Beyond the horizon

As a true Brit, born and bred in the heart of Manchester, one of most fantastic aspects of living in Sweden is space; being able to wake up in the morning, see the horizon clearly and reflect on what lies beyond…

During the autumn, as part of Project 10 in the university’s development plan, much thought has gone into a consideration of competence. In particular what competences do university staff need to teach effectively? And consequently, how can UPC support teachers in attaining those competences? An ad hoc survey carried out on teachers attending UPC courses resulted in an impressive list of competences, which can be roughly categorized as follows: personal competence, social competence, strategic competence and professional competence. Professional competence or teaching competence contains many of the practical competences needed to survive as a teacher: organisational, pedagogical and not least technical skills needed to support learning in an IT environment.

If we now shift focus from local to European; as a part of the eLene-TLC project, UPC and IML, in collaboration with eight institutions of higher education in Europe also work with competences for academic staff, but with the focus on e-competence in particular. The eLene project aims to define and validate the competences needed for the pedagogical use of ICT in higher education, and to design and implement training actions to support university staff in the development of these competences. Needless to say, the synergy effect of working with these issues in both a local context and a European context simultaneously is huge; work carried out within the eLene network eg validation of competency frameworks, evaluation processes within the project and considerations of “newness” in technology for teaching is applicable both locally and globally.

How about looking even further over the horizon shifting focus from European to global, and considering how ICT is being used for development? There is a tendency in Sweden (& Europe in general) to regard ourselves as being at the forefront when it comes to the innovative use of technology in education but this isn’t necessarily the case. For third world countries there is a driving need to develop alternative solutions to problems involved in using ICT in education, and in many respects we have much to learn. During a visit to Umeå University this week, Afzal Sher, Director of the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER), exhorted Umeå to take a more active role in initiating and participating in research and development projects funded by SPIDER (see attached pdf).

Remember to look over the horizon occasionally- and see your local situation from a global perspective!

Spiderinitiative.pdf