Digital Turn in the Schools of Estonia: Obstacles and Solutions

Abstract

Schools from all over the world are moving into the direction of using more e-learning, digital gadgets and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). In the Estonian Strategy for Lifelong Learning 2020, the switch to 1:1 computing in classroom is called “Digital Turn”. The strategy relies on expectations that smarter use of personal digital devices will improve not only digital literacy of pupils, but also their academic achievements in various subjects. The Estonian government plans to allocate 47 million Euros of national and EU structural funds until year 2020 for this purpose. There is also interest in improving digital skills of school-leavers on the side of the industry, as the Estonian ICT sector expects to double the turnover within the next 4–5 years. The sectoral analysis estimated the need for 8000 new employees in ICT companies. To achieve this, the industry has supported various educational programs like the Look@World Foundation’s Smart Lab project, Samsung Digital Turn project for schools, using Raspberry Pi-s at school supported by TransferWise, Microsoft’s Partners in Learning projects and so on.