First Year Report
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Report on INGOT Comenius Project - Ingot - Open Standards in ICT for Europe
Objectives
- To promote open attitudes to, and a shared understanding of, new assessment methods for ICT supported by Web 2.0 technologies
- To contribute to the development of a new 21st Century paradigm for learning through participation
- To provide a focus for sharing open learning resources produced by students across the EU.
- To develop an understanding of European Citizenship through open resource development.
- To develop the language competence of students and teachers in the context of ICT assessment
- To develop inter-cultural empathy between the partners
- To work in groups to enable peer review of the assessment process
- To provide a flexible assessment regime that enables participation through extra-curricular activities.
- To contribute to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF)
Progress report
The first meeting took place in Mealhada Portugal at the Escola Profissional da Mealhada. The partners participating were Germany; Manfred Reiter, Gerhard Fass, Gunter Stoffels, Ralphe Schuetz; UK, Karen Lee, Jo Page, Ian Lynch, Rosemary Lynch, Turkey, Ahmet Firat, Fatih Barbarosluoglu, Aziz Yaman, Ahmet Hacioglu; Portugal, Joao Pega, Joaquim Lopes, Eduardo Martins, Luis Breda, Paulo Relvas, Diogo Lourenco, Jose Oliveira, Filipe Pinho,
The outcomes of the meeting were:
Training of all delegates in the use of the INGOT assessment methods. This included setting up accounts and the use of a specialist website with an on-line electronic mark book and on-line certification designed to fit the European Qualifications Framework and meeting the requirements of the UK examinations regulators, OFQUAL. The assessment pedagogy is based on an assessment for learning model using criteria matching verified by set tests and tasks supported by the Moodle Virtual Learning Environment.
The partners discussed the application of assessment for learning in the context of learning through participation. They looked at work submitted through on-line blogs by students in the UK. This raised questions and answers about the need for change in the 21st Century learning especially related to involvement of learners in their own assessment process. The feedback confirmed a raised understanding of how the assessment methods developed would improve learner motivation.
One of the key issues in using criteria matching is discussion generated around the assessment process. This has strong potential to contribute to language development as well as technical capabilities.
The second meeting took place in Istanbul Turkey at the Gaziosmanpasa Cumhuriyet Lisesi School. The partners participating were Germany; Manfred Reiter, Gerhard Fass, Erik Schultze, Ralphe Schuetz; UK, Charlie Hare, Sonia Ashby, Ian Lynch; Portugal, Manuela Alves, Joaquim Lopes, Eduardo Martins, Luis Breda, Paulo Relvas, Antonio Capela, Hugo Botelho; Turkey, Ahmet Firat, Fatih, Barbarosluoglu, Aziz Yaman.
The outcomes of the meeting were:
Further training of all delegates in the use of the INGOT assessment methods building progressively on the work in Portugal. This included extending the use of the specialist certification website to use of the Web 2.0 Drupal environment for creating student portfolios and presenting information and the Moodle VLE supporting on-line courses. Each partner now has an account on all three web sites. They are now capable of producing their own language translation of the Comenius project web site within the Drupal management environment and of devising courses in Moodle. This is also relevant to teaching students how to achieve the Silver INGOT certification unit that requires the creation of an e-portfolio.
The partners from Portugal provided an example of how to share translation work with students using Google on-line applications which can then be easily transferred into Drupal and Moodle. This generated greater understanding of how the applications platform is shifting from the desktop to the internet reducing operating costs and adding greater scope for participative learning and sharing resources. The flexibility this provides, eg for extracurricular participation, demonstrates the educational potential with all partners now in a strong position to spread their learning to other teachers in their own establishments and their wider communities.
A great spirit and cultural empathy is being developed within the group. The professional education perspective has provided a firm platform for developing shared values. There is openness to peer review and cooperative support with a wide range of experience represented in the delegates.
Th next stage in the project will be to use the learning in the first year to enable the production of learning resources supporting INGOT certification in each partner language. The INGOT Comenius website will be developed further providing information about the project in each of the partner languages and partners will provide exemplar courses in Moodle in their own languages. Finally an evaluation will take place to inform others and to explore ways of extending valuable developments for the benefit of all.
