Background Results emerging from multiple research projects have been showing promising possibilities for the inclusion of ICT in schools. However, the actual adoption of ICT in schools is much less successful. Although several factors might be at play, we believe that two important ones concern: The need to foster knowledge in schools regarding the connections between their existing technological infrastructure, its potential for teaching and the possibility of repurposing these technologies in accordance with concrete pedagogical goals. The need to foster knowledge in schools concerning the need to implement sustainable ICT policies, acknowledging digital technologies trends, novel pedagogical practices and empowering primary users and relevant stakeholders. Objectives The project will promote practices that will help schools reach an e-mature level (as explained by the NCTE). More specifically, the project will be focusing on the wise use of ICT in schools and to ensure that teachers, students and other stakeholders are able to: Exploit the benefits of the investments made in ICT infrastructure, Gather and document successful ideas on how to apply innovative uses of ICT infrastructures at schools and support the exchange of such practices Reflect and/or promote the adoption of novel educational models, ideas and experiences that link digital artefacts and learning The consortium The project’s partners Departments from University Education of Weingarten (Germany), the Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus) and Linnaeus University (Sweden) have a long experience in: (i) teacher training, (ii) fostering the implementation of novel pedagogical practices in schools and (iii) leading research projects in education and ICT in schools. This experience also translates into close partnerships with schools at regional level as well as established relationships with educational organisations at national and international level. Such expertise will be key to achieve the project’s goals and be able to disseminate the results and achievements. For the moment we envision that each participating partner (in Cyprus, Sweden and Germany) will engage a small number of schools (about 5 active schools per country). We also expect that this initial effort with 15 schools will provide the needed momentum for further dissemination of the outcomes. Description of the planned activities The project will run for three years. Initially, the ICT infrastructure as well as the e-maturity of the participating schools and the practices regarding the ICT infrastructure at schools will be analysed. After this initial phase, the consortium will analyse the data collect and generate an analysis at different levels of abstraction. These different levels of abstraction will take the form of scenarios and patterns. These two artefacts, scenarios and patterns, will enable stakeholders to reflect on their current practices and envision alternatives. Furthermore, the consortium will also create tools that will facilitate the search and reflection on the analysis outputs created. The project also has a set of dissemination activities planned. Multiplier events will allow the results and analysis generated to reach audiences beyond the initial schools’ partnerships. Methodology The initial analysis of the schools’ existing infrastructures will be performed by the consortium through visits and interviews in close collaboration with the partner schools. The following activities concern the creation of documentation and appropriate tools. For example, we will create: (i) maps linking ICT infrastructure and learning activities, (ii) digital tools to allow search and exploration of information generated by the analysis, and (iii) digital tools to promote sharing and reflection by schools on all the information made available and highlighted for dissemination. Results and impact The activities referred to above will generate the following: A comprehensive mapping of each of the schools' ICT infrastructures and teaching context based on an infrastructure modeling language to be developed in the project. A thorough survey of the ICT usage in these schools in terms of observed-practice scenarios. An abstract picture of the observed practices in terms of didactical patterns, based on the essentials of similar approaches, and facilitating the mapping to other subject fields and problem domains. A mapping of these patterns to ICT infrastructures found at schools, thus creating a toolset relating the infrastructure to the educational practices. Long term benefits We firmly believe that the project’s results will provide a set of tools that will enable schools to reflect on their current ICT strategies and pedagogical goals. In turn, such reflection will empower schools to refine their ICT strategic plans and be able to reach an e-maturity level.
Background Results emerging from multiple research projects have been showing promising possibilities for the inclusion of ICT in schools. However, the actual adoption of ICT in schools is much less successful. Although several factors might be at play, we believe that two important ones concern the need to foster knowledge in schools regarding: - The connections between their existing technological infrastructure, its potential for teaching and the possibility of repurposing these technologies in accordance with concrete pedagogical goals. - Ways to implement sustainable ICT policies, acknowledging digital technologies trends, novel pedagogical practices and empowering primary users and relevant stakeholders. Objectives The project promoted practices to help schools reach an e-mature level (as explained by the NCTE). More specifically, the project focused on the wise use of ICT in schools and to ensure that teachers, students and other stakeholders are able to: - Exploit the benefits of the investments made in ICT infrastructure, - Gather and document successful ideas on how to apply innovative uses of ICT infrastructures at schools and support the exchange of such practices, - Reflect on and promote the adoption of novel educational models, ideas and experiences that link digital artefacts and learning. The consortium The project’s partners Departments from University Education of Weingarten (Germany), the Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus) and Linnaeus University (Sweden) have a long experience in: (i) teacher training, (ii) fostering the implementation of novel pedagogical practices in schools and (iii) leading research projects in education and ICT in schools. This experience also translates into close partnerships with schools at regional level as well as established relationships with educational organisations at national and international level. Description of activities The project run for three years. Initially, the ICT infrastructure as well as the e-maturity of the participating schools and the practices regarding the ICT infrastructure at schools were assessed and analysed in close cooperation with the school teachers. Corresponding information was analysed at different levels of abstraction, taking the form of scenarios and patterns, and collected in the eSIT4SIP inventory, which was complemented with OER resources from the web. Furthermore, the consortium designed and created a digital environment utilizing the eSIT4SIP knowledge base that facilitates the effective search and reflection on the analysis outputs created. The system contains a decision support component, allowing to search for technological alternatives with educationally equivalent functionality. All these together allow for an innovation process that enables stakeholders to reflect on their current practices, consider alternatives and design modifications. Methodology The initial analysis of the schools’ existing infrastructures was performed by the consortium through visits and interviews in close collaboration with the partner schools. Additional OER resources were discovered and integrated with a web-scraping approach. The development of the knowledge base contained the design and implementation of ontologies for learning and infrastructure, to provide for enhanced search mechanisms. The knowledge base was developed taking a design-based approach with a strong focus on usability issues, thus targeting to provide optimal support for users. Results and impact The activities referred to above generated the following: - A knowledge-base (KB) collecting practices' descriptions, allowing searching and browsing for ICT-related learning scenarios and instructional design patterns, available at www.esit4sip.eu. - A dynamic and integrated inventory of learning scenarios and instructional design patterns, currently around 300 scenarios, drawn from participating schools and as OER from different sources in the web, provided to the public via the eSIT4SIP KB. - An innovation process utilizing the KB and its inventory, including a general mechanism to identify alternative implementations of learning scenarios with the above listed types of technologies and tools, based on the invention of the concepts of micro-activities and learning tool affordances. - The design of a recommender system, which suggests to teachers scenarios that could be implemented in their teaching given their didactic problems and opportunities and the infrastructure available. Long term benefits the project’s results can provide a set of tools that will enable schools to reflect on their current ICT strategies and pedagogical goals. In turn, such reflection will empower schools to refine their ICT strategic plans and be able to reach an e-maturity level. The more such a system is used the richer its knowledge base and the more relevant its recommendation become.