CPDLab

This year's EMINENT conference will look into the future under the theme "Schools in Europe in 2025: technology for all?" At its annual EMINENT conference on the 14-15 November 2012, European Schoolnet will explore how current trends in education and potential scenarios for the future classroom are likely to impact on the educational reform process. The CPDLab project will contribute to the conference through a workshop "Teacher professional development for the Digital Age".

The workshop, taking place on the afternoon on 14 November,  will consider professional development for today’s teaching challenges and classrooms of the future, sharing experience and results within European Schoolnet projects relating to teacher continuing professional development. It will particularly focus on the courses being developed within the CPDLab project that will be delivered by European Schoolnet within its Future Classroom Lab, looking at the different models of integration for dissemination by Ministries of Education within national/regional training programmes.

• Sharing CPDLab experience: training courses survey results; courses – IWB, eSafety, Future Classroom Scenarios.
• Discussion on different models of teacher training led by CPDLab project partners: meeting centralised, regional, local priorities.
• Case study looking at the eTwinning model of teacher professional development.
• Future teacher competencies and accreditation.

The conference will feature also a keynote speech by Lord David Puttnam, Chairman of Futurelab and Senior Independent Director of Promethean.

The EMINENT conference is by invitation only.

The CPDLab project is developing a five-day eSafety training course for teachers and school management from secondary schools. As technology plays an ever greater role in schools, the course looks at the importance of eSafety policies in secondary schools, addressing issues such as cyber-bullying, use of social networks, responsible use of mobile and Internet technologies.

CPDLab is developing also two other courses: pedagogical use of interactive whiteboards in schools and Future Classroom Scenarios. The main audience for the trainings are teachers and trainers involved in continuing professional development in education at school, region or country level. The courses will be delivered at European Schoolnet's Future Classroom Lab in Brussels.

All three courses will run from summer 2013 and interested participants will be able to apply for participation grants through the European Commission’s Comenius/Grundtvig in-service training database. The course catalog will be available in October.

Some of the early modules developed for these courses are being offered as two-day courses from the autumn 2012.  These short courses are being offered to the eTwinning teachers through the National Support Services. The course descriptions can be found on http://fcl.eun.org/training.

 

The research interests of one of the CPDLab project partners, Gréta Björk Guðmundsdóttir from the Norwegian Centre for ICT in Education, focus on increasing digital competence for learners and teachers (pre and in-service) in Norway. Connected to this, Greta has been working within a group which monitors use and access to ICT in schools (grade 7, 9 and 12) learners, teachers and school leaders. A short summary in English of their last report is available here.

Speaking recently, at at the Comparative and International Educational Society Conference, in Puerto Rico, Greta connected the findings from the Monitor report on teachers digital competence, with the CPDLab project, looking at how the project is aiming to increase digital competence among European teachers with the three courses we are developing. Greta wrapped up her presentation up with a discussion on some of the challenges and opportunities with the cooperation so far – as to finding a mutual platform/point of departure, language issues, funding, flexibility, sharing issues.

The first CPDLab newsletter is now available.

The newsletter headlines include:

• Project partners and teachers working together
• Early piloting of courses
• Increasing digital competence for teachers’ research
• Guide to deliverables published on CPDLab website

Download the newsletter here (pdf)

Following the Expert teachers' workshop, early opportunities to pilot these courses are being explored in the EUN’s Future Classroom Lab, with discussions to related projects and initiatives including the iTEC project, the IWB working group and the InSafe programme.

In April 2012, in liaison with the eTwinning programme, a two-day course entitled “Making the Most of your Interactive Whiteboard” was run, which provided feedback on the pedagogical-led IWB course design and some of the skills and competency development activities. 

The course was led by Diana Bannister MBE,  Development Director for Learning Technologies Learning Technologies Unit, University of Wolverhampton School for Education Futures. Diana is working with the CPDLab project partners on the design of the IWB course, pulling on earlier research on the use of IWB across Europe. Her earlier work in the field has led to the publication “Making the most of your Interactive Whiteboard” which is available to download from the website of the IWB working group.

Discussions are underway to pilot parts of the other CPDLab courses, with plans to run a Futures Classroom Scenarios course in May and July, with similar opportunities are being sought for early piloting of the eSafety course in the autumn.

Going forward, each of the three courses will be registered with the Comenius in-service training database which will provide funding for teachers to attend the courses delivered from the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels, from the summer 2013.