How can advanced practitioners in the use of technology for teaching and learning support other schools in adopting more innovative pedagogical approaches?
Technology-enhanced teaching and learning have become an increasingly popular topic in education and professional development courses for teachers. Nowadays, a great number of schools across Europe have developed efficient frameworks for digital teaching and learning and many teachers have become competent pedagogical users of technology in their classrooms. And yet, mainstreaming ICT at an institutional level remains an ongoing policy challenge across Europe. So, what can be done to go that extra mile and involve a greater number of schools and teachers on a transformational journey for school improvement?
This has been the key question in the Mentoring for School Improvement project - shortly called MenSI - which our “Beyond Networking” MOOC builds upon.
The focus of this course is on models and strategies for school-to-school mentoring to scale digital innovation and facilitate the transferring of knowledge and expertise within teachers’ communities of practice and collaborative networks of schools. It’s about developing collaboration between schools so that teachers and school leaders operating in digitally advanced schools can take up an active role to mentor and support other colleagues in less advanced schools within regional hubs and virtual communities of practice.
Mentoring at whole school level may include training activities that are tailored to the specific needs of the partner schools and offer professional development opportunities for a larger number of teachers and school staff. School-to-school mentoring and networking can also help overcome the isolation of small and rural schools, where teachers may find less opportunities for professional development and exchange of innovative best practices with their peers.
The course is designed around the experiences of schools in six countries participating in the Mentoring for School Improvement project (MenSI) who have been applying a range of mentoring models (e.g. advanced-less advanced, peer to peer, top-down, bottom-up, etc.) within 24 MenSI clusters, each made up of one mentor and four mentee schools.
Join us already in the Facebook group or share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #MenSi-Schools.
The Beyond Networking MOOC is open to teachers of any subject and level (both primary and secondary), as well as school leaders, digital learning coordinators and professional development providers interested in exploring innovative whole-school mentoring approaches and networking strategies between teachers and schools through sustained and objective-driven exchanges within communities of practice. The course could also be of interest to policymakers and local area administrators, as well as researchers and pedagogical consultants interested in applying school mentoring approaches to develop innovative teaching practices in primary and secondary schools.
The course is designed for participants with English understanding and writing level B1 (independent) [ref. CEFR] for supporting learning and exchange amongst colleagues across Europe where English is a second language.
In order to receive the certificate, the participation in the quizzes will count for 5%, and the mentoring action plan together with the peer reviews will count for 95%. Pass status is achieved after submitting an action plan and three peer reviews.
The final deadline to complete all activities is Wednesday, 23 November, 23:59 CET.
Note to teachers from Castilla y León: Si eres profesor de Castilla y León, y además del certificado de la European Schoolnet Academy, quieres recibir un certificado oficial de parte de la Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León inscríbete en la página web del CFP Idiomas de Castilla y León http://cfpidiomas.centros.educa.jcyl.es/sitio/
Note to teachers from Emilia-Romagna: Per i docenti della regione Emilia-Romagna iscritti alla piattaforma regionale https://iscrizioni.istruzioneer.it/ è possibile ottenere, oltre all’attestato rilasciato da European Schoolnet Academy, anche l’attestato rilasciato dall’Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per l'Emilia-Romagna (Servizio Marconi) che attua un'azione di facilitazione ed accompagnamento a questa attività. Maggiori informazioni al link: https://bit.ly/EuroSmooc21.
Note to teachers from Portugal: You can get your successful participation in a European Schoolnet Academy course formally recognised as a valid continuous professional development, and thereby acquire the relevant number of training hours, by sending your certificate to the Conselho Científico e Pedagógico de Formação Contínua (CCPFC) at Rua do Forno, nº 30, 1º andar - apartado 2168, 4700 - 429 Braga, Portugal. For more information, please contact the CCPFC.
Note to teachers from Ireland: It may be possible to count the completion of this course as part fulfilment of any discretionary CPD hours, subject to your school management's approval. Therefore, please enquire with your school management if your participation in this course can be formally recognised.
Anna Laghigna has been a member of European Schoolnet Academy teacher trainers since 2016 and has moderated several EUN Moocs. She currently supports the MenSI project as in-house pedagogical consultant. She is an experienced teacher trainer in the areas of active learning methodologies. She previously served as language teacher in Italy for 20 years.
Arjana Blazic is a teacher trainer, education technology consultant and course designer. She is an external expert at European Schoolnet. Her interests focus on technology enhanced teaching and learning and the impact of digital technologies on teacher professional development. You can get in touch with her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/abfromz
Roger Blamire has been Senior Adviser, Policy and Practice, at European Schoolnet since 2000, after working in the UK on technology in schools and in secondary schools teaching foreign languages. Current work revolves around education policy analysis, validation, pedagogical innovation, peer learning, leadership and evaluation. A graduate of Manchester University, he holds a master’s degree in French and lives in Worcestershire, United Kingdom.
The Mentoring for School Improvement (MenSI) project is a 28-month Coordination and Support Action (November 2020 – February 2023) funded by the European Commission H2020 programme. The project will carry out a pan-European investigation into how different approaches to mentoring can support the mainstreaming of innovative digital teaching practices in primary and secondary schools. It builds on the outcomes and lessons learnt from the earlier EU-FP7 Living Schools Lab project (2012-2014), which provided support to school clusters via ‘regional hubs', and will also leverage the network of learning labs that are part of the current European Schoolnet Future Classroom Lab initiative.
Mentoring for School Improvement (MenSI) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101004633.
All content on this course unless specified otherwise is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License