Recognizing value of educational collaboration between high schools and universities facilitated by modern ICT
Abstract
In this paper, we address the problem of an educational gap existing between high schools and universities: many students consider their choice of field of study as inappropriate, mostly due to insufficient information regarding the discipline and the university educational process. To solve this problem, we define an innovative, information and communication technology‐supported educational process enabling various ways of collaboration between high schools and universities. The goal of that process is to increase the knowledge of prospective students regarding the next level of their education. We propose an environment for the implementation of the educational process. The concepts have been verified in practise as part of the Małopolska Educational Cloud project across several disciplines. We discuss the achievements of the pilot phase of the project as well as its reception by educators and students. Based on evaluation reports and opinions from both educators and students, we claim that the proposed model for information and communication technology‐supported collaboration between high schools and universities can effectively reduce the educational gap.
Lay Description
What is currently known about the subject matter:
- An educational gap exists between high schools and universities.
- Prospective students lack information about university disciplines.
- This often leads to inappropriate choices of their professional careers.
- Traditional collaboration models between high schools and universities are insufficient.
What the paper adds to this:
- An ICT‐based model for collaboration between high schools and universities is proposed.
- Cloud computing, social media and multimedia are integrated to provide educational services.
- A pilot study including 21 high schools and six universities was conducted.
- The study is evaluated and discussed based on reports and users opinions.
The implications of study findings for practitioners:
- Employed ICT proved to be useful for facilitating collaboration between high schools and universities.
- Seventy per cent of students declared increased knowledge about the specifics of university studies.
- Participation in the project resulted in improving both ICT and soft skills of students.
- Quality of the employed ICT can greatly influence the quality of the educational process.
