Description

Schools and teachers are in a critical transition phase where the increasingly technology-rich learning environments and student-centric pedagogy are gaining ground in current practices. Delivering only content is not sufficient but the focus of teaching is shifting to developing key competences. Schools and teachers are also directly impacted by developments about modernising or transforming physical learning environments.

The Novigado will address these challenges and bring innovation into teaching and learning by bringing an active learning model to the reach of more schools, teachers and other stakeholders, and support them to benefit from the opportunities brought by the ICT and new learning environments. In Novigado, the role of learning spaces is considered as enabler and impetus in the active learning process: environment is the third teacher bringing added value to the learning and teaching process.

Objectives

The objectives of the project are:

• To provide evidence-based insight into active learning through a reference framework that will help to understand the principles of active learning, connected with innovative learning environment settings.
• To develop a training programme that will help schools to apply the principles of active learning in different learning space settings.
• To guide schools and teachers to audit their current learning spaces and guide them adapting them (e.g. at classroom level, at school level, using the ‘learning lab' approach…) also in a resource-effective way, in accordance with pedagogical objectives of active learning.
• To establish and animate a participative network (a community) of practitioners who engage in exchanges and professional development around teaching in innovative learning environments
• To inquire into the effects, and perceived benefits and challenges of active learning approach within innovative learning environments.
• To provide policy-makers with recommendations on how to support schools or local authorities to adapt and design innovative learning environments.

The project aims to create an active online community of educators engaged with innovating in their teaching and providing this community access to all project results, including the Active Learning Reference Framework, training handbook on active learning, guidelines on innovative learning environments, and recommendations for schools and policy-makers. The online community and the results will be linked with the European Schoolnet's Future Classroom Lab that provides a longlasting platform to benefit from the outcomes of this project.