Innovative Technologies for an Engaging Classroom (iTEC)

Abstract

The iTEC project developed a process that allows schools to rethink how they are currently using ICT, and which provides concrete guidance and tools to help them close what is being called the "mainstreaming gap", where technology is not yet fully harnessed as a systemic part of everyday classroom practice that integrates learning both in and out of school. A key element in the approach is to bring together policy makers, researchers, technology suppliers and teachers to develop future classroom scenarios. These scenarios both engage and challenge schools to rethink their current practice and allow them to develop pedagogically advanced Learning Activities that enable a school to upscale its use of ICT and adapt to changing socioeconomic conditions. A "Future Classroom Toolkit" has been produced to support wide-scale adoption of the iTEC approach to help schools to design innovative Learning Activities and carry out classroom pilots. This piloting has been carried out on a scale never before attempted in a pan-European project; over 2500 classrooms piloted Learning Activities based on the iTEC Future Classroom scenarios. It is increasingly clear from work in iTEC that the mainstreaming gap needs bottom-up as well as top-down actions, and particularly requires each school to be able to innovate with ICT and develop a sustainable change management process on its own terms and at its own pace.

Aulas del Futuro en España: un análisis desde la perspectiva docente: [Future Classrooms in Spain

“…Among the developments in relation to the redefinition of technology-enriched school environments, the iTEC (Innovative Technologies for Engaging Classrooms) project, which involved, among others, 14 ministries (Ellis et al, 2015), should be highlighted. One of its main outcomes was 'the future classroom toolkit', which led to the creation of the Future Classroom Lab (FCL) in Brussels, promoted by the European Schoolnet.…”

“…Entre los acontecimientos surgidos en relación a la redefinición de los entornos escolares enriquecidos con tecnología se debe destacar el proyecto iTEC (Tecnologías innovadoras para clases participativas), en el que participaron, entre otros, 14 ministerios (Ellis et al, 2015). Uno de sus principales resultados fue "the future classroom toolkit", lo que derivó en la creación del Future Classroom Lab (FCL) en Bruselas, promovido por la European Schoolnet.…”