Opening Up Education
It’s called Opening Up Education and the new plan of the European Commission for the innovation and development of digital skills in schools and universities in EU countries. To be achieved through the diffusion of ICT in educational institutions, broadband and online resources. With a dream: digital classrooms for all by 2020.
While societies and economies are increasingly integrated with ICT in the European Union the school and the university does not seem to be able to keep up. Opening Up Education aims to fill this gap , because it is expected that by 2020 digital skills needed to become 90 percent of the jobs. The initiative is sponsored jointly by the EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vissiliou and Vice-President responsible for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes .
The plan is also accompanied by a website , Open Education Europe , for the sharing of educational resources on the part of students, practitioners, educational institutions and universities. “Education must remain in contact with reality,” said Kroes submitting your newborn Opening Up Education. “Young people are using digital technology in every aspect of their lives and need digital skills to get jobs . All of our schools and universities should reflect this reality. ” The dream? Only digital classrooms by 2020.
The plan of the European Commission will have to deal with a situation of departure as some of the best. More than 60 percent of elementary schools in Europe do not have modern digital technology: no broadband, no website, no virtual learning environment. One thing that improves only slightly for the middle and high schools.
According to a survey last April, the EU 20 per cent of secondary school students has never (or almost) used a computer during class. Digital textbooks, software exercises, educational games and podcast many remain unknown for a very high percentage of European students: 50 to 80 percent. Even so, to use digital technologies, we must know them and 70 per cent of teachers in primary and secondary schools of the European Union does not consider sufficiently competent in the matter and would like a training ad hoc .
On the front of the university, however, the EU plan Opening Up Education aims to encourage the dissemination of MOOC (free online courses) to make tertiary education truly accessible to all , and the transfer of skills and knowledge immediately employable in the labor market . In short, the challenge is open.