The action plan "Opening EducationPresented by the European Commission, in order to address digital problems in education, which prevent schools and universities from providing high quality education and digital skills that will be required for 90% of jobs by 2020. In this context, the Commission launches new Europa Open Education website (www.openeducationeuropa.eu), which will allow students, professionals and educational institutions to share free open educational resources.
"Opening Education" focuses on three main objectives. First, it pursues the creation opportunities for organisations, educators and learners to innovate. Second, it aims to increase the use of Open Educational Resources (OER), ensuring that educational materials produced with public funding are available to all. Finally, it seeks to improve the infrastructure of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and connectivity in schools.
The need for an organized digital literacy program is seen as imperative, as this change should be made by trainers and policy makers and not as something that just happens.
Leaders of this initiative are Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda.
The educational landscape is changing dramatically, from school to university and beyond: open technology-based education will soon be "necessary", not just "useful", for all ages. We need to do more to ensure that young people in particular are provided with the digital skills they need for their future. It is not enough to know how they can use an application or a program, we need young people who can create their own programs. The opening of education concerns the expansion of the spiritual horizons to new learning methods, so that our citizens are more employable, creative, innovative and entrepreneurial "said Commissioner A. Vassilios.
Vice President N. Kroes added: "My vision is that every classroom has digital equipment by 2020. Education must be connected to real life, it cannot be a parallel world. Young people want to use digital technology in all aspects of life. Digital skills are needed to get a job. All our schools and universities, not just some of them, must reflect this reality.”
Ενδεικτικό είναι το γεγονός ότι μεταξύ 50% και 80% των σπουδαστών στις χώρες της ΕΕ δεν χρησιμοποιούν ποτέ ψηφιακά διδακτικά βιβλία, λογισμικό ασκήσεων, εκπομπές/βιντεομηνύματα (podcast), προσομοιώσεις ή εκπαιδευτικά παιχνίδια. Για παράδειγμα, οι μαθητές στη Λετονία, τη Λιθουανία και την Τσεχική Δημοκρατία είναι πιθανότερο να έχουν πρόσβαση στο Διαnetwork at school (over 90%), twice as much as in Greece and Croatia (around 45%).
In addition, in primary and secondary education, most teachers do not feel confident about their digital skills, while 70% wants more training in ICT use. Universities are invited to adapt their teaching methods to provide a combination of face-to-face teaching and online learning opportunities, such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) that allow individuals to gain access to education anywhere, per at any time and through any device. This is necessary as the number of students in the EU is rising.
Initiatives linked to "Opening up education" will be funded with support from the Erasmus+ programme, the new EU program for education, training, youth and sport, and Horizon 2020, the new research and innovation programme, as well as and EU structural funds. All educational equipment supported by Erasmus+ will be free of charge available to the public with "open licenses".
ekt.gr, with information from Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή
