News

New article: Students designing educational games

2013-05-14T11:37:20Z

When teachers try to implement game-based learning, they always have questions like: What kind of games should we use? How high is the educational value of the game? How much do the students like the game? One safe way to answer these questions is to let the students develop the educational games instead of playing the games - the focus can then be on the process of developing the game. The article describes a case-study in which 11-12 year old students designed educational games for learning English as a foreign language.

This article describes how students in the 5th grade were asked to design a game that teaches topics of English as a foreign language. The case study is part of iTEC project pre-pilots. The intent of this article is to provide a good example of how to motivate students and integrate innovative activities into teaching.

The article was published by European Alliance for Innovation (EAI Endorsed Transactions on Game Based Learning, Volume 13, Issue 01-12). The authors, Martin Sillaots and Ingrid Maadvere, work at the iTEC partner organisation, the Tiger Leap Foundation.

Read the full article here

Evaluating the third cycle of iTEC - upcoming webinar

2013-04-12T09:58:26Z

During the third cycle of the iTEC project, which took place from August to December 2012, 334 teachers from across Europe took part in the school pilots. Pupils from 18 countries benefited from the principle of innovation being introduced to their classroom practice through iTEC Learning Activities.

Teachers can tailor the use of Learning Activities to suit their own particular classroom context. Francesca Panzica, a primary school teacher from Florence, Italy, used the activity ‘Visualising the planet surface' to take a virtual school trip with her class. Fifth year pupils in Ostrava, Czech Republic, learned mathematical concepts and developed their presentation skills through teaching a maths class to younger pupils.

The iTEC project will host an interactive webinar to evaluate the 3rd cycle of the school pilots. The discussion will focus on the project’s progress to date, which pedagogical tools were most effective, and any challenges that have been encountered. The iTEC project is always interested to hear teachers’ feedback on their experiences, or on ideas to improve the project, so make your voice heard and help shape the future of the project!

The webinar, ‘Discovering, thinking, creating - findings of the 3rd iTEC evaluation’, will take place on Wednesday 24 April, 16:00-17:00h CEST. The webinar is free, and open to all of those who are interested in taking part, so register today at http://bit.ly/10Zh5sW

More information on iTEC webinars: http://itec.eun.org/web/guest/webinars

This class in Italy took a virtual school trip to London as part of the project - find out what your class can do with iTEC Learning Activities.

Creating video 'book trailers in Italy

2013-04-09T09:55:45Z

Raffaella Fiorini is an iTEC teacher in Liceo Classico Chris Cappell in Anzio, Italy. While studying works of English literature with her class, Raffaella decided to create ‘book trailers’ for the books; that is, short reviews of the books in video format.

In carrying out this project, Raffaella wanted her pupils to learn not only about the books in question, and to improve their English, but to learn the principles of audio-visual editing, and to collaborate with one another and learn project-based skills:

“It is not only the narrative content; it's about arousing interest in the book in potential new readers. The aim is to share the emotions. That's all in the choice of the music, of the images, the video editing”.

The pupils searched for multimedia resources, such as videos, music, and still images, to use as part of their book trailers. This involved the pupils working independently, with minimal direction from their teacher.

According to Raffaella: “I think it's important for the teacher to act as a tutor, providing guidance and feedback without lecturing the students all the time”.

The pupils were divided into groups, with each group working on one book. Each group had a blog, where pupils could record their progress through video logs, and share results with and provide feedback to other groups. At the end of the project, each group produced a multimedia library, containing the book trailer, and a conceptual map of the book that they had studied.

The book trailers had the effect of motivating the pupils to broaden their reading, deepening their knowledge and understanding of the book that they themselves worked on, and gave them an insight into how information and ideas can be presented and shared.

To view the pupils' book trailers, go to the Teacher Stories page.

iTEC: Cycle 2 evaluation

2013-03-19T11:02:37Z

Since its launch in 2010, the iTEC project has been piloted in over 500 classrooms, across 16 countries. Teachers from across Europe have benefited from the principle of innovation being introduced to their teaching practice through use of iTEC Learning Activities. Earlier this month, the evaluation results of the second cycle of the iTEC school pilots were published.

The second cycle of the iTEC project saw Learning Activities piloted in 420 classrooms in 15 countries. The evaluation, compiled by iTEC partner Manchester Metropolitan University, made some significant findings. Most teachers reported that the Learning Activities that they piloted promoted innovation in their teaching through technology-enabled pedagogical change such as enhanced student autonomy and new approaches to assessment. Teachers also reported increased levels of motivation, for their own part, and also for the pupils.

The respondents reported an increased use of digital tools in their teaching, with many teachers indicating use of tools that they had not used before, but now considered essential to their teaching practice. In particular, 60% of teachers used TeamUp, and 52% used social networking tools such as Facebook or Edmodo.

To read the Cycle 2 Evaluation Report in full, click here. To learn more about the evaluations of the iTEC project to date, click here.

iTEC International Teacher Workshop 6-7 May - Apply Now!

2013-03-27T17:08:04Z

The iTEC project is organising a teacher training workshop on Future Classroom Scenarios in Brussels, 6-7 May 2013.

Teachers taking part in the workshop will be involved in developing innovative ideas for the future of teaching and learning, and exploring new methodologies and technologies to enhance classroom practice. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded teachers from across Europe, and to share experiences and ideas on how best to meet the challenges of teaching in the classroom of the future.

The training will take place in the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels. The Future Classroom Lab is European Schoolnet’s fully-equipped, reconfigurable, teaching and learning space developed by European Schoolnet, its 30 supporting Ministries of Education and leading educational technology providers.

For full details on the event, including information on who can take part and how to apply, please click here.

The deadline for applications for this workshop is Sunday 31 March; don't miss out on this opportunity to collaborate with teachers from across Europe!

Video: Some teachers who attended last year's teacher training event share their experiences of using iTEC Learning Activities with their classes.

Pupils delivering a maths lesson

2013-03-11T10:54:37Z

Gymnázium Hladnov, a school in Ostrava, a city in the east of the Czech Republic, has participated in the iTEC project for two of the pilot cycles to date. During the most recent cycle of the school pilots, the teachers and pupils decided to use the Learning Activity ‘Benchmark and design’.

The 5th year class realised their project through creating maths learning resources for 1st year pupils. Pupils used presentation tools, including Powerpoint and Prezi, to present their work, and throughout the activity, pupils shared their progress and communicated through the school’s Moodle.

Robin Hegedüs, one of the 5th year pupils involved in the project, said that, "I am really satisfied with our job, and I hope younger students will use this experience in their everyday life".

"I am very satisfied with their work because they worked as a team, it seems to me that all students enjoyed it and it was a really nice experience for us teachers, too", said Iva Skybová, the pupils’ maths teacher.

The flipped classroom - upcoming webinar

2013-02-19T11:03:05Z

The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the lesson and homework elements of a classroom activity are reversed; pupils access their lessons remotely while at home, and then carry out their ‘homework’ in class with their teacher and classmates. The flipped classroom has already made significant inroads in the United States, but how will this model affect teaching practice in Europe?

In this webinar, taking place on Wednesday 27 February, at 12:30 CET, we'll discuss the core principles of a flipped classroom and the different ways in which it might be achieved, from a European perspective. The webinar is led by researcher Tarmo Toikkanen from Aalto University, Finland. Participants are welcome to tell about their own experiences, share tips and debate.

We invite all iTEC partners, teachers and other colleagues to take part in this webinar!

The iTEC webinars are free of charge and anyone can sign-up using the registration form. The participation link will be sent to the registered users. If you would like to join, please register here: http://goo.gl/Bwamu

More information on iTEC webinars: http://itec.eun.org/web/guest/webinars

Visualising the planet surface: virtual school trip

2013-02-26T09:30:01Z

Francesca Panzica is a primary school teacher from Florence, Italy. When her school, Lastra a Signa, became involved in the iTEC project, she decided to use iTEC’s Learning Activities to teach her class about different cities around the world

The Learning Activity, 'Visualising the planet surface', took the form of a virtual school trip to London. Francesca first divided her class into groups, using the TeamUp tool. Pupils then researched the city, using Google docs to share their findings. Once their research had been gathered and collated, students then worked together to create multimedia presentations for the assignment, involving images, interactive maps, and audio recordings.

According to Francesca, the activity had a very positive affect on the on the pupils:

“There was a change in the students’ working methods: they worked in groups and discussed in a new way, and the students started to collaborate with new classmates”.

She also felt that the students were not the only ones to benefit from the new classroom practices: “With this scenario, I have used the interactive whiteboard in a new way”.

To learn more about iTEC Learning Activities, click here.

Observe and Design: redesigning the school

2013-01-23T16:43:10Z

What will schools look like in 2025? How will innovations such as fast Wi-Fi connections, 1:1 computing, and bring-your-own-device affect the teaching/learning process? Will learning take place in the traditional classroom dynamic, or will there be more flexible, open spaces, and more independent learning?

These are the questions and challenges that Ministries of Education across Europe are contemplating as they develop strategies to engage with developments in educational technologies and pedagogical practices. The iTEC project is working to develop the classroom of the future by developing innovative learning activities. These activities, developed with input from all stakeholders in the educational process, provide teachers with the space and support to introduce the principle of innovation to their classroom practice.

On 14 January, pupils and teachers from Immaculata Instituut, Malle, Belgium visited the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels as part of the activities of the iTEC project. The Future Classroom Lab, an initiative of European Schoolnet, is a learning space for developing and piloting new pedagogical practices, and testing new educational technologies. The school visit was part of the iTEC school pilots; the class was using the iTEC learning activity ‘Observe and Design’ to propose a new design for their school. Both pupils and teachers offered contributions on how they would like the education system to evolve, with an emphasis on more interactive learning environments, and self-directed learning.

When asked what they thought the classroom would be like in 2025, the group offered some interesting responses:

“You work more in a group, and you work more with your teacher. It’s not that the teacher is a level above, it’s more on the same level. You can answer questions in a bigger group rather than a teacher picking out one person.” - Axel Zimmermann, pupil

“Do we still need to put pupils in large groups only according to age? Or is there a new way to move around that; do we perhaps put them in groups together according to interests and how far they are developed in certain topics?” – Eef Dubois, teacher

iTEC workshop at EMINENT 2012

2012-12-17T11:04:30Z

The iTEC project was presented to a group of teachers, policymakers and education specialists at a workshop held as part of the EMINENT conference in Genoa, Italy. EMINENT is European Schoolnet’s annual conference for education policy makers and opinion shapers, which was held this year under the theme of ‘Schools in Europe in 2025’. Representatives from the iTEC project were there to showcase the progress to date of the initiative in its mission to design the future classroom.

Will Ellis, Project Manager of iTEC, presented the findings of the project’s intermediate public report, which measured the impact of the initiative in participating schools. To date, iTEC learning activities have already been piloted in over 500 classrooms across Europe. Teachers have reported that iTEC learning activities allow them the space to innovate, and that their experiences in the school pilots have provided them with confidence in using digital learning tools. The majority of teachers feel that the implementation led to new pedagogical practices in their teaching.

Teachers from Germany and Spain also spoke on how their teaching, and the students learning outcomes, have benefitted from the introduction of iTEC learning activities to their classroom practice.

Toshiba joins iTEC project

2012-12-12T16:00:03Z

The iTEC project received a boost with the announcement of Toshiba’s joining the project as an Associate Partner. It is expected that Toshiba, which has been involved in a number educational initiatives previously, will provide expertise to support scenario development initially, working with iTEC partner Futurelab. Following on from these initial activities, it is envisaged that Toshiba will later provide technology used for piloting new pedagogical processes in schools, while increasing the number of schools involved in the pilots.

To learn more about the Ministries of Education, universities and industry experts involved in the iTEC project, please click here.

Upcoming webinars: Enhancing student motivation, and the flipped classroom

2012-12-05T16:41:13Z

The iTEC project will be facilitating two online sessions for teachers over the coming months. The first, taking place on Monday 17 December, 16:00-17:00 CET, and will explore the theme of ‘Learning activities for enhanced student motivation – second evaluation results’. This webinar will examine issues surrounding enhanced student autonomy, and increasing motivation levels, drawing on data collated from the results of the second cycle of the iTEC school pilots. Cycle 2 of the iTEC project, which ran from March to June 2012, involved 450 classes from across 15 countries.

The webinar will be presented by Dr Cathy Lewin, Senior Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, the academic body that conducted the evaluation.

The second webinar, which will take place in February (date TBC), will explore the pedagogical technique of ‘the flipped classroom’: the lesson and homework elements of a classroom activity are reversed. For example, pupils access their lessons remotely while at home, and then carry out their ‘homework’ in class with their teacher and classmates.

As with all iTEC webinars, these sessions are free of charge, and open to all of those who are interested. To find out more, or to sign up, click here.

Professional development opportunities for teachers - Future Classroom Scenarios course

2012-11-06T09:48:28Z

The EC-funded CPDLab project offers courses for teachers’ professional development in three topics: Interactive Whiteboards in schools, eSafety and Future Classroom Scenarios. These 5-day courses will run at summer 2013 and interested participants can now apply for the EC's Comenius in-service training grants.

One of the courses, Future Classroom Scenarios, is closely linked with iTEC. The training involves working with the validated Learning Activities in order to spread and disseminate best practice.

The main audience for the trainings are secondary school level teachers and trainers involved in continuing professional development in education at school, region or country level. The courses will be delivered at European Schoolnet's Future Classroom Lab in Brussels.

Interested participants will be able to apply for participation grants through the European Commission’s Comenius/Grundtvig in-service training database.

Read more at the CPDLab website.

Spanish region joins iTEC as Associate Partner

2012-10-16T12:22:08Z

For over ten years, the Extremadura region in south-west Spain has consistently promoted the use of ICT in teaching and learning. By joining iTEC as an Associate Partner, the region’s teachers will benefit further through the principle of innovation being introduced to their classroom practice. Thirty-eight Extremaduran schools will take part in the iTEC activities.

The promotion and development of ICT, including the focus on technological classrooms and the involvement of ICT in the teaching-learning process, is a priority for the regional Ministry of Education. The achievements to date include 30% of schools already having fibre optic cable connection, over 30,000 laptops distributed to teachers and pupils, and provision of 1,700 interactive whiteboards to schools.

Prior to the project announcement, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Extremadura had already collaborated on the initiative, by adapting iTEC learning scenarios for local use, including mapping the local environment’s biodiversity, and introducing flexible learning across a range of digital platforms.

To find out more about the Ministries of Education, universities and pedagogical specialists that are involved in the iTEC project, click here.

Launch of Cycle 3 of iTEC school pilots - presentation of new Learning Activities and technological tools

2012-09-26T10:57:08Z

The third cycle of the iTEC school pilots will feature new Learning Activities, the use of new technological tools for teaching and learning, and the introduction of learning shells; details of which were announced at the second iTEC teacher workshop, which was held on 6-7 September in the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels.

Held as part of the iTEC General Assembly, participants from 16 different countries tested the two new iTEC Learning Activities, 'Observe and design’, and 'Benchmark and design’. These new Learning Activities, structured to stimulate students’ creativity by presenting them with a real-world design challenge, will be rolled-out during the next cycle of the iTEC school pilots.

New iTEC technologies were also presented over the course of the workshop. The third cycle of the iTEC school pilots will feature ‘shells’, or virtual learning environments (VLEs). The iTEC shells will be supported by a number of new pedagogical tools, among them the iTEC widget store. The widget store allows teachers to create their own educational widgets – simple web-based applications – to assist them delivering their course material. Teachers can then rate and tag the widgets, providing a peer-reviewed database of free technological tools for use in their classes.

To search for widgets, developed rated by iTEC teachers, for use in your classes, go to http://itec.eun.org/web/guest/widgets

New iTEC website launched

2012-10-09T10:23:56Z

To coincide with the beginning of the third cycle of the iTEC school pilots, iTEC has launched a redesigned version of the project website. The website has been redeveloped to increase the site’s usability, and to increase the relevance of the material on the site for teachers.

The new site has a section specifically dedicated to the iTEC school pilots, providing current and prospective iTEC pilot teachers with all of the necessary support. The website also now has a section on Resources for teachers, including the iTEC Knowledge Map, which details the progress of the iTEC project in the pilot school countries, as well as providing an overview of other ICT in education initiatives in these countries. Another new resource on the site is the iTEC widget store, which allows teachers to create simple web-based tools for use in their teaching.

To find out what else is new on the website, visit http://itec.eun.org

iTEC at EMINENT: Schools in Europe in 2025

2012-09-19T11:41:47Z

This year's EMINENT conference will look into the future under the theme "Schools in Europe in 2025: technology for all?" At its annual EMINENT conference on the 14-15 November 2012, European Schoolnet will explore how current trends in education and potential scenarios for the future classroom are likely to impact on the educational reform process. The iTEC project and its emerging results will be addressed throughout the conference in various sessions.

A roundtable session will involve high level decision-shapers as well as investigators into debate on how successful ICT pilots developed in projects can be progressively up-scaled and deployed at a larger scale. The session will also ask how to motivate and support teachers and what policy decisions may be required in order for member states to fully mainstream and embed innovative practice in the future classroom.

In a following workshop session the participants will be challenged to discuss the iTEC Learning Stories and Activities in the context of the school of the future and how should the teachers be prepared for the classroom of 2025.

On the second day of the conference iTEC will contribute to a roundtable discussion on the classroom of the future.

The conference will feature also a keynote speech by Lord David Puttnam, Chairman of Futurelab and Senior Independent Director of Promethean.

The EMINENT conference is by invitation only.

Mainstreaming iTEC pilot results – recommendations to teachers, MoE, ICT vendors and EC

2012-09-19T11:46:18Z

The iTEC High Level Group has issued a series of recommendations on implementing iTEC’s learning activities across a larger scale. The recommendations are aimed at teachers, Ministries of Education, ICT vendors and European Commission.

The report emphasises the need for top-down strategies of policy-makers and ministries in mainstreaming the results of the iTEC school pilots to be complemented by a bottom-up, large-scale grassroots adoption of iTEC learning activities by teachers on an individual basis. This process should be supported by ministries of education, training agencies, etc.

The iTEC project and the work of the High Level Group feed directly into a number of the European Commission’s educational initiatives; Europe 2020 strategy, Strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020), and the Digital Agenda for Europe, among others. The iTEC project is part of a broader commitment at a pan-European level to reforming and modernising the education system, and increasing Europe’s competitiveness through eLearning. To read the recommendations in full, download the report here.

Project announcement: publication of the iTEC Knowledge Map

2012-10-09T08:34:33Z

The iTEC project has created a Knowledge Map that will provide information on the use of ICT in education in different European countries. Produced in conjunction with Manchester Metropolitan University, the iTEC project partner with responsibility for evaluating the piloting of iTEC learning activities across Europe, the Knowledge Map aims to:

Give an insight into other Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) projects taking place in each country.
Offer an interpretation of the iTEC evaluation results in relation to underlying conditions (political, educational, socio-economic, etc.) within each country.
Give iTEC partners working with schools an empirical basis when making decisions regarding pedagogical innovation.

Moreover, the Knowledge Map will soon feature information on organisations and researchers active in TEL-related research, and practice-based papers written by teachers and other education practitioners. The countries included in the present Knowledge Map represent those that were participating in iTEC at the beginning of the project. Other countries have since joined iTEC and information about these will be included at a future date.

To learn more about the use of ICT in education within different countries go to the Knowledge Map here, or make a selection from the map below.

iTEC Knowledge Map

Over 450 classes benefit through second cycle of iTEC pilots

2012-09-07T07:34:06Z

With the end of the school year approaching, the second cycle of the iTEC school pilots is coming close to completion. Since the current phase of the iTEC project began in March, pupils from 450 classes, across 15 countries, have benefited from the use of innovative learning scenarios in their lessons.

Throughout Europe, pilot teachers have been delivering iTEC’s Learning Stories across a variety of subject areas. Through the pedagogical processes developed by iTEC, pupils have created science learning resources, learnt mathematics in a multilingual setting, and revised for their exams through creating interactive learning resources, across a variety of media, based on the material that they discussed in class.

The purpose of iTEC’s Learning Stories is to provide a vision of innovation in teaching and learning, with an emphasis on the pedagogical use of new technologies. Since the iTEC school pilots began in September 2010, hundreds of teachers, and thousands of pupils, have had their lessons enhanced through iTEC's Learning Stories.

To learn more about iTEC Learning Stories, click here.