Internationalisation and Educational Cooperation & Collaboration (ECC)

1. Internationalisation and Educational Cooperation & Collaboration (ECC) Presentation at the Iranian Schoolnet conference, Neishabur Iran, Sept 13-16, 2005Ilpo Halonen, coordinator of European Schools Project Association in Finland (ESPfi)

2. National ICT strategies • The first national ICT strategies in the middle of the 1990s > development in educational ICT • Information Society Strategy 2000 - 2004 • Information Society Programme (ISP) for Education, Training and Research 2004 – 2006

3. knowledge operatingenvironment content

4. Administration of education

5. PISA study results • 15-year-old pupils best in OECD countries in reading skills & understanding mathematic tasks • Strengths:- good teacher education & training- efficient teaching- uniform quality- preventative care of weakness- education is highly appreciated- Finnish language is one basic factor of national identity

6. Background • Concern about reading & writing skills 150 years ago • Concern about media literacy skills today • Life-long education for every citizen • Benefiting from ICT as a means of educational progress • ICT is used in all trade, industry and traffic

8. Effective use of ICT • Sufficient skills in rapidly developing information society • Innovation in environment, research and product development • Supply of trained workforce • High-quality education > 75 % of teachers able to use ICT in profession by 2007

9. International dimension in schools • Common ethical basis of educational cooperation and collaboration (ECC) • Role of United Nations organisation, UNESCO, UNICEF etc. • European Union (EU) support for virtual and geographic mobility > Socrates programmes: Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci etc.

10. Comenius for mainstream schools • Comenius 1: cooperation of schools • Comenius 2: cooperative activities > scientific and other innovative collaboration, teacher training • Comenius 3: networking and community-building • CIMO, The Finnish Socrates agency

11. Neighbouring countries • Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland) highly advanced in ICT > Nordplus programmes (Junior, Voksen, Nabo, Sprog) by the Nordic Council of Ministers • Russia, estimated to be the biggest trade partner in near future • Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

12. International and national networks • ICT became part of international relations and of ECC in the 1990s • Early utilization of the networks by individual teachers > project partnerships on voluntary basis (ESP, IEARN, Kidlink etc.) • Finland joined the EU in 1995 • Official support of EU and of Educational Board > guided project activities

13. Global perspective • The world is your classroom • 24 h/day access to courses & materials • Expert teachers a keystroke away • International contacts a keystroke away • Online help a keystroke away (Ruth Vilmi, International Writing Exchange )

14. Knowledge building

15. Regeneration of learning processes

16. International educational networks • Teacher-in-service training for acquiring expertise in educational networks • Networking and community-building skills on local, regional and international basis • More teaching competence • Additional bonus in work compensation • Professionalism will be rewarded

17. Activities on the Internet • Learning together on the Internet • Reservoirofmaterials

19. Teacher-in-service training • Learn Internet Projects by Doing (LIP) • Domestic participants meet in 2-3 face-to-face seminars • Collaborative projects with foreign colleagues are started on the Internet immediately • Pupils/students create and publish their products in eJournals • Projects last for 6-9 months

20. eJournalism • eJournalism means content production & collaborative knowledge building • A practical constructivist approach to online education • Learners produce text, images, sounds, videos and put the onto WWW • Only a computer with Internet connection and a browser program (Firefox, IE, Netscape etc.) is needed

21. Better skills by eJournalism • Self-development • Cross-cultural learning • Collaborative skills • Language learning • Technological skills • Preparation for future studies • Professional skills

22. Project activities • Authentic learning • Well-tried project models (The Image of the Other, WebQuest etc.) • Correspondence in the target language • Collaborative creating& publishing in eJournals • Content building and sharing

23. Training eJournalism • International virtual participation in LIP training • A model developed by Comenius 3 network COMP@CT and the Finnish National Centre for Professional Development in Education • Lip 1-3 in 2002-2004 for language teachers • LIP 4 Enterprise with the them of entrepreneurship in 2004-05 • A current invitation for LIP 5 Primary , open for all primary school teachers (pupils aged 7-12 years)

24. Networking & community-building • Virtual networks develop in collaboration of different teacher and/or learner groups with similar interests. • Teachers join a virtual community to take responsibility for some common enterprise on a more stable basis. • Community building is necessary for making real advance in ECC.

25. Costs sharing • Ministry of Education > National Educational Board • Municipalities can apply 50 % of their infrastructure & hardware costs. • Special grants for municipalities for putting the international dimension into schools • Comenius & other EU projects support • Teachers’ own work

26. Role of companies • A wide spectrum of company size • Companies offer ICT services to municipalities>schools • Outsourcing is a trend • Open Source (Linux/GNU) software gradually accepted in schools • Windows the most common OS

27. Professional ICT skills • Surveying existing skills • Skills common to all teachers/learners • Subject-related skills- languages- science- religion- art, music- technology- sports

28. Internationalisation by means of collaborative projects • Media literacy skills:- critical of media products and/or of Internet content- net etiquette- one’s own thinking about using ICT & project methods • The Golden Rule:- always give respond to your partner

29. Team work in schools • Virtual teams of teachers • No point in trying to work alone • Sharing experience with colleagues • A networked teacher is a multiple teacher • Updating curricula • Cross-curricular topics • Curriculum is a process, not an end product

30. Curriculum and internationalisation • Curriculum – a tool of putting the international dimension into schools • Adapted to the work plan of municipality • Cooperation between all those who take part in strategic ICT planning and in practical implementation of the educational ICT

31. Useful questions • How is the international dimension present in schools so far? • What can schools do more? • What are the resources of the schools and of the municipality? • Outside assistance and support (=outsourcing)?

32. Steps of progress • Surveying existing projects with international dimension • Starting new ECC projects • Discussing project ideas on a broad basis • Anticipating possible problems • Defining didactic criteria for projects, including evaluation • A face-to-face meeting of participants • The Golden Rule: Start Small!

33. Regional aspects • Focussing specific regional items • Lapland, one third of Finland, as an example:- decrease of population- long distances- indigenous people (Saame) • Common challenges with other Arctic regions > international cooperation

34. ECC and interaction