What the E.E.P. Innovations Service provides
Why educators need this service
How to use the service
An example - broadband
An example - extend learning time
Please help us

(note - case studies will be added as the extended service develops)

What the E.E.P. Innovations Service provides -

  • A framework for choices about investment in ICT-for-learning.
  • A basis for assessing the educational added-value of investment in ICT.
  • Links to companies and case-studies to provide detailed information to inform your choices.

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Why educators and policy makers need this service.

Teachers and learners in schools/colleges are currently only getting a small part of the educational benefits ICT will bring.

Major implementations of ICT are necessary to make it possible to get the full learning benefits.

Major implementations of ICT require major investment in ICT and this must be justified. Few (if any) European governments or education authorities are investing sufficiently in ICT for schools/colleges.

Current investments in ICT are raising the quality of teaching and learning in many ways, but the evidence for this is not yet sufficient to justify the considerable added spending on ICT for schools/colleges that is required.

To justify the added spending needed Educators will have to show regional and national governments that ICT brings considerable added-value from ICT, .

Because many different choices can be made of the desired added value and of implementations of ICT to achieve this, a framework for choice is necessary.

This framework must also enable better debate on how the processes of education can be changed to use the money spent on education more effectively.

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How to use the service.

The choice of how to invest in ICT-for-learning can be approached in two ways through the Innovations Service.

We have identified 11 areas of added value in teaching and learning that ICT can make possible.

We have identified 18 major implementations of ICT that can be introduced by a school/college, city or region.

The areas of added value are mapped to the implementations that can produce them.

The implementations are mapped to the areas of added value they produce.

Whichever way you approach the choice, there are links to the companies that can help and to case-studies, to give you practical examples. (Case studies will be added as this extended service develops.)

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An example - broadband.

Many people are suggesting it is a priority to provide all schools/colleges with broadband connections but this is an expensive investment.

Look at the list of areas of added-value and consider for each whether broadband will help achieve this added-value, and how.

We believe broadband can bring more and better learning through -

  • better access to learning resources, supporting more styles of learning.
  • more powerful communications between learners and their teachers, colleagues and other adults.
  • enabling wider publishing and audience, aiding discussion and reflection.
  • using more channels to communicate information to learners, so that they can develop knowledge in their preferred way..
  • re-balancing teacher mediation and autonomous learning, by extending student access to teachers' video presentations and conferences and enabling multimedia collaborative approaches.

Obtaining these kinds of added-value will of course require other changes, in addition to installing broadband connections.

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An example - extend learning time.

Students spend only a small amount of their time in class. If more learning, and more effective learning, out of class can be enabled there can be considerable learning gains.

Look at the list of implementations and consider for each whether they will enable extended learning.

We believe extended learning can be achieved with -

  • school/college websites
  • city-wide learning platforms
  • content management/sharing
  • online learning services
  • e-learning systems
  • mobile computers for all students
  • learning management systems
  • e-learning objects creation
  • network links to students' homes.

You can then consider which of these will have most impact in extending learning. This will depend on how you are developing the educational approach in your community.

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Please help us

We wish to make links from the Innovations Service to case studies.

Please email Innovations@eep-edu.org if you know of case studies on the world-wide web that illustrate

  • how the areas of added-value are being achieved by schools/colleges
  • how a major implementation of ICT is producing added-value in teaching and leaning.

We will also be very pleased to receive any other comments about this service and the framework for choice.

Roger Broadie,
Chief Executive,
European Education Partnership.