WCCE2001 Report Lori N. Rounds - Technology Coordinator The Woods Academy Bethesda, Maryland USA Introduction This summer I had the opportunity to attend the World Conference on Computers in Education 2001 in Copenhagen, Denmark, thanks to a generous grant from the Randall Byrnes Family Foundation. My primary goal at WCCE was to learn as much as possible about successful educational IT implementation in other countries, and to establish partnerships with international IT professionals like myself so that we could plan future collaborative projects with our schools. I attended presentations given by speakers from Australia, Denmark, Brazil, Finland, France, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, France, Poland, S. Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, the Netherlands and the US. Not only were my goals met, the overall outcomes of the conference far exceeded my expectations. As a result of the conference, I have established international contacts in Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, Iceland, and France. I have initiated the 'Networked Learner', a small delegation of WCCE2001 delegates like myself who wish to collaborate on future projects, share ideas, and discuss various IT issues. In order to do this, I have built a website (http://www.networkedlearner.com) that the delegates can use to post projects, discuss issues, and communicate. One project between The Woods Academy and the Junior division of Wesley College year seven students is already under way! One of the most interesting aspects of the conference was my participation in the Professional Group entitled, Future Schools. This group of sixteen people, Chaired by Pieter Hogenbirk <NL> and Anna Kristj�nsd�ttir <IS>, met five times throughout the week to discuss the concept of schools of the future. The team brainstormed, discussed, debated, and collaborated throughout the week, with the final outcome being the professional paper, which was presented on the closing day of the conference, and which will be published in the final WCCE conference proceedings. One aspect of this paper of which I am particularly proud is the section entitled, Changing School Culture and the Organisation of the School, which I authored. I also performed the final proofreading and editing of the entire paper for the group Chair. To read the paper, please click Future Schools Professional Paper. Impressions My overall impression of the conference was that countries like Australia and Denmark lead the rest of the world (yes, even many states in the US) when it comes to educational IT implementation, and that some schools in these two countries are already implementing 'Future Schools' concepts (see http://www.langkaer.dk/).. Other countries, like the UK and Italy, for example, seem years behind the leaders. Despite this fact, all countries face the same IT challenges (Norris and Soloway), no matter what the population or economic status, namely: -Access to technology -Time to prepare and time on task -Adequate teacher preparation -Effective curriculum integration -Supportive school environment -Cost of ownership (see http://hi-ce/norris, http://hi-ce.org/palms, and http://hi-ce.eecs.umich.edu/confergentanalysis) Since Denmark was the host country, I was able to learn much about their impressive IT implementation, infrastructure and support, and will share what I learned here. Denmark has an enviable IT infrastructure, training and support system in place through a company called UNI�C, which has offices in Copenhagen, Lyngby and Aarhus. UNI�C is an IT organization under the Danish Ministry of Education. It connects schools to the Internet and takes care of network functionality, security and finances. UNI�C also creates educational material, web services and IT tools. UNI�C trains teachers in the use of IT in education, and it also provides technical as well as educational support UNI�C provides an educational portal for the entire educational sector. The portal, EMU, is an electronic meeting place for teachers and students. One single address provides and organized and structured interface to the Internet (www.emu.dk). UNI�C has also developed a research database service entitled SkoDa (www.sdbs.dk). This database provides a wealth of research resources for teachers and students. UNI�C also provides a communication forum for schools called SkoleKom. It is an Intranet interface that provides for secure conferencing and communication amongst teachers and between the teacher and student. (www.skolekom.dk). Subject area links are organized through a categorized database (www.infoguide.dk). Teachers and students can utilize the infoguide for research. Multimedia educational materials for all grade levels and subject areas is available for purchase from UNI�C by the classroom teacher (www.uddannelse.uni-c.dk). Internet and Sektornet access is provided by UNI�C. Sektornet is a dedicated educational network (Virtual Private Network) that is unique to Europe. Sektornet includes provides a secure online environment, and includes such services as SkoleKom (see above). (http://www.sektornet.dk/en/) Classroom teachers may pursue the Pedagogical IT Driving License. Through a series of individual and group instruction as well as online learning, classroom teachers can develop competencies that are required to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) into the teaching process. (http://www.school-ict.org) Summary The WCCE2001 has opened up a world of opportunity for the teachers and students at the Woods Academy. We look forward to working on future collaborative projects with our new partner schools, and to learning in ways never thought possible before the age of the computer! |