Nowa Era prepared the newest edition of the “Work with class” programmeJournalists are announcing the end of the “chalk and blackboard” era, the Polish Ministry of National Education is introducing a “Digital school” pilot programme and teachers are admitting that sometimes they suffer from a lack of knowledge how to effectively implement new technologies into the teaching process.
2000 teachers, 13 meetings in the whole of Poland
Contemporary students are more eager to learn when they can use the modern learning tools. Moreover, the Internet is the first one and very often the only source of information that they accept uncritically. A student on the Web is a real challenge for a teacher. Taking these facts into consideration, Nowa Era prepared and launched the newest edition of the “Work with class” programme under the title “Bright and dark side of the Internet”.
We have employed a comprehensive approach and discussed the threats as well as opportunities that have emerged for contemporary students using the Internet. A series of meetings across the country for teachers of Lower-and Upper -secondary schools was a final point of this programme’s edition. The topic appeared to be extremely appealing – we faced an unprecedented number of 2000 teachers in 13 towns and cities participating in the meetings.
The “Work with class” meetings are a unique combination of a movie, which is a starting point for a workshop conducted by an experienced psychologist, and discussion of the participants. After the meeting each participant received an exceptional brochure with educational materials “Bright and dark side of the Internet”.
Log off depression!
The studies indicate that nearly 72% of students and 27% of teachers have had bad experience in the Internet. Thus, the workshop started with a show of one of the most noted Polish films in the recent years “Suicide Room”. It is a shocking movie that is depicting “the dark side of the Internet” – cyber-violence, the Internet addiction, depression etc. Teachers attending the meetings had this great opportunity to learn about the practical tools which would not only help them to understand reasons why young people escape into the world of the Internet, but also help them to quickly notice any alarming signs and react in time.
Log in creativity!
When talking about the Internet, we cannot yet only concentrate on the threats. Therefore, during the “Work with class” meetings, we also focused our attention on discussing the educational potential of the global network. In Poland more than 13 % of all Internet users are children and youth up to 15 years old (over 2.5 mln users) and 70% of them use the Internet on a daily basis. Teachers often feel worse off and far behind students when it comes to new technologies and the Internet solutions, and a fear against exposing their lack of knowledge is often a reason why they restrain from using the educational potential of the Internet and new media in education. Thus, during the “Work with class” workshops we have shown teachers the “bright side of the Internet” - educational potential of the virtual network and we taught them new terms and practical solutions, which may prove helpful in the teaching process. It was also an excellent occasion to present and promote our new e-solution - EduQrsor portal (the portal that supports teachers and students with preparations for the Lower-secondary school exam).
Enthusiastic reviews from the teachers, attention and the interest of the local mass media and request for continuation of the programme, show that the meetings “Bright and dark side of the Internet” were a move in the right direction and a well-spotted issue. An autumn edition is ahead of us - we have already started to look for the next remarkable subject and a film.
For more information, please contact Agnieszka von Mallek, Marketing Communication Manager at Nowa Era.
About Nowa Era
Nowa Era is the leading educational publisher in Poland offering publications and multimedia solutions for all levels of education – from kindergarten to upper-secondary school. Nowa Era is also the market leader in the segment of educational cartography. Vulcan, a subsidiary of Nowa Era, is market leader in the segment of educational management software and educational software. Nowa Era is part of the Strategic Business Unit Sanoma Learning.
www.nowaera.pl