1. Perspectives of Integration of ICT into Education in the Czech Republic Tomáš Pitner, PhD Masaryk university in Brno Faculty of Informatics e-mail: tomp@fi.muni.cz

2. What is the Government Information Policy in Education (GIPE)? GIPE is a strategic document on penetration of Informatics into Education Elaborated under the auspices of Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture and accepted by the Czech Government in spring this year Important component of the general Government Information Policy The main target: support the transition of the Czech educational system to the Information Society - Society of Knowledge)

3. Why we need a Government Information Policy in Education? Information Society demands a new approach to education - aimed to information processing rather the memorizing „plain“ or „encyclopedia-like“ knowledge. Information processing is nowadays closely related to the use of modern Information and Communication Technology The wide availability, mastering and usage of ICT become a crucial part of the education system in developed countries. What GIPE does: –defines directions of transition to the massive and appropriate usage of ICT in Education at all levels

4. What are the Target Groups of GIPE? Teachers (primarily at basic and secondary schools) of all subjects (not limited to informatics/ICT) –investments to teachers have generally a strong multiplicative effect; –almost all are government employees, government wants to support their further growth; –teachers are an important target group also in terms of their number - experience from life-long education of teachers can be reproduced for other groups - for citizens Students of these schools ICT Coordinators Librarians,...

5. Goals of GIPE: More Detailed Infrastructure –at least one (more) multimedia-capable PC to each schools –Internet connection (24 hours/day, speed >= 64 kbps) –later: more computers (8 to each school) ICT Coordinators Information Literacy for Teachers –basic: approx. equivalent to ECDL (slightly lower is acceptable) –higher: ICT Application in Education (of other Subjects) Information Literacy for Librarians and Employees of Info-Centers Grant Programs

6. Coordination Center for Implementation of GIPE Founded by Ministerial Directive on Sep 12, 2000 The Government stressed the attempt to invest in the following five years CZK 7.6 B from State Budget + CZK 5.5 B from National Property Fund Headquarter of the Center: Main Coordinator, Secretary, Communication Manager and Three Projects Managers For this year: CZK 8 M

7. Coordination Center for Implementation of GIPE Three Projects: –Training of ICT Coordinators Training of Teachers –Support for Acquisition of Information Sources Support for Software Tools for Teaching Informatics Support for Software Tools for Teaching Other Subjects Support for Introduction of Software Tools and Information Sources to the Teaching Process –Support for Ensuring the IP-connectivity (internal/external) Tender for Hardware Equipment Pilot Project: „100 Schools in Northern Moravia“

8. Grant Programs for Information Literacy Multimedia Tools and Programs Introduction of ICT to Teaching Information Sources for Learning Further Education for Teachers and Librarians Information Literacy for Citizens Information Literacy for Teachers, Training Network, Certification of Trainers Internet Connectivity and Multimedia PCs Hardware Equipment

9. Council for Information Literacy at the Ministry for Education (MŠMT) Elaborate the Program in detail Formulate Criteria for Tenders Formulate Criteria for Program Evaluation Projects Evaluation Database of Projects Themes for Further Programs...

10. Want More Information? GIPE in fulltext (MŠMT) http://www.msmt.cz/pdf/kestazeni/SIPveVZ.doc Working Group for GIPE at MŠMT: http://www.msmt.cz/cp1250/ig/index.asp Paper on GIPE at the RUFIS 2000 Conference: http://www.vutbr.cz/konference/rufis2000/sbornik/14 -ludek.pdf (in Czech) E-zine “Česká škola” (Czech School): http://www.ceskaskola.cz (papers, discussions… in Czech/Slovak)