Online scenarios clear the path to digital competences
The growing importance of digital competences in the job market is a considerable challenge for teachers in Europe. Unlike ‘traditional’ disciplines, the digital world is in a state of constant evolution. Keeping up with the pace requires education tools to evolve with teachers’ needs, with programmes starting as early as possible. This is pretty much what the CRISS project boiled down to: addressing the digital competence gap, whilst allowing teachers and national education systems to have a say in how to do so. The project consortium developed a new cloud-based digital learning ecosystem and tested it in over 535 European schools. “Teachers could experience in real-life the use of a method and tool for acquiring digital competence. They now have a better insight and were pleasantly surprised with the results, which is perhaps the project’s greatest impact,” says Anna Palaiologk, Senior Research Consultant at EXUS and coordinator of the CRISS project. The CRISS platform provides two components: a main component that offers all the functionalities and services required by both teachers and students, and an analytical component that allows for the evaluation of digital competences.
Beyond computer science
Once connected to the main platform, teachers are presented with a list of learning scenarios they can use to teach digital skills and put them into perspective. For example, ‘Alice through the screen and what Alice found there’ helps students reflect on the impact technology has on the environment and how to reduce it, whereas a scenario such as ‘Reach 20 first’ teaches computational thinking and applies it to different situations. As Palaiologk points out: “Instead of isolating digital competence in the computer science class, CRISS integrates the use of digital tools into the wider school curriculum.” The platform includes a social network where teacher/student communication takes place, as well as a variety of ICT tools which can be used by students to carry out the activities described in the scenarios. Two of these tools are provided by the CRISS team: Magellan, a platform for creating mixed reality experiences; and Portabily, a multimedia content creation tool. More than the technology itself, the main innovation of CRISS lies in its operationalisation of the DigComp framework for use in the classroom. The project adds an operational layer to this framework, which connects its competences with concrete indicators to assess student progress. All in all, the operational concept extends digital competence to five areas and 12 sub-competences with their own performance criteria and indicators. The solution has been tested in six EU countries with seven pilots, and the latter were so successful that participating schools wanted to extend the piloting for another year after the end of the project, while more schools that have heard about the project wanted to join. The CRISS consortium is currently considering ways to keep collaborating with these schools and expanding the partnership to technology providers in more countries. “Meanwhile, the CRISS framework and scenarios have an open access IPR. They can be integrated into any learning management system or personal learning environment already used in schools,” Palaiologk explains. “The platform components are ready to be purchased by any interested school. There is a trial version available and each component can be bought either in isolation or as a set of modules.” CRISS is very likely to make a mark on the education sector at large. Its outcomes have potential to impact all actors, with more qualified students, schools that can better describe what they want in their procurements, and regional education directorates having a clear picture of which policy actions are needed. The regional Government of Catalonia has already decided to adopt the CRISS methodology, while the Greek Ministry of Education also aims to use it in public schools.
Keywords
CRISS, DigComp, digital competences, scenarios, framework, schools, teachers