A Wave Of New Laptops Show Monaco’s Education System Is Astride The Digital Curve
1,200 laptops have been distributed to students in the Principality as part of “The Digital College” initiative, a new step in the future of National Education.
Since last year and after the compulsory courses for learning programming from kindergarten upwards and the commissioning of EduLab Monaco, a center of excellence and innovation to train teachers in digital educational uses, Monaco has given substance to its “digital college”.
The Minister of State, Pierre Dartout, personally completed the distribution to all schoolchildren in the Principality of some 1,200 personal laptops with all the textbooks and software chosen by the teachers. In so doing he was able to live the experience of a middle school classroom in the digital age.
“The Digital College, through its equipment, its software and the new practices that it generalizes responds to 3 challenges, explained the Minister of State:
- by promoting the educational creativity of the teacher and better student learning,
- ensuring continuity outside the classroom
- to enable the training of tomorrow’s talents that the country needs and to offer the best opportunities for our young people.
For his part, Patrice Cellario, Minister of the Interior, emphasized that parents, teachers and students have all been involved in the process since the start of the project so that their needs are fully taken into account.
Frédéric Genta, Interministerial Delegate in charge of Digital Transition, illustrated the uses of this digital college: “For the students, this digital learning method will enrich the approach of a multitude of subjects, such as modern languages by dubbing a film for example, history to be discovered via online quizzes, French through collaborative writing and audiovisual illustration work or geography by browsing sites in 3D. But the added value will also be expressed in the acquisition of digital skills for the 21st century, with the added bonus of lighter binders since the textbooks are digitized! Finally, for teachers, it will make it possible to vary learning resources, to consolidate and to innovate more easily in their teaching.”
Finally, Isabelle Bonnal, Director of National Education Youth and Sports, remarked that thanks to the equipment of college students, we are concretely entering the era of augmented education. It will be possible to capitalize on our strengths while developing new ways of learning. “This transition is certainly digital, but it is also educational”.
