Increasıng The Competency of Computer Science Teaching Undergraduates On Coding Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Increasıng The Competency of Computer Science Teaching Undergraduates On Coding 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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

EDUCODE project is designed and conducted in order to build capacity within the education sector to provide high quality coding teaching at primary and secondary level in the partner countries. The consortium specifically targeted undergraduates studying to become ICT teachers and in particular those who have a specific interest in STEM areas. Apart from this main objective, upskilling ICT and STEM Teacher Candidates on Coding Education was the secondary objective of the project. It was expected to make the candidates well equipped to inspire and teach children coding principals utilising effective, innovative and engaging methods.

EDUCODE project has been launched in the beginning of September 2017 and completed in the end of August 2019. In this time span, a training needs analysis, a curriculum on coding education and a lecturer’s handbook have been developed with international collaboration. Apart from intellectual outputs, four transnational meetings and five multiplier events have been organized. The partnership structure of EDUCODE project consists of Dokuz Eylül University (the coordinator), Zagreb University Faculty of Informatics, Limerick Institute of Technology, University of Maribor and APEC Education Consultancy. The partnership structure has been constructed by taking required expertise to develop planned outputs into account.

In the beginning of the project, within the context of preparation activities, the coordinator established online project management platform. After that, all partners prepared a contact database of stakeholders for dissemination. Before kick off meeting, all partners prepared a state of art report on coding education in their countries. In the meeting, all partners signed the consortium agreement and then, tasks and responsibilities were clearly reviewed. There were three intermediary activities before reaching the project’s objectives. There were (1) creating a training needs analysis report on coding education, (2) developing a curriculum on coding education for based on the report and (3) preparing a lecturer’s handbook.

In the first few months following the kick off meeting, the university partners prepared a survey for the need analysis and applied them within their institutions. They send results to APEC and APEC prepared a need analysis. The analysis has been examined in the 2nd transnational meeting and a plan to develop curriculum has been established. The draft curriculum has been developed in the next months under leadership of the coordinator. Later on, in the third meeting, partners has discussed a method to develop lecturer’s handbook. While the handbook development process has been continued under the leadership of Maribor University, the final updates regarding the curriculum was concluded. In the 4th meeting, issues about required handbook updates, multiplier event organizations, budget, documenting and dissemination have been addressed. After completion of intellectual outputs, the partners applied pilot tests and prepared a report based on pilot test survey results. All partners conducted workshops for dissemination and promotion purposes. The partners used daily email conversations and monthly Skype meetings for regular communication and coordination. In total, 4 transnational meetings and 5 workshop events and a pilot test have been undertaken. Main participants of the project activities were students, undergraduates studying in Higher Education to become ICT / STEM teachers in all partner countries.

The project has produced tangible results in the form of intellectual outputs (IO) and events. The first IO is Training Analysis Report. The report is the first deliverable, outlining the training needs of computer science teaching & STEM undergraduates who will teach coding in primary and secondary schools. The second IO is the Higher Education Curriculum for Computer Science Teaching in Primary and Middle Schools. The curriculum we developed addresses the new needs to train young generation who are able to build computer applications, tools and programmes using coding solutions. The third deliverable is the Lecturer Handbook. The Aim of the handbook is to improve the quality of teacher performance and the resulting learning opportunities for students in coding education. The handbook was designed to be accessible and useful for a teacher or a teacher trainer. It is divided into five units, each with individual lessons, which cover areas of coding education that is important and necessary for effective coding education. The fourth tangible result of the project is the 5 multiplier events. The events aimed to share and disseminate the IOs of the project. The events took place after the IO has been developed, to maximise the dissemination potential. Each partner organized one event in their city. Besides dissemination, the events were important for raising awareness on importance of coding education.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 179259 Eur

Project Coordinator

DOKUZ EYLUL UNIVERSITESI & Country: TR

Project Partners

• APEC Egitim Danismanlik Ltd.
• UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU, FAKULTET ORGANIZACIJE I INFORMATIKE
• LIMERICK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY