The final meeting of the P2V (Peer to peer learning for Valorisation) WorkPackage 6, dedicated to the inspection and the evaluation of the use of ICT in schools in Europe, took place in Brussels on 22 and 23 September 2008.
Continue reading "SICI workshop in Brussels: final meeting" »
The last peer learning visit of the P2V project took place on 15-17 September 2008 in Paris. The meeting focused on Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), a key priority for the French Ministry of Education which hosted the event at the International Centre of Pedagogical Studies (CIEP) of Sevrès.
Continue reading "P2V policy visit in Paris: a focus on VLE" »
P2V school triad #2 (Denmark, Northern Ireland, Catalonia) recently visited the participating school in Barcelona.
In my last little contribution on this blog I wrote a bit on the distinction between collaborative and cooperative from my understanding of the two terms translated into Danish and used in connection with Danish education.
However there is a growing interest also in Denmark of what is behind the term Cooperative Learning. Cooperative Learning has many points of resemblance with my small example in my former note.
Cooperation - Collaboration - Community of practice?
(New corrected full version, as of 28 Oct 2008)
In Danish we use different terms when we talk about working together. We use the terms to work cooperatively or to work collaboratively. To me there are some quite distinct differences in my understanding of those two terms.
In a few words I will try to describe this and relate it to the last visit held in P2V school triad #3 (Denmark, Northern Ireland, Norway) at Charlottenlund Ungdomsskole in Trondheim, Norway. To illustrate my thoughts I will use a simple example: We are three persons in a group that must work together. Our task is to deliver a report on pollution in Trondheim.
How do we do that when we work together cooperatively or collaboratively?
The theme of the joint PIC-P2V meeting that took place on May 16th, 2008, at BECTA was: ways and means of improving the impact of the work of policy-makers on policy decisions. The theme was chosen in relation to the work of the policy strand of P2V, in particular the Barcelona seminar and the work on evaluation
Continue reading "Joint PIC - P2V meeting: Questioning policymaking" »
P2V is built on triads. Three schools visit one another, and the hosting school has set up a program for the two days the visit lasts. The hosting school has also pointed out a couple of specific elements in the teaching and learning that the school in particular would like the visiting teachers to adopt an attitude to.
In preparation information on values, goals, curriculum and so on are sent. Websites are studied, as a visitor you start to form an opinion, create pictures in your mind and build up expectations. Then one day you leave home, enter and see the actual school and the real classroom with children eager to learn. The ideas formed in your mind on the basis of your preparation and professional background are confronted with reality, and you experience how teaching and learning take place in a school culture very much different from the one you live and feel comfort in.
Archimedes once said, “Do not disturb my circles!” I think circles have to be disturbed to initiate and promote development. If your circles remain undisturbed you don’t learn and improve.
My circles were disturbed both in my first visit to a Danish school and the visit in Northern Ireland. Expectations and experiences were confronted leading to reflections on how I do things, why I do things the way I do, and reflections on improving teaching and learning both for me, but certainly also for the pupils.
I think P2V delivers substance that is valuable not only to the participating schools, but also to teachers in general in Denmark. It is a big challenge for us to disseminate the outcome of the school visits. Hopefully we succeed. We are already using our ENIS network, but more is needed and will come.
/Øjvind Brøgger (UNI-C, Denmark)
On 20-22 February 2008, the second policy peer learning visit of the P2V project (Peer to Peer Networking for Valorisation) took place at the Department of Education of Catalonia, Barcelona. The meeting brought together thirty experts and project partners to develop policy solutions to an ‘issue’ identified by Catalan partners on ways of encouraging innovation in Catalonian schools.
The two and a half day meeting began with presentations on the Catalonian issue, policy, ICT surveys and the P2V methodology. Three workgroups were formed which included a mix of participants from various professional backgrounds and countries and on the final day of the event three policy proposals were presented to the Catalan authorities.
Jordi Vivancos, head of the Knowledge and learning technologies unit at the Department of Education of Catalonia answers a few questions about the Policy visit organised within the framework of the p2V project:
[EUN] The Catalonian issue explained how necessary it is to create a culture of innovation and spread pedagogical innovation in schools in Catalonia. Can you explain this?
[Jordi]: Catalonia is currently facing a number of major challenges related to transformations in economic activities and changes in social structures. School is seen as a key player in responding to these changes. However, a number of studies indicate that performance of the Catalonian school system in terms of exam results is insufficient and there is considerable concern amongst the general public about the efficiency of schools. Methodological changes are needed if schools are to respond to these challenges. Such innovative changes include fostering collaborative working, developing flexibility and implementing ICT.
[EUN] Are policy visits, such as the one we had in Barcelona, a good way to develop the necessary policies to solve the Catalonian issue?
[Jordi] Yes, absolutly, the peer review process and policy developed during the seminar has enriched the issue defined previously and validated and confirmed the policy process we are developing at the moment. The contact with International, European experts has allowed us to have a first hand example of good practice already taking place in other European countries.
[EUN] What is going to happen next, how will the result of the P2V visit will be used to help policy making in Catalonia?
[Jordi] The outcome of the seminar will be translated in our language for discussion with policy makers in our department. The transversality and systemic approach developed during the seminar will allow for networking internally within the department of education and will be a blueprint for future policies in innovation and ICT implementation.
Two interesting reports about media literacy in Europe have recently been published. is a Swedish Internet resource which purpose is to enhance teachers skills when it comes to using Information Technology in schools. PIM is produced by The Swedish National Agency for School Improvement.
Since Practical IT and media skills (PIM) started in April 2006, 100 Swedish municipalities have joined in and formulated their own targets for skills development initiatives in their municipalities for three or four years or so. In the autumn of 2007, 30.000 teachers were studying in this virtual study environment.
The P2V project brings together peer exchange and valorisation in an extension of the methodology developed in the P2P project so as to enable a number of communities of practice (policy-shapers, inspectors, school directors, …) to better handle change and innovation on specific issues in their respective areas.
During the upcoming policy visit in Barcelona we are going to use the Blog to report on the discussions happening during the visit. The format of the meeting will be as follow, definition of the Catalonian issue, split in three groups to come up with policy recommendations.
There will be a Blogger for each of the workgroup which will report here in the Blog on the advancement of discussions.
Watch this space
The Lithuanian Ministry of Education who participated in the recent P2V meeting in Barcelona has published a webpage with access to key documents regarding the previous policy visit which took place in Vilnius, Lithuania on 18-20 June 2007.
The link is available here: http://korys.emokykla.lt/projects/peer-to-peer-networking-for-valorisation and include links to documents, pictures and additionnaly information about the visit.
Schools are complex organisations. That means that to do them justice through evaluation (be it external-, self- or peer-evaluation) there are many things to take into account. Many inspectorates have adopted a formalised procedure and methodologies to ensure reliable and fair evaluations of schools. Such procedures by the way cannot only be of help when carrying out external evaluations, but could mutatis mutandis also be used when schools carry out self- and peer-evalution (material for a future post maybe). When carrying out external evaluations with inspectors from different countries with a diversity of responsibilities, experience and mandates, having such formalised methologies in place is even more important.
Continue reading "A toolkit for the evaluation of ICT in schools" »
The evaluation framework used in the policy strand of P2V is based on a method called RUFDATA described in a paper by Murray Saunders of Lancaster University (1). RUFDATA provides a convenient general framework to plan and develop evaluation within a collaborative project. Two evaluation sweeps have taken place so far.
Continue reading "The evaluation framework used in the P2V policy strand" »
The second P2V Project Partners Meeting took place on 7 December 2007 in Brussels. Participants reviewed the first year of the project and discussions covered reports on peer learning visits for policy-makers (to Lithuania), schools (to Austria) and inspectorates (to the Netherlands and Lithuania), future plans and administrative issues.
Continue reading "P2V Project Partners Meeting in Brussels" »
Can you ask inspectors of education from different countries in Europe to walk into a school and evaluate the use of ICT in that school and then expect them to agree on the conclusions? This is the experiment that is carried out in workpackage 6 of the P2V project. Inspectors from Sweden, Scotland, France, Catalonia, Lithuania and The Netherlands will visit some 25 schools and see whether a common evaluation methodology can be adopted to assess the use of ICT in schools.
Continue reading "European inspectors evaluate ICT in Dutch schools" »
In this section will be added news about the School (practice) strand of the P2V project
23 participants from five countries partners in the P2V project (Peer to Peer networking for Valorisation) participated in the first policy visit to Vilnius, Lithuania on 18-20 June 2007. The meeting was organised by the Lithuanian Centre of Information Technologies of Education (ITC) and addressed the topic of digital resources, one of the three key areas of the P2V project together with digital literacy and new learning environments.
This meeting was organised as part of the policy strand of the P2V project, other strands include inspection and school peer reviewing activities. The methodology developed in P2V calls for organisers of the visit to identify a specific issue or problem to be presented and possible solutions discussed with peers. The issue under discussion in Lithuania was ‘the reuse of digital methodical material or the pedagogical use of units of learning by teachers’.
Continue reading "Lithuania: P2V policy peer learning visit" »
P2V – Peer to Peer networking for Valorisation - will have its kick-off meeting on 21-22 February 2007 in Copenhagen. The event is organised in conjunction for the Policy and Innovation Committee meeting on 22-23 February 2007. The meeting will bring together the nine partners of the project. P2V aims to apply the peer learning methodologies developed in the P2P project to the topics of media literacy, digital content and new learning environments.
In Copenhagen, partners will draw a roadmap of the tasks and activities planned in the project for the months ahead. Activities will include at least six peer learning visits, testing and validating the methodologies used in P2P and applying these methodologies on a wider scale. In the P2P project, policy-makers, educators and inspectorates from six countries were involved in peer review visits and the P2V project will seek to further test and apply in a broader way the policy review and ICT evaluation frameworks developed in P2P.
Also among the activities to be launched in Copenhagen is the planning of several workshops for all the partners in the network, a European conference, and other dissemination activities to give added-value (valorise) the project results.
Partners in the P2V project include EUN Partnership (coordinator), the Dutch Inspectorate of Education, Regional Training Unit Northern Ireland, the French and Lithuanian Ministries of Education, the Education department of Catalonia, and ENIS school networks in Denmark and Austria. There are two non funded partners: the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and the Directorate for Education and Training Department for Educational Development in Norway.
http://p2p.eun.org
In P2V we introduce a series of concepts which deserve definition. This is an ongoing discussion which will be carried on in the coming weeks as well as at the P2V Kick off meeting in Copenhagen.
This is the non-exhaustive list of new words introduced in the P2V project:
Valorisation
A French word which has made its way into the EU jargon to describe the process of giving added-value and wider scope to a concept, project or practice. The European Commission's DG Education and Culture has given a definition of the word on its website:
Originally a French term, "valorisation" is a concept which is now widely used and accepted in the European educational and training community. It can be described as the process of disseminating and exploiting the results of projects with a view to optimising their value, strengthening their impact, transferring them, integrating them in a sustainable way and using them actively in systems and practices at local, regional, national and European levels. To achieve these objectives, "valorisation" must be based on the analysis at an early stage of the requirements which a project must meet. It is also essential to ensure the active involvement of potential end-users and target groups during projects developments. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/valorisation/doc/def_en.pdf
Alan McCluskey, who is a partner in the P2V project (University of Fribourg) expanded on this definition in its connected.org e-zine by saying:
The meaning of the word "valorise", according to my computer's dictionary is: "give or ascribe value or validity to (something)." It is, however, not in this sense that the word is used in European R&D projects. The EU Leonardo programme defines "valorisation? as "... the process of disseminating and exploiting project outcomes to meet user needs, with the ultimate aim of integrating and using them in training systems and practices at local, regional, national and European level." There are a number of key expressions in this definition that might require clarification: process, dissemination, exploiting, outcomes, user needs, ultimate, integrating, using them. Trying to specify what some of those words mean should bring us closer to understanding what "valorisation" is really about. Read more on the meaning of the words on Alan's website: http://www.connected.org/words/valorise.html
Media Literacy/Digital Literacy
Media Literacy is one of the three areas where P2V will apply peer learning methodologies in policy, practice and school inspection. The P2V work plan describe it as a topic "significant in widening the uptake of e-learning in schools" ....
On the European Commission website, following the launch of a public consultation on media literacy, the following definition is given:
Media Literacy may be defined as the ability to access, analyse and evaluate the power of images, sounds and messages which we are now being confronted with on a daily basis and are an important part of our contemporary culture, as well as to communicate competently in media available on a personal basis. Media literacy relates to all media, including television and film, radio and recorded music, print media, the Internet and other new digital communication technologies more
I also found this definition of Media Literacy in a report titled assessing the media literacy of UK adults: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/bsc/pdfs/research/litass.pdf
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has recently produced a ‘Media Literacy Statement’ (2001) in support of a general statement of policy on media literacy and critical viewing skills. This statement lays the primary emphasis on ‘the ability to think critically about viewing – ie to understand why one likes or dislikes certain programmes or genres and relate such preferences to moral and intellectual reference points; and, having done so, to take greater responsibility for viewing choices and the use of electronic media’
Digital Literacy or Competence seems to be a sub-group of media literacy and is referred as follows in the European Commission's eLearning Programme website:
Promoting digital literacy
This will encourage the acquisition of new skills and knowledge that we all need for personal and professional development and for active participation in an information-driven society.
Digital Competence
In a document titled 'Implementation of Education and training 2010 Work Programme', the European Commission describes Digital Competencies as follows:
Digital competence involves the confident and critical use of electronic media for work, leisure and communication. These competences are related to logical and critical thinking, to high-level information management skills, and to welldeveloped communication skills. At the most basic level, ICT skills comprise the use of multi-media technology to retrieve, assess, store, produce, present and exchange information, and to communicate and participate in networks via the Internet.
Now an open question: what is the difference between digital literacy, e-skills and e-competences?
Welcome to the blog of the P2V project, created January 2007.
In May, EUN submitted a project proposal ‘Peer to Peer networking for Valorisation’ (P2V) for the new eLearning programme of DG Education and Culture in the area of ‘transversal actions’. P2V brings together eight partners with European Schoolnet as coordinator to apply the methodologies developed within the P2P project to key areas of ICT in schools: Digital resources, Media literacy and Learning platforms.
Building on the results and achievements of the P2P project (2004-2006), P2V aims to critically review, refine and disseminate the methodologies and results achieved with P2P. It will build on two ‘networks of networks’ – European Schoolnet (EUN) and the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates (SICI) and will use three larger networks of schools, ministries of education and inspectorates. P2V results will be integrated into an overall policy and practice framework and roadmap for ICT change in schools.
The project duration is 24 months and expected results are a set of revised methodologies for peer learning between education professionals in policy, practice and inspection. Several reports, analysis and an evaluation framework used by inspectorates and schools for national and international evaluation will also be produced.
As in the P2P projects several peer learning visits in schools, ministries and inspectorate will help identify policy and practices in other educational contexts. Following the visits, the following papers and reports will be produced: case studies clustered by topic, analytical papers, peer learning visit reports and reports on valorisation activity outcomes.
A dissemination portal and community tools and services will also be set up.
P2V project partners:
• European Schoolnet (EUN) coordinator
• Inspectie van het Onderwijs (Netherlands)
• Regional Training Unit (United Kingdom)
• Centre International d’Etudes Pédagogiques (France)
• Centre of Information Technologies of Education (Lithuania)
• Departament d’Educació de Catalunya (Spain)
• UNI.C (Denmark)
• ENIS Austria (Austria)
Two non-funded partners will strengthen work in policy and school innovation: Freibourg University Switzerland and The Department for Educational Development in the Norwegian education ministry.
For more information about P2P: http://p2p.eun.org
Partners in the P2V projects dealing with the Inspection strand of the P2V project will post stories here
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