ILLUMINE (2020-2023) was run to help school education teachers adopt evidence-based teaching practices with technology and improve their understanding of the science of learning theory (cognitive science, neuroscience) that underlies these practices. The project was an extension of a previous Erasmus+ project (2017-1-ES01-KA201-038220, IlluminatED) which delivered professional development workshops on the Science of Learning for educators. The workshops were well-received, however, participating teachers noted obstacles such as lack of time to prepare and guidance on designing activities that prevented them from implementing what they had learned. ILLUMINE aimed to help teachers overcome such obstacles by working directly on the implementation of practices with teachers and generating practical examples (case studies) for others to follow. The generation and sharing of examples was intended to empower teachers and facilitate their contributions toward “a strong and coherent body of professional knowledge owned by the teaching profession, and to which teachers feel responsible and accountable” [Teaching and Learning International Survey TALIS 2018 Insights and Interpretations]. PROJECT ACTIVITIES ILLUMINE involved expert partners and school partners in four countries (Spain, Portugal, Serbia, Estonia). The experts (university researchers, specialists from social enterprises) and schools (school education and vocational education teachers) worked together across 30 months to implement evidence-based practices over the course of the project and co-design project outputs. The following activities were performed: 1) CPD courses and a 3-day teacher mobility were designed and run with school educators in an effort to pilot and produce a CPD toolkit for evidence-based education; 2) A digital handbook introducing evidence-based teaching strategies, authentic case studies, and digital resources to facilitate strategy use was created with contributions from educators, psychologists, education technologists, and educational trainers; 3) Innovative resources for educators were produced such as a technology for designing and sharing teacher-led research lessons involving evidence-based teaching strategies, a mini-MOOC (free online course) on the science of learning for teachers, multilingual videos on stress mindsets for use with students, and video case studies of teacher research lessons; 4) Literature reviews, survey studies, and focus groups were research activities performed that contributed to scientific publications; 5) Teaching symposiums were held in each partner country to disseminate the work of the project and promote evidence-based education. 6) The project also held 5 transnational meetings and frequent virtual meetings that helped foster a strong collaboration within the diverse partnership. RESULTS Four intellectual outputs were produced following an iterative and participatory development approach: IO1. Toolkit and Workshops for teachers IO2. Evidence-based Teaching Practices Handbook IO3. Open Community Website for Teachers IO4. Research Studies ILLUMINE’s training courses and technologies support educators in designing and running their own research lessons to improve their teaching practices. Case studies produced from these research lessons have been documented in an online community platform, published in a digital handbook, and shared via research publications. IMPACT 1) 99 teachers participated in pilots across 4 countries. These teachers conducted over 35 research lessons impacting 3500 students. Further, 10 educators from partner countries participated in a 3-day mobility in Barcelona. A final CPD toolkit (20-hour course) was produced in 6 languages (EN, ES, CA, SR, ET, PT). https://illumine.upf.edu/pg/lds/resources_illumine/toolkit 2) A practical handbook that combines theory with practical case studies (ILLUMINE Evidence-based Teaching Practices Handbook) was produced in 5 languages (EN, ES, SR, ET, PT). https://illumine.upf.edu/pg/lds/resources_illumine/handbook 3) A variety of innovative resources were created including the ILLUMINE Community Platform (https://illumine.upf.edu/) which hosts 35 teacher-created research lessons; the ILLUMINE YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@illumineproject) with videos for classroom use (stress mindsets) and 9 video case studies presented by teachers; and the ILLUMINE evidence-based education mini-MOOC (https://tidex.upf.edu/). 4) 9 peer reviewed scientific publications were achieved and both a masters and doctoral thesis supported: https://illumine.upf.edu/pg/lds/about_illumine/top_news-1. 5) 221 educators participated in ILLUMINE symposiums: https://illumine.upf.edu/pg/lds/about_illumine/top_news-3 All in all, project participants were very active in establishing a community for exploring and sharing uses of evidence-based teaching strategies – a community centred on teacher generated case studies supporting evidence-based education.
ILLUMINE (2020-2023) brought together a diverse group of school education teachers, designers (SME), social enterprise, and researchers from psychology, pedagogy, and educational technology to empower teachers and schools through a variety of activities that contribute toward raising the quality of teaching, training and learning in school education. The project’s focus was on the practical skill development of teachers. Four intellectual outputs were produced following an iterative and participatory development approach: IO1. Toolkit and Workshops for teachers IO2. Evidence-based Teaching Practices Handbook IO3. Open Community Website for Teachers IO4. Research Studies ILLUMINE’s training courses and technologies supported educators in designing and running their own research lessons to improve their teaching practices. Case studies produced from these lessons were documented in an online community platform, published in a digital handbook, and shared via research publications. Project participants worked together over three years to establish a community for exploring and sharing uses of evidence-based teaching strategies – a community centred on teacher generated case studies.
ILLUMINE was initiated to help school teachers design more effective learning experiences for their students by increasing use of evidence-based teaching practices with technology and in understanding the science of learning theory (cognitive neuroscience) that underlies these practices. Teachers in four countries (Spain, Portugal, Serbia, Estonia) participated in the project that addressed the following needs: 1) Supporting teachers in making use of innovative practices in the digital era by increasing teachers' ability to use open digital technologies, tools, and open educational resources; and by helping teachers design lessons. 2) Strengthening the profiles of the teaching professions by piloting a teacher-driven continuous professional development approach; by fostering collaboration among teachers and scaffolding their contributions to the educational community. 3) Reinforcing the development of key competences such as those defined in the EU DigCompEdu framework such as Professional Engagement (collaboration, reflective practice, digital CPD), Digital Resources (selecting, creating, modifying, managing), and Teaching and Learning (teaching, guiding, collaborative learning, self-regulated learning).