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Description
Project connects English teachers, educators and enthusiasts of innovative edu. to enrich schools’ curricula with unique tools and teaching methods incorporating the newest modern techn. It compensates educational gaps through offering pedagogical and digital solutions adjusted to teachers’ needs and challenges which students face nowadays. Team of 15 people from PL and NOR aims to engage children in attractive, innovative lessons (IO #1). Communication training through group cooperation, gamification and storytelling with use of VR/AR are elements that influence positively students’ motivation and will inspire teachers for further professional development. Project will offer training opportunities and will act as an incentive to implement new technologies of the XXI century (scenarios competition for teachers and VR goggles free rental for schools). Exchange of good practices between partners (meetings and mobility) and creating edu. tools will strengthen cooperation of EEA countries
Summary of project results
The project contributed to enriching the educational offers of schools with original tools and teaching methods that utilize modern technologies. We created a package of proposals tailored to the needs of teachers and the interests of students in the digital age. We developed and made available online innovative lesson plans using storytelling, gamification, and virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR). These lessons are aimed at stimulating motivation for active learning of the English language and at training communication through group collaboration. The lesson plans were tested in a 5-month program of free VR headset rental by dozens of teachers from primary and high schools across different parts of Poland. It was confirmed that the innovative form of lessons had a significant impact on student engagement, even for those who typically do not show much activity in class.
We also created a clear methodological guide in which we provided practical advice on the teaching methods promoted in the project. We enriched it with suggestions for interesting online sources on which to base your own ideas for VR and AR lessons. To the set of tools—facilitating the introduction of VR technology into schools—we added a Lesson ZERO plan (a 45-minute session introducing young users to VR headsets) as well as a 25-minute tutorial film "Step into the new world," intended for students (part 1) and teachers (part 2). The video material excellently explains what is easier to show than to discuss or write about, and the ZERO Lesson can be conducted both in English and computer science classes, giving the teaching staff the opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration.
To promote our achievements, we organized three conferences: one online and two with a rich program of training workshops for teachers, during which they could test both the tools—VR headsets—and the lesson ideas contained in our plans. The project also included an element motivating teachers to put into practice the knowledge they gained from us: a nationwide competition for teachers to create their own lesson plans using the methods from our project. The authors of the best works were awarded at the final conference, and their schools received VR headset sets used in the project. Additionally, we published lesson plans based on the winning works on the website stepintothenewworld.pl.
Summary of bilateral results
Collaboration with the Norwegian primary school Asker International School (AIS) was crucial for the project due to the partner''s valuable experience in using engaging methods and educational tools in daily teaching practice. It is worth highlighting that before we even purchased the VR headsets, which were a key tool in our project, we had the opportunity to test virtual reality at Asker School and allow teachers from our team to explore the possibilities offered by this equipment during workshops at the first mobility.The opportunity to participate in test lessons (conducted by AIS staff in Norway) that used the initial ideas for VR lessons developed in partnership was also extremely valuable for the success of work on Intellectual Output 1. Through these lessons, we could observe how students from various cultural backgrounds handled the technology and how the "Lesson ZERO" facilitated this, as well as how the educational goals of VR lessons were adapted to the educational environment of bilingual children. The time spent together discussing these observations and the initial results of our activities, as well as what should be communicated to future users of the tools offered by our project, had a positive effect. The experiences from Norway were utilized and reflected in the team''s further work.Active participation from AIS staff was also important to us during the later stages of work, as participants representing the partner provided us with feedback and advice from the perspective of an international school. During the project, very good relations were established between the Polish and Norwegian teams. Due to these successful interactions, both professional and personal, we do not exclude the possibility of further joint activities that will continue the fruitful cooperation and exchange of ideas between Polish and Norwegian educational institutions.