SYNOPSIS: The Perm region and some of its unique institutions have taken up the challenge of modernizing education and have created their own solutions to age old and modern problems. These answers to difficult questions center on the cooperative work of teachers and their desire to improve the educational opportunities and the lives of their students.

Perm is among those regions which are, by right, regarded as cultural and scientific centers of Russia. The United Nations Organization presented a report in 2007 concerning human –potential development in which independent scientists and experts rated highly the development of the social sphere in the Perm region and Russia in general. Prikamyie (the region bordering the River Kama, tributary of the Volga, which flows through Perm) ranked next after Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The undoubted success of the Perm region resulted from following the instructions of Governor Oleg Chirkunov under whom regional projects were created, approved, and introduced. Two of these projects dealt with societal issues. Almost nine billion rubles from the regional budget were allocated in support of these projects between the years 2006-2008. Furthermore, a positive contribution to the structure of the regional government was the introduction of a department for the development of human potential. This new office, according to Natalya Voronkova, specialist for program issues with the United Nations Development Program, is unique for Russia.

The Perm region has occupied a leading position in Russia’s education system during Tsarist, Soviet, and Post-soviet times. Today, our society is experiencing the “global information revolution” reflected in the integration of information technology into various spheres of business, industry, and the widespread integration of our country into the world community in the fields of economics, politics, culture, and education. The introduction of new information technologies has resulted in Russia’s inclusion in the “common information zone” and demands are growing for ordinary individuals to have personal computers with Internet access in their own homes.

However, the level of information culture in our country, at this time, does not match the requirements and demands of the society. Therefore, implementation of new information technologies in education has become the state policy of our country. This urgency is reflected in the National Program of Priorities: Project “Education” directive which provides guidance for the introduction and implementation of modern educational technologies. The effective use of modern educational technologies, including information-communication technologies, is considered to be the key condition for improving the quality of education, reducing student workload, and increasing the effectiveness of study time.

FIRST STEPS

In order to provide for an equal implementation of information technologies in the field of education, a special project called “Information Systems for Education” was created. The Perm region was one of seven pilot areas, including more than five thousand institutions, where schools were equipped with modern hardware and Internet access. Within the framework of this project, thousands of teachers upgraded their info-tech qualifications, worked up digital education resource activities, participated in conferences, and exchanged experiences. Many Perm region teachers won competitive grants to spread their experience. Although the payments were small, one to three thousand dollars for the two years of work, the real value to the teachers themselves was the positive appraisal of their activities together with the approval and support of their colleagues.

As has been previously mentioned, in parallel with the national Project “Education,” the government of the Perm region has created its own regional project called, “The New School.” The citizens of the region invested in the notion of “new” by providing modernization for the entire education system through an investigation of the most successful institutions and the transfer of their most advanced techniques and methods into other schools. Teams of regional pedagogues were actively engaged in contests to discover innovative schools and used these to function as catalysts for change. One hundred and seventy-seven schools received financial support from the federal budget in the amount of one million rubles over the three-year project. Success in national competition enabled schools to renovate classrooms as well as purchase multimedia equipment, new materials, and modern software.

Innovations in education affected more than just the level of schools. State support of vocational training is one of the priorities for the national project. “Education” is directed at the rapid modernization of higher education, implementation of new and improved programs, the integration of science and education, and the formation of new financial and managerial mechanisms in Russian institutions of higher learning. After winning nation-wide competitions for innovation, two of Perm’s institutions, Perm Classical University and Perm Technical University, received Presidential Grants along with 57 other winners out of a total of 467 competitors. Perm was the only region to have two winners out of the entire Privolzhskii territory (the region encompassing the Volga River Basin) that puts it in a favorable position to the Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Vladivostok regions.

Both of Perm’s victorious institutions have information technology at the center of their innovative agendas. Perm State University describes its program as an attempt to build information-communication competence in its graduates in order to help them meet the demands of “the information society.” The main purpose of both higher educational establishments is to construct a highly developed, university atmosphere in which students can develop the information-technology competence needed by professionals and specialists in our world. This is, perhaps, the goal of other educational institutions of the region, but it is not so evident even though it is the tendency of our time.

OBSTACLES

School children “surf the net.” University students use digital education resources, modern info systems, and other technologies. Even preschool children use computers, electronic games, and interactive “whiteboards” in their kindergartens and education centers. Our young are involved in these kinds of activities and much more. The hold up is with our teachers for whom the new technologies are overwhelming. Just like in the rest of the country, Perm teachers tend to be older and in need of intense training in the new technologies before they can utilize them in their teaching. However, true teachers are forever enthusiastic in their work. Their reward comes from the shining eyes of their students as they discover the joys of knowledge. “I can do it… I did it!” The joy of a child in discovery justifies the sleepless nights and never-ending toil of the teacher who searches for the best literature, enters students in contests, and scours the digital resources of the “world-wide web.”

In 2007, the Perm Region Department of Education sponsored a conference called, “Information Technologies in Education” that has now become an annual event. Within the framework of this forum, teachers of all levels of the education field have a chance to report on their successes and learn about those of their colleagues. By analyzing the submissions of the conference participants, one may follow the dynamics and development of information technology use in the academic process. Recently the most interesting of these is teacher work with interactive boards. Practically every educational establishment has been equipped with a set of interactive equipment over the past year. The great majority of these have been Smart Boards, but one can also find Hitachi, Panasonic, and other such products. The appearance of this classroom technology caused a whole new batch of problems. First was access to the equipment since schools were only provided with one set from federal funding. This equipment is very expensive and very few schools could afford it from their own budgets. As a result, each school set up one special classroom which was equipped with the electronic board. Scheduling the room in order to provide all students with access to the board is a difficult task. The competition winners were in a more advantageous position since they could also allocate funds from their grants for the acquisition of interactive equipment. This provided them with many more options but did not solve the overall problem.

One more problem for educational institutions in the Perm region is the lack of information on methods for using the new technology. This had to be developed by the users themselves. I will describe how one institution went about this task.

In autumn of 2005, an introductory presentation was held in Perm by salespeople from Polymedia which is the exclusive representative of the Canadian Smart Board Company in Russia. As educators sat in the presentation hall looking at the “wonder-board,” the presenters invited them to “Come up and try it!” But no one was brave enough to be first. Questions flew through the audience: “How does it possibly work without a mouse or keyboard?” “How can we use this to teach children?” “And the price!!!” “There are so many other problems that face us at school!” “What do we do if it breaks down?” The majority of participants in the seminar could not even dream of their school’s managers actually buying this miraculous tool. They simply sat and admired the novelty from a distance.

“ASSOCIATION FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY” CONTRIBUTIONS

The first Smart Boards were purchased by Professor Zakharov, head of Perm’s “Association for the Twenty-first Century,” for use in each section of this private complex of educational institutions ranging from preschool to university. At first the teachers of the “Association” didn’t have any idea about how to use the technology. They couldn’t even think about its problems. They were just enthusiastic about this novelty. Many things happened in those early days. The mounting of the projector was a problem. Shadows clouded the board during use. But the children were fascinated by lessons conducted with the Smart Board and even wanted to make use of it during breaks.

Since there was no special software or methodology literature for creating lessons commercially available, the teachers of the “Association” had to cope with these problems and create the resources themselves. They lovingly called their self-created materials, “Smartics.” After only four months of experience with the new technology, the teachers of the Association’s “Ex Professo” school and its preschool, “Unicus,” took part in an international, Smart Board video competition. They submitted two entries and, miracle of miracles, both videos made the finals in the Russian segment of the competition. Eventually, the preschool entry earned the title, “Best in Europe” which included not only a diploma but a Smart Board.

This was a victory for the teachers who conquered self-doubt and proved that they could take matters into their own hands and succeed. The mutual efforts of the “Association for the Twenty-first Century’s” dedicated educators resulted in the development of a teacher-training program designed for interactive board use. The “Association’s” teachers traveled to remote schools, invited colleagues to their school and thereby trained dozens of regional teachers and even hosted specialists from the distant Sverdlovsk region as trainees. In time, a publication of methodologies for using interactive boards was published in Russia. “The Association for the Twenty-first Century” takes great pride in the fact that 20% of the contributions to this Russian “methods” manual came from educators trained in the Perm region.

VIEWPOINTS

It is important, at this point, to cite several opinions from Perm region teachers on the use of interactive boards in the educational process. A primary school teacher, Galina Ivanovna Ponosova, remarks, “When I saw the Smart Board for the first time, I realized that the equipment would enable us to teach our children creatively about the world of beauty: games, folk and fairy tales, music, and all the arts. That world should surround children even when we want to teach them practical things like reading and writing. A child’s future growth in knowledge depends on what feelings and experiences the child has while climbing up the first steps of the stairway of knowledge. In my classes with the first grade students, I use Smart technologies which allow me to instill knowledge in such a way that it comes to the children through their senses in a very active manner.”

In the opinion of the Russian language and literature teacher for the upper grades, Yulia Vladimirovna Kournikova, “…in cyberspace the impact of an error is not so important as in the real world. A student can try different responses and see what happens without the consequence of being laughed at or ridiculed. The teacher’s task with Smart Board is to give each student the opportunity to create his/her own world, project actions on it, and reflect on the results. That is why the teacher should place all tasks in a problem format giving each student the opportunity of being responsible for his/her decisions.”

In a report entitled, “How Should One Start Teaching Mathematics?” Seimur Pappert noted, “…in information technology studies and mathematics, it is better to teach children to create constructions which they can use and that they like. It is fitting that children develop the new technologies…” This has been proven by the fact that children develop abstract thinking by creating classes using the interactive boards. In so doing, mathematics learning becomes clear and interesting to students. This appears to be equally true for preschool age through professional education institutions at the highest level.

ACTUAL EXPERIENCES

In the “Association for the Twenty-first Century’s” preschool, “Unicus,” interactive technologies are used in classes designed to develop logic, attention, memory, enunciation, and in the speech therapist’s work with individual students. With the help of this equipment, these very young students learn about information technology, drawing, geometry, and English. The teacher/psychologist of “Unicus,” Svetlana Klishina, along with six teachers of the “Association’s” European-type school, “Ex Professo,” has received a certificate as a “Model Smart Teacher.”

The municipal preschool, however, finds the purchase of such equipment to be very difficult because of its financial and organizational problems. These kinds of problems are more easily solved in various children’s centers, which are private, commercial enterprises where classes are usually provided on an individual basis.

Staff of “The Association for the Twenty-first Century” developed a relevant and successful program of training and methodology seminars for preschool teachers implementing interactive technology. Specialists of “The Association” play an active part in the professional training of teachers of all levels in the region. The Perm Institute for the Improvement and Qualification of Educational Employees constantly offers educators of the region these methodology seminars on information-communication technologies at the Pedagogical University. Teachers from all the institutions of the Perm region attend. Twice now, specialists from “The Association for the Twenty-first Century’s” continuing education establishment have highlighted the seminars with reports of their experiences. “The Association’s” Smart Board facilities could not meet all the demands of the region’s teachers. A unique solution to the problem came from “The Association’s” specialists. They decided to use another type of mobile, interactive equipment called, “Mimio Studio,” along with a common, marker- type, white board. This combination is fully analogous to an interactive board. The Mimio Studio software is easily integrated with resources created by a great variety of developers. The total price is reasonable and the ability to use regular markers and boards makes this combo rather attractive and competitive for those wishing to purchase interactive equipment. Furthermore, teachers who require their students to utilize tables, calculations, and texts in an interactive manner actually prefer this hybrid device.

CREATIVITY AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT, A WAY OF LIFE

The teaching staff of “The Association for the Twenty-first Century” is in a continuous and expansive search for creativity through utilization of new, interactive technologies in order to increase the intensity and quality of the educational opportunities that they offer. Their training sessions, special seminars, video courses, and educational computer programs are quite popular. The institution’s classrooms, equipped with the latest technology, provide educators and students on all levels, through Internet access, to keep up with innovations, improve their personal qualifications, develop their cognitive abilities, and in every way, continue their self-education.

PROBLEMS IMPEDING PROGRESS

We have related the success and achievements of one of Perm’s educational institution’s information-communication technology progress. The problems and inclinations of the region’s public and private institutions have much in common. Certainly, over the course of implementation of the region’s “information-communication project” there has been significant progress. New computer classrooms have been installed in all educational institutions, Internet access has been provided, multimedia equipment has been purchased, and upgraded qualification courses in the information technologies have been offered; nevertheless, many problems remain.

The first problem is the lack of hardware. At this time, ten to twelve computers for twenty-twenty five studentss in a computer room is the rule. It is impossible to organize individual work under such conditions. One computer classroom in a school hardly meets the “IT” learning demands of teachers and students. It is very seldom that the computer room is available for use by teachers of other subject areas. These institutions also lack multi-media projectors. More often than not, one classroom is equipped as a media station. Often, a projector is carried from classroom to classroom in order to conduct classes. In this case, there are many problems with shadows on the screen, placement of the necessary cables, and the location of outlets. Teachers grow weary of transporting the equipment and refuse to put themselves through all the inconveniences it causes. Many schools try to solve the problem with “off-budget” financing but not all succeed and so equipping schools proceeds slowly.

A second problem is caused by slow-speed Internet connections, which limit the optimization of info-tech resources. These difficulties cause havoc to teacher lesson plans, waste time, and result in irregular student output.

One further problem affects the situation, and this is the unevenness of student training in the use of the hardware and the Internet. Recently, many families have purchased computers and high-speed access, but this is not true of every family. Students from well-to-do families take a significant lead over their classmates in completing academic assignments. Some of them continue working beyond the academic scope; some delve into more abstract issues. Students with high-speed Internet access at home become irritated by the slow progress of the rest of the class that leads to dissatisfaction with the school in general. As a result, these students become distracted from academic tasks, and the teacher finds it difficult to bring them back to the framework of the academic lessons.

The uneven level of training among students causes an additional problem, and that is in the social, self-esteem of the students who have insufficient skills. They react to their lagging behind in various ways. Some work harder, spending more and more time on available computers. Others are more passive and try to conceal their ignorance. These children become more unsociable, less communicative, resistant and accusatory to their teachers’ supposedly “illegal” demands. Eventually the classroom environment becomes tense and sometimes even develops into open conflict. At schools where teachers are close to the children, this type of problem is identified and solved in its early stages. In institutions where teachers maintain a more distant attitude towards the social interactions of their students, these problems create a stratification among the students which only intensifies the situation.

The importance of the teacher’s role in developing an information technology based learning environment means that he/she must use time more rationally. Teachers must prepare classes very thoroughly, spending lots of time in front of their computers. If they don’t have access at home, it means additional work at school after classes. They must wait until the computer classroom is free. As a result, teachers who incorporate info-tech into classes spend more time in preparation than if they were to prepare a traditional lesson. This fact causes dissatisfaction among teachers who already suffer from low salaries. Only high motivation can solve this problem. The managers of the institution must tackle this obstacle.

Teaching today is particularly difficult for probationary teachers. The average age of teachers in Russia is well over forty. As a rule, they are mainly, highly qualified specialists having significant special and methodological knowledge and experience. This gives them all the reason in the world to resist innovations since they would have to start all over from the very beginning to reach their current status. Although teachers as a social group are mainly positive about new knowledge, it is very difficult to master computer equipment at a mature age. There is no time for attending full-time courses for the improvement of their computer technology qualifications, and evidently, it is very difficult to do it on the basis of distant technologies. Not everyone has a home computer and the appropriate amount of free time.

CONCLUSIONS

So, one can see that there are many problems facing the development of information-technology in an entire region. A portion of these problems stem from traditional difficulties in education; others are due to the specifics of the new, information technologies; but, to paraphrase the well-known thesis, “Movement is a sign of life,” I will say, “Life is progress.” People who believe in this are the kind of people who work in education. They cannot live without innovations. That is why, sooner or later, all these problems will be solved. Then, new technologies will appear along with new problems. There is never time for teachers to simply standstill. “The Association for the Twenty-first Century’s” European >