Bringing exclusively Apple devices and digitization issues drop by drop into the organization: it is clear that the Ambion foundation has its own view on innovation and digitization. Sijbrand Dijkstra, policy advisor for education, innovation and ICT, talks about how the school community in the Heerenveen and Joure region is organized and how a national monitor provides the necessary insight.
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Dijkstra is quite a bit proud of it: Ambion is one of the few foundations in the Netherlands where all 22 elementary school and 1 sbo school work exclusively with Apple hardware. "By making that choice, and for example giving all 450 employees their own device, we have far fewer management issues. Of course it was by trial and error, but now our staff and 3,000 students are very happy with the choice."
Dijkstra and his team accomplished this by taking a step-by-step approach with understandable tutorials and funny videos. "Anyway, that suits us, a little humor, and taking action drop by drop. I think the imagery of drizzle fits nicely with that. Drizzle also makes you soaking wet. This approach works the same way with digitization. By working with the subject step by step, you achieve much more than, for example, by organizing a study day where half is distracted by phone or mail."
But how do you measure exactly how much effect that drizzle has? That's an issue Ambion has already addressed in its 2023 course plan. MYRA 2023, the precursor to the Education Digitization Monitor, seemed to offer a solution. In retrospect, Dijkstra is critical. "The questionnaires were too complicated for school principals. As a result, only a small proportion of schools completed the questionnaire in full. That is unfortunate, although MYRA did bring us something."
By this, Dijkstra is referring to the insight he now has into the way the foundation is organized. "When I compare our results to the national average, it came out very clearly that we are organized above-school. Our schools are fully supported in the area of ICT and digitalization. It is valuable to have that kind of insight, especially if you can then use that knowledge when setting up a new issue."
That is exactly what Ambion has done, for example, on the topic of digital literacy. Dijkstra explains, "Our original plan was to come up with a cafeteria model from which schools could choose a method and lessons themselves. But that doesn't really fit with the way we are organized. Schools are used to our support and are not happy if they have to choose and work out everything themselves. That is why we have now chosen to offer schools a much more focused offer. And that works."
"There is a huge difference between locations in the knowledge and adoption of digital literacy."
Dijkstra hopes the new monitor in 2025 will provide even more insight. "Not just compared to the national average, but precisely by benchmarking the schools among themselves. It's nice to know what to focus on in the coming years."
Clearly, Dijkstra is a strong supporter of every school completing the Digitalization Education Monitor. The adjustments in the monitor help with this, but Dijkstra also relies on the new school teams within Ambion. "In each team there are five schools and one person from the team has my domain 'educational innovation and ict' in his portfolio. So now I can inform people very specifically. That works better than sending an email to 23 schools."
Not only for completing the monitor do the school teams offer added value. Dijkstra also gives the example of the i-Coaches . "At the various schools there was one employee who worked as an i-Coach half an afternoon a week. The result was that neither the i-Coaches nor the schools were happy. There simply wasn't enough time to work on the subject. Now there are three i-Coaches who work between 1 and 3 days for the schools and the other days as group teachers. You then immediately see that more is happening. For example, thanks to the i-Coaches, we were able to pick up the aforementioned example about digital literacy. We would never have been able to do that with twenty people who only have one afternoon a week."
In summary, Ambion is making great strides in digitalization. Dijkstra: "We are noticeably doing the right things and also want to make that measurable. For example, for the inspection or for the accountant. Now I can make all kinds of lists myself, but a solution like the Education Digitalization Monitor is much more convenient. Especially if we can measure ourselves against the national numbers."
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