07 Oct All Partner Meeting ATS STEM in “virtual” Belgium
In a parallel universe, the Assessment of Transversal Skills would have been in beautiful Belgium this morning. Instead we continued the work of the ATS STEM project today online and will meet again over the next two weeks as part of a series of all partner meetings in “virtual Antwerp”. Professor Mark Brown of Dublin City University and John Hurley of H2 Learning kicked us off by outlining how we have responded to the feedback on the first year report of the project to the European Commission. The feedback to date has highlighted how we have responded to the Covid-19 crisis but also points ways forward for us to continue to help teachers use digital tools in STEM education.
Nilay Aral and Sonja Bracht from Danube Krems University, who lead the Quality Assurance project work package, presented on the critical aspect of risk assessment via a SWOT Analysis. Giving the uncertain, changeable nature of the current educational environment this is a key concern of the project. Currently a traffic light system is being used to help indicate how we can work in schools according to the levels of openness in the countries involved. The Strengths of the project were highlighted – in particular the skills of the partners and conceptual framework that has been developed. The importance was re-emphasised of continuing to make the conceptual and practical tools developed visible, compressible, and usable to teachers. Stand by for more on this topic.
Finally, Ida Maria Peltoma of Tampere University presented on the ongoing work of teacher professional development from the Tampere team in cooperation with DCU. If you are a teacher, and you would like to get involved, several countries in the project are currently recruiting participant schools so please get in touch with us. For more information, please contact Eamon Costello, Project Lead.
See also: NIDL blog, 7th October 2020