Key issues for

innovative teaching

Dr. Athena BAZOU

Ellinogermaniki Agogi School, GR

AHEAD Conference, Brussels, 18 February 2002

• Key issues in the introduction of innovation in schools

• The vision for the school of innovations

• ICT in school

• The main educational concepts

• Our suggestion

• Application examples

Innovation in the traditional school

Reality or utopia?

Key issues in the introduction of innovation in school

1. Organizational

2. Pedagogical

3. Technological

4. Evaluation-Dissemination matters

• High cost -new equipment in schools• Need for more preparation before the lesson• Need to persuade that the proposed approaches increase the quality and the effectiveness of the education • Adoption of innovation in the curriculum• Conservatism of the implicated Bodies (State, general public- mostly parents but intellectuals, Academic staff as well) • Need for technology literacy-Teachers’ training• Evaluation –Dissemination procedure- Avoid the overlap between products, plans already developed and new ones

What’s the vision for the school of tomorrow, the

school of innovations ?

The school of tomorrow will be able to emit and

absorb along different wavelengths, be immersed in

contemporary culture, be open to the emotions, facts

and news of its time. It will be permeated by society

but not unprotected. The relationship between the

school and society will be one of osmosis, where the

new educational tools and learning environments will

filter, guide and act as a membrane and interface

M. Zini, i3 magazine

ICT can contribute in the introduction of new pedagogical methods in school

As Johan Desloover from Vrije basisschool St.-Antonius college (Ronse, Belgium) notes:

A computer is a wonderful learning tool for a child:• Each time he moves the mouse, clicks a button or key in numbers/ words, something is happening on the screen• The learner gets immediately feedback• And even if the pupil makes a mistake, the computer is never angry• It offers each child many challenges and motivates them…and

Internet is a giant library and fast too. E-mails bring people together from over the world and as they are rather anonymous, pupils have no fear to communicate.

http://users.skynet.be/college.ronse/

However….

The new technologies must not be imposed

as a substitute to the conventional teaching

but rather as an add-on that has to justify

its introduction through the qualitative

upgrade it offers to everyday school

practice.

The main educational concepts

• Enhancement of a constructivist approach to teaching

• Development of an interdisciplinary model in current educational practice

• Learning should be a collaborative experience• Equal and parallel development of pedagogical

and technological aspects• Innovative pedagogical and technological aspects

have to be systematically evaluated

Our suggestion

Bring innovation in school, bring society in schoolthrough well-designed educational projects combining technology, school activities and methodological evaluation. Their aim: the qualitative upgrade of the learning process through the introduction of ICT in everyday teaching.

Application examples

• Videoconferencing in Instituto Tecnico Industriale A.Malignani

• School +

• YouRa

• AgroWeb

• Ad-hoc.com

• Lab of tomorrow

As Lorenzo Amat notes from the Instituto Tecnico Industriale A.Malignani (Udine, Italy):

• We have been experimenting for many years the use of Videoconferencing (ISDN, Netmeeting and others) to add new tools to distance teaching (Trilateral work of Italian students in cooperation with French and German students at first in a very experimental Euro-class, then at distance on ISDN video connection). Finally this means was used for teacher training and work at distance in the environment of a “virtual classroom”.

• We have participated in many activities and associations in support of the European Union, like the present “Europa Haus” of Gorizia and also have had experience of bi- and trilateral agreements with schools in Eastern Europe.

http://www.malignani.ud.it/

The main aim of SCHOOL+ research project is to design, develop, demonstrate and evaluate a comprehensive teaching and learning environment by integrating a progressive educational perspective with ICT, to help schools to develop knowledge and skills required both by future and present citizens of the IS. It constitutes an effort to involve all actors (students, teachers, parents, experts in pedagogy and technology) in the formation of the school of the future.

School +

http://www.school-plus.org

YouRA project

The project aims at the development and application of a pedagogical framework suitable for the implementation of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) to 10-12 year old students. Students collect environmental data with hand-made devises, insert the data in the YouRa e-tool, view the data of other schools in Europe and get familiarized with graphical representations and the environment.

http://www.ellinogermaniki.gr/ep/Youra

Homemade devices Students construct their own devices in order to

measure:

• the temperature

• the pressure

• the height of rainfall

• the speed of the wind

• the direction of the wind

Students’ activities

The project aims at the exploitation of the ICT for the development of an environment that promotes interdisciplinary approaches and makes full use of the capacity of informal learning. In the framework of the AgroWeb project students from five European countries collect information about the agricultural products of their region, which they present and sell through the Internet

http://www.ellinogermaniki.gr/ep/agroweb

AgroWeb

The interface

The e-shop

Lab of Tomorrow project

Lab of tomorrow develops the pedagogical framework for successful application of emerging technology on teaching science through everyday activities. The aim is to develop a wearable technology for genuinely useful educational use.

http://www.laboftomorrow.org/

Kick life into the classroom

Ad-hoc.comAn intercultural communication trainer for European Travellers-on site

The project aims at the development of an innovative multimedia language learning tool at the disposal of users who on location are willing to acquire certain language skills, in order to communicate with locals in the country of their destination. The Ad-hoc.com tool is an educational platform with two main applications: a web-based application for on-line learning and a PDA application for location independent learning.

http://www.ellinogermaniki.gr/ep/ad-hoc/

Future scenarios

m-learning

distributed orchestra

Conclusion

Attempts to build the school of innovations can be achieved only as the collaboration effort and the complementary expertise of actors in the fields of technology, communications, basic research, educational software development, pedagogical psychology and education, a group that can be brought together only in the dimensions of the European Union.

http://www.ellinogermaniki.gr