TeLLNet Teachers’ Lifelong Learning NetworkExpert workshop: What is the role of

teachers' networks for professional development in Europe?

June 6 2011Riina Vuorikari

(European Schoolnet - EUN)

Who am I?• Riina from Finland

• Teacher from my first training, - then hypermedia,web, research, doctoral, etc.

• Since 2000 in European Schoolnet asSenior Research Analyst and Project Manager

•Created in 1997, based in Brussels

•Network of 31 European Ministries of Education

(MoE) or national educational authorities

• Promotes the use of ICTs in school

• Leads the way in bringing about change in

schooling through the use of new technology

European Schoolnet (EUN)

Presentation

• Background: why the Tellnet project?

• What do we do in Tellnet?

• Why are we here today?

Why the Tellnet project?

To better understand

how

social learning networks can support

teachers' competence building

TALIS, OECD, 2009

eTwinning reach=

number of eTwinners / number of teachers

On average, 2.64% of European teachers are eTwinners

• Longitudinal studies using authentic eTwinning data

• Visualisation techniques

• Social Network Analysis (SNA)

• Scenario forecasting exercises for policy-makers and

shapers

Methods to study eTwinning

Future oriented scenarios. Policy challenges. (IPTS)

SN Analysis and visualization of eTwinning

(RWTH)

Teachers Professional Development, Social capital &

Peer-support (OUNL)

eTwining data! Project coordination. Dissemination to teachers’ and policy-makers’ networks.

(EUN)

Why do some teachers get the "eTwinning" virus

and are able to spread it around

- and others don’t?

tightly connected nodes

(=teachers)in the central

Who will NOTget

the virus?

Example SNA 1 How dependent is the eTwinning social network structure on a small core group of

eTwinners?“... no super-hubs who exclusively connect the clusters. Clusters

are typically connected via several hubs. In conclusion, although eTwinning is dependent on a core group, this is a large and

well connected”

Example SNA 2: In Figure 5a, the larger nodes indicate that those teachers play a more important role as a “broker” in the network by connecting to different clusters of teaches who collaborate within different projects than the

smaller nodes. In Figure 5b, the larger nodes in the project cooperation network indicates that those teachers are part of more projects than the other teachers with the smaller nodes.

Example SNA 3: evolution of a

Database Research Community

VLDB 1990

VLDB 1995

VLDB 2000

VLDB 2006

eTwinning Teachers Project Collaboration

Network

eTwinning 2005 -2008:• 13022 teachers• 51403 project collaboration relationships

From an un-ordered network to an ordered network?

• Build-up of teachers’ local professional networks• Build-up of teachers’ European professional networks• Links of local and European networks• Promoting “star teachers” to connect the networks

Why are we here today?

• Workshop lead by IPTS: Teacher Collaboration Networks in 2025

• Outcomes will be used to discuss the role of teachers’ networks with policy-makers, educational authorities, teachers, trainers, etc.

Thank you for coming!

I wish you all a very

successful workshop :)