Designing Online Readiness & Interconnected Schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

Designing Online Readiness & Interconnected Schools

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 : Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Open and distance learning; Regional dimension and cooperation

Project Summary

DORIS – Designing Online Readiness & Interconnectedness In Schools – is a partnership of 15 organisations involving schools, local authorities, higher education & training providers from 4 European regions in Wales, Poland, Spain & Sweden. Through this project, partners will take a co-design methodology to explore the delivery of digital learning & eaching in schools. The objective is to help schools identify & understand the wide spectrum of needs & challenges at play and for all stakeholders to work together at local, regional & transnational levels to find & share innovative solutions to maximise the impact of digital learning & teaching.

Through DORIS, the partnership will encourage representatives from all identified stakeholder groups including teachers, pupils & parents to work together with the support of design experts to develop innovative digital solutions to enhance learning and teaching experiences. We are adopting a broad interpretation of learning & teaching experiences in this project which encompasses all forms of interaction that supports learning, including traditional classroom teaching, distance or blended online learning, family engagement as well as transnational cooperation and the sharing of innovation, ideas and good practice.

Although the Covid-19 situation has undoubtedly caused an acceleration in the use of digital platforms & applications to deliver learning & teaching, a priority of this project is to explore how educators can keep the momentum going & bring about real culture change in schools. We want to support & motivate teachers & support staff who have in the past maybe been reluctant to fully embrace digital methods of teaching & are perhaps tempted to resume ‘traditional’ methods now that classrooms are back open. Unsurprisingly, schools that already had established modes of online & blended learning were better prepared to deal with the new challenges & adapted more quickly to the crisis than schools that did not.

Through DORIS we also want to challenge traditional classroom teaching from a strategic top-down level to show school leaders & management that teachers who are passionate about embedding digital methods into everyday-teaching can actually help to protect & promote the traditional core values of a school and fulfil wider education policy. In the New Welsh Curriculum, the Four Purposes state that ‘all our children and young people will be: ‘ambitious, capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives’; (2) ‘healthy, confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society’; (3) ‘enterprising, creative contributors who are ready to play a full part in life and work’; and (4) ‘ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world’. A clear thread running through the ‘Four Purposes’ is the concept of INTERCONNECTEDNESS. This is surely a goal for all schools across the world, not just in Wales.

Of course, it is widely recognised that schools are not just places of learning – they are hubs of connectivity with the potential to make connections on many, many, levels. For example, schools have the ability to connect generations with one another; they can connect young people with people from different backgrounds and cultures; they can connect different ideas, views and interests – & ultimately, they have the honorable power of connecting young people with their futures. So why is the default position in schools so often disconnection?

Through DORIS, the partnership will look at the values and benefits of schools becoming holistically interconnected, and will seek to reinforce the need to develop the digital competence skills of teachers, pupils & parents alike whilst also placing a strong emphasis on the integral role that digital methods of teaching & learning have in strengthening the multifaceted relationships within a school community.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 299968 Eur

Project Coordinator

COUNTY COUNCIL OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF CARDIFF & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Rosenfeldtsskolan och Aspö skola
• Szkola Podstawowa z Oddzialami Integracyjnymi Nr 342 im. Jana Marcina Szancera
• Karlskrona kommun Kunskapsförvaltningen
• Warszawskie Centrum Innowacji Edukacyjno-Spolecznych i Szkolen
• MIASTO STOLECZNE WARSZAWA
• Meadowlane Primary School
• CEIP Nicolás del Río