Training methodology for education of informatics teaching staff in primary and secondary schools Leonid Stoimenov, FEEN Dragan Gejo, RSD

Overview Background –IT and Education Facts from Regional School Directorate Teaching methodology Conclusion

Background Information Tecnologies (IT) –are the means that give us a challenge and ample opportunity for social development. –Especially a great challenge for Serbia Informatics is important part of infrastructure for modern public economy and society development in Serbia*. The role of IT in education and development will be the central topic in next few years in Serbia*. * according to “Strategy of economic development of Serbia until 2010” given by Serbian government (Ministry of Science Technologies and Development, Belgrade, 2002, authors: group of experts, Edited by Vlastimir Matejic

IT and Education Rapid changes in informatics need continuous education of teaching staff in primary and secondary schools. Serbian Ministry of Education and Sports, notes that “…the changes in global economic environment, the needs of economy, technology and development trends demands adequate educated individuals.”* * Serbian Ministry of Education and Sports, draft document, “Development of politics and strategies for professional education”, 2005 The same document points out that …”transformation of educational process are an important assumption for the future society and economic development of Serbia”. Promptness of education of new and existing teaching staff is crucial.

Informatics Education in Serbia Education in informatics in primary and secondary schools is not at adequate level: –bad equipment and accessibility of computers for the purposes of education, and –low computer literacy of school-teachers. Serbia is deficient in educated teaching staff for informatics. The necessity of teacher’s further education has arisen also. –absence of permanent and continuous education of teaching staff in primary and secondary schools* * According to draft document of Serbian Ministry of Education and Sports “Development of politics and strategies for professional education”

Facts from Regional School Directorate (RSD) Niš RSD covers main cities in Central Serbia (Niš, Prokuplje, Pirot). There are: –122 schools 78 primary and 44 secondary schools –299 Informatics teachers 197 or 66% are in primary schools, and 102 of them or 34% are in secondary schools.

Facts from RSD – age structure More than 40% are older than 50, and even 67% is older than 40.  Such age structure implies low level of teacher’s knowledge about new trends and technologies in informatics.

Facts from RSD – teachers education More than 30% (exactly 98 teachers) don’t have higher education (VI degree according to the Serbian law) Less than 27% (79 teachers) are educated at faculties probably with informatics in syllabus. –Tehre is not information about their diploma supplement, and –there is not exact information about number of teacher with higher education in informatics. 40% of teaching staff have higher education inadequate for informatics teachers.

Facts from RSD – Informatics in schools Informatics as an optional course in primary schools. There are not syllabuses for informatics courses – an inadequate educated teacher decides what is important for teaching. There are some results in syllabus definition for secondary schools –a new curriculum for subjects of education in informatics in secondary schools in –investment in raising awareness and computer literacy with usage of IT. –Government of Serbia, in next two years, is planning to equip 1600 primary and secondary schools with computers, Internet connection and appropriate software* * Serbian Ministry of Finance, National Investment Plan for , Section “Education”, page 6, item 5.1.

Additional statistics*… 38% of households in Central Serbia own a computer (41% in Serbia ). In 33% of households in Serbia, and 25% in Central Serbia, at least one member uses the Internet. 12% of users connect to the Internet from their schools or universities. * “Internet Penetration in Serbia 2006”, by Centre for Research of Information Technologies of the Belgrade Open School

Training Methodology Great diversity in education of teaching staff. A lot of informatics teachers have no adequate professional background. Younger teachers usually have better informatics education. Most of current informatics teachers have to reinforce their knowledge. Our training methodology will be focused on continuous education of Informatics teachers in primary and secondary schools in Serbia.

Training Methodology – blended technique Schools teachers have obligations in their schools during the semester, and we can not organize intensive and frequent courses for them. Our blended technique encloses: –(1) phase of preparation for e-learning; –(2) phase of distance learning (e-learning); –(3) seminars; –(4) and lab practices. Each trainee passing all four phases.

Training process (1)

Training process (2)

Training process (3)

Prerequisites We will establish a Center for Continuous Education at the FEEN. The Center will facilitate e-learning, seminars and workshops with practical work. We plan to provide continuous education using blended way of learning. A system for e-learning will be established and the portal for teachers will be developed under the supervision of EU partners.

Seminar on E-learning Selection of Informatics teachers from RSD 120 teachers Seminar on E-learning 1day

E-learning courses We will develop courses for informatics teachers Aim is to innovate their knowledge and make them competent for new technologies. Teachers should be educated to use modern information technologies and apply them in teaching process In order to do that we will establish Web based platform for e-learning as a basis for life-long learning.

E-learning courses (cont.) E-learning – 3 courses Computer Architectures and Networks Modern Concepts in Programming Internet Technologies 3 months 120 teachers

Seminars After the stage of e- learning We plan to retrain 120 teachers In the final stage we will organize –Workshops for small groups with accent on practical work, and –testing of candidates.

Seminars (cont.) Instructors from the FEEN will develop a proposal for teaching material and a set for lab practicing. Work with teachers using blended technique. Seminars for all teachers: –Computer Architectures and Networks –Modern Concepts in Programming –Internet Technologies Our plan is to provide materials for all seminar participants After each seminar, there are a distance training, workshop and exam.

Seminars – details 120 trainees/teachers, 6 groups, 20 trainee per seminar 200 working hours: 2 months per trainee, 6 hours per day

Formal Recognition The pilot program will be carried out with Ministry of Education and Sports for all schools under the RSD Nis. Seminars and course materials will be accredited by Serbian Ministry of Education and Sports. We plan to provide certificates for all candidates passing final test. Certificates will be authorized by FEEN, and approved by Serbian Ministry of Education and Sports. 120 retrained informatics teachers

Conclusion – overview of the methodology Schools teachers have obligations in their schools during the semester, and we can not organize intensive and frequent courses for them. Because of that, our blended technique encloses: –(1) phase of preparation for e-learning; –(2) phase of distance learning (e-learning); –(3) seminars; and –(4) lab practices. Each trainee passing all four phases. 120 trainee, 20 per group 200 working hours: 2 months per trainee, 6 hours per day The quotient of e-learning in educational process is about 50%.

Comments, suggestions, ideas?

Za kasnije… Information technologies (multimedia and Internet technologies) are important backbone for professional education of teaching staff – as educational tool for informatics teachers, and as platform for exchange of knowledge and ideas. Because of that, teachers should be educated to use modern information technologies and apply them in teaching process.

Nesto kao zakljucak… Instructors from the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, which will be selected among the teaching staff of Computer Science Department, will have intensive trainings in EU institutions on specificity of continuous informatics education, establishing of and customization of e-learning platform, as well as in development of multimedia teaching material. Instructors will develop a proposal for teaching material for training courses and a set for lab practicing, which will be used for teachers’ training. After that instructors will start the work with teachers using blended technique. At the beginning we will organize joint Seminars for all teachers, where they will be informed on e-learning possibilities, and our method of work. They will learn how they can use the system. Our plan is to provide materials for all seminar participants (such as Instructor book for e-learning, Manual for Informatics teachers, etc.). After seminar, we will have a stage of distance training using established e- learning system in our Center for Continuous Education.

Differences in educational level, prior knowledge, and age structure of teaching staff are considered in proposed approach. Syllabus is adjusted for education of adults, and covers actual topics in informatics. The Internet and e-learning allows teachers to engage in extended discussions that focus on day-to-day classroom experiences as they work towards changing or enhancing aspects of their teaching. The opportunity to communicate asynchronously allows teachers the time to consider comments and discussion topics presented by peers and content experts and encourage reflective and thoughtful responses that can be posted at a time and place convenient for the individual. For some educators the web environment also offers an important element of anonymity which frees the teacher to discuss issues that he or she may not be able to talk about with school colleagues such as concerns about an approach to a specific content area, or lack of confidence in teaching a subject area.

Conclusion Two most important activities in our project are important for upgrading and acceleration of education process of teachers: increasing number of trained teaching staff for informatics, and development of e-learning facilities. After approving the educational standard as well as the recommended teaching methods, e-learning is possibly going to be a tool for spreading these changes and environment for retraining the teachers for the needs of the new standards. The selection criteria for this project are to use the experience from EU partners who already established similar programs as best practice and experts from neighboring countries who have already realized similar programs in similar conditions.