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About the project

Smartphones and tablets are considered sophisticated forms of communication technology. Undoubtedly their use in an educational environment can change the landscape since these powerful portable devices can enrich the learning process and breakdown barriers in a multitude of ways. Students make ample use of technology in their daily life. The additional option of using it to increase their learning capacity and pursue their interests can be extremely beneficial. Engaging them into realizing the potentials of these means and being creative with them is a challenge which takes careful planning, organization and the use of the correct tools. There is a variety of platforms available for educational use, that can enhance classroom creativity. In a market full of means and facilities the educational organisations need to be more orientated towards the integration of innovative technology in their curriculum and promote non-formal teaching or learning approaches.

Aims

The P@ls project is a partnership of six secondary education schools that will be involved with the creation of school apps with the use of the App Inventor tool, lasting 24 months. Motivated by the current challenges of education, our aim is to spread the need for more creativity and digital competence in the classroom through the use of innovative technology and non-formal educational approaches that will promote open-mindedness, critical thinking, personalized knowledge, participatory work, improvement of linguistic and social skills and the exchange of good practice.

Work process

The partnership will develop educational content applications for use on the Android platform. The outputs will be products of a series of learning activities organised by each school that will take a period of two months for preparation followed by a short term instruction and a final two-month-period for implementation, trial and evaluation in the classroom before finally being integrated in the partner schools’ curriculum. The collection of these elaborate teaching/learning scenarios, will produce a resource teaching material in paper and software form. Teachers and learners will follow an organized structure of developing, instructing, implementing, testing, evaluating, reporting and disseminating the project outcomes. Τhis type of cooperation will provide ground for improvements. The external partners with their professional expertise will further develop them. The results will be available for educational use on the project website and on an open network platform.

Expected results

The anticipated results are:

  • practical learning and teaching scenarios concerning tablet applications
  • teaching resource material
  • the final outputs in the form of Android applications
  • an online community and resource platform for schools and educational stakeholders;

The participants are expected to achieve personal development through peer work and collaborative methods. They will increase their digital literacy and experience social interaction and intercultural dialogue with the exchange of good educational practice. The schools will open up to the use of new technologies and digital means aiming at more attractive and motivated learner-centered education. In the long term the integration of the results and their methodology into the school curriculum will be the motive for developing educational practices in pace with the modern needs and demands.