EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS Vision and Reality

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EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS Vision and Reality

• Vladimir Batagelj, University of Ljubljana,
• Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ljubljana,
  Slovenia
• Alenka _at_ibert, Primary school of Cvetko Golar,
• Škofja Loka, Slovenia
• Vladislav Rajkovi, University of Maribor,
• Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kranj, and
  
• Joef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Borut ampelj, National Education Institute,
• Ljubljana, Slovenia

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CONTENTS

• critical comparison of some existing educational
  networks by their contents and services
• some guidelines for educational network
  developers
• redesign of Slovenian Educational Network -
  SIO/SEN

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EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS

• The first educational services on the
• Internet were established around 1989
• protocols such as FTP, Gopher and
• Veronica
• turning point in 1993
• HTTP protocol and browsers
• (Mosaic and later Netscape...)

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Few educational networks
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WHAT IS AN EDUCATIONAL NETWORK?
what?
to whom?
organization of educational web sites in a useful
system
teachers, students, parents ...
why ?

• to find useful information,
• to publish their experiences and materials,
• to collaborate with partners in educational
• projects,
• to communicate with colleagues (exchange of
• experiences, ON-LINE communication),
• to support open and flexible learning.

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SERVICES AND CONTENTS OF EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS

• About - the basic information 7
• Links 8
• Distribution and exchange of resources 9
• ON - LINE communications 10
• Info - frequently required information 11
• Free time activities 12
• English 13

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About

• introductory and basic information
• about the educational network - EN,
• goals and concept of EN,
• instructions and hintes for its efficient use.

8
Links
types
9
to institutions
to contents (subject pages and materials)
link forms
indexes
catalogues search engines
9
types

• servers of institutions related to
• education ministry, museums, archives,
• art galleries, libraries,
• news, media services, publishers,
• institutions supporting informatization
• of schools tehnical support, manuals and
• instructions.

10
Websites of individual schools

• basis of EN,
• common elements adresses, staff,
• school council, school calendar and time
• table, contact hours, curricula, health
• care, safety regulations and free-time
• activities,
• specific offer.

11
Distribution and exchange of resources
classification
by users 12
by subject math, arts.
accessibility commercial/demo/free
mode text, sound, picture, video...
An easy access to needed resources should be
provided!
12

• Teachers
• cooperate,
• exchange their experiences, opinions
• and educational materials,
• new challenges of professional development.

Users

• Students
• Internet is a rich source
• useful information for
• projects or short lecture notes,
• communications with friends,
• plenty of entertainment.

• Parents
• general information about school
• and its activities,
• direct communication with teachers,
• and advisory services,
• exchange opinions about current
• problems and dilemas with other
• parents.

13
ON - LINE communications
Types e-mail, mailing-lists, bulletin boards,
conferences (notes, chat, video), hypertext
(pasive, active and interactive).

• International projects
• KIDLINK,
• IEARN,
• ESP,
• EUN projects Socrates...
• NetD_at_ys.

New challenges in open and distance learning!
14
Info - information about activities

• information about events
• competitions, contests, performances
• instructions, manuals, guidelines
• computerization of school, Intranet
• different statistics resume the state and
• development of EN.

15
Free time activities
Make an EN more attractive for kids and support
learning by playing.
Forms lumber room, games, web news papers,
competitions, entertainment.
16
English
For nonenglish based networks it is important to
have an english window into a network.
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ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES
Network administration18
Animation activities 19
User interface 20
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Network administration

• technical support,
• permanent development of concept and strategy,
• coordination with users and supporters,
• permanent monitoring and evaluation of EN.

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There is no ideal organization form!!
organization form
local environment and cultural characteristics
goals of EN
The structure should be flexible to allow easy
growth in different directions.
20
Animation activities
Attractiveness of EN can be achived by
providing useful information and different
activities such as quizzes, competitions,
events, contests, projects, line newspapers, on-
line meetings, ...
21
User interface

• sufficient quantity and quality and extent
• of information,
• quick and easy access to these,
• interactivity and openness to users
• contributions,
• taking care about limitations of available
• browsers and diversity of users.

22
Language and writting

• problem of nonenglish ENs,
• the right solution for the alphabet
• problem is Unicode combined with the
• OpenType fonts and the FACE attribute in
• the HTML tag FONT,
• the language problem is more difficult.

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REDESIGN OF SIOSlovenian Educational Network
Project Ro 1994, to rise the level of computer
supported informatization in elementary and
secondary schools
Development of SIO support of project Ro, 1995
New SIO has been launched as a result of
analysis http//www.educa.fmf.uni-lj.si/sio
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Conclusions

• free access to information and IT
• free exchange of information
• free expression of individual opinions.

A global international educational network should
be established!
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InternetA Land To Settle Rather Than An Ocean
To Surf