
Research Article
A School to Remember: Analyzing School Best Practices in the Perspective of Digital Transformation of Schools
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-031-44668-9_28, author={Elissaveta Gourova and Albena Antonova}, title={A School to Remember: Analyzing School Best Practices in the Perspective of Digital Transformation of Schools}, proceedings={Computer Science and Education in Computer Science. 19th EAI International Conference, CSECS 2023, Boston, MA, USA, June 28--29, 2023, Proceedings}, proceedings_a={CSECS}, year={2023}, month={10}, keywords={Digital Transformation School Education Best Practices}, doi={10.1007/978-3-031-44668-9_28} }
- Elissaveta Gourova
Albena Antonova
Year: 2023
A School to Remember: Analyzing School Best Practices in the Perspective of Digital Transformation of Schools
CSECS
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-44668-9_28
Abstract
The digital transformation of schools aims to ensure a systematic process for adapting primary and secondary education to the level of technology innovations, preparing the next generation for new opportunities and demands. At the same time, digital transformation has to ensure complex organizational alignments beyond simple equipment implementation. School education is a conservative and slow-moving system, so a more in-depth analysis of the existing best practices can provide smooth digital transformation paths.
The present research aims to explore and analyze best practices from the perspective of digital transformation in schools. Using a bottom-up approach, in total 436 best practices are collected from 120 students enrolled in Computer Science programs at Sofia University. These students surmounted one of the most competitive university entrance exams in the country, ensuring the validity and relevance of their best practices. The study covers experiences from 85 primary and secondary schools in 42 locations in Bulgaria. The structuring of the paper is as follows. It starts with a literature overview of school digital transformation and presents the DigiLEAD project approach. Then, the methodology of the study is discussed and best practices are classified by origin (teacher, school or policy-level practices) and by impact (five-level model of quality education). The discussion part proposes different models for adopting digital technologies in schools, taking in consideration that almost 60% of the best practices come from individual teachers, teaching approaches and personal commitment. In the conclusions are summarized the key lessons learned and the limitations of the study.