ERT production of educational format is an action of
Kaleidoscope
concepts and methods for exploring the future of learning with digital technologies
IST Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) project -507838


the aim
 

this action propose a reconsideration on the concept of lesson plan in education and the way this affects how learning takes place

Over the last fifty years the design of learning environments has changed more dramatically for kindergarteners than for university students. However, as lifelong learning becomes increasingly important to the future of Europe's knowledge economy, more care needs to be given to designing and managing spaces, artefacts and social orchestration, in order to make learning more effective at all levels of life.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF EDUCATIONAL FORMATS

The traditional lesson plan is no longer the best tool for the job—it does not allow for creative and contingent activities in the classroom, or take into account the different interests, motivations and abilities of the learners. Yet despite these fundamental flaws, lesson plans continue to control classroom planning/learning because, thus far, the only other alternative has been the open-ended and seemingly unplanned lesson. The use of the traditional lesson plan has become so pervasive that it is now utilised in lessons employing Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and impacts the underlying structure of Learning Management Systems(LMS), both of which, in turn, are influencing both distance- and face-to-face teaching and learning.

We have fully explored the Educational Formats concept and, through creative sessions and field work in various educational domains (including classroom and work-place learning, music and sports) have further developed it, representing it graphically and in mock-ups that were tested in formal and informal educational settings. It is still an on-going concept currently embodied in the graphic schema and in tentative adds-on to the Moodle LMS.


ISSUES TO ADDRESS THE FUTURE

In Europe there exists a belief that technology in education (and such associated applications as Learning Management Systems) is inextricably linked to the metaphor of the desktop; however, digital technologies can offer much more than this. There are so many different ways that we learn, from comprehending other people and their actions to acquiring complex skills, to becoming fascinated by a given issue—all of these are frequently driven more by instinct than by "knowing". This relies upon a complex phenomenon called "socio-motor knowledge" that is so crucial to human development that it should be enhanced and not impaired by digital technologies. This is the direction of our work in the future.

THE PARTECIPANTS

the five research team will cross-supervision the work of 6 Phd Students that will dedicate their whole PhD thesis, or a part of it, to this issue, each one addressing different but related aspects

the students will explore and document the way in which Educational format are at work in 4 European Countries, in different educational settings (School, University, Leisure Centre, etc) and for different content (Math, History, Law, Medicine, Tennis, etc.)

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