E-learning Portal for Student Teachers of Universitas Terbuka and Teachers in Indonesia

Universitas Terbuka (UT) is Indonesia’s Open University established in 1984 to cater for the higher education needs of high school graduates, working adults and in-service teachers. Using open and distance education system, UT currently has four Faculties, i.e., Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences, and a Graduate School. The Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences is the largest Faculty, accommodating 546,153 (85%) out of a total of 646,467 students. UT offers diplomas, undergraduate as well as graduate degrees in 1,065 courses, 571 of which are supported with online tutorial services. This paper presents UT experience in the development of e-learning portal for student teachers and in-service teachers in Indonesia, its uses by teachers and its roles in continuous professional development of teachers through the use of Open Educational Resources (OER). In response to the growing needs of teachers’ continuous professional development and as part of UT spirit to make OER available to 2.7 million teachers in Indonesia, since 2008 the Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences has introduced an e-learning portal called Guru Pintar Online, which literally means Smart Teacher Online. The purpose of the development of this e-learning portal is to continually develop and enhance the knowledge and competencies of teachers through the provision of updated online open educational resources on good practices in teaching and learning at schools. The Guru Pintar Online has two major content categories, namely instructional laboratory and teachers’ discussion forum. The Guru Pintar Online serves as a forum for teachers to share knowledge and good practices in teaching, such as managing a big classroom, evaluating the process of learning, teaching mathematics in primary school, and teaching in kindergarten. The content for the Guru Pintar Online portal is developed based on teaching cases of teachers in early childhood, primary as well as secondary schools. These teaching cases are documented in video streaming format for a maximum duration of 5 minutes. Besides, teachers are also invited to add content to the e-learning portal. This e-learning portal has been designed in such a way that teachers can easily use and share teaching cases, upload and download, as well as view the materials online. The content, variety of teaching cases and accessibility of these OERs for teachers continue to be developed to benefit teachers. It is expected that teachers will make use of these OERs to improve their daily teaching practices. This e-learning portal is expected to enrich UT program for teachers at degree levels and continuing professional development. This portal will in the future serve as virtual teaching 2 clinics for teachers who wish to learn from good practices in teaching in different contexts throughout Indonesia

Time for action! ICT integration in formal education : key findings from a region-wide follow-up monitor

This paper is a report on the key findings of a region-wide monitoring study conducted in Dutch-speaking schools in Belgium. First, we elaborate on the building blocks of the instrument, which has been updated and improved since its first deployment in 2007. In particular we focus on the core indicators, along with the multi-actor approach, the sample design and the ways in which new phenomena such as media literacy and gaming have been operationalized. Secondly, we highlight the main trends and patterns within pre-school, primary and secondary education. The first descriptive analyses show quite disappointing results with regard to ICT use at the micro level and the available infrastructure, while headmasters, teachers and pupils reported positive perceptions of different aspects of ICT integration. These results indicate an urgent need to take appropriate action. Therefore, the final part of the paper examines how ICT integration could be improved via structural changes and appropriate policymaking with regard to budgeting, teacher training and the particular role of ICT coordinators in schools

Educational Assessment in Portugal

This paper discusses some of the Portuguese education features and its intended learning assessment system. Pupils’ retention and drop out rates are analysed and discussed. Three characteristics of the intended assessment system are presented and discussed in this paper: a) the predominance of formative assessment; b) the predominance of internal assessment; and c) student retention decisions made at the end of basic schooling cycles. Some features of both internal and external assessments are also analysed and discussed. Generally speaking the Portuguese assessment system can be seen as appropriate and progressive. However, there still exists a significant gap between what has been legally proposed and the so-called “real system”. Thus, some recommendations are made aimed at reducing or eliminating that gap which is seen as one of the greatest challenges to be faced by Portuguese society in the years to com

Model of professional retraining of teachers based on the development of STEM competencies

The article describes a methodology for organizing lifelong learning, professional retraining of teachers in STEM field and their lifelong learning in Volodymyr Hnatiuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University (Ukraine). It analyzes foreign and domestic approaches and concepts for the implementation of STEM in educational institutions. A model of retraining teachers in the prospect of developing their STEM competencies and a model of STEM competencies were created. The developed model of STEM competencies for professional teacher training and lifelong learning includes four components (Problem solving, Working with people, Work with technology, Work with organizational system), which are divided into three domains of STEM competencies: Skills, Knowledge, Work activities. In order to implement and adapt the model of STEM competencies to the practice of the educational process, an experimental study was conducted. The article describes the content of the scientific research and the circle of respondents and analyzes the results of the research

Auditing the ICT experiences of teacher education undergraduates

The importance of teacher education graduates having appropriate information and communication technology OCT) for learning competencies and experiences is well documented. However, without well developed processes for auditing the ICT experiences of undergraduates it should not be assumed that teachers enter their profession with the required ICT competencies to support their students' learning. This paper reports on the first phase of a project to audit the ICT experiences of teacher education undergraduates. It finds that the individual experiences of undergraduates can vary considerably depending on their choice of majors, electives or specialist teaching areas. It further finds that high percentages of students perceive themselves to have no competency with a range of ICT applications that would support the more motivational and interesting aspects of ICT integration for student learning

Signaling the Competencies of High School Students to Employers

[Excerpt] The fundamental cause of the low effort level of American students, parents, and voters in school elections is the absence of good signals of effort and accomplishment and the consequent lack of rewards for learning. In most other advanced countries mastery of the curriculum is assessed by examinations that are set and graded at the national or regional level. Grades on these exams signal the student\u27s achievement to employers and colleges and influence the jobs that graduates get and the universities and programs to which they are admitted. Exam results also influence school reputations and in some countries the number of students applying for admission to the school. In the United States, by contrast, students take aptitude tests that are not intended to assess the learning that has occurred in most of the classes taken in high school. The primary signals of academic achievement are diplomas awarded for time spent in school and grades and rank in class—criteria that assess achievement relative to other students in the school or classroom, not relative to an external standard

Developing the scales on evaluation beliefs of student teachers

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the validity and the reliability of a newly developed questionnaire named ‘Teacher Evaluation Beliefs’ (TEB). The framework for developing items was provided by the two models. The first model focuses on Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered beliefs about evaluation while the other centers on five dimensions (what/ who/ when/ why/ how). The validity and reliability of the new instrument was investigated using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis study (n=446). Overall results indicate that the two-factor structure is more reasonable than the five-factor one. Further research needs additional items about the latent dimensions “what” ”who” ”when” ”why” “how” for each existing factor based on Student-centered and Teacher-centered approaches