report
SCORE Library Survey Report
The survey aimed to get a national perspective on institutional engagement in Open Educational Resources through their librarians. It also sought to identify library staff engagement with OER, their understanding of licensing and OEP, and their experience in using and finding OER.
Read the conclusions here.
SCORE (Support Centre for Open Resources in Education) is based at the Open University and funded by HEFCE as a three year project (2009-2012) to support individuals, projects, institutions and programmes across the higher education sector in England as they engage with creating, sharing and using open educational resources (OER).
SCORE draws on the OU's experience from a range of successful OER projects, including OpenLearn which by April 2008 had published 5,400 learning hours of course content in the LearningSpace and 8100 hours in LabSpace (an area allowing easy remixing, translation and redeposit by registered users). The OER published covers a full range of Open University subject areas from introductory to postgraduate level. All of this content is available for reuse by learners and teachers under an open license.
Evaluation report of the Acer - European Schoolnet Educational Netbook Pilot
The aim of the project was to understand and document how learners and teachers use netbooks in various educational contexts, and this major European action-research project provides us with some trends, practices and observations that will be shared among the community of practitioners, at the level of both teachers and school heads. Furthermore, the results of this action-research project help inform ministries about the practices identified at school level, and help them to define future strategies in that specific area.
This evaluation reports on the Acer-European Schoolnet Educational Netbook Pilot, which ran in parallel in six countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK. The Netbook Pilot explores how the introduction of netbooks and 1:1 pedagogy in schools can have an impact on the processes involved in teaching and learning, both inside and outside of school. The name 1:1 pedagogy highlights the fact that the learners have access to netbooks at all times, taking advantage of a blended learning approach alternating online and offline activities, as well as individual and collaborative ones (Vuorikari,Garoia & Balanskat, 2010). The main phase of the Acer-European Schoolnet Educational Netbook Pilot started in the beginning of the school year 2010-2011 and ran until the end of the school year. The Netbook Pilot involved 124 schools in six countries and it had a total of 245 classes of learners equipped with netbooks (see Table 1). The main phase was preceded by a pre-pilot, from January 2010 until the end of the school year,during which 59 schools received netbooks for students and teachers. The pre-pilot classes participated in the main pilot phase in all countries but the UK, where three pre-schools abstained.
The evaluation of the pilot aimed at understanding and documenting how learners and teachers use netbooks in various educational contexts, as well as how parents perceived the use of netbooks in school and out of school.
Read the complete report here.
Report on early school leaving and graduate education adopted by Commission (10 February)
The joint EU Council-Commission report entitled 'Education and Training in a smart, sustainable and inclusive Europe' was adopted by the European Commission and EU Education Ministers on 10 February.
According to the report the European Union is at risk of missing its 2020 targets to reduce the number of early-school leavers and increase the share of students completing tertiary education.
Read the news item and access the complete report on the European Commission home page via the link above.
The report shows that quality education is a key factor in preventing unemployment, by providing young people with the skills and qualifications needed to find a job. Higher education and academic excellence have a vital role to play in increasing Europe's competitiveness and enabling it to emerge stronger from the crisis.
The joint report finds that Member States are making slow progress towards achieving their Europe 2020 target of reducing school drop-out rates below 10%. In 2010, the early school leaving rate averaged 14.1% across the EU compared to 14.4% the year before. There are considerable differences between the Member States, with Malta (virtually unchanged at 36.9%), Portugal (28.7%) and Spain (28.4%) having the highest rates, although both Portugal and Spain have improved on their 2009 figures (31.2% in both cases). The best performers continue to be Slovakia (4.7%), the Czech Republic (4.9%) and Slovenia (5%).
If current trends continue, the report states that the 2020 target will not be met.
The report also shows that achieving the EU's tertiary attainment target - raising the share of 30-34-year-olds who have graduated from the current EU average of 33.6 % to at least 40% - cannot be taken for granted. Seven Member States score below 25% (Romania, Malta, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Portugal). The best performers are Ireland (49.9%), Denmark (47%) and Luxembourg (46.1%).
On the positive side, the share of low-achievers in basic skills in reading, maths and science, 20% in 2009 compared to 24.1% in 2006, is on track for meeting the EU target of less than 15% by the end of the decade.
Key Data on Education in Europe 2012
2011 Insight Country Reports: Sweden
The reports are drafted based on the information provided by Ministries of Education through an annual questionnaire. This initiative is one of the major activities undertaken by European Schoolnet to gather and analyse information on ICT in education for Ministries of Education across Europe. The main aim of the reports is to foster the active information exchange between Ministries on ICT in education-related topics of common interest.
2011 Insight Country Reports: Switzerland
The reports are drafted based on the information provided by Ministries of Education through an annual questionnaire. This initiative is one of the major activities undertaken by European Schoolnet to gather and analyse information on ICT in education for Ministries of Education across Europe. The main aim of the reports is to foster the active information exchange between Ministries on ICT in education-related topics of common interest.
2011 Insight Country Reports: The UK
The reports are drafted based on the information provided by Ministries of Education through an annual questionnaire. This initiative is one of the major activities undertaken by European Schoolnet to gather and analyse information on ICT in education for Ministries of Education across Europe. The main aim of the reports is to foster the active information exchange between Ministries on ICT in education-related topics of common interest.
2011 Insight Country Reports: The Netherlands
The reports are drafted based on the information provided by Ministries of Education through an annual questionnaire. This initiative is one of the major activities undertaken by European Schoolnet to gather and analyse information on ICT in education for Ministries of Education across Europe. The main aim of the reports is to foster the active information exchange between Ministries on ICT in education-related topics of common interest
Cloud Computing: Public Consultation Report
The EU legal framework within which Cloud Computing must be implemented confuses and creates uncertainty in the respondents to the consultation. There is a widespread need for clarification on rights, responsibilities, data protection and liability, especially in cross-border situations. Guidelines on good practice in contracting, model terms and conditions, reasonable expectations for service level agreements would be appreciated. The public sector, as cloud computing adopters, could set the requirements for standards in security, interoperability and data portability; thus, stimulating rapid deployment. Resolution of the single digital market issues is only a partial solution since Cloud Computing is inherently embedded in a global infrastructure. It follows that international agreements on certain principles such as certification, data protection and security are needed. Finally, current Cloud Computing is capable of improvement through research and development, notably integration of other distributed computing models.
Innovation Union Competitiveness Report 2011
Education systems need to be adapted to business innovation needs. Innovative and fast-growing SME's More research cooperation within the EU and internationally is needed, along with better use of research results, including through a stronger intellectual property regime. Education systems need to be adapted to business innovation needs. Innovative and fast-growing SME's need more encouragement. A concerted effort is necessary to build on Europe's promising record in innovation tackling global challenges such as climate change. The gender gap in science and research must be closed.