‘Navigating Social Worlds: Toolbox for Social Inquiry’ (NaviSoW) project highlights the importance of 1) first hand data; 2) inquiry (which also promotes critical thinking) and 3) mobilizes digital tools for the purposes of education. It is developed by a consortium of 5 research institutions from countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Romania). These countries share a knowledge- rather than skills-oriented approach in education and lag below the EU-28 in the individual digital skills assessment. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to incorporate digital skills in teaching culture. Making sustainable changes to the education system is an imperative so that in the future, during similar crises, education systems will be more resilient. The objectives of the project are therefore: 1. To equip teachers and lecturers with innovative tools that can be used for social inquiry. 2. To equip the learners with knowledge, skills and competences that will enable them to make small scale social research projects. 3. To make the learners aware and critical to how data can be interpreted in public discourses and narratives. 4. To map existing practices and solutions in online teaching and learning at HEIs in selected CEE countries. 5. To assist the „catching up” of the region in terms of digital skills and to reduce the digital gap. Working at intersection of higher education and high school education, as well as teaching both students and teachers, gives us an opportunity to use many synergies that occur at the cross-roads of this diverse target groups. The toolbox will comprise materials that will be fit for different categories of end-users – from students (secondary school and higher education) through teachers, and lecturers. Another direct group of beneficiaries are researchers, policy-makers and HEI authorities who can use the scientific output, country reports and recommendations. There project will produce the following outputs: • The Toolbox for Social Inquiry – the most significant project output. It will be an online resource for teachers and lecturers who teach social sciences to introduce social research methods and social inquiry in their classrooms. The toolbox will be useful beyond subject-specific classes and will contain general resources that will promote critical thinking and inspire curiosity among students, supporting various projects in social inquiry with digital tools. Students will learn what a social research project is and receive guidance on how they can design their own. The modules of the Toolbox will comprise handouts, templates, working sheets or other materials that teachers and/or lecturers can use in their classrooms. The Toolbox will be produced initially in English, but in order to make it accessible for local teachers and lecturers, it will be translated into the 5 languages of partner HEIs. • 5 country reports which will identify, analyse and compare policies and strategies implemented on the country level in regard to teaching online as an emergency response to Covid-19. • Small scale cross-sectional survey on students' and teachers’ perceptions of teaching online. • Recommendations for implementing digital tools for social inquiry – this output will comprise recommendations for quality implementation of research methods classes in higher education. It will be a set of policy and teaching recommendations, and a collection of best practices identified while implementing the toolbox. • at least 3 scientific articles. • a 2-day international conference on using digital tools for teaching social studies online (~70 pax) • 1 workshop for teachers on using digital skills in social sciences in classroom (~40 pax) By developing the toolbox we are delivering ready-made resources adapted to CEE context that can be implemented in schools and HEIs in order to promote both, digital skills and social research skills. The toolbox will be available for university students and also shared with secondary schools. By delivering the toolbox in national languages, we hope to have methods of social inquiry included into teaching practice at high school level (except for Estonia, where it is present in the curriculum already). This project provides a narrative for a different way of looking at education. In a climate of frontal education and Prussian teaching culture, initiatives such as ours help set the tone and provide a glimpse into a different way of teaching and thinking about knowledge. The key lasting effect of our project will be introducing this perception about education, which has taken root in much of Western Europe, but still lags behind in CEE. The project will be carried out by a consortium of 5 partner HEIs (SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Babeș-Bolyai University, Public Policy and Management Institute, University of Latvia, and University of Tartu) supported by 4 associated partners – 3 high schools and University of Warsaw.
1. To equip lecturers and teachers with innovative tools that can be used for social inquiry in their classrooms and lecture rooms. 2. To equip learners with knowledge, skills and competences that will enable them to select reliable data, and analyse it. 3. To make learners aware and critical about how data can be interpreted (in terms of meaning, meaning-making and the context) in public discourses and narratives. 4. To map existing practices and solutions in online teaching and learning at HEIs in selected CEE countries. 5. To assist the „catching up” of the region in terms of digital skills and to reduce the digital gap.
The context of the project is built around two interlinked issues. The first one is the shared institutional approach to education in the partner countries that makes the project objectives relevant and applicable to all countries in the wider CEE region. These countries share a knowledge- rather than skills-oriented approach to education. The second issue is the Covid-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the need to incorporate digital skills in the teaching culture. Making sustainable changes to the education system is imperative, so that in the future, in case of similar crises, education systems will be more resilient. We believe that our project can contribute to such a change.