virtual mobility and teachers informal professional development networks
DESCRIPTION
Presentation in the WG8 of the EU-presidency conference on Mobility in Poland.TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Riina VuorikariEuropean Schoolnet
Virtual mobility and
teachers’ informal professional development networks
Group VIII
1. Virtual Mobility (VM) in its own right (virtual collaborations, e.g. eTwinning)
2. ICT tools/education technology
supporting physical mobility periods
Defining virtual mobility
1. Virtual Mobility in its own right
2. How informal learning networks could support teachers?3. 2 examples of networks
– (Diffusion of innovation within the network)
4. Possible tensions in the network: – open vs. closed, – anonymity vs. personal information, – centralised vs. decentralised
Outline: this presentation
• With social media and Web 2.0, a new type of network emerges combining off-line and on-line -> hybrid networks
• Virtual collaboration is nowadays at the fingertips of students and teachers in compulsory education!
• High possibility to scale up!
Virtual Mobility (VM) in its own right
Value defined through social capital – the sense of belonging to the community – the provided and received support– the social network structure
Offer a high potential for teachers– to up-skill in areas such digital competences, – the useof ICT to support teaching and learning, – communication in foreignlanguages, – other areas of personal development such asintercultural
dialogue and social competence
Value of informal learning networks for individuals
TALIS, OECD, 2009
Example 1: Distributed web 2.0 tools
Example 2: Centralised tools
eTwinning reach=
number of eTwinners / number of teachers
On average, 2.64% of European teachers are eTwinners
Diffusion of innovation (1)
1. Centralised vs. decentralised underlying technical structure?=> Who has the control?
2. Is it an open or closed network? => trust in the network
3. Anonymity vs. personal information => how much personal information is made available? Think of under-aged students!=> is the source of information acknowledged?
Tensions in the network
Diffusion of innovation (2)
Now, imagine: “viruses” spread
through collaboration.
This virus is a positive one,
called eTwinning.
Who will notget the virus?
Who will not get
the virus?
The ones who are not connected,
e.g. who are not collaborating with
others.
Diffusion of
innovationwithin
a schoolfollows the
same pattern! Institutionalising
“culture of change”
What is the role of Teacher
Networks for professional
development in Europe in 2025?
References
• Teachers’ Lifelong Learning Network (www.tellnet.eun.org)
•Vuorikari, R., Gilleran, A., & Scimeca, S. (2011). Growing beyond Innovators – ICT-Based School Collaboration in eTwinning. In C. D. Kloos, D. Gillet, R. M. Crespo García, F. Wild, & M. Wolpers (Eds.), Towards Ubiquitous Learning (Vol. 6964, pp. 537-542). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. http://tellnet.eun.org/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=10704&folderId=18137&name=DLFE-515.pdf