This meeting was organised as part of the policy strand of the P2V project; other strands include inspection and school peer reviewing activities. The methodology developed in P2V calls for organisers of the visit to identify a specific issue or problem to be presented and possible solutions discussed with peers. The issue formulated by ITC in Lithuania was ‘the reuse of digital methodical material and the pedagogical use of units of learning by teachers’.

Following the peer learning methodology developed in the P2P project the issue presented by the host country is discussed in three stages which allow the host country to present the issue and benefit from input from other countries on their own experiences with the issue. The three stages are:

1. Exposition of context
2. Exposition of issue
3. Perspectives of peers

1: The context

The presentation of the context is an important part of the methodology as it sets out the general situation of the use of ICT in the country and will allow peers from other countries to understand the issue better.

On the first day, Vaino Brazdeikis, Director of the Centre of Information Technologies of Education, introduced the latest developments in the area of ICT applied to teaching and learning in Lithuania and the general country context. In the afternoon, Asta Buinevičiūtė from the ITC, presented the Lithuanian experience in using Microsoft Virtual Classroom (VCT) and on the use of the VCT templates in preparing digital methodical material for use in schools.

Among the key indicators for Lithuania’s ICT in schools mentioned during the meeting was that Lithuania is relatively low in broadband and computers in schools and for ICT use by teachers (1). However it benefits from the fact that it is a small, integrated country with a common language, it also enjoys strong international collaboration in schools (694 eTwinning schools registered as of July 2007) and benefits from a strong drive from the ministry of education.

Lithuania is open to learn from other countries’ experiences, and through participation in projects such as P2V, hopes to leapfrog others' earlier mistakes and legacy and learn from experiences in other countries.

A European Commission report to assess the progress of Europe’s digital economy (i2010 - Annual Information Society Report 2007) gives an evaluation country by country on a series of indicators (1). The evaluation report highlights some of Lithuania’s ICT policies:

• Broadband: scheme to deployment of more broadband to public services including schools
• eGovernment: implementation of electronic tax, eGovernment portal, adoption of legal provisions to support electronic communications
• Digital literacy: increase in computer infrastructures at schools as well as eInclusion initiatives towards disable people and more generally to promote social integration
• ICT use: development of Rural Internet Access Point programme, ended in 2006 but follow up expected.

Although Lithuania still trails in computer use at school and in broadband take up, there is a high level of computer use at home. It was suggested that this trend could be harnessed in a more effective way to roll out the use of ICT at all levels in society.

2: The issue

The issue presented by the Lithuanian hosts was how to increase the reusability of pedagogical material and pedagogical scenarios. The discussions and examples focussed particularly on the following: IMS LD-compliant Units of Learning (UoL) and Microsoft’s Virtual Classroom Tour.

A Unit of Learning is a term used within the IMS Learning Design,  a specification that provides a model for developing learning objects and VLEs. IMS LD describes tasks and activities, their assignment to roles, and the flow of activities that constitute a course module or lesson known as 'Unit of Learning' (UoL).

Unit of Learning may be described as a course, a module, a lesson or single activity such as a discussion (5).They can simultaneously include several roles, each of which can be played by several actors. It enables their activities to be specified in coordinated "learning flows" that are analogous to groupware workflows. It thus supports both group and collaborative learning of many different kinds. It can still be used to support the single learner model through the creation of a unit of learning with a single role and no interactions defined between learners.

The Virtual Classroom Tour is a Microsoft PowerPoint-based virtual learning environment (VLE) that teachers can use to teach, share documents and collaborate in the classroom. An advantage of the system is that it uses a technology teachers are familiar with (PowerPoint) but has the disadvantage to be less flexible than other VLEs.

The rationale behind promoting the reusability of learning resources is that sharing digital resources across Europe supports the development or eLearning as well as is a cost effective solution to increase supply of LO and Learning resources. This is why the Lithuanian Ministry of Education is currently looking at the best ways to build a Lithuanian Digital Library of Educational Resources which will be connected to major European repositories of learning resources including European Schoolnet’s Learning Resources for Europe (LRE(2)). The use of UoL and efficient templates could be a way to tackle a changing educational and pedagogical environment.

The Lithuanian partners are seeking insights from their European counterparts in the area of developing digital libraries and the use and reuse of learning resources for educational purposes. Among the key topics is the uptake of ready made templates that teachers can use to create a Unit of Learning (UoL). This was demonstrated by examples such as Microsoft’s VCT platform; international experiences in the creation/modification of learning designs and the development of evaluation methods for UoLs.

In discussion, a Lithuanian participant at the meeting pointed out that material “the ‘average teacher’ can use” is needed- in Lithuania, teachers are reportedly not keen on ICT. “I consider Units of Learning more useful than LOs and Learning Courses. Teachers need time to adapt textbooks and need help to structure learning; digital learning materials do this. There is not much 'pedagogical meta-thinking'”, of teachers entering the profession he said.

Another key issue for Lithuania is to have access and produce LOs in their own language which will prove a decisive element in the success of the use of Learning Resources and UoL at school.

At the moment Lithuania uses Microsoft’s Virtual Classroom Tour (VCT) which has had limited uptake by teachers. It was also highlighted that the VCT content cannot easily be described in conformity with international standards, making it difficult to reuse this type of material with different LOs on different subjects. Units of Learning (UoLs) could be based on IMS Learning Design approaches.

Eugenijus Kurilovas of the ITC described one possible solution to promote the exchange of digital pedagogical material in Lithuania: the creation of a Digital Library of Learning Resources (DLE) currently being designed in Lithuania which will include connections to several repositories of digital content (Learning Objects and Units of Learning) while ensuring compliance to international standards such as those developed by European Schoolnet.

3: Peer perspectives

The other two partners of the peer learning ‘triad’ in the policy strand described their experience in developing digital learning resources, offering possible solutions to Lithuania’s issues.

Laia Martín and Cristina Santamaria from the Department of Education of the Spanish Autonomous Community – Catalonia presented several tools and learning objects developed by XTEC, Catalonia's Educational Telematic Network, which offers educational resources to Catalonian and French schools. Among the projects presented were ‘Quaderns virtuals’ or virtual notebooks and JClic, a series of computer applications used for carrying out different types of educational activities. In their post meeting report they highlighted the language issue as common in both countries: “We think that the main question hides another issue: the lack of digital content in Lithuanian language. As Catalan people who speak a minority language, we faced, in the past and nowadays, the same problem.”

This Catalonian partners emphasised that classrooms have changed a lot due to the fact that new populations have settled in Spain. There are students with poor language skills in Spanish – mainly coming from North African origin – or who require special needs education. For these groups “different learning courses would need to be developed” and web 2.0 tools could be part of them. Such tools could be an alternative to proprietary and complex learning platforms. Wikis and blogs for instance offer pedagogical opportunities for teaching and learning using ICT to collaborate. Other examples included Googledocs, a free solution which allows sharing a document among several students while working on it simultaneously.

A Lithuanian colleague pointed out that the simpler the system (e.g. a wiki) the more content gets produced and communities developed. Moodle is harder to use he said, starting with a blog or wiki is a good alternative as it takes just 30 minutes to train a teacher to use a wiki.

Other experience in the development of learning platform and use of Learning Objects included the French partner’s presentation of the ‘Espace Numérique de Travail (ENT). Jean-Michel Leclercq, from the French Ministry of Education’s ICT for Education sub-directorate, talked about this Virtual Learning Environment being developed in France. The scheme aims to roll out common VLE in all classrooms in the years ahead.

The ENT is a web portal offering a personalised workspace for schools. The plan will help strengthen the education community as well as help parents to be more informed and involved in the education of their children.

Input to the topic was also given by EUN staff, which referred to findings from the ICT impact study (3) and the school’s survey (4). The experience related to the topic coming from Celebrate, Calibrate, building the LRE and elearning content issues in other countries where highlighted likewise.

The last day of the meeting consisted in feedback from all partners on the various aspects of their presentations with an aim to share experience and advise the Lithuanian partners on the issue of the use of digital methodical material. The session also reflected on the methodology used during the visit and how it is perceived by partners.

It was suggested by one participant from Switzerland that rather than trying to change the education system by way of an ICT organisation, it might be better to bring people together around a common issue - modernising education - for which ICT is a solution. In other words ICT would not be an end but a mean to achieve more effective and sustainable education.

Following the visit, the two peer countries are preparing a reflection report. More information about the meeting and its outcomes will be available on the P2V portal to be launched in mid-2007: http://p2v.eun.org. Future P2V peer learning visits for policy-makers will take place in 2007 and 2008 to Catalonia and France.

Lithuanian Ministry of Education:
http://www.smm.lt/en/

Centre of Information technologies of Education (ITC):
http://www.ipc.lt/english.htm

Creation of Lithuanian Digital Library of Educational Resources and Services: Components’ Reusability Aspects (Eugenijus Kurilovas, Svetlana Kubilinskienė, ITC):
http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/interoperability/developments/lt_dle.htm

(1) i2010 Annual Report 2007, European Cooomission, DG InfoSoc:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=236

(2) LRE news on Insight, EUN’s Observatory of New technologies and Education: http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/interoperability/developments/latest_lrenews.htm

(3) ICT Impact Study, Anja Balanskat, Roger Blamire and Stella Kefala, European Schoolnet, 2006: http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/misc/specialreports/impact_study.htm

(4) Pan European Survey on the use of ICT in schools, European Schoolnet, December 2006: http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/policy/policies/benchmarking2006.htm

(5) Britain Sandy, A Review of Learning Design: Concept, Specifications and Tools, A report for the JISC E-learning Pedagogy Programme, May 2004