SELFIE Seminar for Educators at St. Nicholas College

• July 8, 2019
• admin

Article by Carm Cachia eSkills Malta Foundation Chief Administrator published on the Sunday Times of Malta on 14th July 2019.

Some 100 educators coming from Public, Church and Independent Schools attended a SELFIE Seminar at St. Nicholas College Secondary School, Dingli on the 31st May 2019.

SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational Technologies) is a tool designed to help schools embed digital technologies into teaching, learning and student assessment. The free tool is available online and was developed by the European Commission with a panel of European education experts.

Maltese schools were among the first group of European Schools that took the opportunity to use the tool during the first semester of the scholastic year 2017-2018.

The seminar at St. Nicholas College was organised as a collaboration between the Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills (DDLTS) within the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE) and the eSkills Malta Foundation.

The eSkills Malta Foundation launched the eSkills National Strategy 2019-2021 in March 2019. One specific recommendation in the report was that of implementing the SELFIE Tool in Public, Church and Independent Schools, in collaboration with the DDLTS. Further collaborations on the subject are being planned.

Dr Panagyotis Kampylis from the European Commission JRC-IPTS and Mr Sean Gallagher, Principal at Attymass National School, Ireland were the two main guest speakers at the seminar. Dr Kampylis’ presentation focused on the benefits the tool has to offer to schools and where this provides a snapshot of how digital technologies are embedded in teaching and learning. Mr Gallagher’s presentation went on to provide examples how his school went on analysing the feedback gained through participating in SELFIE and how a whole school plan was developed to bring the necessary changes. The seminar was also addressed by Mr Grazio Grixti, Director at the DDLTS and Mr Carm Cachia, Chief Administrator at eSkills Malta Foundation.

The seminar included six workshops that covered each area featured in SELFIE. Each workshop had to come up with a plan on how the school would go about to improve teaching and learning in the respective area. The areas covered in SELFIE are Leadership, Infrastructure and Equipment, Continuous Professional Development, Teaching and Learning, Assessment Practices and, Student Digital Competence.

All schools will have an opportunity to participate in SELFIE during the first semester in the new scholastic year 2019-2020. This will be communicated through an official letter circular at the beginning of the scholastic year. The Directorate is also planning to organise a SELFIE information session for schools that want to inform themselves better about the benefits the tool has to offer.

Schools may also contact the Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills for more information about the tool, on telephone numbers: 2598 1564/5/6/7.

More information about SELFIE may be obtained from https://bit.ly/2Mu2W5S​