In Estonia, three «e-kindergartens» born as triplets

Photo: Andres Haabu / Postimees

With eKool, the electronic schools system, in use for over a decade, kindergartens only got the option this academic year. Curiously, three competing environments popped up as one man.

In December, elasteaed.eu was opened. In February, elasteaed.ee and eliis.ee launched tests. 

For all, the goal is the same: reducing piles of papers at kindergartens and local governments, while simplifying communications with parents.

To begin with, they have tackled the bureaucracy. Communication with parents has, so far, had to wait. At that, elasteaed.eu was born at the initiative of a parent for the very reason that the lady was having trouble remembering the notices hung at the kindergarten information wall.

«A daily eKool user, I got used to the convenience of it, as the important announcements arrive at the smartphone at once. Of the two children, however, one goes to kindergarten, and I always keep forgetting the announcements hung on the wall at the kindergarten, by the time I leave the premises. Made me quite mad, at times,» said Diana Sinilaht, author of the idea.

Elasteaed.eu is the most mottled of the bunch: the opening page only having space for a tiny login window, surrounded by advertisements. Elasteaed.ee is offering its environment in three languages – in addition to Estonian, it also comes in Russian and English.

ELIIS (Eesti Lasteaedade Internetipõhine Infosüsteem – Internet-Based Information System for Estonian Kindergartens) stands out by having created a peculiar character, animating the environment.

According to ELIIS system development manager Hannes Raimets, initial users are satisfied with it and have presented proposals regarding their needs. «We have decided that, in the future, we will provide a pattern for every kindergarten, so each can set its own parameters,» said Mr Raimets.

Oliver Kasak, developer of elasteaed.ee, said local governments have shown interest towards statistics, mainly. «At the moment, we are investing [into a future] where kindergartens will not need to fill in papers every month, sending these to local governments; rather, this will all happen automatically and local governments would get the needed documents from the system, any moment,» said Mr Kasak.

«Also, it is very easy to add children to our system now. No need to do it manually; rather, the children of an entire kindergarten may now be imported all together from EHIS (Eesti Hariduse Infosüsteem – Information System of Estonian Education), and the system automatically places all children in the right group,» noted he.

The ELIIS environment is also EHIS-compatible.

In December, Lagedi kindergarten and the parents of its children were the first to test ELIIS. In March, the system started to attract more users. «As of today, we have issued close to 30 contracts to kindergartens in ten local governments; but those interested, with whom negotiations are underway, are about a hundred,» said Mr Raimets.

According to Mr Kasak, the numbers of elasteaed.ee testers have risen over a hundred. Even with interest being pan-Estonian, most users come from Tallinn, including some private kindergartens.

According to Diana Sinilaht, their system is daily used by four kindergartens, the others that gave registered are only testing it as yet. While introducing the system, she has mainly focussed on kindergartens in Tartu, where she lives, and of Tartu County.

How come the three systems were thus completed, at the same time? None of the creators can explain. «Quite a funny story, this is. Can’t imagine how everybody got the same idea, at the same time,» laughs Ms Sinilaht.

Comments

Tiia Kaeramaa, director of kindergarten Mari, at Põltsamaa

Officially, our kindergarten doesn’t use any of the e-environments; rather, we have been able to use test versions of two of them. We think that should we use one (and this we probably will do, starting the new academic year), we will go for elasteaed.ee.

I have personally tries out doing things there, as has the deputy head; we feel it’s logical, understandable, simple enough – so that teachers with varying levels of computer skills will manage. The options vary and they fit with our work up to now.

Elasteaed.ee has also been effective in their so-called advertisements; for instance, there was an information hour for pre-school education leaders in Jõgeva County, where the environment was introduced.

As a head of a kindergarten, I like it that elasteaed.ee has broad options for managing employees. Compared to the other kindergarten-management system, I also feel that the view from the computer screen is simple and concrete. I like it that nothing superfluous has been added – all kinds of polls etc. 

Kaie Hein, deputy head of studies at Kristiine kindergarten, in Tallinn

E-kindergarten is good for several reasons. From the teacher’s view-point, it makes it easier to link documents created by planning schooling and education. While, currently, a teacher is writing summaries in the schooling and education diary and prints a resume for parents, then with e-kindergarten options certain stages will be avoided – the program will do it for the teacher. 

Also, parents and teachers can cooperate more actively, with enhanced trust.

A leader of a kindergarten will get a better overview of schooling and education in the groups.