International consultant for performing analysis and planning of deployment of LMS for schools in Serbia

Contract

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion and gender parity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF’s office is accessible to a certain extent, and employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that are needed for ensuring equitable working conditions.

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 has deeply disrupted the education all over the world, including Serbia, forcing all actors in the education system to quickly turn to distance learning and use digital tools as “new normal”, but has also brought forward the existing social inequalities and weakness related to the resilience of the education system and its capacity to organise quality blended and online learning activities. Since 2020, UNICEF in Serbia and the Ministry of Education (MoE), with the support from the European Union, are implementing the project “Bridging digital divide in Serbia for most vulnerable children” with the overall objective to strengthen the resilience of the education system to equitably serve all children’s access to learning during times of emergency, with a particular focus on Roma children. The intervention builds on previous achievements in the development of quality inclusive education and digitalization in education, and encompasses activities for further system strengthening at the national and school level.

After the initial adaptation of schools to distance learning in 2020, Serbian educational authorities instructed schools to work on introducing a learning management system, as a central place for online teaching and learning. To support distance learning of students during COVID-19 response, a national platform for online learning “Moja škola” (My School, a Moodle-based platform) was established by the Ministry of Education. The authorities are promoting the use of the Moodle learning management system, as "the only free system that fully enables the realization of quality online teaching based on a constructivist approach to teaching, and which enables the application of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy". It is envisaged that each school in Serbia will have its own instance of the learning management system - teachers will be able to administer content of these local platforms, import resources from the central location (Moja škola) and develop their own specific teaching and learning content and activities.

Work Assignment Overview:

Under the general guidance and direction of UNICEF Education Programme, the Ministry of Education and the Institute for Evaluation and Education Quality, the consultant shall develop a planning document establishing Moodle installation for 750,000 students, including recommendations for its maintenance, scalability and continuous improvement.

Duration of the assignment: August - September 2023 (part-time, remote)

Brief task description:

• Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to determine the requirements and expectations of the Moodle installation for 750,000 students,
• Provide recommendations in relation to infrastructure setup and configurations,
• Develop a planning document on establishing Moodle installation for 750,000 students,
• Describe the requirements in terms of integrating of Moodle solution with existing systems and providing training for stakeholders.

A more detailed task description will be provided to the selected candidate.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• University degree in Science, Technology/Engineering, Mathematics. Advanced degree in an asset;
• At least 3 years of professional experience in installing and implementing large scale Moodle learning system solutions;
• Familiarity with various operating systems and system software;
• Experience with enterprise virtual server software environment is an asset;
• Ability to listen to the client and create high-quality specifications;
• Ability to independently and objectively assess the capacity needs of server and storage devices;
• Fluency in English language;
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills;
• Ability to meet tight deadlines through excellent time management and organization skills;
• Sound judgement in follow-up on requests.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in USD as a separate document, providing the gross consultancy fee.

Important notes:

• Please do not forget to specify your name in the financial proposal file while saving (to be uploaded online under the “Financial Proposal” tab).
• Please do not indicate financials anywhere else in the online application form, please mark "n/a” or “00" under the fee-related questions in the online application form.
• Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.