1. Encourage and Support University Teachers to Use ICT in Education Sonja Prišćan, Daliborka Pašić

2. About us Reference centers for e-education Project managers in CARNet CARNet is Croatian Academic and Research Network One of the mission statements is improvement of higher education through application of information and communication technology Financed by government to provide Internet infrastructure and services for academic and scientific community All services are free of charge for our clients 1/10 of our annual budget is allocated for support and education of university teachers Sonja.Priscan@CARNet.hr Daliborka.Pasic@CARNet.hr http://www.CARNet.hr August 4 th 2004,Slide 2 of 12

3. About Croatia (.hr) Reference centers for e-education Republic of Croatia ( HRVATSKA ) Area: 56,542 sq km Population: 4.42 million Capital City: Zagreb GDP: US$ 43.12 billion GDP per capita: US$ 9,800 Annual Growth: 3.7% Member of EU: Candidate CARNet Founded in 1991 On Internet since 1992 Today employs 50 people August 4 th 2004,Slide 3 of 12 Adriatic Sea

4. About CARNet network Reference centers for e-education CARNet is a computer network of the academic and scientific-research community Member institutions are from the systems of science and higher education Today, 199 institutions at 286 locations in 27 towns in Croatia are connected to the CARNet network August 4 th 2004,Slide 4 of 12 CARNet network backbone Dial-up 2 Mbps 155 Mbps ATM Single location Towns with multiple locations connected LEGEND Adriatic Sea

5. Contents Reference centers for e-education Introduction Reference centers – early beginning About Reference centers – establishing and maintaining Conclusions August 4 th 2004,Slide 5 of 12

6. Goals Reference centers for e-education Encourage university teachers to –produce educational digital materials –teach students on-line Provide technological infrastructure for them –videoconferencing, network, equipment Support them through application of ICT in teaching by –education, reference centers, journal, e-learning academy, teachers club Acadeus, educational projects August 4 th 2004,Slide 6 of 12

7. Reference centers – early beginning Reference centers for e-education Founded after a research was conducted among university professors in order to find out in which way and to what extent the use of Internet is feasible in the current educational system of the Croatian higher education institutions August 4 th 2004,Slide 7 of 12

8. Results of research Reference centers for e-education University teachers want to develop e-education but need help and need their universities’ recognition for development of educational materials and their application in teaching So, we established reference centers for e-education in order to provide support and help professors August 4 th 2004,Slide 8 of 12

9. What are reference centers? Reference centers for e-education WEB SITES which contain relevant information from the area of e-education: –Evaluation of Courseware –Development of Educational Materials –Selection of Hardware and Software in E-education –Registration of E-education Projects –Development of Multimedia Elements and Their Adaptation to WWW –Teaching Methods and Communication in E-education –Self-assessment and Summative Assessment in E-education USER SUPPORT and help through e-mail, phone and personally August 4 th 2004,Slide 9 of 12

10. Establishment proccess Reference centers for e-education Document describing the concept solution for the whole reference centers system Project tasks for seven reference centers Collection of tenders among universities Choice of seven best proposals Contracts – seven projects August 4 th 2004,Slide 10 of 12

11. Organization – maintaining (1/2) Reference centers for e-education Altogether nine teams work on reference centers: –Seven teams run reference centers –One team coordinates all activities –One team provides technical support to other eight teams –The size of teams – five members, university teachers and students Monthly meetings of the leaders of all the teams August 4 th 2004,Slide 11 of 12

12. Organization – maintaining (2/2) Reference centers for e-education Annual costs of one project – around 15.000 $ Reference centers are presented on conferences, seminars and on universities Users are very satisfied, however the number of questions received from the users is still small Statistics of web visits – a few hundred entries daily August 4 th 2004,Slide 12 of 12

13. Conclusions Reference centers for e-education Other activities which will result better application of ICT in education are following: –Standards for educational materials –Repository of educational materials (LO) in Croatian language –Procedures and rules for reviewing of LO –Using ICT in teaching and development of good quality instructional materials will be encouraged as a part of the university promotion system These activities will also result in increased number of Reference centers users August 4 th 2004,Slide 13 of 12

14. Thank you for your attention! Reference centers for e-education Contacts: Sonja.Priscan@CARNet.hr Daliborka.Pasic@CARNet.hr Additional information: http://www.CARNet.hr http://www.carnet.hr/RC-obrazovni August 4 th 2004,Slide 14 of 12