School pilots overview

iTEC school pilot cycles

The iTEC project is being delivered over four years (2010-2014), involving five cycles of design and testing of Learning Scenarios and Learning Activities.

The iTEC large scale piloting of engaging pedagogical scenarios includes initial development, preparation, piloting and associated CPD (continuing professional development), and the evaluation of pilots. This core part of iTEC comprises:

• Scenario-building: building novel learning and teaching scenarios which maximise the engagement of learners in the future classroom through the effective use of ICT. Scenarios are based on an analysis of various trends affecting the way in which education is expected to change. These include trends in education policy and strategy, trends in the development and use of technology, and social trends. Throughout the process learners, teachers, policy makers, technology providers, and pedagogical experts collaborate in designing these scenarios.
• Prototype learning activities: building and testing innovative collections of learning activities, based on novel scenarios, and making practical use of a variety of familiar and new communication and collaboration tools. The initial learning scenarios are used as a stimulus for further analysis and design, with teachers, in order to produce suitable learning activities. This design process starts with workshops to identify the challenges teachers would face delivering the scenarios, and to guide the development of learning activities. The teachers then test these activities in the classroom at small scale to refine them.
• Large scale classroom pilots: collections of learning activities produced in the design stages are provided to teachers in 17 European countries. The learning activities are tested in a much larger number of classrooms to evaluate their potential value and impact on the future classroom. Trainings and support are provided to the teachers involved, who become members of the iTEC community of practice.
• Evaluation: assessing the potential of the iTEC learning activities, and identifying supporting factors and barriers. Teachers provide feedback on the potential of the learning activities to bring innovation to the classroom. This evaluation process involves a combination of methods including data collection, observations, case studies and multimedia journals produced by the teachers involved.

School piloting: participating countries

The testing of the iTEC Learning Activities takes place in various European countries to evaluate their potential value and impact on the future classroom. Until October 2013, 19 countries have been involved in the pilots: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom.

Furthermore, some other European countries are involved through SMART, Promethean and iTEC Associate Partners. These countries may be different in each cycle.

School pilot schedule

Here you see the schedule for the five cycles:

 
National coordinators

The national coordinators are appointed by the Ministries of Education. There are two different roles:

• National Pedagogical Coordinator (NPC): a NPC is responsible at national level for the overall piloting in schools which includes organising Participatory Design sessions, selecting and supporting pre-pilot and pilot schools, and overseeing evaluation data collection and case studies.
• National Technical Coordinator (NTC): a NTC is responsible for setting up the technical conditions for pilots in schools.

For information on each country, please click here.