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abilities. Our findings support the important role of ICTs in modern education, as they provide all
children with the opportunity to “learn how to learn”. Furthermore, by using new technologies,
contents can be manipulated and personalized, allowing teachers to respect the different cognitive

styles of students, thus promoting inclusive teaching. ICTs can, therefore, be a useful tool for both
students and teachers, if used with awareness. These considerations lead us to recognize the
importance of teachers in the effective use of ICT: assuming that student performance improves
automatically with the use of technology is wrong and dangerous, as it can lead to overly optimistic
and unrealistic expectations. The real effectiveness of ICTs depends instead on how they are used
in the teaching process (Polly & Rock, 2016; Türel & Johnson, 2012). Specifically, greater
effectiveness of ICTs is found when (Higgins, Xiao and Katsipataki, 2012; Vivanet, 2014):

o the teacher employs a variety of teaching strategies and offers multiple learning
opportunities,
o the teacher encourages peer learning processes,
o teacher-student feedback is optimised,
o the student can take control over the learning process.

The use of ICTs can contribute to the creation of powerful learning environments (Smeets, 2005),
but their use requires critical reflection in relation to the characteristics of the students and the

approach to them by teachers. Learning mediated by ICTs must be structured so that metacognitive
and self-regulation skills are enhanced and together contribute to facilitating learning. Given the
profound relationship between metacognition and ICTs, it is necessary to take into account 53
motivational and metacognitive factors in the interpretation of learning outcomes, qualifying them
as key factors to benefit from ICTs.

In conclusion, many challenges await us in ensuring quality online education. The main challenge,
however, does not concern the introduction of ICTs per se, which is quite simple, but the ability to

use them to stimulate students and their learning process in the most efficient way possible,
exploiting their potential and supporting their areas of improvement.

5.26 CROATIA

Engage senses

In Croatia inclusion of meta-skills development in educational centers is still not a popular practice.
More, the engagement in and attention to adult education beyond vocational competences and
training for the labour market are not high within the official educational schemes and among the
population. Especially among, low-skilled adults’ engagement in adult education is marginal. With
many adults underlining high costs of engaging in adult education (which is commonly not
supported by public schemes) as the key barrier, among the few key areas of education that adults
engage is learning of foreign languages. With the recognition of this area as relevant by many
learners and potential learners, and the commercial character of Croatian educational organisations

in this area which are dependant directly on payments of the learners, it is where most of the change