Connected Intelligence: Network Learning Organization

CITD was designed to meet the specific needs and requirements of Madeira and the SRE (Regional Secretary of Education) with respect to the Information Age Initiative articulated by both the European Union and the Madeiran Government. Brian Alger of KPMG Canada was responsible for writing the feasibility study as well as designing, implementing and managing a Connected Intelligence solution to meet these needs. The result was the CITD Program. A feasibility study was produced in the last quarter of 1998 and presented to the SRE. In December of 1998 an agreement was reached with the Madeiran Government to implement the program in the school system...

The original concept of CITD was built on the notion of a cascading system of professional development that:

was built on the principles of Connected Intelligence Network Learning Environments;
met and/or exceeded the stated aims of the Information Society;
provided one year of training for 300 different teachers per year through 2006; and
involved the majority of Madeiran students in projects that prepared them for the European Union's vision of an Information Society.

Organzational Development of CITD

The feasibility study clearly articulated that most pressing issue in the initial phases of the project was to establish a formal organizational design that clarified the relationship between the Madeiran SRE and KPMG Canada. CITD is not sustainable nor effective as an arm's-length project or add-on. Finding a formal point of entry into the exisiting school curriculum was essential. This meant that CITD had to be written into the Madeiran school charter.

CITD Program Liason: In December of 1998 the SRE appointed an internal CITD Program Liaison on a full-time basis. The CITD Program Liason was the official organizational link between the Madeiran Ministry of Education and Brian Alger. This represented a formal and critical point of entry into the Madeiran education system.

CITD Trainers: In January of 1999, ten teachers were seconded from the Madeiran school system to become the first CITD Trainers. These ten individuals were removed from the school-based teaching responsibilities to pursue a full-time career as a CITD Trainer. This leadership team received the designation CITD Trainers from the SRE. The CITD Trainers were specifically trained in the planning, design, implementation and assessment of Connected Intelligence Network Learning Projects across the school system.

In February, these teachers were brought to the Toronto for initial training. In March of 1999 three Connected Intelligence Network Learning Projects (CI NLPs) were launched in the school system. At the same time, physical facilities to house the CITD Program were being constructed at Secundaria Dr. Angelo Augusto da Silva in Funchal. This became known as the CITD Innovation Centre and was fully equipped with the latest in technology. While the timeline for preparation was obviously too short, it was decided that the program would be implemented as an initial test in order to refine the implementation process. The results of this test were successful as was clearly demonstrated at the CITD Showcase in July of 1999.

CITD Innovation Centre: The CITD Innovation Centre is high-tech facility designed to: a) provide a home base for the CITD Trainers; b) serve as a key training centre for the education system; c) serve as a communications hub for all CI NLPs; and d) house new media production tools. This facility received the designation CITD Innovation Centre and was created inside of Escola Secundaria Dr. Angelo Augusto da Silva in Funchal, Madeira. The Innovation Centre is equipped with industry standard hardware, software and network infrastructure.

Connected Intelligence Clubs: A club in Madeiran schools is a formally timetabled event and a teaching requirement for teachers. However, teachers are given a great deal of latitude in creating Clubs – they are not accountable to the prescribed curriculum. A Club can also act as a collaborative environment for teachers and students. A single Club can support a number of teacher and students. For CITD, the exisiting Club structure offered a key linkage point between the CITD Trainers and the school system. As a result, Connected Intelligence Clubs were formally established in the school curriculum.

A CI Club is a formal structure within the school system of Madeira with the purpose of pursuing CI Network Learning Projects. It was designed as a compliment to the existing Club structure mandated by the SRE. By giving it formalized recognition in the school system, CITD had a mechanism to deliver teacher professional development that supported the principles stated above while creating a minimal amount of disruption in schools.

CI Associate Teachers and Students: A CI Associate Teacher is a teacher in a school in charge of a CI Club. They receive exensive training and support from the CITD Trainers in designing and implementing CI Network Learning Projects. This training and support occurs onsite during regular Club hours, as well as specialized training at the CITD Innovation Centre. Since each CI Club included 10-15 students, the students themselves were also direct beneficiaries of the new techniques. The goal of the CITD program was to involve 300 CI Associate Teachers per year and approximately 3000 students per year. Over the course of six years, every teacher and student in the Madeiran school system would receive CI training.

CI Network Learning Projects: Each CI NLP incorporated a strategy and actively pursued the inclusion of multi-age, multi-expertise, multi-school, parents, local community organizations, business and government officials as a natural part of the project. All CI NLPs were officially presented at an annual Showcase that took place at the Madeira Tecnopolo.

Below is a translation of the official SRE Dispatch that formalized CI Clubs and CI Associate teachers in the Madeiran school system. The Dispatch was written by the CITD Program Liason in consultation with Brian Alger and presented to the Minister of Education for final approval:

Dispatch N º / 99

The program CITD – Connected Intelligence Training and Development - is a new way of providing education and, based on networking, with the objective of accelerating innovation through the economic and social development. One of its main components is the CI Network Learning Projects, which are related with associated teachers' training. The Network Learning projects are based on the Connected Intelligence's methodology and are considered as curricular complement activities.

After the initial and experimental phase of this program in some schools of the Region, during the school year of 1998/99, it is necessary to define its way of implementation, according to the current organisation of the Basic and Secondary schools.

Thus :
- Under the cover of paragraph c) of nº1 article nº3 of the Regional Law nº6/97/M of 17th March, together with paragraph d) article 69º of the Laws of Madeira’s government, revised by law nº130/99,of 21st of August,

I determine that:

1. The figure of the CITD Program Associated School is created.

In the CITD Program's associated schools will be developed the Network Learning projects with other schools or institutions, integrated in a club called "Club of Connected Intelligence" that will function as part of the curricular complement's activities.
It is the responsibility of each school the decision of being associated to the CITD program, becoming an Associated School and integrating a network of schools already associated to the Program.
The candidacy of each school will have to be formalised in a specific official document, and sent to the Regional Direction of Innovation and Educative Management until July 12 of each year.
The associated schools should renew their candidacy until the above date.
Candidacies of schools to the program without the candidacies of teachers will not be accepted.
It’s the competence of each school, in it’s proper boards to decide to associate themselves to the program, becoming an Associated School and connecting themselves to the network of schools already associated to the program.
The Schools' admission will be made after approval of the Regional Direction of Innovation and Educative Management, and after being heard the co-ordinators of Program CITD and analysed the logistic capacity of each school, so it can create the conditions for the development of projects.

2. In each Associated School it is created the figure of the CITD Program Associated Teacher of the 1st year and the figure of the CITD Program Associated Teacher of the 2nd year.

The associated teacher of the 1st year is responsible, together with other associated teachers, for the development of a network-learning project, in the ambit of the CI club of his school. In order to do this he must work with other teachers of the network of Associated Schools, having also a training component as said in point 3, for the development of the above mentioned project.
The associated teachers of the 2nd year also develops, in cooperation with other associated teachers, a network learning project but the training component will be of a different level having the possibility of deepening their knowledge of the methodology and of participating in the making of training modules and of being selected for local trainer of the CITD program.
The candidacy to associated teachers of the 1st year may presented by all teachers that have not been associated teachers in previous years thus not having attended any training of the program, from the school year of 1999/2000 forward.
The associated teacher of the 2nd year, are selected among those teachers that renew their candidacies and that have fulfilled what is said in 2,9.
The candidacy of the associated teacher is made in a specific official document (file attached) fulfilled and accompanied by a copy of the biographical file of the teacher.
The candidacy of the associated teacher will have to be together with the candidacy process of the school, except in cases of candidacies presented after12 of July, which will be considered as extraordinary candidacies by the Regional Direction of Innovation and Educative Management, after being heard the program's co-ordinators.
The candidacy conditions for the associated teacher are the following ones:
a) To be, preferentially, under permanent contract with a school, independently of the his/ her subject group.
b) To have, at the very least, a degree
The associated teacher will commit himself/ herself to develop work according to the CITD program methodology, being responsible for the conclusion of the projects, as outlined previously in the objectives of each project.
The associated teacher has the right to a reduction of the period of learning component, in order to develop its work in the club, since that he is responsible for a group of, at the very least 15 pupils.
The reduction hours mentioned in the above paragraph must be integrated in the learning component of the teacher, being properly mentioned in the schedule of the teacher.
In certain exceptional cases, he or she could be authorised to have an inferior number of pupils, minimum of 10, by the Regional Direction of Innovation and Educative Management.
The candidacy of the teacher will be approved by the Regional Direction of Innovation and Educative Management, according to the official declaration of the School Board and the Co-ordinators of the Program, after observing the profile of the professor

3. Training

The development of the CITD Network Learning projects is followed by a training component for the associated teacher, which will allow the direct applicability in the related one projects.
The associated teacher will receive a certificate of the specific training of, at least, 50 hours.
The decision about the certification, after analysis of the reports and of the developed work, it is the responsibility of the training institution, in this case, Regional Secretary of Education in partnership with the International Centre for Connected Intelligence.
To the associated teachers of the 2nd year, the training is given in order to deepen the knowledge in the methodology and core competences.
The type of training mentioned above, targets the expertise in one or more areas of the methodology and includes the preparation of a training module.

4. The Club of Connective Intelligence's functioning:

The Club has its own number of hours, to be distributed among the associated teachers meaning that these hours are not included in the total of hours that each school makes use for the accomplishment of activities of curricular complement. The number of hours of the club are distributed as follows:
- In schools that have up to 1200 students, the club has a total to 18 weekly hours.
- In schools with more than 1200 students, 3 extra hours will be added per each 400 students more.
According to the number of associated teachers in each school, and according to the size of the projects, the weekly hours of the Clubs can be reviewed.
The associated teacher is supported by the team of CITD trainers assigned for this task. Periodic meetings between the trainers and the associated teachers, will take place, in the ambit of the coordination activities and of the specific development of the Network Learning Projects, in non-working hours.
The associate teachers should, together with their students, create the regulation of the club to be approved by the school board.
The school board must make sure that the necessary mechanisms to control the attendance of the students exist.
The associate schools must send a list of names of the students that attend the club up to 31st of October of each year.
The CITD trainers are responsible for the projects' co-ordination in the associated schools' Clubs.
The activities to develop by the associate teachers with the pupils in the CI club, are those that will be established for the network learning project , taking into account the guidelines of the trainers and of the CITD coordinators and the distribution of the activities among the teachers in each network learning project.

5. The dispatch nº30/99, of 16th September is revoked

Secretary of Education, 15 June of 2000

Index: Connected Intelligence Network Learning