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CZ 003 |
Gymnazium Humpolec
| Czech version | Description | Meso-Level | Macro-Level | Thematic Analysis | Appendix |
Descriptive Background Information
Gymnazium Humpolec (The Secondary school Humpolec - http://www.gymhu.cz/) is a state eight grades’ school for talented children aged 12 –19 from wider area of the region. Its main education task is to prepare the students to enter universities.
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| English version of the WWW server of Gymnazium Humpolec |
Humpolec is a small town situated in the highlands between the two parts that constitute the Czech republic - Czech lands and Moravia – on the south-east motorway about 100 kilometers from Prague. It is surrounded by a lovely countryside with woods and ponds. Its history goes back to the 12th century. A ruin of the medieval 14th century castle Orlik is a dominant of the landscape. In the 15th century, this region was a part of the Hussite reformation movement. The clot making tradition goes back 500 years. In the 19th century the town used to be called Czech Manchester for its clot production. In the 13th –15th centuries silver was mined here. We should also mention the famous Czech brewery Bernard, for which the town is known in the whole country. A number of important personalities were born here. Above all Gustav Mahler – a famous composer, Josef Stransky – a conductor or Dr. Ales Hrdlicka – world known anthropologist and the patron of the Gymnazium Humpolec. This renowned scientist was born in 1869. In 1882 Ales Hrdlicka moved to the United States. In 1905 he set up a division of physical anthropology in the Smithsonian Institution. He founded The American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 1918. In 1929 he founded The American Association of Physical Anthropology and served as its first president. He was a foremost specialist in anthropometry and American Indian anthropology (more at http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/information/biography/fghij/hrdlicka_ales.html). Hrdlicka said a memorable sentence: "All mankind is of one origin", which is also a part of the school logo.
There is no doubt that the town really appreciates its school. It has become a kind of intellectual center of the whole region. The citizens receive the achievements of the students and the teachers with pride. There are quite a few of these achievements. The project School Libraries as MultiMedia Centers (SLAM) is one of them.
Summary of the Innovation
Gymnazium Humpolec offers either the standard four-year secondary education or the eight-year scheme for the specially gifted pupils. This eight-year scheme has been reintroduced to our education system in the 1990, when democracy was restored. Eight-year Grammar schools had been very popular in the Czech republic before the WW II and they were abolished when the communists took power in the 1948. Today a discussion on the appropriateness of these schools is lit again. Evidence shows that the general improvement of the whole education system actually does not take place. It is claimed that one of the reasons may be that these schools get the best children and teachers and, consequently, the quality of the ordinary schools that form a majority in the country is lacking behind. Moreover, selecting pupils at the age of 12 may often give ground for the accusations of elitism. Sometimes the students of these schools feel superior to the ones from ordinary schools. It is evident that the demand for places at these schools is much higher then the supply.
There are two major contradictive opinions in this discussion. The one that is for abolishment of these schools and has ministerial backing as well claims that all children should be integrated into one school, i.e. from the gifted ones to the handicapped ones. This proposal is based on the theory of so called inclusive classes, which already exist in some western countries. Unfortunately it is not realized that this proposal would also mean a significant change in the education approach and organization of the instruction. So the supporters of the existence of these eight-year schools point out that without this change the gifted children would not be given the space to grow to their potential. When this transformation of the approach takes place and the gifted children find their space within the majority system, there will not probably be such a need for these special schools. The situation in ordinary basic schools researched within the SITES M2 (Lupacova, Cerveny Vrch, V lipkach, Hluboka) may also support this point of view, as these schools do not have problem with loosing the talented children because of their innovative approach.
The present threat of abolishment and the attention that has been drawn to schools for gifted pupils has, in some cases, a certain positive influence on their work as they would like to prove their importance for the whole system. Gymnazium Humpolec is one of them and could serve as an example that would support the opinion that these schools have their place within the system. Even within the prescribed subjects various modern innovative approaches are implemented. Moreover, other extra activities and projects that help to improve the quality and to create friendlier atmosphere take place at the school. We will get to some of them later.
The project School Libraries as MultiMedia Centers (SLAM) that has been chosen for the SITES M2 research has a prominent place among the activities of the school. This project has a significant impact on the whole school activities and teaching. We believe that most of our schools should follow this example.
SLAM is a project supported by the EU program Socrates - Open and Distance Learning (now Minerva). The partners of the Gymnazium Humpolec are Pedagogisk Senter Karmoy in Norway as a coordinator, St. Vincent College, Gosport in the UK and the Pedagogical Centre Albertslund in Denmark.
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| Official WWW page of the SLAM project on the server of the British partner |
The SLAM (School Libraries as MultiMedia centers) project is designed to develop the use of school libraries as multimedia resource centers encouraging and developing open learning within the partner organizations. In the initial stages, the project work to integrate new technology and the new media into the educational process at each site. This require the training of teaching staff and educational managers to raise awareness and to promote change towards active approach of students within the instruction process. The project has the following stages:
- Equipment of the school library that enable its use as a multimedia center – video-conferencing system, data-projector, Lanius library organization system, Internet connection
- Training of staff in using the new ICT in education and the possibilities of implementing the distance forms of learning
- Transfer of this information into the activities of the whole school, with the aim to offer the students a certain base needed for life long learning
- Dissemination of the project SLAM to the educational institutions and schools in the area.
At the time of the research, the project reached the end of the second year out of three years’ term for which it was approved. But even in this stage it is worth describing.
Meso-Level Context of the Innovation
School Background
Not that long ago the work with information at Gymnazium Humpolec was quite similar to the situation at the vast majority of schools in the country. An old unused workshop served as a library, where the books were only stored and students showing very little interest in them. There were no records and it was difficult to find anything there. The computer lab only served for the purpose of teaching the subject Informatics. When the students were working individually there, they were usually doing things that had no connection with the schoolwork.
This situation, still quite common in this country, was considered unsatisfactory by the management of the school as early as in the mid 90’s. The management of the school also noticed that there were tendencies world wide towards methods formerly considered rather experimental. A shift from the traditional instructive way of teaching towards more creative and constructive learning was becoming significant. So the management of the school started to look for some suitable activities, where these new concepts could be approved.
A break-through in this effort came with the connection of the school to the Internet in the 1996. The Internet itself is in deed an environment supporting cooperation among schools even on international level. But all these activities must be supported by more less experienced teacher. This teacher has to work out the whole thing (project) and look for suitable partners. One of the sites, where the information on up to date offer of suitable international projects can be found is the Project page of the Teachers’ Helper server (http://www.spomocnik.cz) at the Department of Information Technology of the Faculty of Education of the Charles University. This is where the school got its inspiration for some of the suitable activities. Here the project SLAM was also initially advertised in the 1998. Thanks to the swift response of the management of Gymnazium Humpolec the school was joined to this EU supported project.
School CultureAt the first glance, the environment of the Gymnazium Humpolec seems very friendly. The school is a second home for the students. Many of them spend their time there even in the afternoon hours. A school library with the nearby computer lab is particularly popular. There is also a nice, recently refurbished gym, table tennis equipment, and a kiosk that is run by the students themselves. The students may be seen basically everywhere in the large complex of the three buildings of the school. It is not unusual to find the students doing extra educational activities (such as working on projects) in their spare time. By these activities the students and their teachers get to know each other better then during ordinary lessons. This also has a positive impact on the general atmosphere of the school.
As we mentioned above, the teachers have been trying to enrich their instruction by international projects for several years. The program Globe (http://www.globe.gov/) is worth mentioning here. This project, which has been initiated by the former vice-president of the U.S.A. A. Gore and used worldwide, belongs to the category of science and environment focused projects. The schools are equipped with basic meteorological appliances and the measured data are sent to the center in the U.S.A. daily. The team of the girls of Gymnazium Humpolec (the Ladybirds) is one of the most successful teams in the Czech Republic. This team got a special price for the amount of data sent. They organized the national Globe Games in which the schools joined to the project compete in various relevant disciplines, and they send their representatives to several international meetings and conferences.
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| The Ladybirds with their biology teacher in Globe Games |
Many interesting projects have been initiated by the history teacher. In the term 1998/99 this teacher and his students joined the project Peace in Time, which was focused on four historic events of peace deals in the European history. First part described the consequences of the Westfall agreement that marked the end of the 30 years war in the 17th century, the second part was focused on the negotiations in Vienna in the years 1814-1815 – the end of Napoleon era, the third part was dealing with the situation during the Paris peace conference in the 1919, and the final part was dedicated to the end of the WWII. The contributions of participating students describe interesting events in their countries, towns or regions, related to the given topics. The articles of the students are placed on the school server and the server of their partner school in Sweden (Fredrika Bremergymnasiet, Haninge). As we can see, the articles are in English and they are on a very decent level.
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| An article of the project Peace in Time dedicated to the Paris conference in the 1919 |
There are many other activities designed to strengthen the relationship of the students to school and their sense of loyalty and cooperation that need not be further described here in detail.
ICT in the School and BeyondThe full-time position of the ICT coordinator doesn’t really exist at this school. The teacher of Informatics (IT) fulfills this position only on informal basis. He teaches fewer lessons than other teachers, but he is working paid overtime hours for performing the duties of the coordinator. As we mentioned in other SITES M2 studies, this position still doesn’t officially exist within the Czech educational system and this is causing administrative problems to the head-teachers. Similar situation occurs with the position of the school librarian. „I would expect that the positions of the school librarian and the ICT coordinator would be officially backed. So it could be adequately awarded.“ [A]
We didn’t notice any technical drawbacks at this school. There are several ICT professionals among the teachers. The teacher of Physics is also teaching some lessons of Informatics, he manages the electronics bee, whose members take care of all minor repairs of the hardware at the school. The management claims that they have very little maintenance costs because of the work of this bee.
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| Electronics bee in action |
The total number of computers dedicated for teaching purposes is 33. They are located in two specialized labs and in one video editing room. There are over 300 students, so the average number of students per one computer is approx. 10. This is still quite a lot. It causes certain problems, e.g. a need for limiting the students’ access to the Internet. All the computers are connected to the local network with the Internet access except the one used for video editing. 18 of them even have multimedia equipment. Each of the labs has 16 PC‘s (mostly Celeron 300 MHz, 32 MB RAM, 1.2 GB HD), working on the OS platform Windows 98. One lab is dedicated to the teaching of Informatics, the second one is generally available to the students for their individual work. Both of them are also used for teaching other subjects, when needed. E.g. the Geography teacher occasionally takes the whole class (approx 30 students) to the computer labs and lets them work with the educational software of the firm Terasoft. In order to be able to seat the whole class she needs both of the labs, so she has to run between them to assist the students.
Other computers are located in offices of the teachers and in the staff room. The following peripheral equipment is available for teaching purposes: laser printer, color printer, RW CD-ROM, data-projector, video recorder, and a scanner. The video editing equipment is based on digital video camera SONY TR 7000E and PC PIII/500 MHz with the video card CANOPUS DEVEREX M1 and REX editor. The educational software is available for most subjects. But not all the software is that good so it could be used regularly.
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| A computer lab dedicated to the individual work of students |
ICT Support Structure in the School
The computer labs are available to all the students of the school even in the afternoon hours. Many of them in deed use this possibility. Unfortunately not all the students actually use the computers for their schoolwork. Most often they surf the Internet. They either e-mail their friends or search for interesting sites on the Web. But a strict ban is imposed on playing computer games at the school. When an individual violates this prohibition he/she is so called “imprisoned”. This imprisonment means that he/she is denied access to the Internet for a certain period of time. If it happens again, he/she may be denied the use of the local network completely. The question is, whether the students’ favorite Slovak chat based multi user virtual environment Atlantis should be considered as a game or not, as working with it looks very similar to playing a game.
„The students may use one of the labs actually from the morning till about five o’clock in the afternoon, when the school closes. The second lab is dedicated to teaching purposes, but the students are allowed there in the afternoon hours on demand. As there are many students who would like to work on the Net, the access had to be limited to two days per one student a week. But the students can choose the days themselves. “ [TC]
Due to its prominent prestigious position in the region, the Gymnazium Humpolec has a very good teaching staff. We noticed that no one actually refuses technology and modern teaching methods. All the teachers increase their qualification themselves. In the ICT field, they can attend on site courses. „When there is a demand, a session is organized by the network administrator or by the IT teachers. If anyone has a problem with the ICT, he/she has the possibility of attending the IT lessons with students or ask for consultations. “ [SP]
The Head master attends an in-service course of school management at the Masaryk University Brno. Every year, some of the teachers attend the international courses organized within the framework of the EU project Socrates Comenius. Last year, it was the course TRANSPRO dedicated to project based teaching with the use of ICT. The participation on the SLAM project is very helpful to the teachers. Some of them attended coordination meetings abroad, where they had the opportunity to find out about the library functions in Norway, Denmark, and the UK. The teacher that is to become a librarian also took a special course of using the ICT in a school library.
„It really helps the school that about 12 to 15 teachers were able to participate in various exchange programs within the EU during the last two years. It was a great motivation for their work.“ All teachers attend on site courses.“ [A]
All the teachers have access to computers; they have their own E-mail account at school and if they wish so they can design their own Web pages on the school intranet. Some of them use this means to offer the students the teaching materials, assignments, A-level topics and they also accept the result of the work of students this way. „In German language lessons they get their material from the Internet. The students return their work by E-mail, most of the exchanges take place via computer.“ [T]
The teachers that need help with ICT usually ask some of their professional colleagues. But there is also a system of students-assistants that look after the local network accounts of their class. They can also help teachers with any technical problem.
The current situation of equipment of the school with ICT cannot be seen as completely satisfactory. The school should consider building a special presentation room that would be equipped with multimedia computer and a data-projector. It could be used for organizing all kinds of lectures and presentations of teachers or lecturers. A growing number of students’ presentations could also take place there. „We use the computers to look for and process information for various subjects. Sometimes we submit our assignments in the electronic form.“ [S]
The way the students’ presentations take place in the computer lab is not very good now. The room is not big enough and the computers on the desks distract attention. As we can expect wider use of ICT in all subjects, also other classrooms should be equipped by at least one computer. It will be also necessary to improve the Internet connection as the current provider guarantees the speed 64 Kb/s (128 Kb/s only in the peek). This speed is not sufficient.
The teachers are quite satisfied with the current situation. They all have the opinion that the management is able to secure relevant development of the ICT even in future, although there is no long-term plan in this field.
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| An IT lesson in the fourth grade class |
Macro-Level Context of the Innovation
National Policies
The Action Plan of the State Information Policy in Education that has been accepted by the government in the spring of 2000 (http://e-gram.cz/koncepce.asp) is currently being enforced in the Czech Republic and was described in the studies CZ001 and CZ002. As there were no significant changes of the situation, there is no need to write about it again. We can only mention that we should expect an investment to the ICT equipment and the training of teachers of about 7 thousand million Kc during the next five years. Although there are certain problems in this ambitious project, we can expect that it is going to have a big influence on the subject researched within the framework of the SITES M2.
Gymnazium Humpolec should in their written application, which is in fact compulsory if the school wants to participate on this Action Plan, demand the funding of the purchase of the multimedia presentation equipment and the improvement of the Internet connection.
There is also an interesting connection of our case to another important government plan - decentralization of the state administration (devolution of power and establishing local assemblies). The town Humpolec became part of a new Jihlava region. The fact that the former Head mistress of the school became a deputy governor of the region following the regional election only underlines the importance of the school there. Now, as the regional council is in charge of the school, we asked her to accept the position of administrator in this case.
Thematic Analysis of the Innovation
Curriculum Content, Goals, and Assessment
The SLAM project has several stages. It is very complex and affects all aspects of the life of the school. The most suitable for description is probably the first stage, when the school library was actually established during the last year. Now, it consists of a spacious study with brand new furniture. Glass bookcases with books are situated around the whole study room.
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| Study room of the library |
With the establishment of the school library a school library system Lanius was implemented to help to supervise the whole book stock of the school (6200 books). In reality it means that from any computer at the school the library register may be entered and changes made there. There are future plans to connect this system via the Internet to other compatible system in the country and even abroad (e.g. the libraries of partner institutions).
„We used to have to ask the secretary if the book is on stock or not. Now it is much simple. I can sit to any computer and find out. “ [S]
Other equipment that has been introduced within the framework of this project is the workstation for video processing. It has proved its importance during the first year it has been used here. Every happenings organized by the school are recorded by the digital camera. The students are learning to operate this camera and their skills are gradually improving. Work with the camera and editing the video records have been implemented into the teaching plan of the subject Informatics. Several of documentaries have already been made, including the sound and subtitles. Very nice is the documentary from the school trip of Globe and SLAM teams to Scandinavia last June. A very interesting example of the use of this equipment is a video program in English, where the students introduce themselves, their town and their country to partners abroad. There is no doubt that investment to this equipment is definitely not wasted.
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| Students edit the video recorded during the Open Door Day |
The first stage of the project was without doubt successful. The library was established and the important activities initiated. But to judge whether the main objectives of the project have been met, i.e. to incorporate the library to all the functions of the school, is somehow preliminary. The following quotations may prove that things are going in the right direction.
„These new methods enable us to see the student not only from the knowledge point of view, but they also expose his/her other qualities (e.g. communication skills, creativity…). “ [T]
„A student that would not succeed normally has a better chance now.“ [T]
„I see the establishment of the library very positively. But it is going to take some time before we learn to use it effectively. I am worried that when we switch to the style of work expected by the project, we will be confronted with the national curriculum demands, which we will not be able to meet.“ [T]
The project has a certain impact on the function of the school: „There are changes in the organization of the work. Often two lessons of one subject take place consecutively. Lessons of various subjects are interconnected. Other adjustments to the timetable are made if necessary. “ [SP]
Teacher Practices and OutcomesAs we mentioned above, the biggest benefit for the teachers was the possibility of exchanging experience with their colleagues from abroad. It was surely pleasant for them to find out that they can stand even foreign competition, they do not have problems to meet the project expectations and, sometimes, they even have better results then their colleagues from abroad. The mutual contacts are not limited to the trips of our teachers abroad. The meetings also take place in Humpolec with great success.
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| An example of
a PowerPoint presentation introducing the British SLAM team (the name is purposely changed) |
The integration of the library to the everyday work of the school is completely up to the teachers. Some of the introducing teaching activities use the ICT as the means of joining the partner organizations that are directly involved in the SLAM project. All the partners have decided that the best activity to meet these expectations would be the project House 2012. Unfortunately, it is planned to be finished next year, so we can only describe its first stage.
The basic task of the project is to design a house as if it was a real one. It is meant to be a house the students would want to have when they grow up (that is why 2012). It is definitely not a mere fantasy. The fourth grade students of the eight-year scheme aged 15-16 were chosen to participate on this project because of the age compatibility and performance results. The project is realized mainly in the subject Civics. But it also has a certain cross-curricular links with other subjects. „The Project House 2012 will have an impact on all the subjects. The children will learn much more on this topic, then they would learn in the traditional form. “ [T]
The work on the project began when all the children were asked to consider all the contexts – from the construction to the mortgage. The English version of a mind map that takes into account the chosen suggestions of the children is shown in the following scheme.
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| The mind map of the structure of the project House 2012 |
In the second stage of the project the teacher created teams. Each team picked a certain suggested topic. At the moment the project is in the stage of studying the materials and consulting foreign partners. „The children should get the information needed for this project mainly in our library. They should have relevant lectures here, find the books they need, and be able to consult the partners. “ [T]
It is planned that each team will create most detailed recommendation related to the given topic. Then the whole class will prepare a presentation of the design of the whole house using these recommendations including supporting evidence. The partners will exchange their results and present possible objections. That the matter is taken very seriously at the school may be seen in the fact that a leading local architect was invited to lecture on designing future family houses.
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| A lecture of an architect called “A house of the future” |
„Our project House 2012 offers the students the possibility to get to know various activities they will find helpful in their future live. They work in teams so they learn to cooperate. They also have a better chance of training and self-education than they would have in normal circumstances. “ [T]
The realization of the project has also a significant impact on the teacher- students relationship. „Big changes took place. A teacher has to adjust the work to the needs of the students much more, they must be in closer contact all the time, more liberal and effective instruction methods are used.“ [T]
The teachers believe that the position of the participating class is unchanged. „I do not think that the students working on the project would have more prominent position then others. “ [T] But we have to admit that the process of selecting students for projects like this and the project connected foreign trips and exchanges is hardly ever without any tension. As the students that were not chosen may feel certain harm.
Generally all the teachers have positive attitude to the fact of establishing the school library and to the changes that are coming with it.
Student Practices and OutcomesAlthough the project SLAM somehow affects all the students of the school, the fourth grade students are mainly concentrated on it. They have been working on it since the beginning successfully. Last year they made a PowerPoint presentation of themselves, their school and the place they come from. They also created a video program on the same topic. Some of them also took part in the trip to the Scandinavian countries, where, in Denmark, they visited the partner organization (Pedagogisk Senter Albertslund).
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| An example of the PowerPoint presentation of the fourth grade students |
Now they are mainly keen on the House 2012 project. Here is a statement of one of them: „Our group (5 students) is preparing the suggestion of the heating. The result should be the comparison of different kinds of heating from different perspectives. It is a new task for me. I have never done anything like it before. It could hardly be done without a computer. “ [S]
The students prepare their work really thoroughly and they like it. Everybody at the school knows about it. The teachers have established a cross curricular cooperation. So it is not a surprise that even in the lesson of creative arts there are also certain hints connected to the project.
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| First ideas on the future houses presented on the school notice board |
The students cooperate within the teams. It is up to them how they divide the work. So the most computer skilled one is in charge of the processing of the data the others have collected. Other student takes care of the graphical form, somebody else of the stylistics etc. Basically, everybody finds the job that suits him/her the best. Of course, there are also students that are trying to avoid any work. It is up to the teacher to know about it. „Some time I get an impression that a couple of students do not do much and just go with the flow.“ [T] The best opportunity to award the work of the students is to offer them trips abroad.
The students believe that the project does not affect their relationships. But the teachers observed certain changes: „Their positions have changed. They become more cautious of the abilities of the class.“ [T]
Some students also have computers at home. Those obviously have a certain advantage. One father of two students surprised us by this statement: „My sons are not that eager to use the computer at home since it has been introduced at school. When they come home, they often prefer a book.“ [P]
All our findings show that the cooperation with parents is perfect. „There is an advisory board of parents at the school (one from each class) with which the management regularly consults the important matters. At the beginning of the term, a meeting of all the parents takes place. “ [A]
Kinds of Technology and Ways They are UsedA local network Novell is maintained at the school on professional basis. It means that every student has his/her own account, E-mail and an own directory where he/she can save his/her work. The MS Office software with Word, Excel and PowerPoint is available on all the computers. MS Internet Explorer is used for browsing the Web. The fourth grade students are taught the designing of WWW pages in the HTML language during their IT lessons. They use the common editor Wordpad.
The work with ICT is becoming a coherent part of the instruction. The computers are not only used for collecting the data, but also for their processing and preparing outputs in the form of text documents, PowerPoint presentations, WWW pages or video.
Problems and Solutions Related to the InnovationThe main administrative problem of the school library is connected with the system of financing of our schools. The fact that the school doesn’t get finances for the full time position of a librarian and technology coordinator could be evaded if the school got the money it is supposed to get on the basis of per student payments (defined school normative – see glossary). Then the school would be able to solve this problem by employing fewer teachers who would teach more lessons or have more students per class. The money saved this way could be used for hiring the professionals needed. But, again it doesn’t work in this country. As some schools have not enough students, the funds have to be redistributed. So those schools (like Gymnazium Humpolec) that have enough students in fact subside other schools. In spite of this situation the management is planning to introduce the position of the librarian since the next term.
„The project will go on by transferring one teacher to the position of a librarian. But it is not going to be the sort of librarian we use to know. This one will be more of an assistant and a guide in the world of information.“ [A]
Other problem is in the decline of the interest of teachers in self-education due to the non-existence of the career confirmation procedure in connection with their salary growth. This provision has been discussed for several years.
„The certain career confirmation procedure should be approved. There are many ambitious people, but only head teachers and the deputies have an opportunity to get higher. Ordinary teachers remain basically on the same level. That is why their motivation is disappearing.“ [A]
The crucial problem that prevents the full use of the innovative methods that the project SLAM expects is in the necessity to meet the demands of the current national curriculum. It is obvious that when the students have to look for and process the data themselves, they get to know not so much of the data then they would learn by a mere memorizing. „A condition for the successful meeting of he project’s objectives in the long run is the change of the curriculum “ [T] Unfortunately, the stress on facts based learning still prevails in this country and even the university entering exams are based on it. „The teachers have to face the fact that their conviction on the appropriateness of introducing the project based learning still collides with the expectations of the universities in their entering exams. The school is still judged mainly by the number of students accepted by the universities. “ [A]
The technical problems will probably be the easiest to solve. „There are not enough computers here for the number of students we have, so sometimes they have to wait, the network occasionally freezes, the Internet is quite slow. “ [S] The Action Plan will hopefully help to solve most of these problems in the foreseeable future. The Gymnazium Humpolec will surely be able to articulate its demands in this field and justify them.
SustainabilityThe project has been designed as an introductory one since it has begun. The main goal of the project is to implement the activities to the work of the school continually and, thus, change the work of the school forever.
Transferability„If more schools did similar projects, a competition would be created and it would push us to be better.“ [S]
The SLAM project, due to the EU support, emphasizes the dissemination of the results. „Web pages have been designed, we are writing articles and trying to spread the information as much as we can.“ [SP] The main activities in this direction should be expected in the final stage, when there are more outputs.
The transferability has a great importance in this case because of its connection to the Czech educational system in general. The influence of ICT on methods of instruction seems to be more and more evident. The way this happens depends on experience, abilities and knowledge of all the people involved, mainly the teachers. In reality the ICT could be used in various different ways. The schools may get a protected connection to the Internet. Every student can have an account that will enable better control of his/her work. The current textbooks can be transferred to an electronic form, sets of interactive exercises and simulations can be designed and finally a system of computer tests can be made. In the extreme case the teacher can only wait till the students have done the relevant score. Generally it is not that bad. But a student that is used to be always instructed is going to find only such an occupation that doesn’t demand an initiative.
The people of tomorrow will probably need rather different qualities. They should be able to learn what is needed in the right time, to handle the vast amount of information available to us and to adjust to new situations everyday. The people should understand the global problems of today.
These competences needed for the emerging society can be best developed by means of the constructive form of instruction, in the similar way to the one of Gymnazium Humpolec. It should be mentioned that these methods couldn’t be applied on all the educational situations. A right method has to be chosen for each particular situation. Still, the activities described here may serve as an inspiration for other schools. Although there are still many drawbacks, a library with the proper technical equipment and a skilled librarian should be available at every school in the country in future. If this is going to happen, it will definitely be a great benefit for the future of our students.
We believe that the activities of Gymnazium Humpolec can serve as an example for other schools, especially in the time when the Action Plan of the State Information Policy in Education is being implemented.
In Prague 10.6.2001
Borivoj Brdicka
Frantisek Vistein
Department of Information Technology
Charles University Faculty of Education
Prague, Czech Republic
Video sequences
Video sequences taken at school during the observation. Choose the speed better fit to your Internet connection.
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| 1. | Gymnazium Humpolec from outside |  |
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| 2. | The gym and the yard with the meteorological equipment for the Globe project | |
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| 3. | A study room of the library during the break | |
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| 4. | PC lab dedicated to individual work of the students | |
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| 5. | An IT lesson in the fourth grade class | |
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| 6. | A PowerPoint presentation from Physics | |
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| 7. | Digital video editing | |
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| 8. | A lecture of an architect within the House 2012 project | |
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Glossary
Zakladni skola (ZS). Basic standard school in the Czech education system. It has 9 grades and is designed for the students aged from 6 to 15 years.
Lower level of the ZS. The first part of the study program at the ZS. Designed for younger students (aged 6-11) and has 5 grades. It may be found similar to the English „Primary School“.
Higher level of the ZS. The second part of the study program at the ZS. Designed for older students (aged 12-15) and has 4 grades. It may be found similar to the English „Lower Secondary School“.
Gymnazium. A Grammar school (or High school) with 4 grades for the students aged 16 to 19 years.
Gymnazium with eight years study scheme. A prestigious secondary school for gifted children aged 12 to 19 years. The curriculum has a very traditional basis.
Professional school. A specialized secondary school (or High school) with 4 grades for the students aged 16 to 19 years. Besides the general compulsory subjects, also specialized subjects are taught here.
Kc. Koruna (Czech Crown) – Czech local currency. In December 2000 approx. $ 1 ~ Kc 38.
Czech grading system for evaluation. In the Czech Republic there are five numeric marks expressing different grades (1-5). 1 stands for outstanding performance and 5 stands for “fail”.
State normative. An average amount the state pays the school per one student. It varies depending on the type of school.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations used for coding of quotations in the study.
© 2001 IT UK PedF