SUMMARY OF 7SMART Steps - Seven SMART Steps to Adapt Digitally Supported Differentiated Learning Methodology to Increase Problem-Solving and Text Comprehension Competencies The problem of differentiated teaching is one of the best-known challenges of mass education based on frontal educational methodologies. The need for digital solutions supporting differentiation is obvious. Teachers answering to our recent needs-assessment on-line survey evaluated the necessity of differentiated education at 4,61 on a 1-5 scale, and 93,82% declared themselves open to trying such a digitally supported solution in school. The partners submitting the present proposal have developed such a solution in the frame of a previous project called “SMART e-Maths”. The solution targets math teachers and 3-8th grade students of primary schools, supporting the development of their problem-solving competencies by offering them adaptive, personalized learning paths in a digital educational material. It is suitable to support classroom work, homework assignments and preparation for diverse contests and exams, and many other activities. SMART e-Maths works like this: the student enters a learning module at a basic level and starts solving math tasks. After each good solution, (s)he jumps up a level. If the solution is wrong, (s)he gets helping questions and explanations leading to a good solution and falls down a level. Teachers can monitor the process (all activities recorded and reports generated), and even get notified if a student gets “stuck” at some level, needing the personal intervention of the teacher. ALL CONTENTS CAN BE MODIFIED, AND NEW CONTENTS CAN BE CREATED BY TEACHERS. They can use 10 different test-wizards, plus video- and text explanations. A more, detailed description is available on the project’s website: http://smartemaths.eu/ The project will be closed in December 2020, but we already have experiences with adaptation, which clearly demonstrates the need for a longer, well-supported adaptation process, concentrating not only on the use of the already developed contents but mostly on content development by a cooperative group of teachers. The partners have decided to develop a detailed, innovative adaptation methodology that is focused on empowering and on the renewal of skillset of teachers in a stepped learning by doing model - as a stand-alone innovation - while spreading the best practice in 18 more schools in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. The adaptation process will consist of 7 steps, organized into 3 adaptation phases: Adaptation phase 1 – “WIDE ADAPTATION” - SMART Step 1 –How to use the SMART e-Maths methodology and existing content? Adaptation phase 2 – “DEEP ADAPTATION “ - SMART Step 2- How to develop a script of a linear learning block (an MS Powerpoint document describing the block contents), - SMART Step 3- How to develop a digital learning block, - SMART Step 4- How to use smart tools to develop audio-visual content, - SMART Step 5- How to develop a learning block supporting adaptive paths, - SMART Step 6- How to create cooperative teams to create learning blocks. Adaptation phase 3 – “EMPOWERING SMART MENTORS” - SMART Step 7 – How to support an adaptation process as a SMART Mentor. The adaptation process will have a modular structure so that any teacher completing even a single step will acquire useful knowledge (content development), and future participants will have a choice to participate in the whole adaptation process, or only complete a part of it. In the frame of the present project, called “7 SMART Steps”, we will go through the whole innovative process with 18 selected teachers, while realizing three outputs: O1 - SMART_HUB - a working Network of Cooperating SMART e- Maths users, O2 – CONTENT_POOL - a pool of contents to be created in the process by the freshly involved teachers (SMART Steps 2-6), O3 – MLAdapTool – a multi-language adaptation toolset (methodology, supporting IT tools, the learnings of the pilot adaptation processes) necessary for adaptation. As a direct result, the SMART e-Maths methodology will be introduced in 18 schools, 18 teachers will be trained to create digital contents supporting differentiated learning processes, and eventually to become SMART Mentors spreading the adaptation themselves. 270 students will improve their problem-solving and text-comprehension skills in an exciting and challenging digital education process supported by materials developed by their teachers. As a long-term result of the project, we expect to empower schools and teachers with a full adaptation process they can get through to use SMART e-Maths methodology at different levels (as a teacher, as a content developer, or as a SMART Mentor). Through the adaptation processes, larger numbers of stakeholders will get access to innovative, digitally supported methodology they can use in classrooms, after-schools, and homework assignments to support differentiated learning.
The project primarily aims were the followings: contributing to the introduction of innovative, digitally supported learning and teaching methods and practices; the development of digital competences and content for teachers, the ability to differentiate digitally supported teaching; the development of students' competences through differentiation and more effective learning processes, increasing motivation and supporting catching up. The aim of the project was to promote the wider adaptation of SMART e-Maths, a digital methodology for differentiated teaching, which we had previously developed, in upper primary schools. In the adaptation process, at least 18 teachers produced new educational content, for which we provided appropriate technical-methodological training in 7 workshops. The main focus was on developing digital and curriculum development competences through the Tanlet and the innovative methodology, in order to develop a long-term usable skills structure. The teachers tested the curriculum in real school settings with a minimum of 270 students. The innovative methodology has been introduced to many schools and a wide professional audience, so that it can become part of everyday teaching routines in the long term.
The problem of differentiated teaching is one of the biggest challenges of mass education based on frontal teaching methodologies. The need for digital solutions to support differentiation is evident. Teachers who responded to our online needs assessment survey rated the need for differentiated teaching at 4.61 on a scale of 1 to 5, and 93.82% said they were open to trying a digitally supported solution in their school. The partners submitting the present application developed such a solution in the framework of a previous project "SMART e-Maths", the methodology of which has been adapted in the present project. The solution supports the development of problem-solving competences by offering adaptive, personalised learning pathways in a digital learning system. The need for digital education has been further reinforced by the virus situation. In our experience, there was a need for an adaptation process that focused not only on the use of already developed content, but also on content development by teachers. In the present project, we developed an innovative adaptation methodology that focused on developing teachers' skills and disseminated good practices to a further 18 schools.