Digionica makes learning easier for Masa
Masa is one of thousands of students who use Digionica, the first national platform for digital learning
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Tivat, 26 December 2023 – Masa Malisic, a nine-year-old pupil, attends Drago Milovic Primary School in Tivat. Despite being absent from school for two weeks due to illness, Masa did not experience many challenges keeping up with her classmates. In addition to her friends sending her study materials, she studied independently using the Digionica online platform.
Masa is one of the thousand pupils at that school who use Digionica, the first national platform for digital learning. She says it prompts her to study with more interest. Incidentally, this educational institution has the highest number of users of the platform in Montenegro.
Digionica, intended for all children in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools, is based on the Learning Passport Platform concept, developed by UNICEF, Microsoft and the University of Cambridge.
The platform offers formal and informal educational content, featuring lessons, exercises, tests, simulations of scientific experiments, audio-visual textbooks, and various courses.
Digionica helps me study. I watch a video of a class and get information and ideas on how to do homework related to that subject. Tests, quizzes and knowledge tests are most interesting to me.
Masa’s mother, Dragana Malisic, views the platform as a great resource for the family. She appreciates that the platform features a section for parents, helping them overcome modern-day challenges.
For instance, there are tips and instructions on how to deal with cyberbullying. There are also guidelines for certain age groups of children on how they should spend their time on the internet.
Masa learned about Digionica from her teacher Veronika Vranes, who explains that teachers also use the platform. She uses audio and video lessons and many exercises in her work, which all come as a valuable addition to learning at school. This teacher adds that the platform itself cannot replace regular classes and was never intended to do so.
“I would recommend it to my colleagues. Sometimes, teachers have a hard time finding the content to teach or to use to reinforce knowledge retention for certain topics. If they have ideas on how to create an additional course or have their own materials, they can send it to the person responsible for the platform,” Vranes said.
Slavka Mirkovic, the school principal, considers it important for all participants in the educational process to have access to modern resources and knowledge. Her school has actively used Digionica since February.
I hereby invite all schools to actively use digital services. By combining our efforts, we can create an environment that fosters innovation, cooperation and success. In addition, digital networking has made communication easier for us and improved the quality of work, as we also face a lack of spatial capacity.
Digionica has over 32,000 users in Montenegro and has been integrated into Digital School – a system for working, learning, teaching and collaboration in a digital environment. The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation is developing the services in cooperation with UNICEF Montenegro.
“The plan is to ensure internet connections in all education institutions, including their branch units. The goal is to ensure that every education institution has all the conditions to use technology for work and learning,” said Marina Matijevic, the head of the ministry’s Information and Communication Technologies Department.
Dragutin Scekic, UNICEF’s consultant for the development and improvement of the digital learning platform, says that UNICEF will continue to provide active support for systemic reforms in the field of digitalisation of the education system, such as the development of digital ecosystems at the school level, teacher training, digital violence prevention and the development of quality and inclusive content focusing on the development of STEM and digital skills.
