11.11.2020 15:00:00 EET
GOFORE PLC PRESS RELEASE 11 NOVEMBER 2020 KLO 15.00
The digital leap of Finnish education system begins with historical cooperation
The Finnish school system is seen as an ideal model in the world. With the unique DigiOne project, there will soon be even more reason to think so. Among other things, Gofore is responsible for creating the overall architecture and information models in this new kind of learning and education ecosystem.
The cities of Vantaa, Espoo, Oulu, Tampere and Turku, as well as Kuntien Tiera, have decided on a cooperation agreement, the aim of which is to create a national learning and education service platform for early childhood education in Finland. Idea of the platform is to unite all actors in the education sector.
The idea was born in Vantaa in 2018 in connection with the making of digital plans and the project was set up in the spring of 2019.
“Vantaa wanted to unify fragmented learner information and education services so that teachers could focus on teaching instead of administrative routines”, says Jouni Kilpi from Gofore. Kilpi is responsible for the technical development of the project as an ICT project manager.
Shortly after the start of the project, the vision expanded to the national level, as the challenges of learning paths are common throughout Finland. In the first phase, the cities involved are doing real pioneering work.
Unique collaboration and ecosystem
The DigiOne project is a unique example of the power of cooperation.
According to Kilpi, public actors and private service providers will join forces on this scale for the first time ever.
“There have been no ready-made contract and operating models, but the project has done real pioneering work here as well. The end result is also unique: a digital service platform that brings together Finnish learning and education services, to which all actors in the education sector can join in the future”.
This magnificent project will create an open, sustainable and mutually beneficial ecosystem.
“The most important thing is the quantity, quality and availability of core information accumulated throughout the learners’ life cycle. The more high-quality core data, the better services one can produce cheaper and faster”, says Riikka Vilminko-Heikkinen, who is responsible for Gofore’s Society business.
During the project 2019-2023, all the necessary services for municipalities will be developed, for example, a service for organizing education and planning education, and a service for co-operation between home and school that is very visible to guardians and learners.
Once the basic system is completed, the interfaces will be opened to developers.
The DigiOne platform provides interfaces for commercial service providers. The interfaces are available to all service providers who commit to following the rules of the ecosystem. This will save everyone a huge amount of work in the future, as municipality-specific integrations are no longer needed.
A platform for world-class learning and teaching
The common goal of all those involved is to further improve learning and teaching practices and thereby learning outcomes. Therefore, the design is based on the needs of learners and teachers, and development work is done together with future users.
“We build world-class operating models and services. Such can only be designed together with world-class experts. In the development of the project, the teaching professionals of the participating municipalities will be involved in the first phase to think about which solutions best support the learner and the teacher”.
The best practices in knowledge management, home-school collaboration, and teaching planning can be built together. For example, planning school timetable is a complex puzzle and needs to be made easier by reducing manual work steps.
Both Kilpi and all the other goforeans involved in the project experience great pride in being able to build something so unique.
“It is truly great to be involved in building a platform economy for the education system. This is something we could not have even dreamed of in advance!”
DigiOne in a nutshell
- A unique cooperation project between the cities of Vantaa, Espoo, Oulu, Tampere and Turku.
- Approximately EUR 11 million has been allocated for the first phase, of which Business Finland has committed to finance EUR 5.4 million and the City of Vantaa EUR 5.4 million.
- The project started in 2019 and will end on 31.12.2023
- The services are implemented in Finnish, Swedish and English.
- The future owner of the system is Kuntien Tiera.
- Developed together with, among others, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Finnish National Agency for Education.
- Other municipalities may join the second phase starting in 2024.
- From 2022, commercial service providers will be able to develop and test their own services on DigiOne’s development and test platform.
Find out more:
- https://www.digione.fi/digione-eng/
- https://www.vantaa.fi/digione/en
Further information:
Riikka Vilminko-Heikkinen, Business Director (Society), Gofore Plc
riikka.vilminko-heikkinen@gofore.com
tel. +358 44 528 5181
Gofore Plc is a Finland-based digitalisation specialist with international growth plans. Together with our customers, we are pioneering an ethical digital world. We’re made up of over 700 impact-driven people across Finland, Germany, Spain and Estonia – top experts in our industry who are our company’s heart, brain, and hands. We use consulting, coding and design as tools to incite positive change. We care for our people, our customers, and the surrounding world. Our values guide our business: Gofore is a great workplace that thrives on customer success. In 2019, our net sales amounted to EUR 64.1 million. Gofore Plc’s shares are quoted in the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland. Learn more: gofore.com.