1. Global and local historic tendencies

Globally the following three phases can be identified in the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in education:

In Hungary the computer culture and industry started to develop in the beginning of the 70’s [Szûcs, 1986]. A reasonable computer park could be established that managed to prove its efficiency and importance in economy and education. The colleges and universities started their computer courses to develop specialists in the field. By 1983 about 20,000 computer specialist were educated. However, in order to be able to use the computer in a broader field not only specialists are needed, but users who are acquainted with the abilities of the computer and are able to utilise them in their every-day work.

In 1982 the TII (Science Co-ordination and Informatics Institute) launched a competition to design and produce microcomputers for school use. The Telecommunication Co-operative won the application, which started to produce HT 1080Z school computers. The Ministry of Education that aimed at three targets financed a school computer program:

• To equip all schools with computers and facilitate their service.
• To develop and distribute appropriate educational programs that run on the computers.
• To educate teachers to learn programming and later be able to utilise computers in their school work.

Since there were not really many effective programs that would illustrate the versatile use of computers, most of the teachers could not go beyond the introductory phase. Thus in a very short time the children themselves overgrew by far the knowledge of the teachers, which caused a lot of embarrassing situations especially at competitions.

In the early 80’s those universities and colleges (Budapest Technical University, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences, Kálmán Kandó Electrical Engineering College) that trained computer specialists, started the application of computers in education and produced some valuable software as well. Eötvös Loránd University was the first to introduce computers into the teacher training programs. Students with several types of majors attended introductory computer and programming courses as well as their applications in subject areas. The students were much more keen to learn about computers, since they saw in parallel their application in their own field.

A considerable number of secondary schools started to specialise in giving a middle degree in computer science and soon computer science became an entrance exam in higher education institutes. At present there are even a few elementary schools that give some sort of degree in informatics.

In the early 90’s the computer parks switched to PCs and a change in attitudes producing an increasing interest among students in mastering it’s use. Even though higher educational institutes are supposed to be "the castle of knowledge", the facts were that the state of equipment was always behind compared to normal industrial standards. This has always pushed courses to be more theoretical than practical, resulting in an enlarged emphasis on subjects like mathematics and higher computer science fields (theories of programming, data structures, artificial intelligence, and software design), rather than application oriented topics.

Since the computers found in schools were of different brands and no common software running on them, not to mention the fact that the language of application programs were definitely not Hungarian, resulted in a single common topics to deal with: programming languages. As a consequence, the topics of informatics taught by teachers in schools always reflected the type and period of study they went through during their training, meaning to be oriented around programming and the basics to master that [Turcsányi-Szabó, 1998].

The gap between those able and unable to use computers is becoming greater than that dividing literate and illiterate people. The employment market has already differentiated, declaring computer – informatics knowledge to be among the most basic, essential requirements. In job ads listing the requirements to fulfil intellectual posts, besides school certificates and language knowledge the basic use of computers has been indicated as compulsory requirement.

It is thus irrelevant that modification of cultural requirements for present societies is a must and schools have to react to such huge scale changes. In most cases the main educational policies of different countries can be clearly divided into the main teaching topics to be:

• the use of ICT,
• computer science related topics.

The question debated internationaly is:

"To do or not to do programming?"

National Curricula with strong informatics components have been introduced in several countries and Technology standards developed are having a major impact on State policies.

In the Netherlands the subject ICL (Information and Computer Literacy) is introduced and the integration of IT into existing subjects [ten Brummelhuis, 1995]. In Norway and Sweden the focus is mainly on IT as a tool for learning, integrated into subjects [Røsvik, 1995; Appelberg, 1997]. In the US national technology standards have been developed stating: what students should know about and be able to do with technology [Taylor & Thomas, 1997]. In Hungary [Turcsányi-Szabó, IFIP 1997], Germany [Schwill, 1997], and the UK [Watson, 1997] a strong informatics curriculum has been developed.

Six years after major political changes and following many years of heated discussions, the Hungarian National Curriculum was finally born in the fall of 1995. The new regulation was very much awaited to provide a more flexible background for the development of individual school curriculum, rending the line of centralised regulations of the past period. The Government decree [130/1995] states only those requirements that provide equal bases both in content and ratio for all national schools to facilitate the transversality of different school types. On the other hand it allows great freedom in developing differentiated individual curricula better adjusted to circumstances and aims at pedagogical values of schools, parents, and students. The National Curriculum becomes compulsory from 1998.

The National Curriculum distinguishes a compulsory curriculum for informatics (as well as for all cultural fields), specifying basic requirements at different school levels, as well as the use of applications in other curriculum fields for the craft of learning, thinking, self education, exploration and problem solving.

The informatics curriculum is based on the fact that the role of information in society has been upgraded and the means of accessing information and it’s ethics has to become a basic skill in order to perform any present job and get along in every-day life. Especially in this field, knowledge has to be constantly upgraded since it becomes very soon obsolete. Informatics itself comprises the following main fields:

• computer science: the knowledge of computers and the techniques of handling information (retrieving, processing, storing, and transferring)
• library informatics,
• the aspects of mass media.

The informatics as a field is advised to be encountered in 2-4, 4-7, 4-7 percentage of the overall curriculum till the grades 6, 8, and 10 respectively. The following table shows the material to be taught within computer science, appearing in the Hungarian Gazette.

A main concern does remain in the overall achievement of use in subject areas, and that is the technical facilities, content materials and teacher training of non-informatics specialists.

Educators of all subjects have to transmit materials taking several common concepts into consideration. Among others the craft of learning, thinking, self education, exploration and problem solving using all available tools. Most of the information that reaches us today is transmitted not by natural means, but through artificial channels. Students have to master the ability to sort out the important particles from the mass of information that is poured on them. The field of informatics thus, represents a major issue in education even if the ratio in the table does not reflect such an emphasis. The versatility of the computer in itself and as part of a wide network provides a new tool that is more and more available, thus has to be accounted for in sophisticated problem solving concerning various fields.

There are four main universities in Hungary that are involved in the training of secondary school informatics teachers and five main colleges in Hungary that are involved in training elementary school teachers. Students graduating from universities would mainly teach at secondary school level, and due to the reorganisation of many schools, at elementary level too. Until recently schools have had an 8+4 years division for elementary and secondary levels, nowadays you can find 4+8, 6+6, or even a combined 12 setting too. This means that our teachers should be able to place themselves in this overall role of school education.

The Eötvös Loránd University is the biggest university in Hungary which, apart from other subject areas, produces the largest amount of teachers in the field of informatics and prepares all teachers for the use of ICT in education. Our educational policy, which is very highly programming oriented, is now shifting to use of ICT in subject areas rather than the heavy emphasis in the learning of the technology and computer science itself.

Even though students go through some courses in pedagogy and psychology, the emphasis of mathematics and computer science topics is far greater. A high percentage of informatics teachers, realising the difficulties in making a living form school salaries, prefer to choose professional posts at industrial companies offering a much higher standard of living. While teacher training institutions of other subject areas have yet to make a greater contribution in using ICT in their programs.

Following some global government policies. like that in the USA and Germany, Hungary has also aimed at providing equal Internet access for all schools. Utilising several local and foreign funds the state of the information infrastructure of the Hungarian higher education has developed considerably in the past 7-8 years. The aim lies in the development of higher education infrastructure in order to maintain a modern administrative system within an advanced local network and allow it’s integration within a national education-research network.

The Hungarian Ministry of Education is managing a nation-wide project [HME Home page] financing Internet facilities for all schools, training and content for school-work facilitating connection to institutes bearing public collections and it’s access as well to Hungarian nationals outside the country. The project finances the following topics:

• The establishment and operation of 64Kb communication lines for schools allowing unrestricted Internet access.
• Equip all schools (all secondary schools till 1st September 1998, all elementary schools till 2002) with Internet-ready multimedia lab.
• Develop content for educational materials accessible via Internet that would help school work: supplementary course materials, assignments for individual work, multimedia and Internet introductory kit, monthly newsletter, musical resource kit, and recently accessible research materials.
• Facilitate bi-directional data exchange via co-ordinated databases that could be accessed nation-wide.

The ministry also financed the establishment of reference centres and training centres for teachers, where courses would be held in the following levels:

• Basic Internet use: for all teachers that are not specialised in informatics;
• Educational Informatitian high degree for non informatics specialists;
• School Supervisor for those bearing a middle degree in computer science.

In order to motivate teachers further, the ministry has initiated an extra salary for teachers that possess the Educational Informatitian degree and utilise their knowledge in teaching.

The ISZE (Informatics and Computer Science Teachers Association) publishes regularly a magazine for teachers to provide information and methodology on computer related issues of education and organises a yearly conference and workshop which is becoming more and more popular. The association is very active in discussions of national policies and has greatly contributed to several large scale achievements.

The von Neumann Computer Society regularly organises conferences concerning ICT in higher education and gives place to special interest groups to operate and consult on specific issues. The Ministry of Education has made an agreement with the von Neumann Computer Society to co-ordinate and issue ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) certificates, that would join the wide-spread movement of acknowledging adequate computer use in a standardised format [NCS Home page].

The Soros Foundation, apart from funding several projects in creating a computer culture, is operating a facility for the non-informatics teachers and basically every individual to attend courses and use freely advanced ICT facilities with full Internet possibilities [C3 Home page].

The Castle of Wonders, which is an innovative science museum concentrates on providing adequate hands-on interactive facilities for children to experiment with scientific phenomenon. It is especially keen in establishing a connection with the National Curriculum to motivate children and schools with poor facilities to attend and perform explorations, thus aiding educational purposes with special possibilities for children that are gifted and those with disabilities. They are operating a multimedia lab with 25 workstations that is ready for class use, on-site courses as well as individual explorations of multimedia tools and Internet facilities.

Much depends not just on the individual but on the organisational context within which the individual is working. It is rarely possible for a single teacher’s desire to use IT in his or her teaching not to be affected by wider policy, timetable, curricular and resource issues within a school [Robinson,1997].

The picture of the use of computers in school-work is very different within Hungarian school. There are traces of computer defying pedagogues, or those that posses technology but cannot make use of it, or those that head on the road of developing high expertise.

Probably the first kindergarten that integrated computers into the lives of children in Hungary was that of Eötvös Loránd University from 1984 [Turcsanyi-Szabo, 1997]. Since then a lot of kindergartens purchased computers from their own budgets or rather with the financial help of a patronising institute or the parents themselves. This indicates how serious parents and educators believe the role of ICT is in everyday life and wish their children to master its use as soon as possible.

In case of lower elementary schools (ages 7-10, grade 1-4) this situation is even more exaggerated. Although the National Curriculum does not state any requirements, yet a lot of schools, having the privilege to do so, commence computer studies in the first grade. Informatics teachers are often faced with this task and are more or less puzzled as to what extent and how to deliver such requirements.

Some elementary schools (ages 7-14, grade 1-8) have specialised their education with an emphasis on computer studies. Gyöngyösi Elementary School of Informatics, takes the leading role in the introduction of ICT into schools. They have started off their special courses since 1990 and are now a reference school for the capital. They often initiate open days, when teachers and children from other schools all over the country can visit their classes and take an insight to their methods. They welcome educationalists at any time and are also involved in giving courses for teachers on ICT related topics.

Kiss János Altábornagy Elementary and Secondary School (ages 7-18, grades 1-12) plays an outstanding role in the district and thus is further supported financially. They operate four computer labs with LAN and full Internet, which provides mainly multimedia equipped Pentium PCs. But they also have coloured scanner, coloured laser printer, video digitiser and editor, which offers the chance for them to get deep into multimedia.

The Alternative Economic Gymnasium (ages 15-18, grades 9-12) give free courses to the teachers there in Internet and multimedia usage and therefore all teachers are acquainted with ICT and use them in their daily life. Some subjects have already managed to integrate technology into their course-work e.g. history, astronomy and German language and they hope to broaden the palette [AEG Home page].

The success of effective computer usage is very much dependant on the enthusiasm and will for exploration in the school society. A good example of this is the Karinthy Frigyes Gymnasium (ages 15-18, grades 9-12) that has wedded successfully their school with a computer culture [KFG home page].

The application of computers in the learning process can be categorised depending on the role of the computer:

• as tutor, where the student is guided step-by-step in a designed material or gives some way to individual paths and poses problems to solve, finding out the extent of mastery;
• as data processing tool, like control and evaluation, applications, simulation software, strategic games, edutainment products;
• as expressive media, with which the student can express individual thoughts, construct ideas, build knowledge using different media, re-think developed constructions, evaluate and re-design accordingly.

Each of these types of tools can have a valid role depending on the situation, aim, and the educational methods applied. Teaching concepts at Eötvös Loránd University, to which I add my own efforts, can be summarised in the following:

Concentrating on basic IT concepts, the aim of teaching lies in its use in everyday life. Thus the tools of ICT, both hardware and software, have to be looked at as a single unit providing solution for a targeted job. Their possibilities and limits reflect their value of application. This value, however does not mean the technical tricks attainable, but the path of possible solution regarding the problem itself within it’s own context.

Applications have to be thoroughly evaluated before their use in education, with respect to their teaching goals and their role in solving a specific problem. The most important framework factor that should be examined is the approach to teaching and learning.

The process of designing an educational microworld provides an insight on the aspects of the learning phenomenon and vice-versa. Children’s involvement in the developing process allows better understanding of their needs and expectations of the other, while it motivates both sides during the co-operation. Furthermore, in order to develop educationally valuable microworlds, one has to make an in-depth investigation into the subject topics involved.

Teachers of all subject areas should be introduced to creative software tools and the basis underlying these educational benefit. One must provide new teachers with basic competencies, and prepare them to evolve and adapt. Consequently, not only the content of the training is important, but the methods used in teacher training play a major role.