Arnes in schools, for schools and/or Who am I on the web?

Let’s tell the story that – in two parts – speaks about two times ten of learning and two times ten of expectations and the digital identity of learners, teachers and schools. We have reached an interesting historical milestone. There are ten »Sirikt’s«,  and before them there were ten »Mirk’s« years, but our thoughts are already directed towards the future, into 2020, which is quite near. But before looking ahead, we have to ask ourselves where we are today. The technology conquered us faster than we had expected, and it is penetrating into every sphere of our lives. But nevertheless, we have to ask ourselves: do we really know what to do with the technology? The presentation will – also by means of the ambiguous »Sirikt’s ten for learning« – show various pitfalls and layers of introducing ICT into schools, and of which we have already learned more than just the fact that they are inseparable: of course a technological basis is always needed, but learning is also very important – learning for teachers. ARNES is present in schools in various areas, and in the future this will only be strengthened and widened. The process itself is actually bidirectional, because schools also »come to ARNES«. Last year all primary schools quietly joined the ArnesAAI federation. We will not only tell you the story of what happened in that process and how new opportunities emerged through it; we will also tell you the story of the internet identity. We are asking ourselves what its present is like and what its future will be. What does internet identity mean to us? What is our control over it like? Besides, there are other important questions emerging. Is it OK for technological giants like Google to know about our every single step? Is it really essential for the state to know which book we have borrowed from the library and which medicines we take? To what extent the state is ARNES? And finally, what has a teacher got to do with it? All these questions are not only technological questions, they are more social questions. And teachers co-create the society, or at least, they should do so.

Tomi Dolenc (M.Sc. Computer Science) has been with ARNES since 1994, working extensively with different user groups but mostly with schools, trying to understand their needs and constantly re-thinking the role of an NREN in the emerging information society. He is currently Head of the User Communications. Within ARNES’s Management Team, Tomi takes part in managing service portfolio, maintaining contact with the user community and engaging in national projects and strategies introducing ICT to schools. He remains interested in computer (network) mediated communication and the social changes induced by the integration of internet into our lives.

Tomislav Dolenc

ARNES