LINK Educational Alliance successfully continues exploring new educational trends through active collaboration with all relevant associations and institutions which are committed to making education more future-oriented.

This time, LINK Educational Alliance made its contribution through its professional efforts related to the integration of digitalization into educational practices by taking part in the second SELFIE Forum, held on 7 and 8 October 2021.

High attendance of the festival supported by the European Union

The event was organized by the EU Joint Research Centre together with the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, with a contribution from the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

Just like previous, this year’s SELFIE Forum gathered a large number of school principals, teachers, students, educators, national coordinators, policymakers, researchers and experts, brought together to research, create and apply digital tools in education.

The attendants had a chance to gain detailed insight into how the SELFIE instruments have been applied in schools so far, indicating their positive impact on the schools’ digital plans and further improvements.

Since its launch in 2018, the SELFIE tool has had more than 1.7 million users from over 13,000 schools in more than 80 countries.

Digital literacy requires a different approach to learning and teaching

Our Alliance’s Academic Director, Dr Svetlana Belic Malinic, took part in the working groups and contributed to the discussion with her expertise in digital education and professional development.

“Being digitally literate today taps beyond the mere use of digital devices. We need to adapt teaching and learning approaches to help students harness the power of digitalisation”, explained Dr Belic Malinic.

Focus on preparing teachers for 21st-century education – SELFIEforTEACHERS

The highlight of the Forum’s first day was launching of an innovative self-evaluation tool – SELFIEforTEACHERS, ideated by the European Commission to support further development of the teachers’ digital competencies and learning in the digital world.

Designed as a series of questions with immediate feedback, this tool will guide teachers towards scaling up their professional skills in a digital context.

Powerful effects of work-based learning

On the second day of the Foruma, EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, introduced another version of the SELFIE tool: SELFIE for work-based learning (WBL).

The objective of this tool is to connect vocational education and training institutions with companies in order to generate a discussion on the already existing and potential ways in which companies can integrate digital technology into the education and training that they provide.

Rewarding discussions based on thorough research showed that work-based learning will be one of the most represented, if not a dominant form of learning in the future.

Improving teachers’ digital competencies – one of the basic characteristics of LINK edu Alliance

In accordance with its mission of adapting education to the 21st-century work environment, LINK Educational Alliance has been enabling its teachers to improve their digital competencies ever since it was established, using various educational services and programs.

Our institution dedicated to teacher training – Institute for Contemporary Education (ICE) – annually organizes summer and winter schools, where teachers can learn about the innovative practices in digital education.

In collaboration with educational scientists and researchers, the ICE organises numerous conferences, lectures and workshops introducing themes which explore digitalisation in education and pedagogical use of digital technologies in teaching and learning.

Some of the events already held are: Facebook groups as virtual mentors in online education, IT training in preparing Google Classrooms for the new school year, and Online teacher training in visual storytelling.

LINK Educational Alliance’s students attending the LINK Apprentice Program (LAP) and their success over the years

All LINK institutions foster a modern approach to education, which entails using state-of-the-art technology, interactive teaching and a large number of extracurricular activities, setting the highest standards in education.

Aware of the benefits that students obtain through work-based learning, LINK Educational Alliance enables its students to intern at jobs within LINKgroup.

Our students use the LINK Apprentice Program to a great extent, which provides them with an opportunity to apply what they have learnt during their studies at the workplace. Owing to the knowledge and skills acquired through LINKgroup internships, many of them gained their desired jobs, both inside and outside the company, especially when it comes to the most popular professions of today such as programming, web and graphic design, business policies, and management.

Shared visions of the SELFIE Forum and LINK Educational Alliance

The application of SELFIE tools in teaching significantly helped both students and teachers to better understand the benefits of digital competencies in education, as well as to gain better insight into their readiness for the digitalised world. Based on a comparative efficiency analysis of modern digital tools and individual capacities for their adequate application, teachers and students reach rewarding ideas through their interactive relationships and implement strategies for the further development of their digital competencies.