The Filipović Academy has accredited more than 60 seminars, assemblies and conferences covering various scientific fields, with a special emphasis on information literacy of employees in educational institutions.
Since its inception, the Filipović Academy has been actively involved in organizing and carrying out hundreds of presentations, training sessions, seminars and conferences in the informal education segment, and is also engaged in software development for educational institutions and providing them with the latest IT equipment.
The Academy has accredited more than 60 seminars, assemblies and conferences covering various scientific fields, with a special emphasis on information literacy of employees in educational institutions. In the said segment, as well in improving IT competencies (or digital competencies) of teachers, the Academy has undoubtedly contributed a lot, as evident in many thank-you letters, awards and recognitions it has received since its establishment.
We have talked to Bratislav Filipović, MBA, owner and founder of the Filipović Academy, about the Academy’s work and programmes.
“While recognizing the needs of educational institutions for programmes that would facilitate their administrative tasks and obligations, managing activities and documentation, which have drastically increased year on year, we began developing web applications. Since 2008, we have been developing programmes that were or are actively used (electronic grade book) in educational institutions. The electronic portfolio of teachers and students application is the recipient of the DISKOBOLOS 2015 international award in the category of education. The application is actively used in Serbia (by 1,449 institutions, 17,180 teachers with 125,205 publications), Montenegro (94 institutions, 291 teachers) and the Republic of Srpska (179 institutions, 1,275 teachers),” says Mr Filipović and lists other widely used applications created by the Academy such as – programme for self-evaluation of institutions, electronic library, programme for school psychologists, electronic didactic notebook, as well as the bookkeeping programme for preschool institutions called E-kindergarten, which was created in line with the Godine Uzleta format. Mr Filipović also says that the Academy has developed a platform that enables educational institutions to create a website in just one day.
“It is quite evident that during the state of emergency, the entire teaching process was organized ad-hoc, and as a result, it look disoriented, difficult and unclear to many. The Filipović Academy team reacted immediately to this situation. We created video instructions for using Google classrooms, shared with teachers all the required information on how to use the programme, based on simple, understandable and concrete examples. We answered their questions immediately and we were available 24 hours a day for every teacher and every question they might have had. Tens of thousands of teachers commended us and expressed their gratitude,” says Mr Filipović and adds that the Academy provided teachers and students in Serbia and Montenegro with free licenses to use MozaBook, an excellent 3D presentation programme.
The Filipović Academy has abundant experience and a long tradition, is the recipient of many awards and has a vision for the future.
„We held free training to additionally help teachers to master programmes that would make them better teachers and have better communication with their students. The training was based on our accredited seminars “Multimedia content in the function of education”, “Electronic portfolio for teachers and students” and “Management of e-documentation in preschool institutions”. Over 4,000 teachers from Serbia, the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro attended our training in April and May 2020. Participants were given the opportunity to use the E-portfolio, E-didactic notebook and E-bookkeeping programmes free of charge,” Mr Filipović adds.
“Research has shown that a large number of teachers do not use modern technology because schools do not have them or are not sufficiently familiar with the possibilities that such technology offers. The line ministry should put emphasis on solving the mentioned problems and to consult with experts in that field,” concludes Mr Filipović.
Speaking about the Academy’s current activities and plans, he says that they have prepared and submitted for accreditation over 30 exceptional programmes, each of which will help teachers, in its own way, to acquire the required knowledge and skills and to get better acquainted with them. As before, these programmes cover the current topics and have relatable content. The Academy has also become a regional advocate for the currently best 3D simulation educational software called ROQED SCIENCE and ROQED PHYSICS, which must and should be used in every school.
The Filipović Academy’s team is also working on the Financial Management and Control of the System – FMC, as the educational staff is quite unfamiliar with it. The Academy also trains teachers for writing projects, the work done by school boards, the implementation of security systems in educational institutions, etc.
Furthermore, the Academy provides the latest IT equipment to schools, and also continues to perfect and adapt its programmes to the needs of users. Also, they closely follow changes in the relevant regulation and have been commended for it by their users.
The Filipović Academy has abundant experience and a long tradition, is the recipient of many awards and has a vision for the future. It is committed to fulfilling its mission, as well as to progress, learn and exchange experiences with people who are keen to acquire new knowledge. The Academy continues to advance on its path and to improve the education system and create happier future generations.