A framework for the integration of technologies in education
The situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and schools closure considerably accelerated the integration of technologies in the teaching-learning process. Many efforts were focussed on the integration of technologies, devoting much work and time to this aim. However, due to the lack of time and urgency of the situation, this process has not always been uniform and, in many cases, this was not supported by an organised framework to guide actions towards digital media.
Schools are part of an ever-changing world, led by an increasingly digitalised society and labour market. For this reason, schools must respond to the needs and demands of society and the labour market in order to train citizens of the future with the necessary skills to help them face the challenges of a digitilized environment. To this end, it is necessary to draw up and develop frameworks for action that make it possible to agree on and coordinate various aspects that affect the use of technologies in education, from those related to organisational issues to others that are more pedagogical and specific to the teaching and learning processes.
It is at this point that schools need guidance and support, for which they can rely on the School Digital Plan, a document that is drawn up by each school itself, to serve as a reference for the entire educational community and as an improvement plan for a real and appropriate integration of technologies in the teaching learning process.
For this reason, the School Digital Plan should be reflected in the Educational Project, the Management Project and the Annual General Programme of the school. The School Digital Plan is based on the European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organisations (DigCompOrg), developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. Thus, both the analysis of the situation and the design of actions to improve the integration of technologies revolve around the thematic axes proposed in the DigCompOrg framework:
- Infrastructures: technological equipment, connectivity, digital platforms and services and the necessary maintenance, among others.
- Leadership and governance: measures and protocols of the centre, or organisational aspects, among others.
- The learning and teaching process: teaching methodologies and strategies, planning the development of students’ digital competence, among others.
- Professional development: teaching digital competence and training for commitment to the development of the plan, among other aspects.
- Content: accessibility and quality criteria, Recursos Educativos Abiertos (REA) (or Open Educational Resources) and learning levels, among others.
- Assessment: aspects to be assessed, criteria, indicators of achievement or assessment procedures, among others.
- Support and collaboration networks: teaching and educational centre networks, digital literacy and family support, or cooperation with local entities, among others.
Here you can find a document with information about the School Digital Plan. It is a proposal that presents the basic structure of the plan and is adaptable to the needs of each school. It includes a more extensive and detailed guide to find guidance and help in the development of this School Digital Plan.
Download the document in English: School Digital Plan. Description and Guide
Download the document in Spanish: Plan Digital de Centro. Descripción y guía
Materials for the design of the School Digital Plan
The School Digital Plan is the document that develops the school’s digital strategy that must be contemplated in the school Educational Project (art. 121), as established in the article of the Organic Law 3/2020, of December 29, which modifies the Organic Law 2/2006 on Education in Spain.
In Spain, the Program for the improvement of educational digital competence #ComDigEdu, agreed by the Sectorial Conference of July 21, 2021, states as a main objective that all schools will have a digital plan that structures the organizational and academic strategies, so as to achieve the transformation of the school into a digitally competent educational organization.
This initiative, financed through the Recovery and Resilience Facility with the Next Generation EU funds, is part of the actions foreseen in the Plan for Digitalization and Digital Competences of the Education System by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training which, in turn, is framed within the National Plan for Digital Competences that develops the third strategic axis of the Spain Digital Agenda 2025.
This action is aimed at improving the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning processes and is therefore aligned with the Digital Education Action Plan of the European Education Commission (DEAP 2021-2027) that pursues the development of a high-performance digital education ecosystem and the improvement of digital competences and skills and that gives continuity to the DEAP 2018-2020, during which the SELFIE digital competence self-assessment tool for schools was created.
From INTEF we provide teachers with training materials to support the development of the School Digital Plan, which we include in three new spaces of the ConectaTIC platform. ConectaTIC is a support space that offers a selection of materials related to teaching and learning in digital environments. Although it is not a course in the traditional sense, you will be able to ask questions, contribute your impressions, share suggestions and collaborate in the exchange of experiences with other participants. In this site, you can find the following sections:
- “Strategic Planning” site offers the contents of the course “Pedagogical Leadership for the educational success of all students”, which aims to provide guidance and tools for the design of a school improvement plan using the methodology of strategic planning.
- “Design the Digital Plan of your school” site shows an overview of the JRC’s DigCompOrg framework and how to use it in order to make schools digitally competent organizations. In order to elaborate the School Digital Plan, the use of strategic planning and the SELFIE self-evaluation tool is proposed, designed to help schools to make a diagnosis of the integration of digital technologies in pedagogical, organizational and infrastructure aspects, as well as to periodically evaluate the achievements reached.
- “Educational Community Manager” site presents the figure of the community manager, responsible for the development of the school’s Communication Plan and for selecting and managing its communication and visibility through different digital media. This space provides tools and strategies to be taken into account in the development of the school’s communication plan. This instrument will raise awareness, inform and create channels for the participation of the educational community in the design of the school digital plan.
These sites have been added to the five that were previously available in ConectaTIC:
- Use of Virtual Classrooms (Moodle)
- Open Educational Resources
- Use of Licenses and Citations
- Multimedia Content Creation
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Links to other articles in Spanish:
El Plan Digital de Centro para integrar las tecnologías en educación (intef.es)
Materiales para el diseño del Plan Digital de Centro – INTEF