Centro METID
Metodi E Tecnologie Innovative per la Didattica
www.sloop2desc.eu
Preparing the teachers for a competence-based education system
Editors: Giovanni Fulantelli Lucian Oprea
Sloop2desc
Sharing learning objects in an open perspective to develop European skills and competences
“The SLOOP2DESC-Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European Skills and Competences-is a project funded by the European Commission under the
Lifelong Learning programme, Leonardo da Vinci sub-programme. This publication reflects the views only of the authors and the European Commision cannot be held responsible for any use which Project number: LLP-LDV/TOI/09/IT/0461
Coordinator: Italian National Research Council Institute for Educational Technologies Phone: +39 091 6809220 - Fax: +39 091 6809239
e-mail: giovanni.fulantelli@itd.cnr.it
SLOOP2DESC Project - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European
Skills and Competences
THE SLOOP2DESC PROJECT
LLP-LDV/TOI/09/IT/0461
SLOOP2DESC - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European Skills and Competences, is a project funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning programme, Leonardo da Vinci sub-programme.
SLOOP2DESC aims at supporting high-school teachers and trainers in Vocational Education and Training (VET) to increase their knowledge and understanding of new educational systems that are based on learning outcomes and competences.
Specifically, the project refers to the European Qualification Framework (EQF), the reference framework adopted by the EU Parliament and Council in April 2008 to establish general criteria for comparing qualification and competencies systems developed and/or adopted in EU countries.
Teachers and trainers in Italy, Romania and Slovenia have developed specific pedagogical competencies to be applied in educational activities that take new evaluation systems into consideration. This result has been achieved through effective e-learning strategies already tested in a previous European funded project called Sloop: Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective, aimed at promoting the practice of sharing and developing Open Educational Resources by community of teachers.
Partners
Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Palermo, Italy Associazione italiana per l'informatica ed il calcolo distribuito, Milano, Italy
Istituto Tecnico Statale Sperimentale ad Ordinamento Speciale “Marie Curie”, Cernusco sul Naviglio, Milano, Italy
Centro METID Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Istituto Istruzione Secondaria “Danilo Dolci”, Partinico (PA), Italy Consorzio Med Europe Export, Palermo, Italy
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia DEIS - Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland
“Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, Romania
Slovenian Society INFORMATIKA, Ljubljana, Slovenia
About this book
The SLOOP2DESC project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This book represents SLOOP2DESC partners’ opinions on the results they got, its impact on their own organisations and their points of view on the philosophy of the project. The Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Editors:
Giovanni Fulantelli Lucian Oprea
SLOOP2DESC Project - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European
Skills and Competences
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Preparing the teachers for a competence-based education system / Giovanni Fulantelli, Lucian Oprea. - Gala i : Europlus, 2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The SLOOP2DESC project ... 7 G. Fulantelli, M. Gentile, D. Taibi, M. Allegra, V. Dal Grande, P. Denaro
Competence-based learning in Europe & the SLOOP2DESC model ... 13 P. Ravotto
EUCIP and e-CF certification systems ... 17 R. Bellini, P. Ravotto, N. Schlanberger
Maritime certification system in compliance with IMO standards ... 21 L. Oprea, D. Popa, D. Munteanu, A. Dumitriu, I. Ilie, S. Stan
Building and managing a community of practice ... 25 A. Buzzi
The SLOOP2DESC course ... 27 F. Berengo, M. Masseroni, L. Petruzziello, M. Terenghi, P. Ravotto
Fostering the dialogue amongst school teachers and companies: the role of "business
mentors" ... 31 V. Dal Grande, D. Taibi, M. Gentile, D. Stabile, M. Allegra, G. Fulantelli
The experience of the SLOOP2DESC courses in Italy ... 35 M. Masseroni, F. Berengo, L. Petruzziello, M. Terenghi, P. Ravotto
The experience of the SLOOP2DESC courses in Romania ... 45 L. Oprea, I. Ilie, C. Rusu, S. Stan, D. Popa, D. Munteanu, A. Dumitriu, P. G. Sandu, C. Badalan The experience of the SLOOP2DESC courses in Slovenia ... 49 M. Vrta nik, D. Dolni ar, N. Schlamberger, Š. Švoljšak
A lesson learned and recommendations for future actions in e-learning ... 59 M. Murray, M. Vrtacnik, D. Dolnicar, G. Fulantelli
THE SLOOP2DESC PROJECT
Giovanni Fulantelli, Manuel Gentile, Davide Taibi, Mario Allegra, Valentina Dal Grande, Paola Denaro
Institute for Educational Technologies - National Research Council of Italy Palermo, Italy
{giovanni.fulantelli, manuel.gentile, davide.taibi, mario.allegra, valentina.dalgrande, paola.denaro}@itd.cnr.it
Abstract Sommario
The SLOOP2Desc project - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European Skills and Competences – has promoted the knowledge of European qualification systems amongst teachers and academics, through effective e-learning strategies already tested in a previous European funded project called Sloop: Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective. In this paper we present the rationale behind the project, its main objectives and activities.
Il progetto SLOOP2Desc - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European Skills and Competences – ha promosso la conoscenza del sistema di qualifiche europeo (European qualification systems) fra insegnanti e docenti universitari, utilizzando le strategie di e-learning già testate durante il progetto Europeo Sloop:
Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective. In questo articolo presentiamo le motivazioni alla base del progetto, gli obiettivi e le principali attività.
KEYWORDS: community of practice, social networking, e-learning, Teachers' training, online learning, competences, EQF, open educational resources.
KEYWORDS: comunità di pratica, social networking, e- learning, formazione docenti, apprendimento online, competenze, EQF, risorse educative aperte.
1. INTRODUCTION
SLOOP2DESC - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective to Develop European Skills and Competences, is a project funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning programme, Leonardo da Vinci sub-programme (contract number is:
LLP-LDV/TOI/09/it/0461).
SLOOP2DESC aims at supporting high-school teachers and trainers in Vocational Education and Training (VET) to increase their knowledge and understanding of new educational systems that are based on learning outcomes and competences.
Specifically, the project refers to the European Qualification Framework (EQF), the reference framework adopted by the EU Parliament and Council in April 2008 to establish general criteria for comparing qualification and competencies systems developed and/or adopted in EU countries.
Since EQF is a competencies-based system, there is a crucial need for teachers and trainers to further their understanding of the evaluation systems that companies are using ever more frequently to select young people when they complete their high school studies.
In SLOOP2DESC, teachers and trainers have developed specific pedagogical competencies to be applied in educational activities that take new evaluation
systems into consideration. This result has been achieved through effective e-learning strategies already tested in a previous European funded project called Sloop: Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective [1], aimed at promoting the practice of sharing and developing Open Educational Resources by community of teachers.
In addition, the project has promoted the dialogue between the education field and the labour market, which is central to the debate around the introduction of the EQF-based evaluation approaches in the educational methodologies.
The project ideas developed after an in-depth analysis of the state of the art in the education and VET sectors, with specific references to the skills and competences of teachers and trainers.
In particular:
A. In the report "Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation" the European Commission states: "No other in-school aspect influences student performance more than the quality of teacher education [...] However, current systems of teacher education and training often fail to give teachers the training they need.. … Teachers need better professional preparation and continuing development. This will improve education and training outcomes" [2]
Fig. 1 The SLOOP2DESC portal homepage B. The background analysis reported in the preparation
paper for the meeting OECD / CERI held on 29-30 October 2008 highlights in particular a shortage of models of teacher training combined with a lack of awareness about their skills on ICT and their use in educational settings.
C. In the internal report on the progress of the
"Education and Training 2010" programme, the development of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is considered an essential tool in achieving the objectives of the Lisbon strategy. This report states that the framework is a common reference to promote the acknowledgement and the transfer of the qualifications and competences across Europe.
D. The OCSE report titled “Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources” (2007) highlights the strategic role of sharing open educational resources for the educational and training sectors.
In addition, the report points out that even if the number of schools and universities sharing open educational resources has increased, a related political and institutional action in supporting these activities is not adequate.
In the next section we will introduce the difficulties related to the implementation of the EQF strategies;
following this, we will present the methodology adopted in the SLOOP2DESC project to reduce these problems;
then, a general presentation of the project activities will be presented, followed by some conclusions on the results achieved. This chapter is not presenting the activities in details, since this will be the subject of the rest of the book.
2. IMPLEMENTATION OF EQF IN SCHOOLS
The implementation of the European Qualification Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) is not an easy task; it is made complicated by the presence of several national systems and frameworks across Europe as well as by the development of many sectorial certification systems which are not linked to the national systems, and which have been proposed and adopted by national and international bodies (e.g. multinational companies) during the last decade.
with centuries of history), EQF implementation requires a great effort; in fact, the Framework officially introduces the concept of Learning Outcome in the European Educational policy: qualifications are defined and described in terms of learning outcomes (what the learner knows, understands and is able to do).
The shift to learning outcomes influences the redefinition of curricula, teaching and assessment practices, which requires an active involvement of stakeholders, education and training practitioners.
The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), in its 2009 study The shift to learning outcomes. Policies and practices in Europe highlights that “more and more stakeholders warn that the learning outcomes perspective can easily be reduced to mere rhetoric having little effect on education, training and learning practices” [3].
Specifically to the National Qualification Frameworks (NQFs - the main instruments to relate the national qualification systems to the EQF in the member states), Cedefop points out that their development “has to be planned as an active process that engages the main stakeholders in continuous negotiation and, probably, compromise at different levels in the system. An NQF that is owned by an administration, and whose use is limited largely to official publications, probably serves little purpose.” [3].
Therefore the implementation of the EFQ, through the National Qualification Systems which should reference to it, should be coordinated by central institutions (ministries, governments, and so on), by encouraging dialogue and consensus-building among stakeholders, both from the education system and the labour market (including social bodies). In fact, academics, teachers, educational researchers, and professionals in the training sector should develop awareness that the access of students to the labour market will depend increasingly on their ability to demonstrate knowledge, skills and competences acquired during their studies, and on the fact that the results of their studies is comparable at European level on the basis of unique and shared criteria (via the EQF). Similarly, since EQF-based qualification systems will become a central issue for companies in Europe that want to evaluate the skills possessed by their staff but also to select the young people after completing their higher studies, it is important to involve representatives from the labour market and the social bodies in the dialogue around the qualification systems.
3. SLOOP2DESC AND OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
At the conclusion of the 2002 Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries, organized by UNESCO, the participants expressed their wish to develop a universal educational resource available for the whole of humanity, to be referred to henceforth as Open Educational Resources (OER).
The idea was to promote an open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes.
Since then, a movement of thought that considers it necessary to allow everyone free access to knowledge for educational purposes has developed.
However, in 2007, following the publication of 3 important documents on this subject, the importance of OER has become central to the political agenda of many countries worldwide:
Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources [4]
A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities [5].
Open Educational Practices and Resources: OLCOS Roadmap 2012 [6].
The three reports agree that the success of initiatives based on the Open Educational Resource concept is threatened by many factors:
The lack of open practices of teaching and learning;
Technical difficulties in developing open digital resources;
Lack of experience in supporting communities of practice involved in the development of OER;
Scarcity of business models in OER
Following these publications, the Council of Europe has specifically mentioned the strategic importance of policies that promote the adoption and development of OER in the school system, and even the United Nations have highlighted the strategic value of OER .
OER that are produced directly by teachers represent an important opportunity for schools. In order to raise awareness of the potentials of OER amongst teachers, and encourage their adoption in educational practices, the SLOOP project launched the idea to have digital contents produced directly by a community of teachers. The original idea behind the project was that teachers can build Learning Objects whilst software specialists develop open software packages: each teacher can contribute to the development phase, as well as repurposing the Learning Objects to meet her/his specific needs. The same approach is central to the SLOOP2DESC project, and it has been further stressed and amplified by the intense use of Web 2.0 tools: OER are designed, developed and shared directly by the community of teachers who will use them.
4. THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PROJECT
As already mentioned in the introduction of this paper, the SLOOP2DESC project adopts effective e- learning strategies already tested in the previous European funded project Sloop, which are based on:
a model of training based on e-learning 2.0 solutions, learning by doing methodology and participation of teachers to a community of practice;
Fig. 2 The FreeLOms repository
a model of Open Educational Resources, designated as Open Learning Object or OpenLO [7];
a set of Learning Objects, called MetaLOs, developed by teachers and trainers of the project partner institutions;
online courses, developed according to the training model, where teachers in Italy, Ireland and Romania have cooperatively designed e-learning paths, and produced digital content for teaching according to a
logic drawn from the open / free software movements. The MetaLOs have been used as learning content for the online courses.
the FreeLOms (Free Learning Object Management System) platform, an environment for the sharing and reuse of digital educational resources, which includes features that allow management of resources developed according to SCORM standards, and the editing of resource metadata according to the IEEE LOM [8].
In the Sloop2desc project, the Sloop elearning methodology and tools have been adopted in order to promote awareness of competencies-based education models amongst teachers and trainers. Specifically, online training courses for around 600 teachers of secondary schools in Italy, and 90 teachers and trainers in Romania and Slovenia have been activated during the two years of the project.
The objective of the training courses is the acquisition of knowledge and skills related to:
the definition of elearning courses;
the development of “open” digital resources using Web 2.0 tools and systems for the production of Learning Objects
the design and development of educational resources on EQF and on European qualification systems.
Specifically for Italy and Slovenia, the EUCIP system (European Certification of Informatics Professionals promoted at European level by CEPIS) has been be adopted as an example of qualification systems. The IMO certification system in the maritime field has been adopted in Romania.
Representative from companies has been involved throughout the project, and in particular during the cascade courses in Italy. Stakeholders in all the countries of the partners have been invited in national workshops, in order to inform them about the project objectives and activities.
5. THE SLOOP2DESC PARTNERS
The partnership consists of a core composed of the organizations participating in the project Sloop, some of which have a history of collaboration in eLearning projects dating from 1995. This is a well-established partnership, including a mix of institutions (schools, universities, colleges, research centres), all with a long experience in the integration between online education and traditional teaching.
Specifically:
National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Educational Technologies, the coordinator, has ICT- based learning methodologies and technologies as its core research interest. It has contributed actively to the SLOOP project, by defining the OpenLO model and developing the FREELOMS platform;
ITSOS “M. Curie”, has a long experience in elearning and its application in high-school contexts;
it has been coordinator of the SLOOP project;
University of Milan, Centro Metid, is a reference point in elearning at European level;
DEIS, Cork Institute of Technology, expert in design of innovative elearning processes, and responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of several national and international funded projects;
“Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, experienced in elearning and online training projects and research;
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, responsible for the training of trainers in the chemical and informatics fields;
This core group has been joined by the following institutions:
IS “Dolci”, a high-school in Sicily involved in the management of several national and EU-funded projects concerning innovative didactics;
AICA - Associazione italiana per l'informatica ed il calcolo distribuito, an historical national institution on Informatics, in charge of the promotion of EUCIP in Italy; the coordinator of the SLOOP project is now working for AICA;
Slovenian Society Informatika, a milestone in Slovenia concerning Informatics, in charge of the promotion of EUCIP in Slovenia
Both AICA and Slovenian Society Informatika are members of CEPIS (Council of European Professional Informatics Societies), the institution promoting EUCIP at European level. The president of Slovenian Society Informatika is also vice- president of CEPIS.
MED EUROPE EXPORT, a multi sector consortium that includes enterprises which can be distinguished for their technological and innovative capabilities. It has ensured the participation of tutors from companies as well as the dialogue with social parties.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The SLOOP2DESC project is a “Transfer of Innovation” project of the former EU funded project SLOOP.
The results achieved in SLOOP enthused the original partners enough to propose a new project that would widen the scope of the original one. This new project would take into consideration phenomena that had
occurred in the education sphere following the original project:
1. The widespread diffusion of the Open Education Resources (OER) concept. OER was a central idea in the SLOOP project and has recently received increasing attention in educational policies and practices. This is partly due to the rapid appearance of Web 2.0 tools, which have significantly reduced the complexity of the production phase, thus raising the number of people directly involved in the production of online digital contents.
2. The increasing popularity of many Social Networks have encouraged more and more people to go online and connect with other people.
3. The spontaneous growth of communities of practice made up of people sharing a common interest around specific social objects.
4. As a consequence of the previous points, the development of communities of teachers and trainers aimed at collaboratively sharing and producing OER 5. The adoption, in 2008, of the European Qualification
Framework (EQF) by the EU Parliament and Council in April 2008.
The combination of all these elements in the SLOOP2DESC project has produced something which goes far beyond a pure transfer of results from a previous project.
In fact, SLOOP2DESC has promoted professional development for almost 700 teachers and trainers in Europe; it has supported improvements in quality and innovation in vocational education and training systems, institutions and practices; it has supported the development of innovative ICT-based content, services, pedagogies and practice for lifelong learning; it has increased the cooperation between institutions providing learning opportunities, enterprises, social partners; it has developed the role of VET professionals in response to systemic changes such as the shift to learning outcomes and competence-based systems; it has strengthened the liaison between VET professionals and working life (enterprises, occupational sectors, etc.).
In other words, SLOOP2DESC has met different European strategic priorities in the VET field, and the results of the project provide important insights for future actions in e-learning.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the partners who have greatly contributed to the success of the project. We are also grateful to Direzione Scolastica of Sicily and Direzione Scolastica of Lombardia, which have supported the projects since its initial proposal; the Ministry for Education for their support in disseminating the project initiatives. The coordinators gratefully acknowledge the support that ISFOL, Leonardo da Vinci National Agency, has
provided since the very beginning of the project; a particular thank to our tutor Stefano Pignatone.
Our gratitude is due to the European Commission and the Directorate for Education and Culture, which has made the SLOOP2DESC project possible.
Acknowledgments are due to all the people who have registered themselves in the project portal and to those who have enrolled the online course, which have made SLOOP2DESC a special project.
Finally, a special thank to: Piera, Carlo, Giovanni, Paola, Giulio, Claudio, Nives, Maria, Marinella, Lolita, Maria, Giovanna, Franco, Piera, Antonino, Riccardo, Daniela, Angela, Rosangela, Elisabetta, Enzo.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Ravotto, G. Fulantelli , “The SLOOP idea: Sharing free/open learning objects”, in ISBN 978-88-903115-0-5, (2007)
[2] European Commission. Joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme - Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation.http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex UriServ.do?uri= CELEX: 52008XG0405%2801%29:EN:NOT], (2008)
[3] Cedefop. The shift to learning outcomes Policies and practices in Europe. Available from http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/
publications/12900.aspx (2009)
[4] OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (2007).
“Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources”, SourceOECD Education & Skills, Vol. 2007, No. 3.
[5] D. Atkins, J. Brown & A. Hammond, “A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities”. Report to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, (2007).
[6] G. Geser, “Open Educational Practices and Resources: OLCOS Roadmap 2012”. Salzburg Research, EduMedia Group.
http://www.olcos.org/english/roadmap/, (2007)
[7] G.Fulantelli, M.Gentile, D.Taibi, M.Allegra, "The Open Learning Object model for the effective reuse of digital educational resources", in Proc. of the OpenLearn 2007 Conference: Researching open content in education, Milton Keynes, UK, October 30-31, (2007)
[8] M. Gentile, D. Taibi, M. Allegra and G. Fulantelli, "FreeLOms:
supporting the collaborative evolution of "open learning objects"", in Proc. of the 3rd WSEAS/IASME International Conference on ENGINEERING EDUCATION, Vouliagmeni, Greece, Edited by WSEAS, a cura di N.Bardi et alt, ISSN:1790-5117, ISBN: 960:8457-47- 5, July, 2006, pp. 239-244, (2006)
COMPETENCE-BASED LEARNING IN EUROPE
& THE SLOOP2DESC MODEL
Pierfranco Ravotto
AICA, Milan, Italy p.ravotto@aicanet.it
Abstract Sommario
This paper deals with the issue of competence-based learning starting from the definitions provided in the European Qualifications and e-CF Frameworks and suggests that it is necessary to consider the three elements of knowledge, skills and attitudes separately, and to act on them as a whole by placing students in concrete situations in which to produce results.
The experience of the SLOOP2DESC courses shows how this is achievable in a virtual classroom eLearning course.
L'articolo affronta il tema della didattica delle competenze a partire dalle definizioni fornite nei documenti europei EQF ed e-CF e suggerisce che occorra sia prendere in considerazione separatamente i tre elementi conoscenze, abilità e attitudini, sia agire su di essi complessivamente ponendo gli studenti in situazioni concrete in cui produrre risultati.
Successivamente, a partire dall’esperienza dei corsi SLOOP2DESC, indica come sia possibile farlo in un contesto di corso eLearning in classe virtuale.
KEYWORDS: Competences, Knowledge, Skills,
Attitudes, Abilities, EQF, e-CF. KEYWORDS: Competenze, Conoscenze, Abilità,
Attitudini, Capacità, EQF, e-CF.
1. INTRODUCTION
"2desc", added to the name of the previous project SLOOP, indicates the scope of the transfer of innovation:
the SLOOP model of online education and open educational resources has been transferred to the field of competence-based learning and, in particular, informatics competences. "2desc" stands for "to develop European skills and competences".
For some time the European Commission, training experts and national and local authorities have been insisting, with regard to education, on two themes:
competence-based education and the use of ICT to support education and training. These are two issues generally addressed in a distinct way. SLOOP2DESC has had the merit of joining them: is it possible to provide competence-based teaching through the use of ICT?
The courses offered to teachers, are a concrete example of online competence-based learning: a model that has provided an affirmative answer to that question and that can be transferred from the informatics context to other and from teachers' training to students' training.
This article presents the SLOOP2DESC model of competence-based learning, as it has emerged during the project and the training activities involving more than 600 teachers as students in three European countries.
The article is divided into two parts: competence-based learning and the SLOOP2DESC experience of online competence-based activities.
2. COMPETENCE-BASED LEARNING
In 2006 the European Commission for Education and Training set up a list of eight recommended key competences which should be incorporated in all new school curricula. Digital competence and learning to learn are listed among those eight key competences. Even more at the professional level, there is attention to the issue of competence and therefore the request to schools and universities to become engaged in competence-based learning.
Competence-based learning incorporated into education at all levels indicates two major changes:
a shift from content of teaching and training paths to the "learning outcomes" which are likely to be achieved and which can be used either in the further education path or in the world of work and in any other social context;
enables transferability of competences from one subject area to another.
But what do we mean by competences? The European Qualification Framework, EQF, and the European e-Competences Framework, e-CF, provide very similar definition of competence.
From EQF we read: “Competence means the proven ability to use knowledge, skills and personal, social and/or methodological abilities, in work or study situations and in professional and personal development”
[1].
e-CF defines competence as follows: “Competence is a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attitudes to achieving observable results” [2] [3].
From this definition three major dimensions or building blocks of competences emerged:
Knowledge, Skills,
Personal, social and/or methodological abilities or Attitudes.
But a competence is not a simple sum of them: it is the proven ability to use them in a context achieving results!
What recommendations can be given to teachers at all levels and authorities responsible for preparing new educational programs? Essentially the following two main concepts:
all three dimensions - knowledge, skills and attitudes (or "personal, social and/or methodological abilities") - must be taken into account when preparing educational programs or individual teaching lessons;
it is not enough to ensure the acquisition of knowledge and skills, or the development of specific view points; it is also necessary to promote their application in controlled situations in order to glean observable results.
Let us first consider the three issues separately.
2.1 Knowledge
EQF defines Knowledge as “the outcome of the assimilation of information through learning. Knowledge is constituted by a set of facts, principles, theories and practices related to a field of work or study”.
E-CF defines it as “the set of know-what (e.g.
programming languages, design tools...) and can be described by operational descriptions”.
Very often schools and individual teachers only transmit knowledge, the programs are often a list of content that the teacher should explain and that the student must study. The necessary criticism of such a model, however, has resulted, at times, in an underestimation of the importance of acquiring knowledge. As Calvani writes “Today the school has significantly reduced its attention to the cognitive dimension in favour of "other". It has given space to other dimensions, in itself also important (the socio- affective, or awareness of the great problems of the world, etc.); the risk is to assume that these other dimensions are in themselves sufficient to form the competences that future citizens will need" [4].
Knowledge is one of the bases of competences and therefore must be acquired. If it is desirable that the school activity is not limited to a simple transmission of content, and if it is not at all certain that transmission is the most appropriate methodology for the acquisition of content, should however be noted that it is necessary to check carefully that students have acquired the collection
of facts, terminology, principles, theories, procedures, ...
that support the competences to be achieved.
2.2 Skills
EQF defines Skills as “the ability to apply knowledge and use know-how to complete tasks and solve problems”. E-CF defines them as “the ability to carry out managerial or technical tasks”.
The “school for everyone” was born to help people acquire skills: the famous mastery of literacy and numeracy. In language and mathematical teaching, as well as in design and technical subjects, the skills, know- how, has always been the centre of teaching activities.
But it is not always so: often the "know how" is considered a "result”, almost automatic, of knowledge or something to be put off to the work environment.
Knowledge and skills are indeed intertwined, but if skills can generally originate from knowledge, it is also true that “doing” can stimulate the acquisition of knowledge. In addition to this, the acquisition of skills is more likely to be self-checked by the student with a positive effect on her/his involvement in the achievement of learning goals and on her/his motivation to learn.
The importance of skills and knowledge should be emphasized by a careful verification of their acquisition by students.
2.3 Attitudes
I use the term attitudes, proposed in e-CF because it is more concise, but I consider it, at least in a first approximation, as the equivalent “capacity of personal, social and/or methodology abilities” to which EQF do not add specifications.
e-CF defines Attitude as a “cognitive and relational capacity (e.g. analysis capacity, synthesis capacity, flexibility, pragmatism,...)”. It specifies: “It is close to the concepts of ‘manner’ and “demeanour”, it is the French ‘savoir être’”. e-CF also contains the following concepts: “If skills and knowledge are the components, attitudes are the glue, which keeps them together”.
The discourse on attitudes is certainly more complex than that of knowledge and skills as this item implies abilities of very different types. Leaving for another occasion the objective to classify them, we limit ourselves here to a list including personal capabilities, methodological and social abilities (according to EQF) and/or cognitive and social capacities (according to e- CF):
storage capacity, interpretation, extrapolation, link analysis, synthesis and evaluation;
autonomy, responsibility, target orientation/results, ability to organize, ability to concentrate and focus;
awareness, flexibility, ability to orientate themselves;
ability to pose and solve problems;
ability to listen and communicate;
ability to work in groups, to accept different points of view, to support his own point of view, to coordinate and agree to co-ordination;
Surely these are the skills to which teachers are greatly concerned and which affect, in important ways, educational attainment. Often the assessment made by teachers brings together knowledge and specific skills and cognitive abilities (and often social abilities) but without offering the student a clear description of its deficiencies and of related improvement targets.
Above all the risk is to consider attitudes a personal characteristic, something determined by genes and/or social conditions, something on which the primary school may take action, while university and perhaps even the secondary school can’t intervene or influence considering that those attitudes are already acquired (or not acquired) at the time of the individual meeting those organisations.
So the "glue", that holds together knowledge and skills and which is an essential component of competence, is often left out of the training, or, anyway, there is not a conscious, explicit and "organized"
intervention.
2.4 Competences
Competences can be seen to be more then a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes: the successful application of these in practical situations.
Given this definition, schools must facilitate students in the practical application of knowledge, skills and attitudes by placing them in situations that will allow them to operate and interact, producing observable results.
Even if not generalised, experiences of this type already exist. They are substantially of two types: work- based experiences and project-work activities. Work- based learning, by definition offers a work context with its own dynamics and products. Work-project activities focus on the results to be achieved, individually or in- group, and generally go beyond the mere disciplinary context.
What suggestions can be given to promote competence-based teaching? In my opinion the following ones may help:
clearly define the competences to be achieved as a basis of the educational contract with students, precisely define the knowledge and skills on
which those competences are based and provide
"objective" evaluation tests,
make the necessary attitudes explicit and help students self-evaluate and improve in respect to them,
propose collaborative project activities suitable to make students consolidate and reinforce knowledge and skills, and in which they could measure and develop their attitudes (personal, social, methodological abilities),
organize experiences to be carried out outside school/university where, again, they could measure and enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes.
3. ONLINE COMPETENCE-BASED LEARNING IN THE SLOOP2DESC EXPERIENCE
The course, which will be described in a next chapter as “The SLOOP2DESC course”, intended to help participants acquire competences both in the use of eLearning and Web 2.0 tools, and in competence-based learning. To achieve this it worked both on the grounds of the acquisition of individual knowledge and skills, and on the development of attitudes, placing the participants in a concrete context in which to produce usable results (teaching materials to use with students).
First it is worth clarifying that the online learning model we adopted is the virtual classroom in the Moodle environment:
the participants are organized into classes (30-40 people with two tutors), each of them in their own "course",
activities are scheduled so that the students carry out them at the same time,
a strong interaction is required between the students and between students and tutors (in forums and using e-mails, chats, videoconferences), sometimes as debates and exchanges of ideas, some other times as cooperation in carrying out activities (also using tools such as wikis, googledoc, mindmap, ... ).
The course expected the acquisition of a set of knowledge, for example, concerning the Creative Commons licenses, the European documents on key competences, EQF, e-CF, the EUCIP syllabus, ... To provide such knowledge either links to existing presentations and to the original documents have been included or slides with audio, or videos or SCORM objects have been developed.
To consolidate this knowledge, activities like
"reading, listening, …" have been accompanied by a request to discuss it in forums starting from inputs provided by the tutors. For example: "What Creative Commons license do you think is more suitable for teaching materials?".
There are many skills that the SLOOP2DESC course intended to capture: open a Moodle course, include resources, monitor activities of students, produce a learning resource with eXeLearning, create a slideshow with audio and make it available on SlideShare, communicate via Skype, collaborate on a wiki, use GoogleDoc, put a resource to be shared in FreeLOms, … To promote the acquisition of these skills the course proposes existing, or ad hoc developed, tutorials, often in the form of videos on YouTube (or Vimeo) or SlideShare presentations, work proposals, sometimes individual, sometimes in groups. So, for example, for the use of Moodle a "trial course" has been created where participants could practice including resources and activities.
All the modules include a discussion forum and, therefore, discussion among peers and between peers and tutors is one of the main features of the course. In Modules 2 and 3 collaborative activities are planned.
Collaborative activity in Module 2 is essentially functional, in order to learn how to use tools like Skype, GoogleDoc and the wiki. In Module 5 collaborative work aims to produce resources to be used with students.
Discussions and collaborative activities help develop a set of attitudes related to exchanges of ideas, acceptance of different points of view, assumptions of responsibility and, where appropriate, leadership.
The environment in which to exercise these attitudes, namely the net, was in many respects new for teachers who were used to work in a face-to-face environment. And I think that this news has allowed each individual to self-assess her/his strengths and weaknesses and personal growth. This is an important element in the role of online tutors, either in the training of teachers (the tutors of the cascade courses have been selected among the participants of the pilot courses) or with their students.
So the course SLOOP2DESC has dealt with all three elements: knowledge, skills and attitudes/capacities.
It has not acted independently on these different aspects, but has set a context in which to operate: the one of producing, in a collaborative way, open educational resources to use with their students.
So the trainees have been provided with a context where they had to work together to produce observable results, applying and developing the knowledge and skills
they were acquiring and using their attitude to online collaboration to solidify their experiences.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The term e-learning, unfortunately, does not distinguish between two very different models: one based primarily on self-learning, the other - that which we have used in the project - based on interactions and collaboration in a virtual classroom.
In the first model the teaching resources transmit knowledge and in the presence of simulations, may also facilitate the acquisition of skills; and if there is a tutor, its function is to resolve any technical problems or, at most, to support motivation for learning.
The second model - the virtual classroom - is instead focused on the interactions between people, as well as it happens in a face-to-face dimension. It also enables development of attitudes, in particular the relational ones, and above all, enables carrying out collaborative activities within a concrete situation.
REFERENCES
[1] European Commission – Education & Culture, EQF, European Qualification Framework
[2] CEN, E-CF, European e-Competence Framework version 2.0, [3] CEN, E-CF, European e-Competence Framework version 2.0, Users Guidelines
[4] Calvani A., Teorie dell’istruzione e carico cognitivo. Modelli per una scuola efficace, Erickson.
EUCIP AND E-CF CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS Roberto Bellini1, Pierfranco Ravotto1, Niko Schlanberger2
1AICA, Milan, Italy
2S. D. Informatika, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1 r.bellini@aicanet.it, p.ravotto@aicanet.it
2 niko.schlamberger@gmail.com
Abstract Sommario
The article describes the two competence-based systems used in the Italian and Slovenian courses: EUCIP and e- CF.
L’articolo illustra i due sistemi di competenze utilizzati nei corsi italiano e sloveno: EUCIP ed e-CF.
KEYWORDS: Competences, EUCIP, e-CF. KEYWORDS: Competenze, EUCIP, e-CF.
The SLOOP2DESC courses in Italy and Slovenia had, as a specific target, teachers of computer science. A number of teachers from other disciplines were also enrolled in the Italian courses. One of the goals was to familiarise them with EUCIP and e-CF, two competence frameworks related to informatics, which are getting more and more well known.
The EUCIP system has been preferred to e-CF as a reference framework for the production of educational resources for students, as, in 2008, it was the better known and the more detailed as far as the description of knowledge, skills and competences is concerned.
1. EUCIP FRAMEWORK
EUCIP [1], European Certification of Informatics Professionals, is the competence framework defined by CEPIS [2] - Council of European Professional Informatics Societies – and run in Italy by AICA: a system of certifications and services for individuals and businesses. The heart of the system is the syllabus which is divided into three areas: Plan, Operate and Build, and in 18 macro-categories of competences.
A. Plan: Use and Management of Information Systems
A.1 Organisations and their Use of IT A.2 Management of IT
A.3 Measuring the Value of IT A.4 The Global Networked Economy A.5 Project Management
A.6 Presentation and Communication Techniques A.7 Legal and Ethical Issues
B. Build: Development and implementation of Information Systems
B.1 Systems Development Process and Methods
B.1 Systems Development Process and Methods B.2 Data Management and Databases
B.3 Programming
B.4 User Interface and Web Design
C. Operate Knowledge Area: Operation and Support of Information Systems
C.1 Computing Components and Architecture C.2 Operating Systems
C.3 Communications and Networks C.4 Network Services
C.5 Wireless and Mobile Computing C.6 Network Management
C.7 Service Delivery and Support
Each macro-category is then further declined in the categories for a total of 156 categories for each of which are given knowledge and skills up to a total of about 3,000 elementary units of knowledge.
As shown in the image given below, EUCIP framework identifies 21 Elective profiles characterized by a common set of skills, EUCIP core, and a twenty- second figure, the IT Administrator.
For each profile it is indicated at what level (deep and incisive), the 156 categories of competences should be possessed.
Such a structured syllabus is a powerful tool that allows to:
design training,
define assessment tests for knowledge and skills, assessment and self-assessment leading to the
identification of the 'profile of proximity’ compared with 22 figures and related training gaps,
qualify employees and suppliers,
define a common language between business and particularly between those of supply and demand of ICTs.
It is just this last element that has led CNIPA (now DigitPA) to indicate the EUCIP profiles as a reference for ICT contracts of the Italian Public Administration.
1.1 IT Administrator Certification
The IT Administrator is the administrator of computer systems in small companies or branch offices of larger organizations, where one person is required to have a broad spectrum of operational ICT infrastructure.
At an initial level, there is the IT Administrator
Fundamentals certification which can be acquired through an automated examination by an authorized competence centre; it is to ascertain the ownership of essential knowledge and skills for an IT Administrator.
The assessment of knowledge and skills of a high- level IT Administrator is made by 5 tests consisting of a theory test (automated test, available in Italian or English) and a practical test (configuration and practical activities on systems):
Hardware (theory test only).
Operating systems (either Windows or Linux).
Network services (in either a Windows or Linux environment).
Expert use of networks (heterogeneous environment).
Safety (heterogeneous environment).
The complete IT Administrator certification requires the overcoming of the 5 exams, but each provides, however, a specific certification.
1.2 EUCIP core Certification
Unlike the IT Administrator, the other 21 professional profiles require, as a prerequisite, the EUCIP-Core certification, obtained by means of 3 exams consisting of automated testing and done in authorized centres - currently only in English - and for the following three areas:
Plan Build, Operate.
The certification guarantees the possession of a core set of essential knowledge for all computer professionals.
A.1.3 Elective profiles Certification
The competence assessment for one of the 21 professional certifications is based on two steps:
A. The presentation of a portfolio by the candidate:
the school training path, EUCIP-Core certification,
certifications acquired in the ICT sector, both independent and vendors (e.g. ITIL, Cisco, Microsoft, ...),
professional experience.
B. An interview (oral examination) in which examiners - in principle a manager AICA-EUCIP, a representative of the university and a representative of the corporate world - note the candidate's communication skills, check the contents of her/his portfolio and, if necessary, get further information as far as the candidate's competences are concerned.
Admission to the oral examination of the portfolio is conditional, based on a set of criteria/scores which are aimed at verifying whether the candidate can provide evidence both of owning the knowledge and skills required (those defined by the syllabus for the professional profile of interest) and of having actually played the professional role in question for a certain number of months/years (depending on the different profile). So the certification of 'knowing how to act in situations' is guaranteed from having acted in the situation; in this way what is declared in the portfolio is assessed during the interview.
2. E-COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK
The European e-Competence Framework [3], or e-CF, has been developed within CEN Workshop on ICT Skills [4] and under the encouragement of the European Commission, with the aim of providing a framework of ICT competences that can be used and understood by European companies both in ICT supply and demand areas, ICT professionals, managers and HR departments, government, key stakeholders from education and social partners.
Version 1.0 was published in 2008, shortly before the beginning of the SLOOP2DESC project. Version 2.0 is 2010.
The e-Competence Framework is structured in four dimensions. Dimension 1 identifies 5 areas of e- Competences, derived from the ICT business processes:
Plan, Build, Run, Enable and Manage.
