Since we are living in the modern times, the approaches to teaching and learning should be supported with the use of innovative practices. Throughout our teaching experience, we have observed that students learn more efficiently with the use of digital material and tools, like apps and internet resources. Moreover, our practice has shown that the digital tools combined with the outdoor learning and activities give better results in comparison to the traditional approaches and methods. Having these observations in mind, we decided to start a multidisciplinary and a multicultural project in which we are creating a innovative and customizable mobile application that cherishes the cultural and historical heritage of European countries. With our mobile application Agora, teachers are able to elect the topic or the unit from the school curriculum that they consider appropriate for the app. Being able to choose the topics, teachers adress the needs of their students, who improve their results and have the possibility to become active participants in the learning process. Moreover, the students learn in the immersive context, where they connect the knowledge and information with their surroundings. There are four main objectives of our project. The first one are better results of the students about the topic that is covered by our mobile application. We will test the knowledge of the students about a certain topic chosen by the teacher before and after the use of our mobile application. The expected improvement is that after the use of the app the results are at least 15% better. The second objective is the higher number of teachers who include ambient teaching in their methodology. We expect that after the introduction of our mobile application in schools, more teachers are implement outdoor teaching. The third objective is that there are more teachers who use mobile applications in their teaching practice. We expect that after the introduction of our mobile application in schools, more teachers are motivated to use mobile apps. The fourth objective is to have satisfied students who become more active participants in the learning process. The partners in this project are Primary schools from Turkey (KAYISDAIGI ARIF PASA ILKOKULU), Slovenia (OSNOVNA SOLA MLADIKA) and Serbia (OSNOVNA ŠKOLA IVAN GORAN KOVAČIĆ), as well as the Scio Organization from Serbia. The immediate participants are 9 teachers and 3 coordinators from partner schools, and 5 coordinators from Scio organizations that are IT experts and teachers, but in this project we are also reaching out to hundreds of students who are using the mobile application Agora in their outdoor classes. Description of the activities: September 2019 - August 2021: Planning, communication and coordination among partners about the project and finances February 2020: Preparation for learning teaching training with the partners in Ptuj, Slovenia (materials, presentations, videos and Skype meetings) March 2020 - June 2020: Virtual cooperation with partners regarding the preparation for the tests of students and analysis of their achievement June 2020 - August 2020: Planning of the activities and finances for the next year October 2020 - January 2021: Communication with partner schools regarding the preparation the material for the app (text, pictures, quiz, geolocation) October 2020 - January 2021: Coordination and communication regarding the prepared material and the uploading of the material February 2021: Planning and preparation for transnational meeting with the partners in Istanbul, Turkey where the app is tested with the actual information March 2021 - August 2021: Coordination of dissemination activities in Serbia, Turkey and Slovenia The methodology we use in this project is focused on constant communication and equal coordination via Skype and software tools Slack, Trello and Teamup. All the participants will be trained by Applicant organization about using ICT tools, which will improve their skills and knowledge. The expected results are the use Agora application in teaching and learning process in Slovenia, Turkey and Serbia. The use of Agora application will motivate the teachers to use ICT tools and ambient learning, and students will acquire their knowledge more successfully and they will enjoy the process of learning. Apart from these expected results, we are also going to gather digitalized material of cultural and historical heritage of European countries. Applicant organization will get feedback regarding the use of this version of Agora mobile application, which will be used to develop a second generation of Agora mobile application. This second generation will be an open source application, in which both teacher and students will be able to create and upload teaching and learning material independently. Due to this multicultural and multidisciplinary project we are achieving the exchange of experience and examples of good practice among schools.
The members of the association who work as teachers in elementary and high schools made an observation that students acquire knowledge more efficiently when they use digital tools, such as different applications and internet content. Moreover, the practice showed that combining informational technologies with ambient learning and activities give better results than acquiring knowledge using the traditional method. One of the problems that both students and teachers encounter, is that today there is a great variety of digital tools, that are not always reliable, nor have good quality for them to be used in the educational process. Moreover, the internet is flooded with information that is not accurate and reliable, that students (and teachers) usually use. Taking all the above into consideration, we decided to start a project Agora. The main goals of project Agora were: - Better achievement of students in the areas covered by the application - Greater number of teachers who use ambient learning in their work - Greater number of teachers who use mobile applications in their work - Students who are motivated and engaged in the active learning process
Scio Association was founded in 2017. It was founded by the people who have practical experience in education, and the members of the association are also the IT experts, interested in educational aspects. The main goal of the association is the introduction of innovations in educational practice. In the year 2018, Scio did the project „Kod izvora“. The goal of this project was presentation of cultural and historical heritage of the province of Rudnik-Takovo. The presentation was done first to the students, using the ICT tools. The hypothesis, which was proven correct, was that the students acquire more easily information using different digital tools, since the process of learning is easier and more interesting, and the acquired knowledge is more permanent when different IT technologies are included. With the Agora project, we wanted to improve that idea and give it an international aspect. The needs we addressed were: - The need for a digital learning tool that the students will use with ease and motivation - The need for a mobile application with reviewed content, created by the teachers who work directly with the students. - The need for a teaching tool that raises to its fool potential when combined with ambient learning.