In recent years, and especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the application of ICT technologies in teaching has accelerated the evolution of teaching, which is increasingly moving away from the traditional, vertical model where there is a teacher who holds the knowledge and a class of pupils in front of him ready to learn.
In particular, central role of the student and horizontal co-operative dynamics are becoming increasingly important, not limited to generic ‘group work’, but focused on making students protagonists in all phases of their work – processing information, synthesising concepts, solving problems and supporting each other, while the teacher is mostly a facilitator and organiser of the learning activity.
It is up to the teacher to ensure that collaboration is real. Organising a collaborative learning process therefore presupposes specific knowledge and skills on the part of the teachers and their responsibility for using the most appropriate tools to support collaboration.
In particular, new technologies intervene in the learning process by favouring an organisation of shared work where communication, coordination and cooperation are central.
The tools that currently exist – the so-called learning tools, that are software or online services that can be used by computers or smart devices – have integrated these three processes (the 3Cs) in totally different ways: some tools have focused on single functions, while others offer a digital learning environment in which to interact. Examples are: Kahoot, Quizlet or Mentimeter, tools for questioning the audience; Word online or Google Doc, which allow to work together on the same written material; Learning Management Systems such as Moodle or Blackboard; but also Skype, Zoom and GoToMeeting, which in a distance learning context allow to remove spatial and temporal limits to communication and divide the class into smaller groups.
Project iLikeIT2 – Learning Through Innovative Collaboration Enhanced by Educational Technology, was set up with the aim of contributing to the improvement of collaborative work processes in learning contexts (higher education in first place) and to the diversification of educational methodologies by developing a new online tool able to encompass all the major functionalities required by teachers for collaborative work in the classroom (the iLikeIT2 software).
To this end, the project partners will conduct:
- A research on the major learning tools already on the market, in order to understand their functionalities and limitations that favour or inhibit collaboration in the classroom;
- Testing some of these tools with students and teaching staff to analyse how the teaching and learning work is influenced by the use of the tools;
- A needs analysis of students and teaching staff.
These activities will contribute to the development of a prototype that will then be tested to develop not only the tool manual but also a pedagogical strategy and a toolkit for collaborative work to support educational innovation and diversification of education and training methodologies.
About the project
iLikeIT2 – Learning Through Innovative Collaboration Enhanced by Educational Technology is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme – Key Action 2 – Strategic Partnerships in Higher Education.
Partners
- NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET (Norway, coordinator)
- INSTALOFI LEVANTE SL (Spain)
- SYNERGASIA ENEGON POLITON (Greece)
- CESIE (Italy)
- MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION (United Kingdom)
For further information
Contact Alessia Valenti, alessia.valenti@cesie.org.
