Dream School Internationalization

Internationalization of Dream School concept

n a l p r f e 17 o t of o s Pr a –20 ore m ap 3 g n e i th 201Case S for t p ce n co

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

– George Bernard Shaw

Milestones Kasavuori School in the city of Kauniainen near Helsinki initiated the Dream School development process to create an engaging and ubiquitous learning environment. It is designed with all learners’ needs in mind. The Dream School is a bottom-up designed model to support learners’ growth and learning. Technology used is based on open source code and it is developed in collaboration with our partners.

Preparations for the first international Dream School pilots.

Kasavuori School was one of the national pilot schools in the National Plan of ICT in Education.

Dream School concept is launched at Kasavuori School in Kauniainen.

Dream, DreamOS and other core Dream School technology released as open source.

Dream School services are launched in first 10 schools in Finland.

Learn more about Dream School at www.dreamschool.eu

Seven ongoing research projects.

Launch of the new Future Program for 2014–2017.

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 © 2013 Dream School

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Co-creating excellence Visions and plans in education are not in short supply, but implementation and examples of concrete steps and best practice are. Dream School model is all about concrete steps and attention to learners’ future needs.

Both Singapore and Finland are committed to excellence and the desired outcomes of education are explicitly linked to competitiveness, research and innovation.

Singapore is one of the most dynamic and innovative centers in the world, with eyes firmly fixed on the future.

We believe that Finland and Singapore, world’s top educational performers, can learn from each other and jointly lead the way for the best educational practice. Even though there are many differences between Finland and

Singapore, both countries share a culture of education and a high respect for teachers. There is a good foundation for many types of collaboration. We believe that the School is the place where new ideas take root. Schools in both countries have a clear idea of the importance of life long learning. We both know how important it is that students can reach the ability to manage their own lives and that they possess the necessary learning tools, life skills and knowledge for a good life in a changing world. That is why collaboration between schools – also internationally – is so very important.

We look forward to seeing you in Finland this autumn!

Mrs Riitta Rekiranta Principal, Kasavuori School, Kauniainen Mobile: +358 50 597 7413 Email: riitta.rekiranta@dreamschool.fi Riitta Rekiranta is “Mrs Dream School”. She has worked in Kauniainen since 1980 and she has been the principal since 2000. She was awarded Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland for her life work for education.

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The Finnish National Board of Education is the principal financier of the national Dream School pilot, which is coordinated by the Kasavuori School. The pilot focuses on the deployment of user driven cloud services for learning. Seven research projects and over ten service providers are part of the pilot. 15 schools nationwide have already adopted the model and we are expecting 15 more schools to join us by the end of the year.

Finland The basic education in Finland has been highly ranked in many international studies. This proves that something has been done right in the past. However, we recognize that the education model that built the industrial achievements of the past, is not a recipe for future success. The Finnish education system is based on strong professionalism and firm trust between all stakeholders.

Our well-educated teachers are highly valued knowledge workers.

Collaboration internationally and locally is vital for continued success.

Kasavuori School Kasavuori School has about 330 students and 40 teachers. ICT has been used in learning since the 1980’s. The School was one of the national pilot schools in the National Plan of ICT in Education 2008–2010. The project studied and developed future ICT use in Finnish schools.

Kasavuori School initiated and authored the Dream School model to meet the needs and the expectations of the 21st century learners and adults. Collaboration, sharing and continuous learning are a big part of the school’s success. The Dream School was launched in 2008.

Kasavuori School has committed, professional teachers and motivated students. The learning community shares common values, knowledge and experience. The support of the learning and growth is seen as the most important task of the basic education.

Kauniainen Finnish-language school authority – which Kasavuori School is a part of – has about 1200 students, it employs 100 teachers and its annual budget is approximately EUR 8,5 million.

Kauniainen is a small town located west of Helsinki. The city is relatively prosperous with a well educated population.

Collaborative school bag – light as a cloud No separate installations.

Unifies the communication between services, people and devices.

Learning materials, notebooks, equipment for watching and producing films, photography and access to virtual networks are instantly available.

According to research conducted by VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, Dream School model saves costs as a result of streamlined procurement processes and using technology which significantly reduces environmental impact and users´ waste of time.

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© 2013 Dream School

A development of a common learning platform like the Dream platform is very important especially for small learning solution companies like us. Dream platform opens up great possibilities to scale up our services and allows us to concentrate on our core mission – development of engaging and effective learning solutions.

Mr Kristian Kiili Flow Factory

A flexible user management system and a forthcoming learning solution marketplace facilitate our work greatly, because it decrease the development risks and will support the marketing of new learning solutions. For us the diffusion of the Dream platform is a key issue in scaling up and we believe that in the future it allows us to invest more in development of innovative learning solutions.

Värikäs is the advertising agency behind the visual look of Dream School. Our agency was founded in 2001 and today we employ 13 advertising professionals.

Mr Marko Mäkelä Advertising Agency Värikäs

Our energetic, colourful team shines with fresh visual designs and savvy software. The average work day consists of print and web designs, big advertising campaigns and demanding technical development projects.

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The main player behind Dream Platform Haltu Ltd, founded in 2010, has grown from 2 persons to over 10 professionals and doubled its revenue and staff every year. Our company is young, innovative and constantly seeking growth through excellent performance.

Our team consists of young, highly skilled and very ambitious professionals who have their own responsibilities in the product development process. We have built a winning team based on effective co-operation between highly performing individuals.

Haltu’s dream is to work in co-operation with other stakeholders in the educational arena. Open communication, collaboration and co-creation with carefully selected partners are keys to success in this area demanding various forms of expertise. Core Factory has been Haltu’s partner throughout the development of the Dream School platform.

Mr Mikko Sävilahti, CEO of Haltu Mobile: +358 50 350 6464 Email: mikko@haltu.fi Mikko is the co-founder of Haltu Ltd. He has lead extensive mobile and web application projects in large corporations like Tieto and Digia.

Mikko is innovative, open-minded and constantly looking for ways to perform better and exceed expectations.

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© 2013 Dream School

At Core Factory Ltd we see the differences and the similarities between Finland and Singapore as an inspiring opportunity for collaboration and bridge building. We hope to unlock new markets through partnerships with Singaporean companies.

The brains of Ubiquitous networking ZeeCore® is the brain that connects the building with other learning support systems and services. It is a seamless part of the Dream platform.

ZeeCore® links all devices and sensors, regardless of interface or manufacturer, to one easily manageable entity. It makes the invisible information visible, informs and empowers the users and makes proactive maintenance and remote support possible. The system monitors energy use, WLAN access points, security systems and enables remote management of AV equipment.

ZeeCore® is a future proofed solution. It can be adapted to different protocols and interfaces without restrictions and it is easier and considerably cheaper to install and maintain than traditional server solutions.

Mr Juho Jakka, CEO of Core Factory Mobile: +358 50 535 4208 Email: juho.jakka@corefactory.com Juho is the founder of Core Factory Ltd. He has built three successful companies in three different industries, selling their services to the most demanding private and public organizations. He is dedicated to inspire change in the people and the companies he leads and in the way business is done. In his free time he’s passionate about performing arts as well as learning new languages and cultures.

Haltu has been important partner for Core Factory in creating smart concepts for schools. Since we launched, many affiliate companies have begun developing new innovative services on our platform.

The role of ICT in Dream School Concept • Economically and ecologically sustainable ICT services which are procured based on true user needs instead of hardware specifications or best efforts by large firms.

• Creation of a PPP- type of ecosystem for ICT-services where service providers, the school, teachers and municipal education administration collaborate and have adopted new roles.

Mr Pekka Leviäkangas Mobile: +358 40 5616529 Email: pekka.leviakangas@oulu.fi Professor Leviäkangas is one of Finland’s leading public-private partnership experts and contributes to European Commission, OECD and European Investment Bank.

• A wide service provider network enables adequate and competitive supply of services and gives room for innovation.

• As a technical platform, Dream School facilitates better interoperability through open source applications and it ties seamlessly together users, services, applications and hardware.

• Future applications and even infrastructure will be provided through cloud – teachers and pupils decide on the best tools to use.

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Mr Raine Hautala Mobile: +358 40 584 1114 Email: raine.hautala@vtt.fi www.vtt.fi Raine is a Senior Scientist at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

His areas of expertise include service design, impact assessment and evaluation tools of information services.

Research-based solutions VTT and University of Oulu are particularly interested in the techno-economic evaluation of novel ICT service concepts. Dream School is such a concept and similar approaches will be seen also in other sectors.

New business models for companies and new collaboration models for the public sector are the essence of these concepts. The impacts of new models must be studied at the floor level in order to ensure that the models work not only on paper but in practice as well.

Best results will be reached if research is conducted as an international joint effort, which takes into account various contexts and culture-specific differences.

Building learner centric digital future together Elisa Corporation is a leading Nordic telecommunications and ICT service company.

It serves approximately 2.2 million consumers, 150.000 companies and public administration organisations in Finland and internationally.

Elisa’s revenue was €1.53 billion (2011) and Elisa employed 3,750 people. Elisa’s cutting edge colloborative solutions offer new ways to improve productivity. Elisa has operations in the Nordic countries, the Baltics and Russia. It also offers international services in partnership with Vodafone and Telenor. For more information, visit www.elisa.com.

Elisa Business Security Consulting, part of Elisa Corporation, offers world class advisory services for public sector and critical infrastructure organisations globally. Elisa has global expertise in education specializing in virtual education development and implementation of digital learning ecosystem both for populated and rural learning environments.

Elisa’s vision in education is to support learner centric virtual education which is integrated into national curriculum goals. That is why Elisa

looks forward the success of Dream School cooperation in Finland and other parts of the world. In that kind of environment robust and accessible communication practices as well as designing and implementing digital educational services are essential to ensure efficient and safe communication between and within learners, teachers and administrators. Elisa enables user centric services based on efficient and modern communication models and tools in virtual environment .

Mr Risto Ojanperä Mobile: +358 50 5068178 Email: risto.ojanpera@elisa.fi www.elisa.com Risto is vice president of Elisa Business Security Consulting Services. He is a leading business architect specializing in business strategies and digital architectures, business services, processes and supporting communication technology in challenging environments.

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Towards excellence with cooperation between Finland and Singapore Finland and Singapore – top educational countries in the world Both countries are internationally known for excellent learning outcomes and continuous high intensity development and investment in the quality of education and training.

Both Finland and Singapore have a strong commitment to prepare new generations to meet future demands.

Learning Solutions programme The objective is to develop internationally important learning solutions to develop new operating approaches, create new skills and develop products, services and comprehensive packages for national and international markets.

Learning Solutions will be implemented from 2011 to 2015 and its estimated budget is EUR 52 million, of which Tekes’ share is EUR 30 million.

Finnable 2020 is part of Learning Solutions programme. The aim is to foster new ecosystems of learning that break through traditional boundaries about where, when, and with whom learning takes place. Finnable projects promote the research and design of collaborative, technology enabled learning environments for the 21st century —locally and internationally.

Capacity building through international collaboration In cooperation between researchers, practitioners, private companies and the public sector, we are currently developing the capacity of educators to foster students’ growth as active, technology literate 21st century citizens who have a strong foundation for life-long and life-wide learning.

Hannele Niemi FINNABLE 2020 Scientific Leader Professor of Education University of Helsinki J C Koh Professor, NIE, Singapore hannele.niemi@helsinki.fi

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© 2013 Dream School

Finnable 2020 explores the idea of a globally shared pedagogy by connecting students and teachers across the world. Using digital learning environments and communication technologies, such as mobile devices, videos, and games students and teachers exchange ideas, collaborate and create content together.

Mr Jari Multisilta Professor of Multimedia Director, CICERO Learning University of Helsinki jari.multisilta@helsinki.fi

Participating groups range from kindergarten to high school and come from Finland, California, Greece, and Singapore. We welcome all Singaporean researchers, teachers and students, public and private sectors to be a part of this international cooperation.

Digital Storytelling – learning to create content together One of the tools of Finnable 2020 is MoViE (Mobile Video Experience) which enables collaboration in the classroom and across borders. Using MoViE students create, edit, share and remix collaborative digital storytelling projects with simple videos created with mobile devices.

Themes can be connected to different subjects, such as science (e.g. water or energy), social sciences (e.g. history, neighborhood, traffic), or students’ hobbies and leisure time.

Students work in teams and learn collaborative skills while jointly creating digital stories.

The MoViE digital space gives students an opportunity to bring international perspective into their learning. It enables easy collaboration and interaction with peers in other countries.

Teachers are also breaking barriers locally as they use mobile digital storytelling as a way of encouraging students to critically explore their local communities and environments.

The key features of MoViE are: • The focus is on storytelling. Editing and production are quick and simple.

• It is free and web-based.

• Apps are available online, free and easy to download.

• MoViE is hosted on a secure server and privacy is guaranteed.

• Adults can moderate content as needed.

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CONCRETE PROPOSALS for collaboration Set up We would like to set up Dream School in Singapore. This means contacting interested schools and facilitating the start up.

We would like to test run our agile application and service development model starting from users’ needs in Singapore.

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Build up

Research & evaluate

We would like to build up a supporting ecosystem for collaboration, identify and contact local companies and research counterparts interested in collaboration with the Dream School model. We are looking for long term collaboration with these parties.

We would like to participate in, facilitate and support international research collaboration to provide the best evidence based methods and technologies to schools.

That would include several case studies, benchmarking and impact evaluation.

We are especially interested in finding local SME´s and vendors providing cloud services, who are willing and interested in opening up international markets in collaboration with Finnish companies.

We are able to offer our experiences and results of the Finnish national pilot for research and benchmarking. We will also have one or two other international pilots by the end of the year, which could be jointly planned and implemented.

Collaborate and plan ahead We are ready to provide Dream school workshops in Singapore between June and August.

We will organize an international Dream School seminar, autumn 2013 in Finland, and we hope to see participants from Singapore.

We would like to host a visit for a delegation of Singaporean education authorities and head teachers to Finland to discuss next steps.

dreamschool.eu © 2013 Dream School

Special thanks to Mrs Marianne Mattila (Advertising Agency Värikäs) for graphic design and creating the layout Mrs Sirkku Nikamaa-Linder for translation, proof reading, edits and some content creation Mr Hock Chye Lim (Finpro) for organizing the program for the visit