Joulupukeista ja sitoutuneesta kehittämisestä

The future of Kosovo

EU, USAID, Save the Children ja muut kansainväliset organisaatiot tekevät paljon töitä tukeakseen Kosovon koulutuksen kehittymistä.

Itse olen päässyt sisään tähän maailmaan Kosovo Twinning EU-hankkeen kautta. Kahdesti olen nyt Kosovossa vieraillut: kesäkuussa tutustumassa kouluihin, kunnallisiin opetustoimen päättäjiin ja opetusministeriön suunnitelmiin; heinäkuussa myös kouluttamassa opettajia, opettajien kouluttajia ja ministeriön väkeä.

Käynteihin eli "missioihin" on liittynyt aimo annos ennakkovalmisteluja. Kosovossa on uusi, varsin moderni Curriculum Framework eli opetussuunnitelman perusteet. Se lähtee tulevaisuuden avaintaidoista ja siitä, millaisia osaajia perus- ja toisen asteen koulutusjärjestelmän tulee tuottaa. Opetuksen ytimessä on "curriculum areas" ja aineiden välinen ilmiöpohjainen yhteistyö. Kaiken keskiössä on oppijakeskeinen toimintamalli.

Kuulostaako siltä, että tähän tulisi päästä Suomessakin?

Pristina Library in the Uni campus area. Clearly the brains of the country.

Kosovossa on pilotoitu uutta opetussuunnitelmaa kymmenessä koulussa vuoden ajan. Sen tueksi on hyvä setti opettajan ja rehtorin oppaita, jotka avaavat sekä opetussuunnitelman ideologiaa että antavat käytännöllisiä pedagogisia työkaluja. Näistä moni suomalainenkin opettaja voisi ammentaa uutta työhönsä.

Example from the teacher guidebooks. Great tool for self-assessment.

Kosovo Twinning -hankkeen tehtävänä on tukea nimenomaan opetussuunnitelman implementointia. Oma osallisuuteni keskittyy toisaalta oppimisympäristön ja -järjestelyjen kehittämiseen, toisaalta yhteistoiminnallisuuden, verkostoitumisen ja vertaisjakamisen kehittämiseen. Molemmissa näissä tieto- ja viestintätekniikalla on keskeinen rooli.

Tapasin kesäkuussa Pristinassa oikeushammaslääkäri Helena Rannan. Hän kuvasi osuvasti tapaa, jolla kansainväliset järjestöt ovat tukeneet Kosovoa Jugoslavian sodan päättymisen (1998) jälkeen. Hän kutsui sitä joulupukkimalliksi.

Joulupukki on se, joka tulee paikalle hyväntahtoisesti, jakaa erilaisia lahjoja (vaikkapa tietokoneita kouluihin) ja juttelee hetken aikaa mukavia. Leluilla leikitään joulun pyhät, ja tammikuussa palaa sama arki kuin ennen joulua. Missioiden aikana tästä näki ja kuuli monia esimerkkejä.

Tulee mieleen kotimainen hanketoiminta. Saadaan rahoitusta EU:lta tai Oph:lta tai Tekesiltä, mutta mikä muuttuu? Ehkä niiden aktiivisten hankkeessa mukana olevien opettajien toimintatapa. Vaan useinkaan oppilaitoksen toimintakulttuuriin parivuotinen hanke ei vaikuta tuota eikä tätä. Vaikuttavuus on heikko, tieto ei leviä.

Suomessa on onneksi varsin vahva koulutusinfra. Varsinkin opetushallitus kantaa huolta, että hyvät käytännöt leviävät. Kosovon ministeriö on aikamoisen muutoshaasteen edessä.

Computer lab is used only for ICT teaching.

Kosovon kouluissa on myös paljon vanhakantaista asennetta. Oppiminen on opettajajohtoista opetuksen seuraamista, erityisiä oppijoita ei tunnisteta ja tvt:tä käytetään pelkästään atk-oppiaineen opiskeluun. Töitä on siis paitsi ministeriön, myös kentän tason toimintamalleissa.

Kosovo Twinning -hanke on suunniteltu välttämään joulupukkimalli. Sen pohjana on, että molemmat osapuolet sitoutuvat kehittämiseen ja resursoivat toimintaa. Tähän yhteiseen työhön ja uuden opetussuunnitelman mukaisen toimintakulttuurin juurruttamiseen on aikaa kolme vuotta.

Kosovolaiset opettajat näyttivät puolestaan hyvää esimerkkiä vaikkapa suomalaisille virkaveljilleen ja -sisarilleen. He tulivat innokkaasti kesken kesälomansa koulutukseen oppimaan uutta, osallistuivat aktiivisesti ryhmätöihin, ja jopa kisasivat keskenään kuka saa tehdä ylimääräisen tehtävän ennen seuraavaa koulutusta - joka pidetään parin viikon kuluttua, viimeisenä viikonloppuna ennen koulun alkua.

School website done by the students.

Kosovo-työ on antanut paljon omalle kehittymiselleni jo nyt. Taustatyönä osallistuin kesän aikana kolmeen MOOCiin (Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills, e-Learning Ecologies, ICT in Primary Education), joiden kautta opin paljon uutta. Kosovon opetussuunnitelman perusteet ja siihen liittyvät opaskirjaset poikivat myös ideoita täällä sovellettavaksi. Myös tuttu suomalainen malli näyttäytyy uudessa valossa, kun sitä ja suomalaisia oppijalähtöisen toiminnan esimerkkejä esittelee uudessa kontekstissa.

Heinäkuun mission raportissa pohdin tvt-pilottikoulujen roolia ja vertaismentoroinnin malliin perustuvaa tukea. Siltä pohjalta varmastikin löytyy ideoita toteutettavaksi myös täällä Suomessa, ja nimenomaan omassa työssäni Espoon Omniassa.

Erään kosovolaiskoulun opettajia kiinnosti keskustelussamme eniten se, mitä laitteita he saavat ja kuinka paljon. Olivat varsin yllättyneitä, että minä olen jo laatinut listaa mihin heidän tulee sitoutua voidakseen pitää lelut "joulun" jälkeenkin.

Setting criteria for innovation leader / ICT pilot schools

Kosovar teachers in their project-based learning workshop in July 2014.

We are handing out hundreds of laptops, tens of mobile devices, and we offer free training to use them and free facilitation in developing the use of ICT in education. Who wouldn't be interested?

We have a plan on investing in innovation leader schools: helping them to implement the new, progressive national curriculum framework of Kosovo, assisting them with their ICT in education implementation, and designing a model how these schools can serve as resource centres in their regions.

We are to support them in transforming their education, so that the bold words of the curriculum framework about key competences, learner outcomes, and curriculum area collaboration take their place in the classrooms.

What if we set criteria for the schools chosen and asked for promises about making a change? What are they obliged to accomplish (or try to accomplish) and what kind of changes can we expect? How should we assess and evaluate if the schools are progressing annually in the path we will pave with them?

What's your take on the list below – just a quick thought, even without knowing the context or the situation in Kosovo?

To get the extra supplies and support, the schools chosen to be pilots or “resource centres” are required to

• do an ICT equipment and training needs analysis,
• promote use of ICT in all subjects and in curriculum area collaboration,
• involve students in developing ICT use,
• inform and involve parents and community about whys and hows of 21st century learning (key competences),
• develop administrative use of ICT with assistance and expertise of our project,
• share their best practices with other schools (also online),
• provide onsite/on-the-job help as resource centres,
• give feedback and respond to surveys (onsite and online) during our project, and
• develop a plan for ICT use for SEN learners.

These sketchy thoughts are purely my own, uttered as a short term expert in the project. Some thoughts, please, especially if you've been on either side in a similar situation. Thanks!

Happy campers of Web 2.0

What does it actually look like when three experts from different countries work online planning a teacher training?

Yes, you're right: not actually very much different from watching grass grow. People at their digital devices, editing a shared document or skyping. I started to wonder had we actually done anything and drew a mind map of the process.

What a great set of tools there are in the world, practically free of charge! Google Drive/Documents, Skype, Youtube, Slideshare, Popplet etc. We are such happy campers of Web 2.0!

(If this embedded Popplet doesn't load, use this link.
With iPad you need a Flash-supporting browser like Puffin)

We are to train Kosovar teacher trainers on Monday and Tuesday. It's such a great opportunity and a start for a long-term collaboration – but, oh boy, it's been some work to get this far in planning it. 

They've got a well thought-out national curriculum framework in Kosovo. It is accompanied by a good set of practical guidebooks. I must say it's something we are in need of here in Finland. Particularly the way key competences, learner-centred approach and curriculum areas are in the core of the curriculum.

Here's one presentation that sheds light to what we are about next week. Give us a thumbs up!

The last slides visualize our planning process. (Link to Slideshare)

Twinning, or 21st century skills in Kosovo

My first week in Prishtina in the Twinning Kosovo project is now completed.

I was to identify and assess current models and practices for sharing experiences on teaching, and to recommend how to develop them in the context of the new Kosovo Curriculum Framework.

On Monday evening I wasn't expecting a lot from this week, but right from Tuesday morning the days have exceeded all my expectations. Visiting and assessing four schools, attending a Kosovo Pedagogical Institute teacher training for a day, and having other meetings with experts and ministry officials have shed light to my questions.


My special interest is how 21st century skills and ICT in education is implemented. Not much, I have to say. Excluding international projects like the ones led by USAID (see here), the Internet is not used by the pupils and students.

Collaborative knowledge creation and ICT use for knowledge retrieval during lessons is not a practice yet. It seems not to be a case of lacking in skills but in attitude. That poses some problems to be dealt with when the new curriculum framework is to be actuated.

It is imperative for the Twinning Kosovo project to understand the society, ie. the Kosovo situation in order to benefit from the very different approach of KCF compared to the previous national curriculum, particularly regarding the 21st century skills and competences.

Main issue impeding changes towards implementing the underlying ideology behind the new curriculum framework is the prevalent thinking that didactic wise there is no need for change, and when examples of new methods (like problem based learning & the students’ information retrieval from the internet) are introduced, in many discussions with the educators it was explained that “not here, not in Kosovo.”

I was glad that I met a lot of people and was able to identify schools, practices and people who had already experimented new pedagogy, and who were eager to try new methods if they got assistance - which so suitably is one of the tasks of the Twinning Kosovo project.

We are to collaborate with 107 schools in Kosovo, of which 6 will be chosen as pilot schools. I have found out that the "Innovation Leader" model that Diana Laurillard has presented suits to the situation here and to our projects goals. (see slides 10-12 of my presentation ICT in education: setting criteria for the pilot schools).

So, it's Saturday and I'm sipping wine while waiting to fly back home. Such a good feeling and great expectations towards the next trip here. It'll take place in the middle of July. For that I have to plan a two-day training for trainers on core curriculum areas and student assessment.

There's a Google Album having some more photos.

Material for 'ICT in education' policy-making

My first Kosovo mission is only week away. Here are two presentations you might find useful.

ICT in education: transformation, not substitution from Esko Lius

ICT in education: examples on supporting the teachers from Esko Lius

Three recipes for ICT in Education

I'm heading to Pristina, Kosovo in some weeks. The line-up is very interesting, as I am to meet experts in the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, as well as with some other parties and attend school visits.

Our agenda is ICT capacity building in education on the national level. For that I'm updating my knowledge on useful resources and models in order to facilitate building up the necessary policies and actions.

Among other stuff I'm reading (and re-reading) some UNESCO technical papers and reports. Let's see how they will mix and mingle in my mind now when I have a go at them as a bunch. I'll share my notions and ideas when I'm more into them.

• ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (v.2) helps to develop comprehensive national teacher ICT competency policies
• ICT-in-Education Toolkit contains a set of tools and a systematic process to plan and evaluate development programs enhanced by ICT
• Guide to Measuring ICT in Education presents a set of ICT in education indicators, methodologies for collection and calculation, and even a proposal for a prototype questionnaire

Mobile learning – a bliss or a mess?

When an innovation turns into your regular cup of tea, wouldn't you want to know what you are actually committing to and how it affects your business?

Be it smartboards, flipped classroom, or gamification, learning styles or neurolinguistic programming, there is a variety of educational fads that we might put to use in the classroom – without having any clue whether they are a solution or just another mess in the learning process.

How is it with mobile learning?


We've drawn up a roadmap to facilitate the active application of mobile learning and particularly the BYOD model in our TVET powerhouse Omnia. (slideshow below, in Finnish).

In order to achieve major changes in the working and teaching culture, there is a need for the personnel to be instructed in taking advantage of educational technology and teaching practices that support learning in the digital world.

We've done a lot of piloting in mobile learning already, and the digital world learning culture is gaining foothold rapidly.

What do we know about the effects, and the benefit-cost ratio? How do we measure various direct and indirect consequences?

We've already taken various measures to gather information, like carried out surveys on campuses, given questionnaires to those who've borrowed iPads from the library etc. Our approach hasn't been very comprehensive or thorough, though.

Surely there are qualitative questions in our surveys meant to evaluate the advantages of mobile learning. And definitely we gather quantitative data as well. But now we want to move forward.

Trawling the net for research on the subject yielded only small fish. I started reading Salman Khan's The One World School House this morning, as I expected him to be the one who knows about analysizing educational data, but so far the first forty pages have been a disappointment. So, proper research papers might be a better option.


Have you found useful resources on evaluating and measuring the effects of mobile learning? Has your school come up with practices to share? Do me – and many of the blog readers, I guess – a favour and leave a comment!

BYOD case Omnia (in Finnish) from Esko Lius