ExpertICTize (Becoming Experts of Digital Technology in Secondary Education) Erasmus Project

Project Title

ExpertICTize (Becoming Experts of Digital Technology in Secondary Education)

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

Project background:

It has now become a commonplace to talk about the transition and shift from rote-learning to developing 21st century skills in education worldwide. Three years ago, however, when this project started digitalisation of schools was a lot less ingrained in the minds of educational professionals. Even if it was felt in the day-to-day practices that generation Y and Z cannot be handled in the old ways, teachers needed a lot of assistance to open up classroom doors and embrace the necessary methodological and technological changes.
It was in the autumn of 2015 in Alcala de Henares, near Madrid that we the birth of ExpertICTize was seen. The future participants took part in an Erasmus+ KA1 Staff Mobility training called “Let’s make our school more international: European Project Planning, Design, Management and Funding under Erasmus+”. The participants learned about important steps in creating a project proposal and managing a successful project but it was also an opportunity for networking with other European institutions. This was where a group of 7 teachers (from 5 schools) started to think along the lines of digital education. The basic project idea was to get acquainted with classroom mobile applications in order to make the learning process more intriguing for students. Also, to become familiar with different models for transforming schools and create increasingly engaging digital learning spaces within the current framework of each educational institution.

Aims of the project:

At the beginning of the common work digitalisation in education was not as strong a concept as it is now. Apart from Almende College, Isala (the Netherlands) the partners lacked experience and reliable infrastructure to launch digital projects. Also, there was a somewhat shy and reluctant attitude among the staff members of each school. The main aim of the project was to pave the way for digital schools by becoming familiar with a lot of classroom applications and gain expertize in the use of ICT.

Project partner institutions:

During the writing of the project proposal one German school decided to opt out and a French partner school was invited as a result of an advertisement placed on E-Twinning’s Partner Search platform. This how the final partnership of a Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Dutch and French school was created with the coordinating role going to the Hungarian institution. There was one very important common feature: the sending institutions were from the field of secondary education and four of the five schools were academic grammar schools preparing students for successful university admittance. Thanks to the similar school profiles intentions, goals and challenges were easy to fine tune from the project proposal phase until the end of the project period.

Project activities:

Participants of the project meetings took part in training events together during the transnational project meetings and disseminated the knowledge and know-how amongs their own staff once back to the sending institutions. Sharing good practices was an important part of the collaboration. In between the meetings schools created videos in which they demonstrated how to use classroom mobile apps and how to adapt them in different educational contexts. The videos were uploaded to the project website (http://erasmusexpertictiz.wixsite.com/website).

Results and impacts:

Placing the schools on the scale of EC DigCompEdu Progression Model the starting point was A1 (Awareness) or A2 (Exploration) for the partners, except the Dutch school who were already at B1 (Integration) or B2 (Expertize) level. An important result of the partnership is that in the end all schools safely reached this B1-B2 level and are ready to move on to become leaders and innovators in digital education (C1-C2 level).

Long-term impact of the project:

ExpertICTize is definitely not a project that closed down on 31 August, 2018. This project of learning and growing together equipped the partner schools with experience about school policies, infrastructure and devices and also the human resources necessary for 21st century education. It has successfully broke through the reluctance of educators and planted the necessary curiosity and willingness to welcome technology in education. Partners schools are now revising previous school policies concerning the use of wifi and smart devices and are in the process of creating the infrastructure necessary to host digital education not only in the scope of a two-year project but in the whole educational concept.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 77240 Eur

Project Coordinator

Neumann János Középiskola és Kollégium & Country: HU

Project Partners

• 8o GENIKO LYKEIO TRIKALON
• Prof. Dr. Orhan Oguz Anatolian High School
• Almende College, locatie Isala
• Lycée des Métiers Jules Le Cesne