6.7 Skills for innovation
The Proposal for the Higher Education Development Strategy 2022-26, which is to be adopted soon, contains an entire chapter dedicated to innovation in learning and teaching.
“All institutions of higher education in Montenegro should modernize program content and increase the efficiency of the educational process. In order to encourage higher education institutions to transform their approach to education, especially to direct it primarily to students, the Ministry of Education, together with the Agency for Control and Quality Assurance, should create conditions that will clearly complement traditional teaching methods of learning with an interactive, collaborative and experiential approach to educational content. The first step towards that goal would be the establishment of teaching and learning centers in all higher education institutions. These centers would primarily study, develop and support pedagogical innovations that would facilitate active and interactive learning methods (learning based on setting and solving problems, simulations, role-playing, peer learning, artificial intelligence for self-learning, etc.). By organizing workshops, the centers would train and affirm the development of innovative pedagogical approaches among teaching staff. It is important to strengthen the ties between higher education institutions and the main economic actors on the labor market. Universities can use a number of mechanisms, such as: student internships, the involvement of students and teaching staff in the work of the company, as well as the involvement of industry experts as guest lecturers. Incorporating training into regular curricula can help bring students closer to the manufacturing sector. Finally, institutions may consider establishing learning programs that combine study periods at the university and full-time internships in a firm (dual higher education). The rapid development of e-learning requires targeted policies and technical interventions to enable Montenegrin institutions of higher education to make the best use of new digital opportunities for the modernization of study programs. Introducing innovative teaching and learning practices that promote interactive and collaborative learning also requires reshaping the university's physical infrastructure and environment. From a classroom where the professor does not teach but guides and facilitates the learning itself, to studios and open space classrooms designed to support teamwork with new learning content.”
Government of Montenegro has adopted Strategy on digitalization of Education System 2022-27.
This Strategy has three main goals: improving the information system of education, creating a digital ecosystem in schools, and improving digital skills and competences.
As part of the first objective - improvement of the information system of education - the digitization of all services offered in the education system for citizens and institutions is planned. In addition to the improvement of legal regulations and hardware components, it is planned to improve the software infrastructure, and create new application modules that would be very useful in keeping records such as: those of the fifth level of education, records of part-time students and records of the professional training of teachers. Also, within this goal, it is planned to improve the processing, use, accuracy and reliability of data. The establishment of interoperability and the development of electronic services would enable: determining the identity of children who do not attend school (bearing in mind that primary education is legally mandatory), monitoring of high school graduates and part-time students, unification of data on violence, prevention of epidemics in the education system, as well as monitoring dropping out of school.
The second strategic goal - the creation of a digital ecosystem in schools - refers to the provision of appropriate equipment, knowledge levels, and the Internet in order to manage electronic records and services in an adequate manner. The implementation of this goal also includes the modification of teaching programs and subjects, analysis of staff who teach IT subjects, analysis of the current state of digital competences of teachers. The strategy envisages investment in equipment computer classrooms, offices, offices and libraries. The digitization of libraries is especially important for children who do not have the financial conditions to use technology in their homes, and who will be able to solve their homework in this way at school. The strategy also leaves room for the possible transfer of computer equipment, under special conditions and rules, to children from materially disadvantaged families. The goal is also to implement a local computer network, so that the Internet or some other resources can reach every classroom, especially in remote regional units with a small number of students". Digital educational content will also be developed, which will include both digital textbooks and content independent of textbooks such as STEM, art, e-Readings, but also digital content for talented children, children with special educational needs and material on the topic of cyber security.
The third strategic goal - improvement of digital skills and competences - refers to raising the level of digital skills and competences of employees and students. The goal is for all teachers to be digitally literate, to apply tools for online collaboration, to acquire knowledge on the topic of safe use of technology, but also to acquire digital professional competences. This is particularly significant due to the increasingly frequent online collaboration, due to work with children who show talents in the field of information technologies, but also due to the application of these competencies in working with children with special educational needs." The Strategy can be found at website of the Ministry of Education www.gov.me/mp .