25 October: Launch of SELFIE, a new tool to support digital teaching and learning in schools
The news:
On 25 October, Commissioner for Education, Youth, Culture and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, will unveil a new tool the Commission has developed to help all schools in the EU, Russia, Georgia and Serbia assess how they use digital technologies for teaching and learning. In the EU alone, the tool called will be offered to 76.7 million students and teachers in 250,000 schools on a voluntary basis. It is being launched in 24 EU languages with more language versions to follow.
The background:
SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational Technologies) is one of the 11 initiatives of the Digital Education Action Plan presented by the Commission in January this year. The Action Plan aims to boost digital skills in Europe and support the innovative use of digital technologies in teaching and learning.
The Commission has worked in partnership with ministries of education and a community of experts on digital education from across Europe to develop the SELFIE tool. Partner institutions include the European Training Foundation, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) and UNESCO’s Institute for Information Technologies in Education.
An early version of the tool was tested last year with 650 schools in 14 countries. This pilot produced 67,000 comments on how to further simplify and improve the tool – feedback that was integrated into the version launched now.
The event:
The launch is taking place today at a secondary school in Warsaw where the Commissioner is also attending the eTwinning annual conference. The Commissioner and the Polish Minister of Education, Anna Zalewska,are visiting the school to meet students and teachers and see how the school is embedding technology in learning.
The seminar can be followed on Europe by Satellite here.
The sources:
A press release in all EU languages and a factsheet will be available online at 12.00 on 25 October.