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Lets dare for much despite Camus' aphorism

In its transition to information society the world is paying an increased attention to information technologies in education (ITE). Armenia too gives high priority to this sphere and the best proof is the recent international conference "Upgrading of Qualification with the Application of Information & Communication Technologies in Professional Activities," attending which were experts from Russia, Belarus, Denmark, the Netherlands and many other countries. The conferees exchanged experience, discussed how to protect and effectively use the international IT potential in science and education. In its interview to ARMINFO Director of UNESCO Institute of Information Technologies in Education, former General and Professional Education Minster of Russia Vladimir Kinelev is specifying the trends and achievements in ITE.

Q: Mr Kinelev, why society is turning its face to use e-education?

A: E-Learning is experiencing a real "boom" today and many countries and international organizations consider it an education of the future. This is a challenge for all education workers (scientists, teachers, IT specialists, education officials) in terms of its use as not simply the element of a current tendency but as a means to attain a most crucial goal - upgrading of education as such. We live in an everchanging environment formed and transformed not only by the education system and its workers but also by economic needs and scientific achievements.

Today this sphere necessitates a wider use of information & communication technologies - for they have long become an integral part of human daily life. Wherever you are you get in touch with ITE. Today civilization is said by many to be heading for the society of IT-users and IT-producers. This tempts many into applying IT in education but not merely for the sake of study and practice but rather for education quality.

Q: What do you mean by education quality?

A: There is no universal definition for education quality. In my words, education quality is the ability of a man to perceive modern achievements in science and advanced technologies, to adequately respond to market needs and to partake in the social and economic development of his country. This ability does not come from nothing - this is the result of education. IT allow to create necessary sufficient conditions for education quality upgrading these being the rate of school computerization, the availability of highly qualified ITE-administrators and teachers and the accessibility of the information otherwise inaccessible for traditional users (library frequenters). There are also conditions related to a man's individual ability to transform information into education. There are no two identical persons there are no two identical educations. That's why when speaking about education quality we should mean some act that can't be measured but just described - a personified system of moral, professional educational abilities. In this context I would like to emphasize the importance of using e-means in educating physically or mentally handicapped people. Modern IT can give them all they were denied by nature or have lost through ecological cataclysms, military conflicts or human violence. Two years ago an international survey showed that there are as many as 180 mln handicapped people in the world and 150 mln of them live in transitional countries this including Armenia. The situation has not changed very much since then. When discussing this problem in our institute we felt that our efforts are not simply important - they are crucial for humanity - for it's humanity that all the latest novelties are oriented to. Most importantly, ITE is always there to resound to any new trends in education and human development. This is not just adaptation but social integration and equalization of people isolated from society. Three years ago Informatics Educational Complex expressed willingness to actively cooperate with UNESCO Institute. We responded with understanding and now have several joint projects.

Q: Why specifically Informatics Educational Complex?

A: First of all it is our local point in Armenia as was decided by Armenia's UNESCO Commission and Education and Science Ministry. We are glad to note that today the complex is taking a most active part in all our events. Moreover they have a thorough country project which has been considered by international experts in our institute and has received their high appreciation. We have also discussed how to develop this sphere in Armenia, if we are moving in the right direction - and our Armenian colleagues approach the problem the way we do. In this light I would like to point out several interesting projects that they have launched in Armenia of late. For example, academician Arman Kuchikyan has designed a unique electronic reading system Arev for blind people. Now we are jointly considering pushing the product abroad as very few developed countries have the intellectual and practical capabilities to offer the world community such perfect but also cheap products. We are planning a series of measures to make this direction seen and supported both by UNESCO and by other international organizations and foundations.

We'll make best of our international status not only to promote this particular project but also to tailor Armenia's ITE potential for the needs of other countries. This might be a real milestone in both science and education. Considering the activity of our Armenian partners, their projects we want to make the complex our foothold in both Armenia and the CIS as we all have similar problems.

Q: Speaking about problems, what problems do we have in the sphere?

A: First of all I would like to note that even developed countries - let alone the CIS - fail to solve all the problems they are faced with in the sphere. Developed and well-equipped as they might be all the countries in the world are just starting to effectively use ITE. No nation can say they have everything they need in the sphere. That's why here we need global consolidation - here we can fill the gaps still yawning in the other spheres and are able to jointly set off in the right direction. We live a globalizing world when information cannot for long stay inside a country and is easily made a global property. Here one can observe both positive and negative trends. The positive aspect is that a borderless educational environment is taking shape at present embracing complex e-learning structures like digital and electronic libraries, distant-access laboratories. Today we are heading for radical changes. New communication technologies allow us to ensure immediate interaction for teachers and pupils in various corners of the globe. This is the supreme form of educational communication, a new educational environment merging full-time and postal tuition into an open education. This system allows a person wherever he is to learn everything he wants to learn on a given subject and to access the lectures of the world's leading scientists otherwise inaccessible. For talented people even to see and to feel is sometimes a mighty stimulus in life. But at the same time it daunts me sometimes to hear how easily big international conferences use the terms like E-Learning, E-Government, Cyber Space, Learning Society, Open Education. I think one should be more careful with these notions. Oftentimes easily pronounced words push people into easy actions. Today you can see many "talkers" saying easily that: "we don't need e-learning - now we'll be creating open education and then E-University." They don't care what influence these words can have on the activities, on the understanding, on the development of each person - this is a huge problem. Serious experts are much more careful in their conclusions. They perfectly realize that E-Learning can lead to a whole bunch of problems. For example at first glance it might seem excellent that E-Leaning can easily cross the border but on better thinking it turns out a real threat to a nation's originality, its culture and language. The past centuries have shown that there are no small cultures and small nations in the world. Only taken together do they constitute a value for our civilization and by the way the only basis for its sustainable development, a notion so much talked of today. We all are presently witnesses of cruelty, violence and perversion pouring on us from inside TV sets. We constantly see examples of e-robberies and hacking. That's why we urgently need "information ecology" in analogy with earth ecology. We should draft some general approaches to protect a man from this negative impacts.

Q: Do you want to say that we need "e-police" and some similar structures?

A: I would not use specific terms now but we should think about it. After all we want this process to be positive. The whole human background is about the need of high morale. "Police norms" contain a big danger - who will set the norms and how they will use them. I think international organizations and UNESCO in particular should play a big role here. UNESCO is facing a really supreme mission - that is to prepare people for the challenges of nascent information society.

Q: What is your opinion of the past Yerevan conference?

A: Today the E-Learning theory is the very practical result we all should seek to attain. In this light the Yerevan conference was very important. Such arrangements are important for both Armenia and UNESCO. I think the conference was quite fruitful. I met with NAS RA President Fadey Sargsyan and representatives of Armenia's Education and Science Ministry. We discussed the possibility of holding the conference every year. It was not a coincidence that the conference was held in Armenia. In the Soviet times Armenia "set the fashion" in IT, software and hardware design. When I was a student of Bauman Moscow State Technical University I first encountered your Nairi, the best computing complex of the time.

Q: Do you think Armenia is ready for ITE?

A: Here the progress often depends on a particular country's economic development and to a larger extent on its preparedness for ITE. We have recently surveyed the CIS countries to see if they have qualified ITE personnel, necessary equipment and most importantly if their governments are willing to deal with the problem: if their have relevant programs, training courses, methodological materials. To our regret we have found out that all the CIS countries including Armenia are far behind the countries like the Netherlands. But it's not all that simple. For example in Denmark IT are with the man from his very first steps in life while the Japanese do not hurry with ITE giving preference to associative education. You cannot impose development scenarios on a country. You should respect its national culture, traditions, local mentality - this especially referring to Armenia with its millenniums-old history. This is not my first visit to Armenia - I have come here for many times to see its sights and to know its culture. Armenian education officials have shown a great interest in our current discussions and I guess they'll do their best in the matter. They are not just lookers-on, they have not just come here to go, they will be here forever and this is your key value - your intellectual potential. Teachers have always been at the cradle of changes. The time will show how they will take these changes: by promoting positive trends or by failing to curb negative ones. The whole striking paradox of education is that a country's future is the present of its children. Your future is already existent in the youngsters presently entering classrooms and lecture halls. Albert Camus said: "They could do so much but dared to do so little." In this context I would like to thank Armenia's Education and Science Ministry and Science Academy for their willingness to make the present of our children better so as they never quote Camus when speaking with us.

By Viacheslav Khachatryan, ARMINFO, 2004