The 2016 Primary School Theology Teachers' Winter School was held on January 7th and 8th, 2016, at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute in Zagreb, organized by the Croatian Bishops' Conference, the National Catechetical Office, and the Agency for Education.
Among the diverse and rich content in the program of the Catechetical Winter School for Primary School Religion Teachers, CARNet also participated with a workshop titled Communication in the Digital Environment.
Communication is the leitmotif of this year's Catechetical School, and communication in the digital environment is a form that students use daily. Through a workshop, teachers had the opportunity to learn about types of communication in the virtual and real worlds, consider the possibilities of integrating online communication into their own teaching, become familiar with e-learning examples, and CARNet's services intended for all schools, teachers, and students.
The workshop was attended by 295 religious education teachers from elementary and secondary schools, who, through a survey questionnaire, expressed their satisfaction with the workshop and the extent to which it met their expectations. Based on the results presented in the graph, we can conclude that the religious education teachers were largely satisfied with the workshop and that it met their expectations.
When it comes to e-learning and digital technologies in the context of school and teaching, these terms are usually associated with computer science, and the prevailing opinion is that e-learning is not applicable in all subjects. Therefore, after familiarizing themselves with e-learning and digital communication, and examples of their application, we asked religious education teachers how satisfied they are with the possibilities of applying e-learning in religious education classes. Out of 295 religious education teachers, 78 are completely satisfied, 94 are very satisfied, 72 are more satisfied than dissatisfied, while a smaller portion of teachers are mostly dissatisfied.
This type of workshop, according to feedback from participants, has proven to be a good platform for exchanging examples of concrete educational tools.