CONTEXT The Digital Learning Across Boundaries 2 (DLAB2) project addressed the need to align European educational practice with ways in which digital technology is changing how and what we learn, and how we apply this in education. It built on DLAB1, an Erasmus + project that ran from 2016-2019, by focusing on ways in which the outside world can break down personal learning boundaries and build self-efficacy. DLAB2 was inspired by the changemaker movement, which seeks to build the skills and attributes for individuals to find innovative solutions to society’s challenges. Two key themes were developing changemakers and social innovation education. A third theme was the use of innovative digital learning environments including virtual and artificial reality technologies to blend physical and digital learning environments and provide powerful opportunities for international collaboration. In this way, the project brought together two aspects of the maker movement: digital making and change making. OBJECTIVES: The objectives were to: 1. Create playful learning environments that encourage creativity, collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship facilitated by technologies. 2. Enable all of our participants to develop the personal confidence, values, beliefs and skills needed to become digitally literate changemakers. 3. Develop a toolkit for sustaining social innovation education and building changemaker attributes based on evidence from the project activities. PARTICIPANTS The participants of DLAB2 were around 50 university lecturers, student teachers, and school teachers, together with their school pupils across five European countries. ACTIVITIES Over three years we adopted three types of 'learning across boundaries’ challenges, approaching these in an aspirational way by involving local cultural consultants. There was a process of discovering a problem, empathising with the end user, and then designing, developing and delivering a prototype solution. 1. Crossing physical boundaries (what my body can do): learning through physical experiences (skills). 2. Crossing personal boundaries (my aspirations and confidence): learning through performance, public speaking, or gaining new skills (attitudes). 3. Crossing environmental boundaries (changes to where I am in space): learning taking place in unusual or different places (knowledge). METHODOLOGY Each year began with a 5-day learning/teaching/training event initiating the development of the main yearly theme through CPD run by the lecturers in digital techniques. This was followed by planning changemaker pedagogic strategies and interdependent challenge ideas in cross-national teams, ready for implementation in classrooms. The teams then developed and tested their ideas through three international days in schools between November and January, each accompanied by pre and post phases led by the university students. Each April, the university students and lecturers engaged in evaluation and dissemination activities related to the intellectual outputs. In summer 2022 a multiplier event took the form of a changemaker conference where we will launched a framework for supporting international collaboration days with digital technologies and a toolkit for developing changemakers in initial teacher training. In this way, we were dissolving intercultural boundaries through social innovation activities that supported the development of students and pupils as agents of positive real-world change as well as building their digital skills. RESULTS AND IMPACT There were seven distinct intellectual outputs: 1. An open OER website. 2. Three eTwinning project kits. 3. Three open online courses based on innovative digital technologies such as artificial realities. 4. A series of TED-style talks pitching collaborative projects and prototype solutions. 5. A set of articles for publication in national and international journals on themes such as participatory action research, entrepreneurship and playful learning, social innovation education, and developing changemakers in education 6. A framework for supporting international collaboration days with digital technologies. 7. A toolkit for developing changemakers in initial teacher training. As a result of the project, our partners developed new ways of collaborating supported by a range of digital technologies. The project had an impact in an international context through the rich learning resources provided by the intellectual outputs and via the co-creation of new knowledge in the field of technology-supported social innovation education afforded by the international online community of practice. LONGER TERM BENEFITS To provide sustainability, the project activities were designed to enrich the capability and curricula of the partner HEIs and schools to promote international collaborative work by developing ongoing cross-sector communities of practice.
The project had three overall objectives: 1. To create playful learning environments that encourage creativity, collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship facilitated by technologies. 2. To enable all of our participants to develop the personal confidence, values, beliefs and skills needed to become digitally literate Changemakers. 3. To develop a toolkit for sustaining social innovation education and building Changemaker attributes based on evidence from the project activities. With the project activities we wanted to experiment with ways of building Changemaker attributes through activities in schools, and based on the project experiences put together tools for others to use. We also wanted to establish a community of teaching professionals and students sharing experiences, learning together, and enriching each other’s understanding of the project topics and the world around them.
We wished to address the need to align European educational practice with ways in which digital technology is changing how and what we learn, and how we apply this in education. In particular, we wanted to focus on ways in which the outside world can break down personal learning boundaries and build self-efficacy. DLAB2 is inspired by the changemaker movement, which seeks to build the skills and attributes for individuals to find innovative solutions to society’s challenges. Two key themes are developing changemakers and social innovation education. A third theme is the use of innovative digital learning environments including VR and AR technologies to blend physical and digital learning environments and provide powerful opportunities for international collaboration. In this way, the project brings together two aspects of the maker movement: digital making and change making. Also, we wanted to work towards innovative ways of collaborating across countries, both for in service teachers and university lecturers, and for student teachers and pupils in schools. With the international collaboration, we wished to create greater awareness of cultural, historical and educational situations in different European countries.