Database of Publications

Date: 2013.11.25

Posted by Elif Tuğçe Karaca (Turkey)

Message: The aim of this paper is “E-Academy for the Future” an determined reform of the Polish education system, which is carried out for students who are between 13 and 15 years old. This project will give an opportunity to the students and their teachers to work in a multimedia educational environment and the goal is the enhancement of key-competences needed for the following goals: self-fulfillment, personal development, active citizenship, social integration, and usability. I think that this paper is really beneficial to such kind of topic. The platform which is mentioned is a part of a wider work which is called “E-Academy for future” carried out in Poland in 2010. The chemistry information acquisition platform consists of ,totally, 168 units, each of which is made up of various rational parts, introduction, aim, relationships, knowledge, exercise module, test module. The structure of a prototype unit is supplied and inspected in a detailed way. In each section, the students are supposed to learn or implement the recently learned information via specially designed circulations. Students are to compose two separate classes which are mainly associated with the text results; poorly performed class and well performed class. Both of the classes have to have a further training depending upon their special educational necessities. The best performed students have to have an opportunity so as to take part in chemistry research in various research centers. Publication doesn’t give any information about any social experiences but it can be concluded from the publication that such an initiative affects the students in a positive way. It provides the students with much more confidence, enthusiasm and motivation in order that the students will study Chemistry harder. The paper put emphasis on how teachers who haven’ t seen virtual learning environments will have difficulties and problems with this initiative.

Date: 2013.07.17

Posted by Galina Kirova (Bulgaria)

Message: This publication reflects the Polish educational reform and the changes that occurred in the teaching of Chemistry. The educational system in this country encourages authors to prepare new very interesting multimedia formats to enhance students\' interest in science and Chemistry and to support their choice of the subject.
The article describes a project that aims to promote the use of e-learning which is useful for our educational reform too. The application of e-learning provides ample opportunities for personal expression and cognitive collaboration between teacher and student. E-learning makes changes in the thinking and actions of students, creates new assessment criteria for the value and importance of knowledge, and changes the style and method of trainees and trainers. Learners can not only be directed to knowledge as a final outcome, but also to the process of digestion and assimilation of knowledge and values.
What makes the model described above valuable is that the authors focus on e-learning, but do not consider it as an electronic form of traditional classes. Despite the undeniable advantages of the computer as a teacher assistant, it only adds enhanced and enriched some of its main features, but cannot move it from its role as leader and organizer of the educational process.
Changes that are incorporated into the reform are related to the use of computer technology, the ability to learn and communicate in foreign languages. The presented design is useful for both teachers and students. Teachers participating in the project are provided with workshops which aim awakening the desire for creative solving of problems. I like the \"prize\" for the most outstanding students forming virtual groups whose members develop their talents under the supervision of their teachers.
The benefits of the project can be listed as follows:
1. A platform containing available materials is designed;
2. There are instructions for each e-learning level;
3. Options to model the didactic process;
4. Each activity is supervised by a competent person who encourages the students ;
5. Students get feedback on their work;
6. A wide variety of interesting activities;
7. Allows teachers throughout the country to share their experience within the e-academy.

Date: 2013.07.17

Posted by Vlastimil Dudytek (Czech Republic)

Message: I consider the paper relevant to the project because it is devoted to the reform of Polish education via great e-learning project, E-Academy for the Future” which was to be implemented in 2010-2013. After the description of Polish education in chemistry and motivation of students to learn chemistry, the author deals with implementation of new methods in the chemistry lesson. Students of the age of 13-15 participate in the project. They should develop their knowledge and abilities in seven key competencies. The e-learning tool is well developed and structured. I fully agree with the author that e-learning should not replace traditional methods but it can enrich the lessons and help students better understand the problem, realize the consequences, test his/her knowledge etc.

Date: 2013.06.05

Posted by Maria Fabianova (Slovakia)

Message: The paper deals with an ambitious reform of the Polish education system, called “E-Academy for the Future”, implemented for pupils who are between 13 and 15 years old. This project will allow the students, and their teachers, to work in a multimedia educational environment and the aim is clearly the development of key-competences required for the following goals: self-fulfilment, personal development, active citizenship, social integration, and employability. Paper is highly relevant to the topic and will be beneficent for many chemistry teachers. The platform presented is a part of larger project called E-academy for future implemented in Poland in 2010. The chemistry learning platform contains in total 168 units, each composed of different logical parts: 1) introduction, providing the title and basic information related to the subject; 2) aim, defining the expected outcome of suspenseful accomplishment of the section; 3) relationships section, in which students can see how the new knowledge is related to other e-learning units; 4) knowledge module, providing the new information, 5) exercise module, giving an opportunity to practice using newly acquired knowledge; 6) test module with option for self check and feedback. The structure of a sample unit is provided and analyzed in details. In each section students have to acquire or practice new knowledge with the help of specially designed avatar who can provide assistance and help to answer the test questions. Based on the test results students are suppose to form two separate classes: - composed of poorly performed students and composed of students achieved above the threshold. Both classes are supposed to get further training according their specific educational needs. As an additional reinforcement the best performed students are supposed to get an opportunity to get involved in chemistry research in different research centers. Publucation doesn’t report on successful experiences but one may infer from the publication that such an initiative has a positive effect on motivating pupils to study Chemistry. This e-learning initiative would be of interest to pupils. Publication does highlight how teachers who are not familiar with virtual learning environments will struggle with this initiative. Virtual learning environments could allow pupils to be directed to the most recent findings in the field of chemistry and the paper does provide a feasible option.

Date: 2013.05.23

Posted by Bernard Leyh (University of Liège, Belgium) (Belgium)

Message: The paper by H. Gulinska deals with an ambitious reform of the Polish education system, called “E-Academy for the Future”, implemented for pupils who are between 13 and 15 years old. This project will allow the students, and their teachers, to work in a multimedia educational environment (168 learning units are or will be available) and the aim is clearly the development of key-competences required for the following goals: self-fulfilment, personal development, active citizenship, social integration, and employability. Such aims are shared by many countries, e.g., by French-speaking Belgium (Decree, 24th July 1997, article 6). What is quite original and impressing with the Polish project is the way it has been designed, developed and implemented. A few convincing examples are provided in the paper. Though only briefly described, the perspectives for assessing the student achievements via an unguided procedure are appealing. Globally, the advantages that I noticed are: (i) the implementation of a method which is really oriented towards the acquisition of competences without, seemingly, neglecting knowledge; (ii) the flexibility of the method, which can be used, e.g., in the classroom, at home, in the frame of an individual or team work, for assessment purposes; (iii) the possibility to offer additional focussed training for either the weak or the talented students; (iv) the possibility for the teachers to follow through this platform the progress of their pupils and to share experiments with colleagues nation-wide.
I regret, however, that the consequences for the teacher education and training are not very developed in the paper, which mainly concentrates on the sessions organized to make teachers familiar with the platform environment. I would have appreciated a more detailed didactical analysis and a more thorough reference list: even though most of the concepts involved are not specifically Polish, out of 9 references, 7 are from the author and 2 are very general EU or UNESCO publications.

Date: 2013.05.22

Posted by Samir Naimov (Bulgaria)

Message: The article of Halina Gulinska is in fact a professionally written book chapter in chemistry Education and Sustainability in the Global Age, published by Springer. Article presents an efficient chemistry e - learning platform for junior high school students (13-15 years old). In this respect my opinion is that the paper is highly relevant to the topic and will be beneficent for many chemistry teachers. The platform presented is a part of larger project called E-academy for future implemented in Poland in 2010. The chemistry learning platform contains in total 168 units, each composed of seven different logical parts: 1) introduction, providing the title and basic information related to the subject; 2) aim, defining the expected outcome of suspenseful accomplishment of the section; 3) relationships section, in which students can see how the new knowledge is related to other e-learning units; 4) knowledge module, providing the new information, 5) exercise module, giving an opportunity to practice using newly acquired knowledge; 6) test module with option for self check and feedback. The structure of a sample unit (separating mixtures) is provided and analyzed in details. In each section students have to acquire or practice new knowledge with the help of specially designed avatar who can provide assistance and help to answer the test questions. Based on the test results students are suppose to form two separate classes: 1) composed of poorly performed students and 2) composed of students achieved above the threshold. Both classes are supposed to get further training according their specific educational needs. As an additional reinforcement the best performed students are supposed to get an opportunity to get involved in chemistry research in different research centers. Despite the advantages of e-learning over “classical” teaching techniques author highlights that e-leaning can be used as a complement in any part of the teaching process but can not be used as a substitute for school classes. Because of the specificity of e-learning platform special teachers hand book is prepared in order to provide assistance to teachers. Additionally a special training course is held and IT specialists are involved in teachers training process.

Date: 2013.05.15

Posted by Maria Sheehan (Ireland)

Message:  Why is this paper relevant?
This paper looks at the implementation of an E-Learning initiative in Poland that incorporates chemistry, physics, biology and geography as well as mathematics, information science. I feel that this is relevant as more and more we are seeing the need to provide a virtual alternative as a supplement to what we do in the classroom.
 Does the paper explain the causes for the students’ lack of motivation to study chemistry?
No
 Does the paper explain the students’ obstacles in addressing chemistry? If yes, do you consider them relevant? Why?
No
 Does the paper / publication report successful experiences in motivating students to study chemistry? If yes, do you consider them transferable to your situation? Why?
It doesn’t report on successful experiences but one may infer from the publication that such an initiative has a positive effect on motivating pupils to study Chemistry. This elearning initiative I would image would be of interest to pupils. It would have been useful if the opinions of pupils had been reported.
 Does the paper / publication presents the difficulties of chemistry teachers to keep update to the continuous progresses of the research? If yes, do you agree with the situation described?
Yes it does highlight how teachers who are not familiar with virtual learning environments will struggle with this initiative. I agree with this situation but also feel it is the responsibility of all involved in education to get to grips with such technologies.
 Does the paper / publication propose solutions to in order to exploit at secondary school level the most recent findings in the filed of chemistry? If yes, do you consider this solution feasible?
Yes it does. Virtual learning environments could allow pupils to be directed to the most recent findings in the field of chemistry and the paper does provide a feasible option.