Dynamic content

In recent centuries the book has been the basic support for teachers and students, but we are experiencing a transition to the digitization of content, where information exists in electronic form on a huge range of subjects and which can be brought up to date dynamically. Anyone can become a publisher and publish the result of his research very cheaply, making the details available globally or within a defined community. The information available is much greater and fresher and it can be viewed from a more or less global perspective in any part of the world. The use of multimedia facilities can also allow information to be accessed from new perspectives. It will be possible to personalize at an individual level any information for study purposes, optimizing the process of information research and facilitating the assimilation of knowledge by means of audio-visual equipment.

Role of the student and the teacher

The roles of student and teacher will become ever more interchangeable. The fact that students and teachers can be connected interactively with each other will make it possible for students to learn from teachers and in a reciprocal manner teachers can be enriched by the input from their pupils and of other teachers with a global perspective. In fact the traditional role of the omnipresent teacher will be transformed into that of tutor or guide.

Training during the whole of one’s life

Training will no longer be something that one undergoes at a specific time in one’s life, but will extend throughout one’s life and access to this training will be much easier and attractive than with traditional methods.

We will be able to interchange the roles of student and teacher in the specific subjects that interest us personally or professionally. We can each bring our own experiences and investigations to those who want to learn about them and at the same time enjoy other specialist training in those subjects which interest us further.

Global community

Schools will not need to be limited to local and physical space. The student/teacher relationship will be global. Thus it will be possible to follow specialist courses in schools and universities at a distance, but at the same time one will be able to enjoy all the advantages, thanks to the new technologies, of the traditional educational methodology. The student will have the option of choosing the best teachers and content in the particular subject that he wishes to study and, at the same time, the teacher will be able to enjoy having a student community that is not restricted to his local environment – indeed, his pupils could be based world-wide. The classroom, the school and the campus will become virtual concepts and completely flexible. People will choose the moment and the place (at home, at work) in which they wish to educate themselves. In spite of this, it will still be imperative that some supervisory component exists in the form of meetings, round table discussions, conferences etc.

All these elements are bound to bring a great deal of enrichment, both from the possibilities afforded and from the quality of the teaching. Training will become a permanent part of our lives and the incorporation —in a creative and innovative form— of the new media, will make certain that the education sector retains its fundamental role in the society of the future.
 
 

1. Sensitizing and training the teacher

The most important individual element for success in the use of the new technologies in schools is that of the sensitizing and training of teachers.

The very nature of these technologies (computing, telecommunication) makes for a highly dynamic environment and requires – apart from the initial investment – a considerable effort in getting up to date, which is difficult. One should also add that in many cases the students are more familiarized in the use of these tools than are the teachers. It is for these reasons that it is of the utmost importance that teachers be made aware of the effect that these technological resources have on teaching methods and of their incidence in almost every aspect of daily life.

Today, the new technologies make available much more information than in the past. We will live – in fact are now living – with an oversupply of information. We must therefore place a continuing and growing emphasis on orientating the traditional figure of the teacher to acting more as a tutor or guide in facilitating research via the new technologies.

To support this strategy, a series of actions is proposed to provide the elements of incentive, motivation, training and access skills to all teachers.
 

1.	Improve the training of teachers

 
To complement the current program of training for teachers in the use of computer tools, the scope must be increased to provide courses on specific software familiarization, on Internet publishing, on local networks and basic telecommunications subjects.

It will be necessary to issue course certificates for each training program. These certificates must be recognized by schools and should have an influence on promotions. There must also be a study made of the minimum acceptable number of hours of training in the new technologies.

Within the present curriculum of Andorran studies (Catalan, History, Geography, Institutional studies) which is coordinated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, elements concerning new technologies and multimedia should be introduced. This will have the effect of actively promoting the use of these technologies in courses, which are part of the general education for all.

Training in these skills must also be promoted in the Summer School program as a complement to specific courses that are in the general curriculum and used during the school year.

The Ministry through its education services section has a key role to play in promoting this training.
 

2.	Offer microcomputers at low cost to teachers

The best way of promoting the use of computing tools in teaching is by making access easier out of school. Therefore, a plan for offering special terms for the purchase or renewal of computer equipment to teachers must be put in place. Local businesses in the sector must be encouraged to make their offers extremely attractive.

A study could be made of whether it is possible to offer a subsidy on certain components as a function of the amount of educational material supplied in digital form by the teacher and the level of utilization of the new technologies in his teaching.

At the same time, access to school resources out of hours must be made easier for all students including remote access via the network.
 

3.	Develop a pilot teleworking project

Information technology converts the world into a global village; Thanks to its application, it is possible to develop concepts such as teleworking, which can provide a new and different way of working for teaching professionals, allowing them to do part of their work with total liberty of movement and better optimization of resources.

The best way forward is forward. To this end, we propose the setting up, in experimental form, a pilot teleworking project for teachers, in order that they may understand another’s (specially selected) courses and how some other teachers work.

This project could act as a showcase for the advantages of teleworking in an educational environment and at the same time serve as a test to assess associated problems.
 

4.	Organize seminars on the new educational technologies

As a continuation of the Government initiative of 1984, we propose organizing seminars on the new educational technologies. These could be annual, directed at teachers from within the country and also from outside.

The object of the exercise will be to promote, in a general sense, the use of the new technologies in the world of education. The participation of teachers who can communicate their own experiences in the field can serve to
stimulate development of projects within Andorra.
 
 

2. Computers in schools

 
The year 1986 saw the introduction of the Schools Computer Project, with the fundamental objective of promoting the use of computers as work tools for students. Today, we can say that on balance the result of the project is satisfactory, since it has allowed practically the whole of the school population to familiarize themselves with computers.

It is now time to give a fresh impulse to the Schools Computer Project. It is absolutely certain that tomorrow’s world will be a digital one, with a strong presence of computers and telecommunications at all levels of daily life. The television and the computer will be one single unit, present in every home, in every business and, obviously, in schools. They will be as easy to use as televisions are today and will be connected to a worldwide network (an extension of what is now the Internet).

In the same way as throughout this last century it has been necessary to familiarize citizens of the developed world with how to deal with the motor vehicle, it is now even more important to make sure that our students are capable of using these new digital tools.
 

1.	Initiate Project Internet at school

It behoves the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, to set up a new Internet project in schools, to complement the existing Computers in Schools project. The principal goal will be to encourage the use of the Internet by students. Thus, all schools must be connected to the Internet during 1998.

To achieve generalized access for all schools the cost barrier to connection must be eliminated and a special tariff must be set up, along with a study made on how to finance the use. There must be no tolls on the information highway.

There must be encouragement for the realization of shared projects between different schools (inside and outside Andorra), using the advantages of the Internet to eliminate barriers of physical distance.

Systematically, each teacher must be given an electronic address as must each class (and, from a certain age, each student). There must be an incentive for use of electronic mail in schools.

The Ministry must create a dedicated educational Internet server in Andorra. This server must be able to be accessed by everyone in the country, but especially by teachers and students, and must offer certain collective advantages (for example the publication of certain general examination results). In the same way, there must be an incentive for schools progressively to install dedicated servers on the premises to allow for similar functions limited to internal use.

With the arrival of the Internet, the concept of publishing has been radically revolutionized, since it is now within the reach of everyone to publish whatever information he likes, very easily and at very reduced cost. Thus, the project must promote the creation and publication of Internet pages by teachers and students, thus allowing for further familiarization with the new technology. To promote this idea, the annual competition organized jointly by the Andorran Science Society (SAC) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports could be re-orientated to include prizes for the best publications on the Internet.

Given the rapid development of material in the field, the provision of funds for schools has to have a certain year-on-year stability and there has to be recognition of the need to upgrade facilities. This part of the budget should be more viewed as general and continuing expenditure rather than being treated as one-off expenditure.
 

2.	Equipping the schools with networks

Up to now, the provision of computer equipment in schools has been focused on the supply of Personal Computers and peripherals on an individual basis, not connected with one another. The new dynamics of the situation require that the Schools Computer Project focuses on connecting up the individual workstations so that information can be communicated and interchanged in simple and rapid form. For this a program of time deployment must be worked out and it will be necessary to reorientate the school computer investment policy of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

Using such a new infrastructure, internal networks (Intranet) could be set up for messages, marks, noticeboards, newsletters and the like. The technology and the skills required to publish these Intranet items are the same as are required for publishing on the Internet, so skills training serves both purposes.

There must be a study made of the possible use of low-cost workstations (such as NC) —complementary to the use of PC’s— which can be connected into the networks. There must also be a study of how to use these infrastructures out of school hours.

In parallel, once the installation of computer equipment is more generalized within schools, one can foresee a system whereby all schools within Andorra can communicate with each other. The infrastructure for the system already exists – all it needs is promotion. It would be possible to promote the publication of a virtual newspaper, similar to L’Estudiant, using a digital format.
 

3.	Providing multimedia equipment in schools

It must not be forgotten that the object of teaching is not teaching, but learning and there are now tools which make learning much easier, less costly, more adequate to each individual’s needs and less subject to the rigidities of time and space available. But for this to be possible tools are necessary; but as important is changing teaching methods.

It is important that equipment in schools is not just limited to the provision of computers and that multimedia products are introduced as widely as possible. Teachers and students have to be able to access these tools, which are in general use in businesses and support the new digital input. One example is that of computer-linked projectors (and video players). Another example is that of video-conferencing, which has now become much less costly.

In parallel with the investment effort of the Government, suppliers of these materials must be contacted and encouraged to make special deals.
 

4.	Offer low-cost computers to students

One way of promoting computer use and skills amongst students is to allow out-of-hours access. Thus it is convenient to facilitate the acquisition of equipment that they do not have presently.

In collaboration with computer suppliers, we must be in a position to offer students low-cost acquisition of PC’s, peripherals and software. A system could be set up whereby certain items could be offered very competitively secondhand.
 

5.	Connecting libraries to the Internet

Books are just as important to accessing knowledge these days as are Internet access and the other digital supports. Thus we propose that all libraries have terminals connected to the network, with free access available for all visitors. In addition to the Internet, these terminals must be equipped with the other digital supports such as CD-ROM (and libraries must make an effort to provide themselves with discs in addition to their acquisitions of books).

The Ministry of Culture and the Communes must study and support initiatives for the deployment of these terminals.

There should be a project developed whereby any person in Andorra can enquire on-line as to the availability of any book in any library. Libraries must be in a position to allow such network enquiries.
 

6.	Organize an Internet Day in schools (netd@y)

In 1996 in the United States there was a campaign started to promote the use of the Internet in schools. This campaign took the form of a specially designated day (netd@y) which concentrated on how Internet was used in schools. The same initiative was successfully replicated in many EU countries in 1997. We propose that a netd@y should be organized in Andorra during 1998, in collaboration with those who have experience with the EU project of 1997. From this it could be judged how to continue, using the experience to explain and sensitize society as to how telematic resources are used in schools. The Government and public authorities must give their support to this initiative.
 
 

3. School curriculum content

It is not sufficient just to make material resources available to students and to encourage teacher training. The use of the new technologies must be incorporated into all course curricula in Andorra.
 

1.	Introduce Multimedia Studies as a separate course in its own right

In the same way that students must learn to work with dictionaries and encyclopaedias, students must now be trained to use the new technologies to easily access the necessary information from around the world. Internet, CD-ROM, e-mail, special interest electronic forums must be elements with which Andorran students are familiar and they must be able to use these in the same way as reference books.

It is proposed that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports should introduce Multimedia Studies as an obligatory study subject in the Andorran system (and offers it as a study subject in other education areas). This subject would have a highly practical content, giving information about multimedia tools, new technologies, the information society in general and in the use of end-user tools especially as concern researching information.
 

2.	Improve training in the English language

One of the fundamental skills needed in comfortably navigating the information highway is a good command of the English language. Whereas one can find information on the Internet and other digital supports in any language, the predominance of English is a fact. This makes command of English vital in profiting from the fund of knowledge stored in it.

In Andorra it is a great asset that students, in addition to Catalan, have a command of French and Spanish. But a great effort must be made within schools to achieve a high level of training in English.
 

3.	Incorporate digital support in course subjects

The best way to perpetuate information is to digitize it. Information in digital form easily allows use of multimedia resources in presentation; it is much easier to update; and it allows for the dynamic content to be adjusted to conform with a rapidly changing world. Within schools – and from Government as well – there must be recognition that course subjects must have more and more built-in digital support and teachers must be given incentives to use the new supports offered by today’s technology: CD-ROM, Web pages etc.
 
 

4. Virtual Training

 
The Virtual Studies Center has been offering university courses to the population in Andorra since 1997. The creation of this center was a result of the desire to improve the availability of training to sectors otherwise unable to access it and to have a platform from which other training accessories —which Andorra considers strategic— could be offered. Given the small size of the population in Andorra, in order to achieve the critical mass of students necessary to allow for the further development of courses, it is vital that we collaborate, at international agreement level, with similar schemes from around the world and more especially from our close neighbors.
 

1.	Introduce on-going virtual training modules

As a complement to existing university training, it is proposed that the Virtual Studies Center add a series of on-going training modules to its range, directed at professionals in the country. This training has to be set up with complete co-ordination between university and business so that the courses proposed are in line with the strategic objectives desirable for the development of the country and answer real professional needs.

These actions are very important, since they allow for the strategic development of new sectors vital to the economy of Andorra.
 

2.	Combine virtual training with traditional classroom training

More and more, training will become modular, composed of different elements that could come from various sources. In this sense the experience and resources of the Virtual Studies Center could be used to offer training modules which complement traditional classroom training.

In the first phase one could see the establishment of some collaboration between the Virtual Studies Center and the University Colleges of Nursing and Computer Studies in Andorra, so that they could offer some of their courses in virtual format.
 

3.	Promote post-graduate training in Andorra

With the combination of traditional classroom teaching and virtual education, training programs could be developed, promoted by the University of Andorra, which give access to post-graduates without the need for them to leave Andorra to attend courses. These training programs must be set up in collaboration with other universities abroad and can include courses for Masters degrees – strategically important for Andorra – and courses for doctorates.
 

4.	Promote virtual training outside Andorra

With the progressive development of the courses at university level and the on-going post-graduate training available through the Virtual Studies Center, the availability of these programs should be promoted among students outside Andorra. The greater number of students resulting from such efforts would allow the Center to achieve the necessary critical mass of students that would in turn permit a much greater variety in educational projects.
 
 

5. Andorra as an education center 5. Andorra as an education center

 
Already in the proposals put forward in the "Strategic Plan for Andorra" there was talk of the possibilities for Andorra as a country that could host educational centers orientated to attracting students from outside the country. The quality of life of our society (countryside, facilities etc), tranquillity, geographical position and —in the case of the business investor— the fiscal differential, make Andorra ripe for development in this sector.
 

1.	Start extended education programs in Andorra

The juxtaposition of education and leisure in conjunction with our geographical situation makes Andorra potentially attractive for certain specialized education programs. Such experiences as we have had up to now have been very successful and thus new projects should be promoted. Probably, in most cases, Andorra would be offering the facilities and specialized, recognized businesses from outside the country would organize the actual educational content.

A study must be made of the possibility of organizing specialist educational seminars in Andorra that would be institutionalized on an annual basis and recognized formally both internally and externally.
 

2.	Promote the creation of education centers in Andorra

On the one hand it is possible that a foreign recognized entity could be interested in developing advanced-level educational activities (university and post-graduate level) from Andorra, capitalizing on the advantages that our country offers. Their market would be students from both inside and outside the country.

The Government should get in touch with some multinational firms that could be interested in setting up an educational establishment in Europe for their employees or clients and propose to them that they consider Andorra – and offer them incentives.