REFLECT LAB – Supporting lecturers in applying inquiry based learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

REFLECT LAB – Supporting lecturers in applying inquiry based learning

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

In the EU (and further afield) the growth of right-wing populism and tides of anti-democratic feelings are being observed. Depending on the national context, refugees, migrants or other minority members serve as a target and justification for violent and misanthropic arguments and assaults. This is also reflected in an increase in the electorate of EU-hostile and right-wing populist parties such as the PiS in Poland, UKIP in the UK, AfD in Germany amongst others. Simultaneously, deficits in the education system are becoming visible and there is an increase in the criticisms made of pedagogical university structures and curricula.

In light of these challenges, the goals of the project are:
1) To empower students to take a differentiated position and critically question current events.
2) Enable students to become part of an active and informed citizenship.
3) To assist teachers with the implementation of research-based learning during the delivery of their subject.
4) Appropriate socio-scientifically inspired teaching/learning laboratories developed in conjunction with ICT-based methods.
5) and therefore combining a didactically innovative seminar structure with the concept of student research-based learning.
With these goals in mind, five Universities have co-operated:
1) The Institute for Didactics of Democracy of the Leibniz University, Hannover, which specialises in teaching political education in formal and non-formal educational contexts; they lead the project.
2) The Department of Psychology and Educational Science of the Alexandria University Ionana Cuza Din Iaşi. Iaşi, Romania, was the first university in Romania to introduce research-centred teaching with the introduction of the Bologna Process.
3) The Faculty of Political Sciences and International Studies of the Universytet Mikolaja Kopernica in Torun, Poland, an important centre for political education and research in northern Poland with a focus on learning in heterogeneous groups.
4) From Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Faculty of Education and the Centre for Teaching and Learning have participated in this project. The university has experience in innovative teaching of challenging topics such as racism and violence.
5) The Faculty of Education of the Universidad de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, which develops innovative courses and degrees for future teachers, as well as the Institute for Didáctica e Investigación Educativa.

The central activities of the project include:
1) The development of six outputs (IOs); 2) the implementation of a training course for teachers; 3) Events with stakeholders, ensuring the project’s results are communicated to the decision-makers in the field of education; 4) Activities to disseminate the project’s findings and the products as well as 5) a sustainability strategy.
Die IOs include a needs analysis in the participating countries (IO1), the development of webinars and a manual for teachers (IO2), the selection of appropriate stimuli material, a guide to their selection and development, and a guide/handout for students (IO3), the conceptual design and implementation of blended-learning courses (IO4) and the development of a platform for teachers (IO5) as well as Easy-to-Implement Kits (IO6). Teachers from all participating universities participated in a training course at the Institute for Didactics of Democracy, Hannover, which was documented with a video, along with other forms of documentation.
The joint implementation of these activities was supported by transnational partner meetings, online conferences, an internal internet platform and additional communication via e-mail and Skype.

The results and impact of the project include
1) The six developed outputs. All manuals are available in the languages of the project partners; webinars and videos have been developed in English and are available online.
2) Teacher’s Professional Development: All teachers who took part were able to expand and deepen the methods they used in their teaching. Depending on the university culture, this meant a different degree of innovation or extension of teaching topics. The feedback from the teachers was extremely positive.
3) Great Interest and Progress in Learning from the Students: The teachers involved in the project used their newly-acquired knowledge in university courses and also exchanged information regularly. The students benefitted from this the most.
The longer-term benefit of the project is a positive teaching and learning experience that serves as a role model and inspiration for further implementation.

The website for the project and the project’s platform – and thus all project outcomes – will be online and maintained for at least five years.
The Reflect Lab Project began in November 2016 und ended in April 2019.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 244143,21 Eur

Project Coordinator

GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ UNIVERSITAET HANNOVER & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UNIWERSYTET MIKOLAJA KOPERNIKA W TORUNIU
• UNIVERSIDAD DE LA LAGUNA
• UNIVERSITATEA ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA DIN IASI
• THE MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY