The project explores the potential of an approach to education called “connected learning”. The CLRN pedagogy advocates for broadened access to learning that is socially connected, interest-driven, production-centred and oriented toward educational opportunity. Such learning takes place when a young person pursues a personal interest with the support of peers and is able to link this learning and interest to school achievement, further career or civic engagement. There is evidence that when young people are able to connect the often fragmented contexts of school, home, community and peer culture they engage in the most meaningful forms of learning. Digital and networked media provide unprecedented opportunities for connecting these formal and informal spheres. Our main objective is to foster engagement of school students in connected learning experiences across the curriculum. We will focus on the subjects where we see the potential to enhance students’ learning through creative use of digital media, taking into account our pedagogical expertise in teaching native and foreign languages, social sciences and entrepreneurship. We will develop new educational scenarios with a view to: - Encouraging experimentation and play: the sense of play seems to have been lost in the mainstream school education in sharp contrast to innovative curricula incorporating elements of gaming - Implementing border crossing projects: they require students to explore themes cutting across the curriculum and combining knowledge and skills from various disciplines - Favouring experiential learning: hands-on tasks are an essential part of the process in which students actually engage in something meaningful to them - Sharing class projects with authentic audiences: learners’ motivation is raised if their work can be shared with a public close to them in terms of interests and cultures - Making students active users of technology in the process of learning rather than passive receivers of digitally mediated instruction Main target groups - School teachers: around 30 contributing to elaboration of the scenarios, with further 150 reached through dissemination campaign - School students aged 14 – 18 years old: 500 students taking part in learning activities based on the scenarios - Decision makers in the field of education: around 50 reached through dissemination campaign Outputs - Methodical publication consisting of 3 parts: CLRN current theory and practice, new learning scenarios and evidence of their validated outcomes; issued in 4 languages (EN, HR, PL, PT) - Pilot learning activities: implementation of the learning scenarios presented in the publication in the framework of school curricula - Online platform: an environment supporting the project community of interest with a public section featuring resources for external audiences and an internal section facilitating partners’ collaboration - Dissemination tools: database of contacts, information leaflets and posters, newsletters, multiplier events in each partner country Outcomes/impact - For school students: better engagement in learning with digital media connecting their formal and informal spheres of learning; better mastery of subjects in focus of the project, i.e. language arts, social studies and entrepreneurship as well as increased digital competence, more positive attitudes to school as opening to their interests and peer cultures as well as European projects. - For school teachers: improvement of their teaching and youth practice through acquaintance with CLRN approach, enrichment of their classes with cross-curricular themes and use of digital media, creation of more inclusive learning environment taking into account the varied students’ competences, experiences and interests, better understanding of young people’s learning lives in the digital age; new opportunities for professional development raising appreciation of EU projects. - For partner organisations: introduction of innovative teaching approaches fostering better student engagement in learning across the curriculum including learners with different abilities, talents and disadvantages, more effective use of ICT for this purpose, more openness to out-of-school environments in which students pursue their interests and hobbies, reinforced capacity for European cooperation, willingness to integrate good practices from other contexts - At systemic level: new input to the educational reform debate, especially to the ongoing curriculum reform in Poland, strengthened argumentation for interdisciplinary learning paths across the curriculum, use of digital media for project-based experiential learning extending beyond the traditional classroom and the need to target competences essential in the 21st century The project envisages extensive dissemination and exploitation measures to reach the expected impact beyond our own organisations and ensure further use of the results.
The project explored the potential of an approach to education called “connected learning”. This pedagogy advocates for broadened access to learning that is socially connected, interest-driven, production-centred and oriented toward educational opportunity. Our main objective was to foster engagement of school students in connected learning experiences across the curriculum. We focused on the subjects where we saw the potential to enhance students’ learning through creative use of digital media, taking into account our pedagogical expertise in teaching native and foreign languages, social sciences, science, IT and entrepreneurship. We developed new educational scenarios with a view to: - Encouraging experimentation and play - Implementing cross-curricular learning activities - Favouring experiential learning - Sharing class projects with authentic audiences - Making students active users of technology in the process of learning rather than passive receivers of digitally mediated instruction Main target groups - School teachers and youth workers - School students in middle/high schools - Decision makers in the field of education Outputs - Methodical publication consisting of 3 parts: current theory and practice of connected learning, new learning scenarios and outcomes/experiences of their implementation; issued in 4 languages (EN, HR, PL, PT) - Pilot learning activities based on the scenarios in the partners’ schools - Online platform: an environment supporting the project community of interest and sharing project results with a wider audience - Dissemination tools: database of contacts, information leaflets and posters, newsletters, multiplier events in each partner country Outcomes/impact - For school students: better engagement in learning with digital media connecting their formal and informal spheres of learning; better mastery of subjects in focus of the project, i.e. language arts, social studies, science, IT and entrepreneurship as well as increased digital competence, more positive attitudes to school as opening to their interests and peer cultures as well as European projects. - For school teachers: improvement of their teaching and youth practice through acquaintance with connected learning approach, enrichment of their classes with cross-curricular themes and use of digital media, creation of more inclusive learning environment taking into account the varied students’ competences, experiences and interests, better understanding of young people’s learning lives in the digital age; new opportunities for professional development raising appreciation of EU projects. - For partner organisations: introduction of innovative teaching approaches fostering better student engagement in learning across the curriculum including learners with different abilities, talents and disadvantages, more effective use of ICT for this purpose, more openness to out-of-school environments in which students pursue their interests and hobbies, reinforced capacity for European cooperation, willingness to integrate good practices from other contexts - At systemic level: new input to the educational reform debate, strengthened argumentation for interdisciplinary learning paths across the curriculum, use of digital media for project-based experiential learning extending beyond the traditional classroom and the need to target competences essential in the 21st century