Flipped Impact Erasmus Project

Project Title

Flipped Impact

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The two-year project ‘Flipped Impact’ arose from the need for improvements at the level of innovative pedagogical practices in education by all the partner organizations at K-12 and higher education levels. Eight partner organizations from four countries, Turkey, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Spain, were involved in the project. Although Romania was among the participant countries at the time when the project application form was submitted, the Romanian partner, Colegiul National Pedagogic “Mircea Scarlat”, withdrew from the project in November 2020 due to the serious health condition of the project coordinator (in fact, the Romanian project coordinator died soon after the withdrawal) and the lack of human resources due to the COVID-19-related circumstances). One K-12 school and one university from each partner country took part in the project. The distribution of project partners in the project according to the countries is as follows:
a) Turkey: ODTU Geliştirme Vakfı Özel Ortaokulu- K-12 school partner
Middle East Technical University: the university partner
b) The Netherlands: Piter Jelles Leeuwarder Lyceum-the K-12 school partner
Stichting NHL Stenden Hogeschool- the university partner
c) Lithuania: Kaunas Saules Gimnazija- the K-12 partner
Vytauto Didziojo Universitetas- the university partner
d) Spain: IES Riberia do Louro- the K-12 partner
Universidade de Coruna- the university partner
The Flipped Impact project had multiple aims. To begin with, the project partners aimed to investigate the design, implementation and evaluation of innovative technology-integrated flipped learning practices and share good educational practices in flipped learning. Through the collaboration between the universities and K-12 schools in the project with a professional collegial team spirit and the integration of effective technology-mediated flipped learning activities, the project partners adopted two main priorities: the promotion of acquisition of language skills and competences at school education level and the development of skills and competences regarding the use of digital technologies to improve the pedagogical competence of pre-service teachers at higher education level via student-centered, active, and collaborative intercultural learning practices. By focusing on the above-mentioned priorities, the project addressed the internalisation and lifelong learning policy concerns of the European Union.
The first mobility that took place in the project was the transnational meeting that was organized by the Dutch team (the NHL Stenden) between 15 and 16 January 2019, the project management, the long term activity plan, the financial rules and the budget control, the project web page, the organization of learning/teaching training (LTT) actvities and the project LTT dates, the participant selection criteria, the arrangements regarding the K12 student exchange, the dissemination plan and the sustainability issues and the mobility tool were discussed and finalized. Through the various learning/teaching/training activities that were carried out in the project, the project provided the K-12 and pre-service teacher participants as well as university teachers (academics) with an intercultural learning environment to promote intercultural communication among all the project participants, contributing to the intercultural competence of all the parties in the project. The first two LTT activities were held face-to-face before the COVID-19 period. C1, the first LTT activity, was held by the Turkish team (the Middle East Technical University) between May 6-10, 2019 while C2, the second LTT activity, was held by the Lithuanian team (the Vytauto Didziojo Universitetas) between 2 and 6 December 2019). As for the online LTTs, the first online LTT, C3, was organized by the Dutch team (the NHL Stenden University) between 1 and 5 March 2021) and the second online LTT, C4, was held by the Spanish team (IES Ribeira do Louro) between 27 September and 1 October 2021). The last LTT, C5, was held face to face by the Turkish team (the Middle East Technical University) between 30 September and 4 December 2021. The pre-service teachers in the LTT activities collaborated during the design and implementation stages of the activities for the K-12 participants. They enhanced their professional expertise and pedagogical and digital knowledge with one another via collaboration and intercultural communication. The LTT activities also promoted peer collaboration and provided a peer learning atmosphere for pre-service teachers for professional learning. They discovered effective instructional strategies for flipped learning geared towards different learner profiles and found opportunities to promote their pedagogical, digital and intercultural competences by interacting with their international peers. Regarding the K-12 learners, they found various opportunities to engage in intercultural communication with their international counterparts and to use and practice their oral and written skills in the English language in an intercultural and interactive learning environment. They were also engaged in game-based critical thinking and problem-solving activities in collaboration. Apart from these gains, the K-12 participants found opportunities to enhanced their autonomous learning skills while doing the pre-class activities before the LTT activities and their collaborative learning activities during the LTT activities. Hence, the LTT engagement helped them improve their language skills in English and their intercultural skills. From the academics’ perspectives, they found an opportunity during the LTT activities to critically reflect on the impact of the pre-service teachers’ project engagement (i.e., the design, implementation and evaluation of flipped learning activities) on their professional development, their pedagogical and digital competence development. The pre-service teachers’ engagement in the design, implementation and evaluation of the flipped learning activities enhanced their teacher agency and teacher autonomy, and their self-regulation skills. The multiplier event in the project, the Flipped Impact conference, was organized by the Turkish team on 4 December 2021, to disseminate the project findings in Ankara. Four keynote speakers delivered talks on different aspects of flipped learning and technology-enhanced flexible learning and two concurrent sessions (including 13 oral presentations) were held during the event.
Four intellectual outputs were prepared in the project: the flipped kit, the research paper and the web page, all of which were specified in the project application form, and an additional intellectual output, the Flipped Impact Online Suite. The flipped kit could be considered a valuable open educational resource and a guide for all teaching professionals that provides and illustrates the theoretical background related to flipped learning, the design principles, the effective instructional strategies regarding the implementation of flipped learning activities, and the frequently-asked questions regarding the design, implementation and evaluation processes of flipped learning activities. Regarding the research paper, it highlighted the impact of the online flipped LTT activities on the K-12 learners’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement and the essential components of flipped learning that affected the K-12 learners’ engagement most. The project web page (http://flippedimpactproject.com) illustrated the development and implementation of all the project activities as well as the detailed information and dissemination activities and the multiplier event “Flipped Impact conference”. It served as an online platform for the dissemination of the project materials, workshops and presentations, flipped lesson plans, publications, activities and intellectual outputs (research paper and the flipped kit- the English, Dutch, Spanish and Lithuanian versions). The other intellectual outputs, the research paper and the flipped kit, were also uploaded to the project web page.
Apart from the three intellectual outputs that were stated in the original project proposal, one additional intellectual output, an interactive resource, was produced in the project: the Flipped Impact Online Suite (For the website of the Flipped Impact Online Suite, please see: https://www.myschoolsnetwork.com/projects/flipped-impact-suite/page/22791). Due to the continuing COVID pandemic only two of the four planned LTT’s could take place on-site. The LTT’s planned for Spain and the Netherlands had to be cancelled because of world-wide lockdowns. In order to guarantee a successful continuation of the project and reach the intended outcome of the Flipped Impact project – research into success criteria of Flipped Learning – and consequently in order to be able to produce Intellectual outputs 1, 2 and 3 (Flipped Kit, Research paper and website) the following strategy was set up: Flipped courses and meaningful online collaborative activities would be designed by pre-service teachers from the four participating countries. NHL Stenden, because of their specific expertise, took the lead in this. The Flipped Impact Online Suite is a coherent model of
a) ready-to-use Flipped courses on the different English tenses and intercultural vocabulary,
b. a set of meaningful online collaborative activities in which students can demonstrate what they have learnt via the flipped material
c. online course and manuals for preservice teachers on how to develop and organize flipped learning trajectories in lock-down situations.
The Flipped Impact Online Suite is virtual but tangible in the sense that it is freely accessible via the link. The underlying approach is explained in the Flipped Impact Suite and underpinned by research and thorough testing phases. In addition, the approach contains two learning trajectories to demonstrate that the approach is replicable. The FI Suite fits within the project because of its use of and research into Flipped material, yet it is innovative in the sense that the additional element of Flipped Learning in a wholly online setting is implemented and explored. Pre-service teachers from all four participating countries played an important role in the development of the Flipped material and the execution of the intercultural online LTTS. The model, as developed within Flipped Impact, is considered to play a role in the curriculum of at least one teacher training department and has the potential of being implemented within any teacher training department with a keen and serious interest in innovative, interactive, and engaging language education.

Project Website

https://flippedimpactproject.com/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 205791,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY & Country: TR

Project Partners

• UNIVERSIDADE DA CORUNA
• VYTAUTO DIDZIOJO UNIVERSITETAS
• Piter Jelles Leeuwarder Lyceum
• STICHTING NHL STENDEN HOGESCHOOL
• IES Ribeira do Louro
• ODTU GELISTIRME VAKFI OZEL ORTAOKULU
• Kauno Saules gimnazija