Commission selects 27 projects to promote ICT use in education
The Commission has earmarked six million euro for 27 projects designed to promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education, as part of its Socrates programme. The so-called Minerva projects typically involve between five and eight partners from at least three different European countries, and were selected from 250 applications. The projects will run for between two and three years, helping to ensure that new educational technologies are effectively exploited in a wide range of subjects. Presenting the projects on 26 October, Commissioner for Education and Training Ján Figel' said: 'In the past decade, information and communication technologies have transformed the teaching environment in Europe's education systems at all levels [...] The Minerva action was launched in 1999, and is a major actor in supporting projects that couple technological and pedagogical innovation. In doing so, it is helping Europe to prepare for the challenges of the knowledge-intensive globalised economy of the future.' The Commission highlights that installing new technology in classrooms does not in itself lead to improved teaching and learning conditions, which is where the Minerva action comes in. It specifically aims to improve the exploitation of technology in education, as well as encouraging innovation. The most common themes represented in the current round of projects are using ICT to teach scientific subjects and foreign languages, with five and six initiatives respectively. New technologies to be exploited in the projects include online video and mobile technologies. In selecting the successful projects, the Commission says that it paid special attention to their plans for dissemination, to ensure that the wider educational community in Europe will benefit from their results and experiences. Among the successful projects that received highest marks from independent evaluation experts were Clim@tic - virtual climatic laboratory, and iColl - innovation through collaboration. The main aim of the former is to raise the awareness of young people concerning local and global climate change, by establishing a link between research and education in the form of a virtual climatic lab for primary and secondary schools. The project aims to turn pupils into real researchers as a way of raising their interest in science. The iColl project, meanwhile, aims to explore the subject of innovation in an international business studies curriculum through new forms of learning and training. The target groups of the initiative are students of business administration, lecturers and managers of international companies, while the expected outputs include cross-cultural virtual seminars, training courses, evaluation of cross-cultural approaches to innovation, and international workshops.