The case of Catalonia : an approach based on teacher demand
| Context
Since 1983, the Department of Education of Catalonia has pursued continuous action in support of ICT in an integrated approach combining investment in school equipment and telecommunications infrastructure, teacher training, and the provision of digital resources and services. Actions in these areas have been accompanied by various support measures, such as the creation of the role of ICT coordinator (coordinador ICT), intended to drive forward the school’s ICT strategy and at the same time to create a community of innovators (ICT coordinators’ network). Adopted in 1986, the programmes PIE (Programas de Informática Educativa) and PMAV (Programas de Medios Audiovisuales) were a resounding success and led to the creation of the portals XTec (Xarxa Telematica Educativa) and edu365 (see below for a more detailed presentation of edu365).
In 2001, the EDUCAMPUS initiative was launched by the Autonomous Community of Catalonia as part of a top-down approach. This initiative contributed in particular to the training of many teachers (200,000 higher education students enrolled in higher education, including teachers undergoing initial training) but was not really used as an environment for work with/by the pupil, although this was one of its initial objectives. It was undertaken following the successful creation of the Open University of Catalonia in 1995, and teachers, especially in secondary schools, were very proud to be following a path similar to that of their colleagues in higher education. Catalan teachers were immediately interested in MOODLE, again inspired by what was happening in universities, where MOODLE was already well established (the eleven Catalan universities currently use MOODLE). MOODLE is regarded by some as a CMS (Course Management System), by others as a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). Its modular structure explains this difference in perception: while it was originally a CMS, this tool has a capacity for development that has enabled its community of users/developers to add additional modules allowing it to perform new functions not initially available, such as tracking student test results. Experiments therefore developed step by step, at the initiative of teachers and schools. This time as part of a bottom-up approach (in contrast to EDUCAMPUS), the Department of Education of Catalonia supported these initiatives. In 2004-5, a server was installed in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia for schools to download MOODLE software. Some 900 Catalan schools were involved. The free choice given to schools led in some cases to the coexistence of five versions of MOODLE in a single institution. This situation created a heavy workload in maintenance as well as for the server of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, and consequently an ‘institutional’ version of MOODLE was adopted in 2007: AGORA. As regards the training offered to teachers, an online training system, set up by the Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC) has also helped to develop teachers’ interest in ICT. For well over a decade, primary school teachers – who held the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree (in Bologna terminology) – have been able to take two-year online courses. This enabled them to obtain a master’s level qualification entitling them (to their great satisfaction) to teach at secondary level. In terms of curriculum, as of the school year 2007-8, the Department of Education put in place a new programme aimed at primary and secondary education, which integrates digital skills transversally in each subject. As a result of this integrated set of actions, the ca. 2,200 state schools in Catalonia are currently equipped with broadband internet access (2Mb/s); an annual plan for training activities, mostly through distance learning, has 22,000 enrolments; and a platform offering digital content and services (edu365) provides each pupil with a virtual workspace (on condition he/she makes use of it). Components Virtual learning platforms are known in Catalan as Entorn Virtual d’Ensenyament Aprenentatge (EVEA), or campus virtual, or plataforma elearning. They are seen as a central component in the range of pedagogic tools capable of integrating all the uses made possible by the ICT equipment now supplied to schools (computers, cameras, video projectors, etc.) into a single environment. An EVEA is thus defined as a virtual space, accessible via the Internet, which brings together various applications that facilitate the organisation of digital content and learning management. Its users are the teachers, pupils and administrators who register in the system according to a specific profile that enables them to access various services variously offered. In terms of applications, an EVEA offers : • communication tools: forums, chat, messaging, etc. • learning tools: (web pages, presentations, etc.) and various activities • tools for management and organisation: calendar, diary, notice board etc., including tools for monitoring and evaluating students. Various platforms have been created for different uses and target groups.
Diagram of all services by users in Catalonia Deployment Deployment of Virtual Learning Platforms in Catalonia has been gradual. Starting in 2004, this deployment now covers just over 50% of state schools, i.e. nearly 1,200 of a total of approximately 2,200 schools (private schools not included). The following table gives the figures for this deployment during the last period: TABLEAU While the virtual learning platform system is regarded by the officials concerned as a success among teachers, only 10% of schools have students as users. Some schools create accounts for parents on their own sites, but this is very rare. Many initiatives have been undertaken to provide in-service training of teachers, whose involvement is seen as a key factor of success. The involvement of head teachers is also essential (it is even ‘decisive’ according to one official interviewed). This is what justifies the many teacher training and coaching activities carried out in Catalonia. Local services organise conferences to educate school leaders, all the more so because a recent law (Ley de Educació de Catalunya, LEC) gives more autonomy to schools. This law stipulates that it is now obligatory to provide digital services to pupils (Article 89). Uses and Users • Pedagogic Uses As in the case of Andalusia, and in the absence of evaluation studies, those responsible for implementation of these platforms consider their educational use to be growing steadily. As observed elsewhere, use by pupils is low. One official who was questioned estimates that “Perhaps 10% of pupils in the more than a thousand schools with a platform use it regularly.” • Communication Uses Communication among teachers is growing gradually, followed to a lesser extent by teacher-pupil communication. Communication between teachers and parents is very underdeveloped. Unlike Andalusia, Catalonia has not developed a platform specifically dedicated to communication with parents. • Administrative Uses There is at present little interest in exchange of data between institutions. Catalonia has no equivalent to Andalusia’s SENECA platform. 14 The sizeable increase in the number of users between August and December 2009 is due to the permanent closure of EDUCAMPUS and transfer of these users to AGORA. Governance The Catalan officials interviewed consider that governance problems, where they exist, sit rather within schools than as part of external governance. Schools make their requests to the Department of Education of Catalonia, and relations between them and the central level on the one hand and local authorities on the other hand are clearly defined.
Success Factors The adoption of a bottom-up approach (after only partial success with a top-down approach), building on the preference expressed by the teachers for MOODLE, is considered a key to success. The training activities directed at teachers are regarded as another factor contributing to success. The involvement of teachers thus remains the backbone of the policy pursued by the Department of Education of Catalonia. “Involving head teachers is almost even more crucial”, according to one official interviewed. To encourage this involvement, training activities, coaching, etc. are arranged and conferences are organised by the local services. A coaching programme was conducted in 2009-2010 to train 200 trainers who will become school advisers for all ICT matters. |
