‘E-school’ forms National Education Model at level of leading states

‘The technologies, being introduced in Azerbaijan’s educational institutions within ‘E-school’ project, facilitate the formation of The National Education Model that relies on information and communication technologies’, told İCTnews head of Education System Informatization Department of the Azerbaijani Education Ministry, Samir Mammadov.

Mr. Mammadov believes that the ‘E-school’ concept can be applied to all schools in Azerbaijan if we rely on the experience gained from the realization of the stated pilot project. So far, 39 educational institutions have taken part in The ‘E-school’ pilot project, which is implemented within the ‘State Program on the informatization of the education system of Azerbaijan Republic for 2008-2012’. 32 of these educational institutions are comprehensive schools.

At present, schools of Baku, Sumgait, Lenkaran, Ganja, Shamakhi, Ismailli, Shirvan, Guba and Agdash cities are participating in the project.   The main goal of the project is organization of effective teaching and educational management in the selected schools by introducing modern information technologies in them. According to Mr. Mammadov, the schools that are participating in the project were connected to the Azerbaijan Educational Network via optical cable. T

hese schools were provided with all necessary networking equipment and software. Such teaching components as the ‘E-school Management Program’, E-lesson Management Program’, ‘Parental Control Page’ are being widely used in the schools involved in the project. The implemented measures made it possible to use e-magazines, electronic tables, electronic record books in these schools as well as to use SMS to inform parents about pupils’ behavior and participation in class.

The National Educational Portal is also being actively used by the pilot schools. At the same time, the ‘1 pupil – 1computer’ project is being implemented in these schools. This project was initiated jointly by the Azerbaijani Education Ministry and ‘Intel’ corporation.

The pupils involved in the ‘1 pupil – 1computer’ project were given netbooks for doing their homework. According to Mr. Mammedov, good results have been achieved from application of information technologies in the education system. Certain measures must be implemented to achieve such result at the country scale.

For example, pupils can’t use electronic magazines in class without having a notebook or computer connected to the internet. It is also reasonable to insure gradual transfer to electronic textbooks in the high education system.   Such transition can already be observed in a number of the leading states.

The application of ‘intelligent’ textbooks and electronic teaching tools that stimulate pupils’ interest in learning is widening. ‘Cloud Technologies’ make it possible for pupils to create, use and distribute interactive electronic resources that are necessary for their creative activities.

Besides that, ‘Cloud Technologies’ provide excellent conditions for the individual education, and this increases demand for netbooks, tablets and other tools that are necessary for the individual education. The transition to ‘Cloud Technologies’ in Azerbaijan will be accelerated.

Thus, pupils, by using the ‘Education Cloud’, will be able to download teaching materials and textbooks from the servers of the Information and Resources Center into individual learning gadgets. Here, the decisive role is played by the infrastructure, which is necessary for creation and allocation of ‘intelligent’ content.

This infrastructure includes a data base, local companies specializing in electronic recourses, local specialists and high-speed internet access. Mr. Mammadov hopes that in the near future the above-mentioned technologies will be employed in the Azerbaijani Education System.