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General information

Background

UNESCO Bangkok’s ICT in Education Policy project promotes appropriate and cost effective models and strategies of ICT integration in a range of educational sectors. These include Non Formal Education (NFE), Early Childhood and Primary Education, Secondary Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Pre- and In-service Professional training, Educational Management and Information Systems and (perhaps) Higher Education. The project’s aims include:

  • Improving national policy makers’ understanding of the pros and cons associated with the integration of ICTs in education and training
  • Increasing awareness of the wide range of ICT-based educational tools and resources that are available for enhancing educational activities
  • Enhancing awareness and vision of decision makers about the appropriate and judicious use of ICTs in education
  • Strengthening national capacity to develop appropriate ICT in education visions, realistic policies, strategies and masterplans.

One of the key activities conducted in support of these aims in 2003 was a seminar for high-level decision-makers. This seminar assessed the most important planning and management responsibilities associated with ICT integration in education and policy-makers’ needs for support in these tasks. A clear output of this meeting was a recommendation that tools be developed to help policy-makers carry out this important task. Policy-makers are overwhelmed by the proliferation of ICT in education publications and have very limited time to browse and look for the information they need to make appropriate decisions. It was agreed that a needs-based toolkit, translating the expertise of key specialists and organisations into applicable principles providing support for decision making, would be a valuable resource. This toolkit could also be used by UNESCO in its advisory services for Member States and by other participating organisations in their ICT in education work.

Follow-up Workshop
Since the 2003 seminar, the ICT in Education team has done a considerable amount of background work related to the development of the requested tools. Currently available tools have been identified and described and much more is known about their potential for enhancing the educational process. There is also much more known about the necessary resources required to make use of these tools and the kinds of outputs they produce.

But a considerable amount of information is still required before actual toolkit development can begin. To ensure that the tools developed as part of this effort are used and are useful , it is necessary to better define user needs, potential uses of ICTs, the specific tasks for which ICTs provide benefits and those for which more traditional approaches are more effective and efficient, the tool format(s) users will be most comfortable with and the resources users are willing/able to invest in using a tool for a given output.

For these reasons, and to answer these questions, it was felt to be necessary to organize a follow-up workshop to the 2003 meeting. During this workshop, advice from practitioners and experts will be solicited and documented on the main priorities and on where to limit the scope of these tools.


Objectives of the Workshop
This workshop has been planned to address the needs articulated in the first seminar. It will bring together ICT-in-education specialists from research, international organizations/institutions and practitioners from Ministries of Education to develop a clear “blueprint” for the tools requested. It will:

  • offer participants a better understanding of the needs of policy-makers, through presentation of the needs analysis study undertaken by the office, and through presentation of specialists/policy-makers experiences in this field;
  • demonstrate existing tools and provide background information on their requirements for use, costs and the kinds of outputs they produce;
  • provide an opportunity for policy-makers to evaluate the use of existing tools in hands on sessions, and draw implications for the proposed toolkit;
  • facilitate an agreement on the preferred format, structure, and content of the toolkit that policy-makers and practitioners would find useful in helping them better develop appropriate ICT in education visions, strategies and programmes.

Expected results
The main output of the workshop will be an agreed upon focus, “blueprint” and structure for the toolkit. This blueprint will be based on several sub outputs:

  • a clear articulation and documentation of user needs
  • an agreement on the key features and outputs of the toolkit
  • a consensus about the tool format(s), key features, and content which will ensure both that users will be comfortable with using the tools and that the outputs can be achieved;
  • an assessment of the resources users are willing/able to invest in using a tool for a given output.

This information will provide the basis for refining the draft structure developed as an output of the first meeting. This structure consisted of:

a. The decision-maker’s essentials – a concise summary of what is known about the ways and means ICTs have proven their potential to positively impact the educational process as well as those areas where more traditional approaches offer more value in different country and educational programme contexts
b. An ICT in education assessment tool to help analyse current country and school/CLC situations
c. A tool to guide policy makers in the creation of appropriate ICT integration models
d. A tool to develop skeletons of master plans for enabling ICT in education policies on the macro-, meso- and micro-levels.

Participation
Key participants will include individuals involved in and responsible for the design and implementation of policies for integrating ICT in Education. They will come from Member States in the region including representatives from Cambodia, Pakistan, Thailand, Lao PDR, Mongolia and Samoa. Additionally, several leading expert consultants with extensive experience in assisting policy makers in developing national educational strategies, plans and visions will be invited. Special attention will be given to inviting experts involved in creating toolkits and other resources in support of policy making in education.

Venue
The Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel
199 Sukhumvit Soi 22
Bangkok 10110
Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2 261 9000
Fax: +66 (0) 2 261 9530 to 4
Email: imperial@imperialhotels.com