We are proudly present here the NETIS thematic issue of Hungarian Information Society Quarterly.
The thematic issue has been published in mid-September: 11 articles, 10 authors, more than 400 thousand characters. The more than 500 copies are disseminated countrywide and can be purchased at bigger local newspaper stands in Hungary. The issue contains country reports (Estonian and Greek ones), papers and a summary of 6th Networked Learning Conference, chapters from the Textbook. All articles are translated into Hungarian.
Detailed content (abstracts in English, however the articles are in Hungarian):
Robert Pintér
Information society studies in practice – introducing the NETIS project
The NETIS (Network for Teaching Information Society) consortium was formed by seven European institutions of higher education in 2006 to develop, in the frames of a two-year project supported by the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci program, a widely accessible, innovative and sustainable course on the information society aiming at the improvement of skills and competences of students, teachers, researchers, experts and the wider public. Course materials were organized in a modular structure, taking advantage of international synergies to produce reliable content to be adapted in various educational systems. A course book was prepared in several languages and made available in both printed and electronic format. A textbook containing relevant country reports and a collection of teachers’ and students’ contributions was also elaborated. At the same time, test teaching in five participating countries was organized. By these means, using the methodology of blended learning, NETIS expects to increase the participants’ awareness and reflections on the impact of the information society on everyday life. Research accounts and interim reports on the experiences, with proposals for further implementation, are being published.
Keywords: Network for teaching information society (NETIS), information society, networked learning
István Bessenyei – Zsolt Tóth
E-learning: Experiences gained in the NETIS project
The authors of this paper summarize the experiences gained when teaching the NETIS course on the information society at the University of West Hungary. If every student turns to the lecturer with his or her questions, and the lecturer checks every step of the students in acquiring their knowledge, the result will be an unmanageable flood of information. Consequently, prior knowledge and life experience of participating students had to be relied upon in order to render knowledge exchange between students possible and to lessen the burden of the lecturer. This, however, was only possible if a detailed portfolio, with knowledge map containing the student’s competencies, successes and failures, and basic biographical data was made available for each student. The article introduces a sample of possible themes for such mapping of one’s competencies. The first step in self-organized learning of participants is self-appraisal of the level of their knowledge, with the help of competency catalogues or knowledge mapping. The authors propound a sample self-check questionnaire and expound some inherent contradictions of the organization, regulation and evaluation of networked teaching and learning, including the difficulties of creating knowledge maps and skills portfolios.
Keywords: e-learning, network learning, knowledge map, e-portfolio, self-organized learning
Zsolt Tóth – István Bessenyei
Constructivism in creating learning environments and the Moodle system
After giving a general overview on the development of virtual learning environments and e-learning management systems, the authors of the paper outline the Moodle L(C)MS system, used as the NETIS project’s e-learning environment. Among the various free open source software packages designed to create course management systems (CMSs), the most popular Moodle system owes its popularity not only to its technical characteristics, but to its flexible architecture, based on constructivist learning theory which can be a rich source for the renewal of ineffective methodology. However, even new courses created in Moodle are rarely based on constructivist foundations. According to the authors, the causes of this can primarily be traced back to general environmental shortcomings of present-day university-level instruction, while certain problems of the constructivist approach are of secondary importance.
Keywords: constructivism, e-learning, Learning Management Systems, L(C)MS
Tarmo Kalvet
The Estonian Information Society Developments Since the 1990s
Since the 1990s Estonia has made remarkable successes in information society development. The current article describes achievements in key fields and discusses the main factors that have made such developments possible. It asserts that the major factors that have affected as well as contributed to the evolution of information society in Estonia include the economic factors, active role of the public sector, technological competency, and socio-cultural factors. It is argued that telecommunications and banking sectors are the cornerstones of Estonian information society developments; they are also behind major initiatives dedicated to computer training and awareness raising. Activities of the public sector have been also crucial in providing favourable legislative environment, but also in launching infrastructural projects and in implementing innovative e-services. Public sector developments have been strongly influenced by some non-governmental organisations. ICT skills and R&D competencies, a lot of which is Soviet inheritance, have been also crucial.
Keywords: Estonia, information society, economy, benchmarking
Veronika Stoffa
THE ROLE OF ANIMATION IN ELECTRONIC COURSE BOOKS
The article deals with the objectives and the role of animation in computer assisted learning. The author offers an in-depth analysis of the importance of audiovisual interactive learning material elaborated in multimedia form using modern information and communication technologies. Animations not only motivate the student and decrease the time needed for understanding new information but also support the creation of a virtual learning environment. The paper gives a short review of several types of animation and their characteristics supported by various examples.
Keywords: electronic teaching/learning materials, animation, interactivity, audiovisual presentation, multimedia, information and communication technologies, educational process, virtual learning environment.
Chris Sadler – Tarmo Kalvet
Information Society Studies in Practice – a Case Study in Networked Learning: student needs and feedback in the NETIS project
The Network for Teaching Information Society (NETIS) consortium has designed a curriculum for studies concerning the information society, aimed at university undergraduates. Courses can be delivered in various pedagogic formats including (appropriately) networked learning. NETIS participants consulted students prior to developing this curriculum and tested the learning materials in different contexts. In this paper, the results of the consultation survey and the design of the monitoring instruments are discussed and some preliminary results from the trials are reported.
Keywords: Network for Teaching Information Society (NETIS), information society studies, networked learning, students, case study
Kerstin V. Siakas
A Distributed Multicultural Network for Teaching Information Society: Cultural Diversity Aspects
This paper reports on the experiences of networking within a diverse intercultural and interdisciplinary environment involving research, development of learning material and teaching on the same e-learning platform within the frame of the NETIS project. The students come from different educational environments encompassing different disciplines, and from different national cultures with different languages. The importance of taking the existing cultural particularities and the national information and communication technology (ICT) environment into consideration is highlighted by emphasizing caution and awareness of particularities, such as differences in the development of national information societies, institutional regulations, disciplines (students from informatics and social sciences), language, attitudes and values, as well as operational issues, such as numbers of students participating in the course on information society in the different countries. The project team, aiming at continuous improvement of the course, tried to combine classroom experience and research evidence by sharing and evaluating feedback from both students and educators.
Keywords: Network for teaching information society, NETIS, networked life-long learning, interculturality
Kerstin Siakas – Themis Kotsialos
The Greek information society
The authors of this country report argue that the information society in Greece is developing slowly, and Greece is close to the bottom of the EU ranking regarding most indicators. Broadband adoption is not sufficient, and even narrowband is not widespread. Due to shortcomings of the infrastructure, across all internet services usage is far below average. Accordingly, basic and specialist ICT skills in Greece are low. However, important encouraging steps are being taken to improve the situation. ICT development initiatives for regulation, education, and infrastructure development have been announced and several programs are being implemented. A fundamental precondition for success is rapid completion of liberalisation of the telecommunications services market. The Digital Strategy 2006-2013 aims at bridging the digital gap that still exists between Greece and other member states of the EU.
Keywords: Greece, information society, broadband access, telecommunications, ICT
The materials will be available at the official website of the quarterly and at the NETIS site as well.
