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e-Skilled Society
Promoting digital skills proficiency around the world
Issue 3, 2011
Highlights of this Edition
'ECDL for Teachers' project - more
than 6,200 teachers achieve ECDL
certification in Kosovo
For Discussion – Depositing Large
Volumes of e-Learning Content
on Online Portals Will Not Improve
Education Standards in Developing
Countries
Welcome to the latest edition of ‘e-Skilled Society’.
This quarterly publication gives you an overview of ECDL / ICDL around the world,
highlighting activities to promote digital literacy globally, and provides commentary on ICT and
ICT skills development. If you would like to comment on any of the subjects covered in this
edition, please do so at newsletter@ecdl.org.
ECDL / ICDL In Action Around The World
The Ministry of Education and the American University of Kosovo Host the Second ECDL
for Teachers Certification Ceremony
On 17 June, the American University in Kosovo (AUK) and the Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology (MEST) organised the teachers’ certification ceremony as part of the ‘ECDL for Teachers’
programme. This programme is a government and donor funded initiative to raise the ICT skill levels of
all primary and secondary school teachers nationally.
The Minister of Education, Mr. Rame Buja, congratulated the teachers and encouraged them to bring
the experience and excellent training they received from the AUK to aid efforts to increase the overall
quality of the education system in Kosovo.
Mr. Visar Jasiqi, the AUK Training and Development Institute Director, reported that to date, 8,750 teachers have successfully completed the training, while more than 6,200 have gained their ECDL certificates.
Another 3,400 are currently undergoing their training. Read the ‘ECDL for Teachers’ case study here.
ICDL Launched in Mexico
Niblo Educación has signed the first Accreditation Partner contract with ECDL Foundation in Mexico.
With a population of 107 million people, a ranking of 58 out of 172 places on the UN Human Development Index, and with an economy which is expected to grow by 4.5% in 2011, Mexico is well positioned
as a focus for the improvement of digital skills through certification.
Niblo Educatción, based in Mexico City and Qerétaro, is the training and certification arm of the ‘Grupo
Educare’ group. Grupo Educare is the only Latin American company approved by the International
Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Grupo Educare is a cooperative of companies dedicated to
the development and commercialisation of educational services and products.
Niblo Educatción has already started training its own staff in ICDL and testing will take place in the newly
opened IT centre at its Mexico City headquarters.
Saarland Ministry of Education, Germany, Extends its ECDL Framework Agreement
As part of a ceremony that took place in Homburg, the Saarland Ministry of Education State Secretary,
Mr. Stephan Körner, and the Managing Director of Dienstleistungsgesellschaft für Informatik (DLGI), the
ECDL National Operator in Germany, extended the framework agreement of 2007 by another three
years. This means that the students of Saarland can continue to develop their ICT skills at school
through the ECDL programme.
Thomas Michel, Managing Director of DLGI, Mr. Arno Schwarz
and Ms Verena Heckman of the Saarland Department of
Edication.
Mr. Körner acknowledged the importance of the agreement and is looking forward to the extension of
the cooperation with DLGI: "The framework agreement between the Ministry of Education and DLGI
provides the Saarland test centres with excellent learning conditions and promotes the pursuit of
computer knowledge…(additionally) ECDL can be acquired using Microsoft as well as StarOffice and
open-source products. I am extremely pleased that the framework agreement has been extended, and
thank DLGI for their successful cooperation."
At the ceremony, DLGI Managing Director, Mr. Thomas Michel, emphasised the role of ECDL in developing the digital skills of all school students - not only as part of the coursework of students who take
informatics as a separate subject.
ICDL Singapore Participates in Human Resource Insight Seminar
Leading IT education and training provider in Singapore, COMAT Training Services, organised a targeted
seminar for human resource professionals on 7 July. More than 100 representatives from multinational
corporations, local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and government agencies (40 per cent of
whom are at director level) attended the event. Entitled ‘New Trends in Training’, the seminar featured
presentations from ASEAN Mercer College on total talent management strategy, and a special case
study on a performance based approach to learning at IBM.
Mr. Daniel Palmer represented ECDL Foundation and ICDL Singapore to share with the audience how
to use the ICDL international standards as an effective way to benchmark digital productivity. The
presentation provided an opportunity for the human resource community in Singapore to discuss how
ICDL standards can be adopted at an organisational level.
Source: Eurostat Survey
On average, fewer than 50% of internet
users surveyed in Spain, France, and
Germany supported freedom of expression
online.
Source: A Global Perspective on Freedom of Expression,
Privacy, Trust and Security Online - World Economic
Forum (2011)
?
ICDL Implementation at 200 Schools: Gresik District, East Java Province – Indonesia
The District Officer (Mayor) of Gresik, East Java Province, has agreed to implement ICDL at 200 public
and private secondary schools in Gresik, 18km from Surabaya, the second biggest city in Indonesia, and
the capital city of East Java Province. The Chairman of ICDL Indonesia, MYR Agung Sidayu, promoted
the ICDL concept effectively to the Mayor and the head of the local education department, who then
agreed to support ICDL Indonesia in the implementation of the project.
Under the terms of the agreement, ICDL Indonesia is currently undertaking the assessment of potential
Accredited Test Centres, supported by a team from the local government. The accreditation process will
be completed by October 2011.
ICDL US Exhibits at the 66th Annual Correctional Education Association Conference
Fewer than 1% of students across OECD
countries reported that they had never
used a computer
Source: Students On Line - Digital Technologies and
Performance - OECD 2011
?
The 66th Annual Correctional Education Association (CEA) Conference took place, 17-20 July, in
Charleston, West Virginia, and participants from throughout the US and from overseas attended. The
CEA is a primary source of professional support and information, and a facilitator of networking for
educators in criminal and/or juvenile justice settings.
The purpose of the annual conference is to better prepare correctional professionals in helping their
students for a successful re-entry into society by equipping them with academic, career/technical, and
personal/social skills. Considerable interest was expressed by many delegates in the value of the ICDL
programme as a highly practical and proven measure to deliver verifiable ICT work skills to better
facilitate re-entry to society. The ICDL programme is currently delivered in several Pennsylvania State
correctional facilities and gives inmates an opportunity to develop digital literacy and workforce skills that
enable them to acquire employment once released.
For Discussion
Depositing Large Volumes of e-Learning Content on Online Portals Will Not Improve Education
Standards in Developing Countries
The use of ICT to improve education standards in developing countries is a subject that has attracted a
considerable level of international attention and, as with all matters relating to development, has also
generated many divergent opinions.
It is widely accepted that if developing countries are to close the ever-increasing gap with the more
developed world in relation to economic output and levels of national prosperity, it is crucial that local
education standards are substantially – and quickly - raised. Improved general education standards are
crucial to the stimulation and sustainability of all economies - particularly so in developing economies,
where the ability to attract foreign investment and to stimulate local economic growth generates a fairly
striking ‘sink or swim’ scenario. It is also generally agreed that one method to radically and quickly
overhaul this lag in education standards is through the use of ICT; what is not agreed upon is the best
way to do so.
On average across OECD countries,
94% of students reported that they had a
computer at home.
Source: Students On Line - Digital Technologies and
Performance - OECD 2011
?
On account of factors such as the cost and availability of text books, one method that has been
employed to improve access to educational content en masse has been to deposit vast volumes of it on
online portals, and assume that standards of education will be raised proportionately to the level of
content available. Despite the well-intentioned motives of those who have tried to deliver such initiatives,
this ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach has not worked, and for several reasons. Some of these reasons are
physical; for example, in much of Africa, the majority of people do not have physical access to computers, and where they do, connectivity is restricted due to the lack of broadband provision, and in some
cases even the provision of a reliable power source.
Even in regions where these physical barriers are not present, there remains the persistent issue of ICT
skills – those of both students and of teachers. According to Info Dev (a World Bank initiative that
promotes education in development):
“Far too often, computers have been put into schools with insufficient attention paid to the ways in
which teachers will use them. One of the fundamental lessons to be learnt from European, North
American and Australian experiences over the last 20 years has been that those responsible for
helping people learn must be confident in the appropriate use of new technologies if the process is
to be successful. ”
Even if it were possible to provide every student with access to hardware, and to make vast volumes of
relevant educational content available online, the use of ICT in education will not provide the intended
benefits if teachers don’t possess the skills to incorporate technology into their teaching, and if students
don’t know how to access the e-learning resources. This is as true in the more developed world as it is
in the developing one.
The
First Successful
Interagency
United Nations ICDL Train-the-Trainer Programme
ECDL
Foundation
Activities
ECDL Foundation’s Promotion of eInclusion and eAccessibility - IST Africa, Botswana
ECDL Foundation, together with ICDL Africa, participated in the 6th IST Africa conference in Gaborone,
Botswana. The conference, supported by the European Commission, under the ICT theme of the
‘Framework Programme 7 (FP7)’, brought together senior representatives from both the private and
public sector from across Africa and Europe, sharing knowledge, best practices and policy issues on
bridging the digital divide.
Mr. Daniel Palmer, ECDL Foundation Regional Development Manager for Africa, presented a paper on
‘Achieving eInclusion – Building an African Digital Agenda’ during the session ‘ICT for eInclusion and
eAccessibility’. Mr. Palmer shared thoughts and findings on the importance of having a digital agenda
strategy for Africa in order to: bridge the digital divide, achieve social inclusion, and reap economic
benefits.
Read more about ECDL Foundation’s participation at the IST Africa conference here.
Digital Agenda for Europe – ECDL Foundation-Led National Round Table Discussions
ECDL Foundation National Operators are currently preparing to host round table talks as part of their
national strategies to highlight the importance of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), and in particular,
the role of digital skills. As a follow on to these national events, ECDL Foundation will host a European
Round Table in Brussels in early December. At this European meeting, selected representatives from the
national events, together with European officials, will be brought together to participate in discussions
and feedback on the reality of the implementation of the DAE on the ground. A delegate from each
national round table will be invited to this event to report on national progress and commit to next steps.
Read more about ECDL Foundation’s activities in support of the Digital Agenda for Europe here.
How Digitally Literate are You? Use ECDL Foundation’s Interactive Tool
A useful online tool that tests your levels of digital literacy is now available for a limited time only. You can
measure your own perceived levels of digital literacy against your actual abilities based on common ICT
tasks.
On average across OE CD countries,
89% of students reported that they have
access to the Internet at home.
Source: Students On Line - Digital Technologies and
Performance - OECD 2011
This online tool will close in late September. Visit www.digitalliteracy.eu and enter the following details to
start your self-assessment - Username: user_eng Password: pwd_eng
ECDL Foundation demonstrated this online tool at the Digital Agenda Assembly during the workshop on
Digital Literacy & e-Inclusion.
?
Research & Reports
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Teenage Digital Reading
Survey
The report, which is the latest publication of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) , measures the ability of 15 year-old students in 16 OECD member countries to read, understand and apply digital texts, including emails and websites, and compared this with their traditional
(paper-based) literacy abilities. In many press reports, and even on the OECD’s website, this report has
been referred to as a ‘digital literacy’ report. ECDL Foundation, however, cautions against interpreting
the ability to read online and navigate the Internet as evidence of an individual being digitally literate – it
does not take into account a much broader set of required ICT skills.
Read the ECDL Foundation press release on the findings of the survey here.
Read the full report here.
1
South Africans value their online privacy
the most (65%), followed by users
in the United States (63 percent) and
Canada (60 percent).
Source: A Global Perspective on Freedom of Expression,
Privacy, Trust and Security Online - World Economic Forum
(2011)
?
Research Paper - The New Internet World: A Global Perspective on Freedom of Expression,
Privacy, Trust and Security Online (2011)
This World Economic Forum (WEF) research paper examines issues of freedom of expression, privacy,
trust and security online.
Read the paper here.
1
“Students on Line: Reading and Using Digital Information” OECD (June 2011)