ERNIST E uropean R esearch N etwork for I CT in S chools of T omorrow

Paul GerhardEuropean Schoolnet

eTalentSofia 2-3 April 2007

ERNISTEuropean Research Network for ICT in Schools of Tomorrow

eTALENT Valorisation Conference

Sofia, 2-3 April 2007

2



What is EUN

Dedicated to

Support schools in bringing about the best use

of technology in learning

Promote the Europeandimension in schools

and education

Improve and raise the quality of education

in Europe

Network of 28 Ministriesof Education in Europe

3



Stakeholders

Ministries of Education

IT Industry and Suppliers

European Commission

Schools

Experts

Our stakeholders/Audience

Audience

Policy makers

Researchers Developers

School Leaders

Teachers, Pupils

4



Three strands of activities

EUN Activities

Knowledge building andExchange on ICT policies

and practice

School networkingand services

Interoperability andcontent exchange

5



Knowledge building andExchange on ICT policies

and practice

ERNIST

6



ERNIST: About

• October 2002 - June 2004

• EU eLearning Programme

• 8 Partners:– European Schoolnet as coordinator

– Dutch Inspectorate (Netherlands)

– University of Nottingham (UK)

– Pedagogical Academy (Univ. Linz) (Oberösterreich, Austria)

– Open University (UK)

– University of Turku, University of Helsinki (Finland)

– CTIE – Swiss Agency for ICT in education (Switzerland) – non funded

7



Key questions

• What is the institutional response to change– Short term decision in a changing environment

• What is the evidence base for policy makers– Research evidence is there, needs channelling to

decision makers as a tool for decision-making

• How can practitioners use the research?

• What is happening in leading edge schools?

8



Key aims• Understanding decision-making process in a

multi-cultural Europe and a fast changing environment

• Bring closer practice and research (ex: Answer to authentic questions)

• Establish a network between policy and decision makers, researchers and practitioners (Networking strand)

9



Strands of Work

• The three strands of work: a roadmap for decision makers, teachers and researchers on the best use of ICT in schools

• School portraits

• Research evidence for ICT policy making

• Success factors in network building

• Dissemination

10



School Portraits• 20 school portraits:

– Schools in: Austria, Belgium (Flanders), UK (England, NI, Scotland), the Netherlands.

• Portraits made by 6 inspectorates following methodology developed by Dutch insp.

• Spread inspiring practice to policy makers, teachers, researchers

Methodology

• Open-ended, non-judgmental approach, bringing out innovative practices, inspiring others

-Descriptive elements-Introduction (country, school)-Changes for students, teachers-Organisational change

-Appreciative elements-Appreciation (summary inspectorate of what is good in the school)-Lessons for others

http://schoolportraits.eun.org

Awards

ERNIST School portraits won the European eLearning Awards (eureleA) in February 2005 in the category: Journalism and Reporting

11



Research evidence for policy making

• More than 7 research papers– Think Again (David Wood, Univ. Nottingham)– Organisational Study: The institutional response

to change (Alan McCluskey, CTIE, Switzerland)

• 12 answers to authentic question

Authentic question concept

-Step one: Collect questions from teachers (what do you want to know about ICT in schools)-Step two: Researchers reformulated the questions so that they can be used in a research context-Step three: Provide research based evidence to ‘answer’-Access to information: long, short answer, teachers can choose what is important

Examples:- How does the teacher’s work change? (because of ICT)

- How do students perceive ICT and its use in schools?

- How does one use ICT to motivate students

Research papers

-Think Again: Hindsight, Insight and Foresight on ICT in Schools

-Analysis of ICT policy in European countries (DK, FR, NL, PT, SW, UK)-Scenarios for school education-Resulting from structured interviews with policy makers

-Organisational study: “School: a Sustainable Learning Organisation”

-Schools: ‘an organisation for learning for all’ (collective learning experience)-Resulting from interviews with policy makers, researcher, teacher, industry, developers)-Improve strategies for integration of ICT

12



Network building strand• Identify and analyse success factors in

network building (Friedrich Buchberger University of Linz)– Analysis of seven networks and their networking

strategies (European School project, Becta ICT research network….)

• Success factors for networking were identified

Collection of success factors

- A common and shared purpose

-Easy access to information and resources

-Needs and skills of stakeholders of the network

-Establish channel of communication

-Focus on distributed forms of leadership

-A range of activities that promote and maintain active participation

-More on: http://insight.eun.org ….

13



Dissemination and outputs

• ERNIST outputs are available on the EUN observatory for New technology and Education:http://insight.eun.org (School Innovation)

• School portraits available at:- http://schoolportraits.eun.org (Also available in print)

14



Insight Portal

EUN Observatory for New Technologies and Education

Policy Interoperability School Innovation

Country reports

Insight reports

Policy briefs

LIFE project

LRE developments

Technology news

School galleries

School Portraits

ePortfolios

Thematic Dossiers: (Transversal section: Leadership, Innovation, e-assessment)

15



ERNIST and now what…?

• From ERNIST to P2P– ERNIST aimed to bridge/link researchers, policy

makers and practitioners– In 2004-2006, building on the network building

ideas of ERNIST, P2P the first Peer learning project started (eLearning Programme)

• From P2P to P2V– In 2007-2009 P2V aims to ‘valorise’ P2P

16



• 2-year project• Aims to foster peer learning between:

– Schools– Policy-makers– Inspectors

• Continuation of successful projects: ERNIST (Schools portraits, use of ICT in schools) and P2P (first Peer learning project)

• Three topics:– Digital resources– Virtual learning environments– Digital literacy

• Aim to valorise (exploit and disseminate) P2P methodologies

P2V: Peer to Peer Networking for ValorisationPeer learning methodologies

Policy peer visits: peers from MoE in partner countries share and learn from each other over 3-day visits

School peer visits*: Principals and teachers learn how ICT is used in schools in other countries

Inspection peer visits*: Inspectors of education share how they evaluate schools and teachers.

*In P2V: use of a ‘common framework for evaluation of ICT in schools’

Peer learning tools

Peer learning portal: this portal to be launched in June will be the ‘reference point for peer learning in Europe’

Methodologies and frameworks: As part of the project: peer learning methodologies for schools, policy-makers and inspectors will be created

Conferences/Workshops: In Europe, peer learning is not widespread: need to train people…

Portals:http://p2v.eun.org (in

development)http://p2p.eun.org

(previous peer learning project)

17



Thank you!

• Contacts:Roger Blamire, Senior Manager Policy and Practice, [email protected]

Anja Balanskat, Senior Policy Analyst: [email protected] Paul Gerhard, Information and Communication Officer: [email protected]

• Useful sites:www.eun.org – www.europeanschoolnet.org – www.dyp2006.org – myeurope.eun.org –

www.springday2007.net – roundtable.eun.org – insight.eun.org – insafe.eun.org – www.etwinning.net – www.saferinternet.org – lre.eun.org – calibrate.eun.org –

fire.eun.org – community.eun.org – www.xplora.org – life.eun.org – elearningawards.eun.org

Documents

ERNIST E uropean R esearch N etwork for I CT in S chools of T omorrow