Schola Europaea European School Brussels II

152
PANORAMA
presentation of information to learners
rather than expecting students to modify
themselves to fit the curriculum. Classroom
teaching is a blend of whole-class, group
and individual instruction. Differentiated
Instruction is a teaching theory based on
the premise that instructional approaches
should vary and be adapted in relation
to individual and diverse students in the
classroom” (ref 2008-D-165-en-1).
The new generation of European School
students can be variously described as
the so-called net-generation, Google
generation, digital natives or homo
zappiens. The characteristics of this netgeneration
as described in the specialist
literature are: fast and impatient, learning
by doing, result-oriented, sociable and
interactive, multi-tasking, visually oriented,
connected and mobile.
Introducing and developing computerassisted
teaching and learning in the
European schools should be one of the
major objectives for the years to come.
Teachers should design their teaching and
Recommendations of the European
Parliament and the Council of 18 December
2006 on key competences for lifelong
learning (June 19, 2008) define eight key
competences: communication in the
mother tongue, communication in a foreign
language, mathematical literacy, science
and technology, digital competences,
learning to learn, inter-personal, intercultural
and civic competences and
a spirit of enterprise and culture. In the
context of this document we should focus
on the fourth key competence, i.e. digital
competences.
learning processes in such a way that they
support and make use of the students'
characteristics of today to a greater extent.
Nowadays the field of quality management
is changing. Team inspection focuses
on more holistic quality approaches.
Here change is in the foreground instead
of control, development rather than
assurance and innovation more than
standards compliance. In the context of
computer-assisted teaching and learning,
the inspectors should focus on and stress
the paramount importance of pedagogical,
organizational and technical areas in order
to boost skills within the virtual teaching
environment and to promote technical
and teaching procedures in management,
design, production and teaching online.
In a blended learning environment such as
ours in the European Schools, where virtual
and real learning spaces in classrooms and
libraries are organized to create a synergy
of experiences, it is essential to cater for
and develop both traditional and new ways
of teaching and learning.
KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG
LEARNING
“Digital competence requires a sound
understanding and knowledge of the nature,
role and opportunities of IST, Information
Society Technology, in everyday contexts -
in personal and social life as well as at work.
This includes main computer applications
such as word processing, spreadsheets,
databases, information storage and
management, and an understanding of
the opportunities and potential risks of the
Internet and communication via electronic
media (e-mail, network tools) for work,
leisure, information sharing and collaborative
networking, learning and research.