Publish: 16.2.2020
Author: Pavel Vachalec
There is plenty of stuff that a modern teacher should master in the field of digital technologies. And it is not just about mastering the technologies as such. That is just a first step. It must be followed by mastering the use of those technologies during teaching. Yes, that is a lot! With no surprise, many teachers are very dismissive or give a cold shoulder to these technologies. And so the news in the IT field quite often does not rise the healthy curiosity, but rather they raise concerns about how much “extra” work will be necessary for school. But the reality can be quite the opposite! Our job can become easier, more efficient and, most of all, it can be more interesting and engaging for students. And that is what should matter to us, the teachers, the most …
In the year 2014, a new magazine focused on digital technologies in education with an emphasis on natural science and technical subjects was created. The magazine was prepared by a couple of fellow teachers, who are not only enthusiastic but who also follow digital-technologies related to new trends and who use many of those technologies commonly in their lectures. The main goal is to show, that digital technologies are not an obstacle for the teachers, but quite the opposite, they bring new possibilities, how to describe to the children the specifics of our fields and how to make from sometimes boring lectures an adventurous journey to knowledge.
Unlike many different training events and conferences, the magazine has the potential to bring new interesting ideas and samples from teaching to more teachers. The other goal is to connect the activities of the teacher during the creation of magazine content. Among the teachers, there are many, whose ideas and experiences from the real-life might serve as perfect inspiration to others. Much of the magazine’s content is created mostly by the teachers from all levels of our educational system.
In addition the magazine, you can also find the part DIY, where you will find various projects aim at the education, ie 3D printed construction robotic kit m-BITBEAM, school measurement system build in Arduin (MoleBox + MoleGraph + MoleGraph Shield), school delta robot and 3D printer Molestock and more. You can also read about those projects on the e-Mole.cz magazine website.
The documentation of all projects is available for free.
Another part of e-Mole handles the problematic usage of 3D printing in the school environment. There are plenty of original models available, such us various teaching aids. 3D models are available for download in STL format, once again for free.
The magazine is available for free in electronic PDF. Individual issues have couple dozen pages, and issue with more than a hundred pages is not an exception also. The last issue from 2018 has the number 11. During the four years of its existence, the magazine has gained over a thousand regular readers. The editorial staff has received many positive responses, and also many requests on what would the teachers like to read about in e-Mole. The editorial work therefore grew and took more and more time.
So far, the entire project e-Mole.cz was based on the volunteer work of the publisher, the editorial board, and the external contributors. Many people worked on e-Mole for almost four years, basically for free. Though there was an intense effort to find a partner in form of a large company linked to education, to seek the support of the Ministry of Education, to address various individuals and foundations, the effort to secure the necessary funds, which would allow us to expand the editorial base (to pay the author’s fee) and at least symbolically pay the work of the editorial board and the composition of our own magazine, failed. Unfortunately, the situation is no longer sustainable. We use also this form, via DigiKoalice website, to contact you, potential sponsors, and possible partners, who might like to support the publication of e-Mole. We would be glad if you can contact us…
We would like to thank all the authors who have unselfishly shared their experiences and ideas on the e-Mole website. We would also like to thank our two sponsors from the corporate world, the Czech producer of printing strings Filament PM. Only thanks to this partner and his material support, we are able to provide the schools with our 3D printing services just for the “postage cost”. And we also thank the company COOLHOUSING, s.r.o. for the favorable hosting of e-Mole.cz web.