Winner of the Samsung Digital Turn 2015 is Tartu Veeriku School

The main prize was received by the team of Tartu Veeriku School in the final event of the Samsung Digital Turn programme that took place at the Glass Hall of the Song Festival Ground on Tuesday, December 1st. The school will be able to choose any digital devices from the Samsung product catalogue for the total sum of 10 000 EUR.
According to the jury’s decision, the team of Veeriku School was the most successful among 12 finalists in implementing the whole-school policy towards one-to-one computing using personal digital devices that pupils bring along to school in order to make learning more creative, collaborative and engaging. The school team of Veeriku School consisted of six persons: the principal, IT-manager and four innovation-minded teachers who managed to engage majority of their colleagues in implementing new methods of assessment for learning (or formative assessment) using mobile digital devices and simple online tools: assessment rubrics, learning diaries and blogs.
Samsung Electronic Baltics approached the Centre for Educational Technology (CET, the research centre within the School of Digital technologies) in 2013 to set up an innovative training programme for school teams, as Samsung was already supporting a similar programmes in Latvia and Lithuania. The content and structure of the Estonian version of the Samsung Digital Turn programme was designed by the team of researchers from the CET in line of the new national strategy for lifelong learning where one of the main aims is the turn towards one-to-one computing in classrooms using Bring Your Own Device approach. Samsung provided funding for the programme for two years. In 2014, eight schools were selected to participate in the training programme that lasted for five months and ended with the competition. The first main prize, a set of Samsung tablets worth 10 000 EUR went to Valga Russian Gymnasium a year ago. This year, the jury selected in April 12 new school teams (out of 67 applicants), who attended the training sessions from May til November and were guided by the researchers of CET in implementing their local digital turn project. There were quite different schools involved in the programme: large and small, urban and rural, Estonian- and Russian-speaking, covering all regions of Estonia.
While some schools aimed at replacing printed textbooks with digital learning resources, the others aimed at large-scale use of mobile devices for outdoor learning, exploratory learning in science lessons or developing key competences through digital storytelling. Media coverage and school’s self-reporting on project activities is accessible on the Visit (mostly in Estonian).
The researchers of CET collected vast amount of data from all 20 pilot schools, this data will be used for research purposes. One of the research instruments that was developed and validated within the Samsung Digital Turn programme by the CET is DigiPeegel: an online self-and peer-assessment tool for measuring the digital maturity of the school. All 20 Samsung Digital Turn pilot schools will continue collaboration with the School of Digital Technologies in developing and disseminating innovative educational practices that involve the use of mobile devices in the process of learning.
The Ministry of Education And Research selected the Samsung Digital Turn to represent Estonia in the competition for the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICTs in Education.
Story by Mart Laanpere.
Photos by Ardo Kaljuvee.