Moscow ranks among the world’s leading smart cities in education
.jpg)
School 627 was one of the first schools to join the Moscow Electronic School project. During his visit to the school, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Moscow schools had entered a second phase of computerisation and their IT equipment would be completely overhauled in the next few years.
“Five years ago, we began introducing electronic boards and computers for teachers and schools, and we did well,” he said. “Now we are entering the next stage of introducing Wi-Fi touchscreens and new interactive boards at a new technical level.”
“And most importantly, we are also working to introduce new methods that are engaging for teachers and pupils alike, new lesson plans, electronic textbooks,” Mayor Sobyanin said. “This gigantic content machine must be gradually put into use at our schools.”
The Mayor also said supplying the technical equipment would be the easiest part of this effort. “I have no doubt that we will create an information environment that meets modern requirements at all schools within five years,” Mayor Sobyanin said.
But in order to make school education interesting, the Department of Education, teachers and pupils will have to work hard together.
“I hope this project will take Moscow schools to even a higher level according to both Russian and international standards,” the Mayor of Moscow said.
Addressing pupils of School 627, he said: “Your job is not only to pass exams, but also to get ready for life, to learn to apply the knowledge you receive at school, and then college and university, in real life. Then you will make valuable employees with something to offer employers and the people around you. The skills you are acquiring today in practical lessons will help both you personally, the people around you, your friends, and contribute to your future success.”
New technology for schools
The Moscow Government completed the previous IT provision stage in school education in 2010-2013. Then, according to the centralized IT re-equipment plan, Moscow schools were provided with over 56,500 laptops for teachers, 1,100 units of equipment for ICT classes at secondary schools, 3,400 mobile computer classes for primary schools and 10,500 interactive boards.
Teachers in Moscow were provided with personal laptops for the first time. All schools had broadband and internet access. The first version of the city’s unified electronic class register and electronic personal record book introduced.
The KPMG consulting company said in its survey that Moscow schools are now using the majority of the key elements of a smart city found in most developed cities of the world: electronic personal record and mark book, electronic school access, laptops, interactive whiteboards. Schools are getting digital/virtual labs, multimedia studios and robot technology. Open online education resources are also being developed.
Uniform electronic education environment
However, now that the computers’ service life has expired and new technologies have been developed in the past few years, the Mayor decided to implement a new IT provision project, Moscow Electronic School, in 2016-2018.
The central goal of the project is to use the best of modern IT infrastructure to improve the quality of school education.
Moscow schools will have to meet a uniform electronic education environment that will include interactive equipment, internet access, access to local networks via Wi-Fi, personal laptops and tablets for teachers and pupils. The obsolete IT infrastructure that has been in use in education since 2010 will also have to be upgraded.
Schools will use innovative teaching technologies and modern forms of managing the education process, and teachers will work with new teaching tools.
Schools involved in the project will enjoy access to:
— the upgraded version of the city electronic class register and records and personal record and mark book. This will make it possible to receive individual teaching plans/assignments from teachers, change/choose the scale for evaluating pupils’ performance, and attach a direct link to the platform source to the records book. Parents will be able to report a child’s absence, follow their child’s movements at school – at lessons, during outside play, at the canteen or at an afterschool club. The new electronic register and personal record and mark book will make paper notes from parents and teachers a thing of the past;
— the city library of online education resources – a cloud-based internet platform with education materials: aids, textbooks, workbooks, readers, media resources (education videos, video lessons/teacher explanations, subject labs, etc.);
— the library of online lesson plans for teachers to use effective models for lessons on a certain topic and also to create and upload their own lesson plans (share their experience);
— testing system for pupils to check their knowledge independently and prepare for a test or exam.
Schools are being provided with the necessary equipment to allow them to make the best use of the online education platform. The equipment includes interactive boards with an inbuilt computer, access to the platform and internet, Wi-Fi access to use the education platform from anywhere inside the school, laptops and tablets for teachers, and servers.
Participants in the new project
Since September 2016 six city educational complexes have been taking part in the Moscow Electronic School project: Schools 627, 1995, 1194, 2095, 1298 and Lyceum 1571. They employ 718 teachers of middle and senior forms and educate over 7,000 students.
The city supplied those schools with 322 interactive boards, 718 laptops and tablets and provided 808 access points to the Wi-Fi network in the school buildings.
Since the project began, its participants have developed and submitted 8,966 interactive lesson plans in all the main subjects from fifth through eleventh form to Moscow Electronic School. Teachers personally developed 3,255 electronic lesson plans and used them in 16,254 lessons.
Also since the beginning of the project 32 electronic training aids have been published in chemistry, physics, biology and history for fifth through eleventh form. In addition, three author’s electronic training aids prepared by Moscow school teachers have been posted (in biology for fifth form, in basics of personal and social safety for eighth form and in computer skills for ninth form), as well as an electronic reader in six volumes and an electronic aid in internet studies.
School with 80 years of history
School 627 was founded in the Zamoskvorechye District (Dubninskaya Street) in 1936. It bears the name of Dmitry Lelyushenko, a veteran of World War II who commanded the Fourth Guards Tank Army holding the Order of the Red Banner, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, a full general.
Now the school is a large educational complex consisting of six school buildings and eight buildings for hands-on training.
All in all, 3,612 children study in that school, including 1,133 children of pre-school age and 2,479 children of school age. Supplementary education is provided for 2,941 children, which is 81.4 per cent of the total number of students.
All the buildings have modern furniture and training equipment. For athletics and sports, six gyms are available, as well as school stadiums, basketball and volleyball courts, a football pitch and fitness machine rooms.
The main school building hosts the Museum of the 4th Guards Tank Army holding the Order of the Red Banner, one of the best school museums in Moscow.
Children enter the buildings using electronic IDs. The school complex has an up-to-date security and video monitoring system. All buildings are adapted for physically disabled people.
In the 2015/2016 school year the school passed 170 11th formers, 17 of whom received gold medals “For Outstanding Success in Studies.”
According to the results of the 2015/2016 school year, School 627 took 45th place in the ranking of the best Moscow schools and entered the list of the 500 top schools in Russia.
School 627 educational projects
School 627 is one of six Moscow educational complexes where the Moscow Electronic School project is being implemented at present. For this purpose the school has bought 475 items of equipment, including 55 interactive whiteboards, 114 laptops, 28 tablets and five servers, and has equipped 187 Wi-Fi access points. 1,650 children are participating in the project.
The school also implements the following educational projects:
— The Kurchatov Centre of Continuous Convergent (Cross-Subject) Education, which involves 1,630 children. For this project the school bought 4,300 items of equipment, including a modern telescope, mobile digital laboratories in physiology, meteorological stations, etc.
— Engineering classes for 220 children total. Partners in this project are the Stankin Moscow State Technological University and the Mosgormash children’s technopark. The school bought 280 items of equipment, including 3D scanning and modelling equipment, an atomic-force microscope, sets for current, geomagnetic field and radiation background research, etc.;
— Medical classes for 261 children total. Partners are the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and Dental Clinic 3. The school bought 61 items of equipment, including mobile digital laboratories, DNA test kits, robotic simulators with a clinical death mode and other things.
On 1 September 2017 the school is planning to open cadet classes.
Following the results of the School of New Technology competition, the educational complex will receive 61 robotic devices that are beyond the standard training equipment list.