The overall objective of the Novigado project is to support schools and related stakeholders in the transition from a conventional and teacher-centred classroom into teaching practices that promote active learning with the support of innovative learning environments and use of relevant ICT. Schools and teachers are in a critical transition phase where the increasingly technology-rich learning environments and student-centric pedagogy are gaining ground in current practices. Delivering only content is not sufficient but the focus of teaching is shifting to developing key competences. Schools and teachers are also directly impacted by developments about modernising or transforming physical learning environments. The Novigado will address these challenges and bring innovation into teaching and learning by bringing an active learning model to the reach of more schools, teachers and other stakeholders, and support them to benefit from the opportunities brought by the ICT and new learning environments. In Novigado, the role of learning spaces is considered as enabler and impetus in the active learning process: environment is the third teacher bringing added value to the learning and teaching process. The objectives of the project are: 1 – To provide evidence-based insight into active learning through a reference framework that will help to understand the principles of active learning, connected with innovative learning environment settings. 2 – To develop a training programme that will help schools to apply the principles of active learning in different learning space settings. 3 – To guide schools and teachers to audit their current learning spaces and guide them adapting them (e.g. at classroom level, at school level, using the ‘learning lab’ approach…) also in a resource-effective way, in accordance with pedagogical objectives of active learning. 4 – To establish and animate a participative network (a community) of practitioners who engage in exchanges and professional development around teaching in innovative learning environments 5 – To inquire into the effects, and perceived benefits and challenges of active learning approach within innovative learning environments. 6 – To provide policy-makers with recommendations on how to support schools or local authorities to adapt and design innovative learning environments. The activities and the results in the project include: – Creating and running the Schools’ Support Ecosystem which entails setting up the online platform for the community and network of innovative schools, and organising a series of online activities. – The design of the Active Learning Reference Framework which entails desk research and public consultation to stakeholders that will lead to the creation of the reference framework that will describe the criteria and elements of active learning. – Creating the Capacity-Building Programme for pilot schools which entails preparing a training programme (handbook) based on the Active Learning Reference Framework, organising national workshops for selected schools, and running school pilots in four countries. – Conducting Guidelines for schools in Learning Space Innovation which entails desk research identifying suitable resources, and preparing easy-to-use materials for schools to support them in modernise their learning environment. – Organising the Pilot Evaluation Scheme which entails planning the evaluation of the school pilot, implementing data collection, and conducting data analysis for the production of the evaluation report. – Designing the Active Learning Scaleup Instrument and the Online Scenario Tool which entails development of a massive open online course (MOOC) and an interactive learning scenario building tool. – Preparing the Final report of best practices and recommendations, which entails a publication that compiles the project results and recommendations into one document. The project will directly involve a group of pilot schools (secondary-level) in four countries (Poland, Portugal, France, Turkey) who will take part in the capacity-building workshop and afterwards carry out pilot activities in schools. The online community will be open to all stakeholders from all countries offering professional development opportunities, resources and inspiration. Also, the online course will be open to all. The project aims to create an active online community of educators engaged with innovating in their teaching and providing this community access to all project results, including the Active Learning Reference Framework, training handbook on active learning, guidelines on innovative learning environments, and recommendations for schools and policy-makers. The online community and the results will be linked with the European Schoolnet’s Future Classroom Lab that provides a long-lasting platform to benefit from the outcomes of this project.
The objectives of the Novigado project were: -To provide evidence-based insight into active learning through a reference framework that will help to understand the principles of active learning, connected with innovative learning environment settings. -To develop a training program that will help schools to apply the principles of active learning in different learning space settings. -To guide schools and teachers to audit their current learning spaces and guide them by adapting them (e.g. at classroom level, at school level, using the ‘learning lab’ approach...) also in a resource- effective way, in accordance with pedagogical objectives of active learning. -To establish and animate a participative network (a community) of practitioners who engage in exchanges and professional development around teaching in innovative learning environments. -To inquire into the effects, and perceived benefits and challenges of active learning approach within innovative learning environments. -To provide policy-makers with recommendations on how to support schools or local authorities to adapt and design innovative learning environments. All project objectives were achieved.
NOVIGADO is linked to another Erasmus+ project, Educational Spaces 21. Open up! (2014-16). The relation between learning environments and pedagogy is a great topic for study and we wanted to develop new contents and tools to help schools more efficiently use learning spaces for stimulating active learning of students. Moreover, this project was built on and meant to complement EUN’s Future Classroom Lab (FCL) initiative and other interlinked projects about innovation and learning spaces. FCL is an inspirational learning environment in Brussels, challenging visitors to rethink the role of pedagogy, technology and learning space design in their schools. The most important needs we have addressed were those of students and teachers at schools. We see many visually interesting school buildings across Europe that offer great learning opportunities for students. However, even in these modern schools, designed to offer comfortable learning environments, we can still discover quite a formal instructional approach to teaching, where students only sit and listen to a teacher in front of them. So, the question that was behind our NOVIGADO efforts was - how can we stimulate the transition of pedagogical everyday practice in schools?