signed Qualifications.
- Developing digital
competences and skills (Action 4 to 8):
- Action 4 - Higher Education Hub;
- Action 5 - Open Science Skills;
- Action 6 - EU Code Week in schools;
- Action 7 - Cybersecurity in Education;
- Action 8 - Training in digital and
entrepreneurial skills for girls.
- Improving education
through better data analysis and foresight (Action 9 to 11):
- Action 9 - Studies on ICT in education;
- Action 10 - Artificial Intelligence and
analytics;
- Action 11 - Strategic foresight.
About the plan at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/digital-education-action-planen
The Commission has worked in partnership with ministries of
education and a community of experts on digital education from across Europe to
develop the SELFIE tool. Partner institutions include the European Training Foundation, the European
Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) and UNESCO's Institute for Information
Technologies in Education.
Note on CEDEFOP. To inform the design of VET and employment
policies, Cedefop identifies and anticipates future skill needs and potential
skill mismatches. It provides high quality evidence on trends in the labour
market and skill needs by producing regular skill supply and demand forecasts
for Europe and analysing the potential labour market mismatches and imbalances.
Cedefop also investigates skill and competence needs in selected
sectors, has collected its own European data on skills and jobs and is
currently working on collecting and analysing data on skill demand
using online job postings. All data and intelligence is delivered it to
end-users in a fit-for-purpose and timely fashion via the Skills Panorama.
More on CEDEFOP
in: http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/themes/identifying-skills-needs
About the Center:
http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/
On ETF: https://www.etf.europa.eu/en
More on the EU
education area in general at:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/european-education-area_en
An early version of the tool was tested during 2017 in 650
schools in 14 countries; the trial-version produced 67,000 comments on further
simplification and improvements. The official launch by the Commissioner of the
digital teaching initiative took place in October 2018 in Warsaw at the e-Twinning
annual conference. The Commissioner and the Polish Minister of Education, Anna
Zalewska showed students and teachers how the school has been embedding
technology in learning. The conference’s web-link at:
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/349262/751115/?&t=fd7ae2464ec2ca6d4d0013df65f9e854
Cultural Heritage and teaching
According to Eurobarometer, “Nine out of ten Europeans think
that cultural heritage should be taught in schools”. The year 2018
was the European Year of Cultural Heritage; citizens and educators have been encouraged
to discover Europe’s diverse cultural heritage - at EU, national,
regional and local level, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common
European space. The Community for Schools in Europe (and e-Twinning) has
a strong role to play in supporting this discovery. As a cornerstone for
collaborative projects between classrooms across Europe, e-Twinning has
enabled, in its 13 years of existence, more than two million pupils to work
together, harness their cultural differences and develop their European
citizenship.
During the annual e-Twinning Conference, which took place in
Warsaw, Poland at the end of October 2018, more than 500 teachers from across
Europe explored Cultural Heritage,
and the intrinsic role it can play in both teaching and learning. With both a
keynote address and over 40 different workshops led by experts in the field,
participants were sharing new and effective educational approaches, methods and
materials to introduce and reinforce Cultural Heritage education in schools.
In particular, the e-Twinning Annual Conference in 2018
supported schools to raise their capabilities to: = raise awareness of the
common history and values; = reinforce a sense of belonging to Europe; and
= demonstrate ways of better safeguarding, enhancing, but also reusing and
promoting Europe’s cultural heritage as a shared resource.
More on the conference: https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/349262/751115/?&t=fd7ae2464ec2ca6d4d0013df65f9e854
The seminar can be followed on the Commission’s audiovisual
service’s website at:
https://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/schedule.cfm?sitelang=en&page=3&institution=&date=10/25/2018
General source: Commission press release in all EU languages
and a factsheet at:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_AGENDA-18-6171_en.htm
Universities & SDG
|
The task of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is beyond the capabilities and interests of governments; it means that universities have a unique role to play. According to world-renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, the senior United Nations advisor, achieving the SDGs would be impossible without the leadership role of the university sector.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals which include to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”‚ were adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations in September 2015. |
China’s example
China invested heavily in industrial development, mainly in six
fields: business capital, infrastructure, in human, intellectual and social
capital, as well as in financial sector. These investments, for example, helped
to reduce extreme poverty in China from more than 80% in 1980 to about 5%
presently.
Apart from physical infrastructure, China invested heavily in health and education, the latter being one of the “key explanatory factors” behind country’s remarkable growth, particularly as modern technology now makes possible broad societal transformation within a relatively short period of time. If states can substantially raise investment in these six areas in an intelligent way, then such states can double overall economic growth rate from 5% to 10% per year.
These investments could promote social inclusion, especially by ensuring adequate
and quality education. Although universities had the basic skills required achieving
the SDGs, these institutions would have to take a basic principle: “learning by
doing”.
Global experts called for a series of national/international
funds in the areas of education, health and energy. A global education fund,
for example, would help poor countries to expand universal education and get
internet connectivity. Also urgent is establishment of a global fund for health
systems, especially community-based health delivery with wider use of ICT.
Reference: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20170210082403813