Digital Learning Across Boundaries – Developing Changemakers Erasmus Project

Project Title

Digital Learning Across Boundaries – Developing Changemakers

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

CONTEXT
The Digital Learning Across Boundaries 2 (DLAB2) project addresses the need to align European educational practice with ways in which digital technology is changing how and what we learn, and how we apply this in education. It builds on DLAB1, an Erasmus + project that ran from 2016-2019, by focusing on ways in which the outside world can break down personal learning boundaries and build self-efficacy. DLAB2 is inspired by the changemaker movement, which seeks to build the skills and attributes for individuals to find innovative solutions to society’s challenges. Two key themes are developing changemakers and social innovation education. A third theme is the use of innovative digital learning environments including virtual and artificial reality technologies to blend physical and digital learning environments and provide powerful opportunities for international collaboration. In this way, the project brings together two aspects of the maker movement: digital making and change making.

OBJECTIVES:
The objectives are to:
1. Create playful learning environments that encourage creativity, collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship facilitated by technologies.
2. Enable all of our participants to develop the personal confidence, values, beliefs and skills needed to become digitally literate changemakers.
3. Develop a toolkit for sustaining social innovation education and building changemaker attributes based on evidence from the project activities.

PARTICIPANTS
The participants of DLAB2 are around 50 university lecturers, student teachers, and school teachers, together with their school pupils across five European countries.

ACTIVITIES
Over three years we adopt three types of ‘learning across boundaries’ challenges, approaching these in an aspirational way by involving local cultural consultants. There is a process of discovering a problem, empathising with the end user, and then designing, developing and delivering a prototype solution.

1. Crossing physical boundaries (what my body can do): learning through physical experiences (skills).

2. Crossing personal boundaries (my aspirations and confidence): learning through performance, public speaking, or gaining new skills (attitudes).

3. Crossing environmental boundaries (changes to where I am in space): learning taking place in unusual or different places (knowledge).

METHODOLOGY
Each year begins with a 5-day learning/teaching/training event initiating the development of the main yearly theme through CPD run by the lecturers in digital techniques. This is followed by planning changemaker pedagogic strategies and interdependent challenge ideas in cross-national teams, ready for implementation in classrooms.

The teams will then develop and test their ideas through three international days in schools between November and January, each accompanied by pre and post phases led by the university students.

Each April, the university students and lecturers engage in evaluation and dissemination activities related to the intellectual outputs.

In summer 2022 a multiplier event takes the form of a changemaker conference where we will launch a framework for supporting international collaboration days with digital technologies and a toolkit for developing changemakers in initial teacher training.

In this way, we are dissolving intercultural boundaries through social innovation activities that support the development of students and pupils as agents of positive real-world change as well as building their digital skills.

RESULTS AND IMPACT
There are seven distinct intellectual outputs:
1. An open OER website.
2. Three eTwinning project kits.
3. Three open online courses based on innovative digital technologies such as artificial realities.
4. A series of TED-style talks pitching collaborative projects and prototype solutions.
5. A set of articles for publication in national and international journals on themes such as participatory action research, entrepreneurship and playful learning, social innovation education, and developing changemakers in education
6. A framework for supporting international collaboration days with digital technologies.
7. A toolkit for developing changemakers in initial teacher training.

As a result of the project, our partners will develop new ways of collaborating supported by a range of digital technologies. The project will have an impact in an international context through the rich learning resources provided by the intellectual outputs and via the co-creation of new knowledge in the field of technology-supported social innovation education afforded by the international online community of practice.

LONGER TERM BENEFITS
To provide sustainability, the project activities are designed to enrich the capability and curricula of the partner HEIs and schools to promote international collaborative work by developing ongoing cross-sector communities of practice.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 350232 Eur

Project Coordinator

PROFESSIONSHOJSKOLEN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE NORDJYLLAND & Country: DK

Project Partners

• THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHAMPTON HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION
• HOGSKOLEN I OSTFOLD
• UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
• Vestbjerg Skole
• Råde kommune
• GO! middenschool Brugge-centrum
• HOGESCHOOL WEST-VLAANDEREN HOWEST