Abstract
The chapter on Smart Education in Albania presents the concrete situation and plans for the near future of educational developments in Albania. This chapter describes the digital transformation of education at two levels of education: K-12 and higher education. The report analyzes the situation regarding the level of digitization of the education system, presents the policies aimed at the development of this process and describes the main practices implemented at the school, local and national levels for the development of intelligent education. More specifically, this report provides insights into the development of six important features of intelligent education in the Albanian context. Some progress and positive developments have been made in terms of investments made in fixed broadband networks, the creation of new agencies responsible for quality in education, the establishment of educational centers for learning artificial intelligence, etc. The chapter brings evidence of good practices of smart education implemented with students of grades K-12 by innovative teachers and cooperation with European schools in joint school projects in the field of science, culture, heritage, communication and art. The analysis of these components shows that despite these achievements, the educational system in Albania is not properly prepared to adapt to the innovations that smart education brings. The investments of the Albanian government in sectors related to education are not sufficient to meet the requirements for the development of smart education. This report identified the areas of concern for the development of smart education. Albania should make efforts for the digitization of education and introduction of innovative technologies in education, the development of digital education resources, the professional development of in-service teachers and the initial training of future teachers with digital competencies. The full implementation of the development policies the National Strategies and the significant increase in investments by the Albanian government in the education sector and in the sectors that help its development, will create the main basis for the development of smart education in Albania.
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Notes
- 1.
The Member States of the EOSC and NI4OS Europe, are 28 EU countries and 10 associated countries.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
TUMO educational centre was opened early in October of 2020. TUMO Centers operate in cities such as Paris, Beirut, Berlin, Moscow and now Tirana. (Raiffeisen Bank in Albania, 2021).
- 5.
SDA is the largest programming academy in CEECs with headquarters in Poland and operates in over 35 cities across Europe.
- 6.
Holberton School has its campuses in 20 countries around the world.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
Abbreviations
- AADF:
-
Albanian-American Development Foundation
- ACRIS:
-
Albania Current Research Information System
- AI:
-
Artificial Intelligence
- AIDA:
-
Albanian Investment Development Agency
- ASCAP:
-
National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education
- CIDREE:
-
Consortium of Institutions for Development and Research in Education in Europe
- CM:
-
Council of Ministers
- EOSC:
-
European Open Science Cloud
- EU:
-
European Union
- GDP:
-
Gross Domestic Product
- GÉANT:
-
Gigabit European Academic Network
- HEIs:
-
Higher Education Institutions
- ICT:
-
Information and Communication Technology
- IDI:
-
ICT Development Index
- IED/IZHA:
-
Institute of Educational Development/Instituti i Zhvillimit te Arsimit
- INSTAT:
-
Institute of Statistics
- ISTE:
-
International Society for Technology in Education
- ITU:
-
International Telecommunication Union
- LGU:
-
Local Government Units
- MoESY:
-
Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth
- MSHIAP:
-
Ministry of State for Innovation and Public Administration
- NAIS:
-
National Agency on Information Society
- NBP:
-
National Broadband Plan
- OECD:
-
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- OERs:
-
Open Educational Resources
- PUEDS:
-
Pre-University Education Development Strategy
- RASH:
-
Albanian Academic Network
- SELFIE:
-
Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational Technologies
- UNESCO:
-
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- UNICEF:
-
United Nations Children’s Fund
- WB6:
-
Western Balkans 6—The six Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
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Kraja, P. (2023). Report on Smart Education in Albania. In: Zhuang, R., et al. Smart Education in China and Central & Eastern European Countries. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7319-2_3
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