1. ICT IN EDUCATION LATVIA
Mobility in Latvia
05/05/ /05/2017
Project No LVO2-KA

2. What is the meaning of “ICT”
What is the meaning of “ICT”? ICT refers to all equipment, applications and services that involve communication. Computers, cellphones, televisions, radios and satellite systems are all part of ICT.

3. The Effectiveness of ICTs in Education
Anytime, anywhere. 
Access to remote learning resources. 
ICTs help prepare individuals for the workplace.

4. The use of ICTs help improve the quality of education
Motivating to learn.
Facilitating the acquisition of basic skills.
Enhancing teacher training.

5. Benefits for teachers
     
ICT facilitates sharing of resources, expertise and advice
Greater flexibility in when and where tasks are carried out 
Gains in ICT literacy skills, confidence and enthusiasm.
Easier planning and preparation of lessons and designing materials  
Access to up-to-date pupil and school data, any time and anywhere.
Enhancement of professional image projected to colleagues.
Students are generally more ‘on task’ and express more positive feelings when they use computers than when they are given other tasks to do.   
Computer use during lessons motivated students to continue using learning outside school hours.

6. Benefits for students
Higher quality lessons through greater collaboration between teachers in planning and preparing resources .
More focused teaching, tailored to students’ strengths and weaknesses, through better analysis of attainment data
Improved pastoral care and behaviour management through better tracking of students
Gains in understanding and analytical skills, including improvements in reading
Comprehension.
Development of writing skills (including spelling, grammar, punctuation, editing and re-drafting), also fluency, originality and elaboration.
Encouragement of independent and active learning, and self-responsibility for learning.
Flexibility of ‘anytime, anywhere’ access (Jacobsen and Kremer, 2000)
Development of higher level learning styles.
Students who used educational technology in school felt more successful in school, were more motivated to learn and have increased self-confidence and self-esteem
Students found learning in a technology-enhanced setting more stimulating and student-centred than in a traditional classroom
Broadband technology supports the reliable and uninterrupted downloading of web-hosted educational multimedia resources
Opportunities to address their work to an external audience
Opportunities to collaborate on assignments with people outside or inside school

7. Benefits for parents Easier communication with teachers
Higher quality student reports – more legible, more detailed, better presented
Greater access to more accurate attendance and attainment information
Increased involvement in education for parents and, in some cases, improved self- esteem
Increased knowledge of children’s learning and capabilities, owing to increase in learning activity being situated in the home
Parents are more likely to be engaged in the school community
You will see that ICT can have a positive impact across a very wide range of aspects of school life.

8. The potential of ICT to support improvements in aspects of literacy, numeracy and science.
Improved writing skills: grammar, presentation, spelling, word recognition and volume of work .
Age-gains in mental calculations and enhanced number skills, for example the use of decimals .
Better data handling skills and increased ability to read, interpret and sketch graphs Improvements in conceptual understanding of Mathematics (particularly problem solving) and Science (particularly through use of simulations)

9. Disadvantages of Using ICT for Education
ICT equipment is expensive and needs trained staff to maintain it correctly
hardware can be unreliable leading to breakdowns which cause frustration
using ICT means children can become dependent on computers and technology and not learn how to do things by hand
Internet can lead to children accessing unsuitable sites
plagiarism has increased as students find pre written work online leading to students gaining unfair results on coursework

10. School Management Software

11. E-class for students to follow the changes of lessons to see homeworks
to communicate, read and write messages among students and teachers

12. E-class for teachers to put marks to communicate with parents
to get the latest information about free class excursions, competitions, political issues
to read information from Ministry of Education
to control the absenteeism and attendance of students
to introduce students and parents with hobby groups at school

13. Uzdevumi.lv (exercises)
Assistant for students
Companion for teachers
Support for parents

14. Support teachers with their teaching
Support learners with their learning
Ensure that Moodle is open in every way, yet Moodle sites can be fully private
Integrate everything needed for a course in a single platform
Provide the most flexible toolset possible

15. Latvia in International Olympiad in Informatics
In 2016th summer in International Olympiad in Informatics Latvian student Aleksejs Popovs got the 1st place. Another student from Latvia got the 3rd place.
In total, Latvia has got 70 medals in International Olympiads in Informatics. 7 of them are for the 1st place.

16. ECDL programme
Latvia is the first country in the world to introduce the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) programme in the country’s general education programme.
Since the autumn of 2003, basic IT skills have been taught at the elementary school level, while applied skills to satisfy all ECDL requirements are taught at high schools.

17. “ICT technologies for quality of education” Programme lasted from 2007 to 2013.
Objectives:
increase teachers' knowledge and skills
modernize ICT infrastructure
provide the availability of electronic training materials

18. Computer Science
It is planned that from 2018 in our Latvian schools the subject Informatics will be replaced by subject Computer Science and it will be taught from the first grade.
Approximately 20% of comprehensive schools have started this project like a pilot project to teach children Computer Science from the first grade.

19. Informatics in our school
Informatics in our school has been taught since 1990 and now it is taught in 9th form and 11th form.
The 12th class students can choose IT exam as one of the optional exams to finish school and get secondary education.

20. Thank you for your attention!