About

“CONNECT” is an Erasmus+KA2 project [GRANT AGREEMENT: 2020- 1-EL01-KA226- SCH-094578], launched in March 2021, which aims to promote digital education in Mathematics, Physics and Foreign Languages in lower secondary education as well as to enhance the professional skills of teachers in digital technology.

The "CONNECT" Project will implement a 28-month work plan (1.3.2021-28.06.2023) with actions, educational material, training activities and school piloting addressing teachers as the direct target group and students as indirect beneficiaries. 

Innovation

The CONNECT approach is based on three principles: (a) distance education adapted to secondary education, (b) blended learning approach and (c) the flipped classroom model. In this hybrid model, the change of roles of teachers and students is at the core.

In order the objectives to be fulfilled, the following outputs will be developed:

• A Pedagogical Framework based on the Blended learning approach (online delivery of courses and in-class activities),
• 27 Educational Scenarios in Mathematics, Physics and Foreign Language,
• MOOC training that will empower teachers transform their lessons by integrating the CONNECT approach in their everyday classrooms and also accessing open educational resources,
• A teacher's Guide allowing educators to efficiently use CONNECT approach for the online delivery of courses,
• A sustainability Plan involving best practices and recommendations for further use, exploitation, and implementation in school practice.

Project Current Status

Three intellectual outputs of CONNECT project have been produced until now, including a pedagogical framework, a well-defined set of educational scenarios for Mathematics, Physics and Foreign Languages (English & French) as also the online training delivered through the CONNECT MOOC platform. Moreover, the fourth intellectual output has been initiated and at this time is in full swing. Specifically, the consortium is working on the development of the preliminary teacher’s guide as also for the piloting of CONNECT approach to lower secondary schools that will take place in February 2023. Additionally, two major events of CONNECT project, the Learning, Teaching, Training Activity and the European Multiplier Event (both successfully organized by the RDPSEA) took place in Athens, Greece in December 2022.    

IO3 – Online Courses - MOOC

The CONNECT approach exploits the legacy of distance education. Open online courses (MOOCs) have been developed to meet the educational needs in Lower Secondary Education. The online training (100+ hours) provides the requisite pedagogical background on up-to-date-practices and will empower teachers transform their lessons by integrating the CONNECT approach in their everyday classrooms and will also give access to open educational resources. In order for educators to participate in the online training, they should carry out a process completed in a sequence of steps (i.e., registration, enrollment etc). All courses are available in English, Greek and Italian and can be found at the following URL:

https://connect-erasmusproject.eu/mooc/

IO4 – Teachers Guide

1. Create or use the existed scenarios based on CONNECT approach.
2. Encourage active learning.
3. Offer support.
4. Assess understanding.
5. Use technology effectively.
6. Foster community.
7. Reflect and adjust.

As part of this intellectual output, the piloting of CONNECT approach to lower secondary schools will take place in February 2023 and an evaluation reported will be produced by the consortium. Based on the feedback received, the final teacher’s guide will be produced and will be available to the broader audience and potential stakeholders.

2^nd Transnational Project Meeting (TPM)

July, 13-14^th 2022, Palermo, Italy

The second TPM was held in Palermo (Italy), at the headquarters of the Institute for Educational Technology of the National Research Council of Italy. Eleni Zografou (RDPSEA), Thomas Zarouchas (CTI), Evangelia Vanezi and Constantinos Loizou (UCY), Gabriella Di Piazza, Simona Ottaviano and Dario la Guardia (ITD-CNR) participated in this meeting. Thomas Fotiadis (UCY) and Konstantinos Giannopoulos (CTI) attended the meeting online. During the meeting, the progress of project activities, the organization of the Learning, Teaching, Training Activities (LTTA) event and the European Multiplier Event (EME) in Athens were discussed. As part of IO3, CNR presented an example of a MOOC structure and partners discussed the development of online courses that will be hosted on the CONNECT platform.

Learning, Teaching, Training Activity (LTTA)

December, 12-14^th 2022, Athens, Greece

The LTTA 3-day event (December 12, 13 and 14) was crowned with success. Educators enjoyed their training. They took in the rudimentary knowledge; they had the opportunity to master their talents and make practice through well-planned workshops and they also enjoyed the recreational activities.

Two sessions stood out in each LTTA day. The first session included important speeches in regard to the keynotes of the “CONNECT” approach such as blended learning, online learning, flipped classroom and educational scenarios and the second session included specific workshops in a course-oriented approach.

The workshops were divided into 2 parts. The first part was devoted to a presentation regarding the workshop topic and to a foretaste of what is coming up. The second part was devoted to group activities where educators collaboratively were called upon completing specific learning activities. Important educational issues such as critical didactic incidents, students’ learning ideas and misconceptions were ironed out in these workshops.

After the two sessions, educators participated in the recreational activities such as visiting the museum of Acropolis and having lunch at various restaurants.

3^rd Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) 

December, 13-14^th 2022, Athens, Greece

A fruitful discussion was made at our two (2) days TPM meeting (December 13 and 14). The meeting was conducted with physical presence and there were two (2) representatives from Cyprus (UCY) and two (2) representatives from Italy (CNR). Some cardinal issues that were ironed out at the meeting are listed below:

1. initiate the final steps of the project,

2. the need to further disseminate the CONNECT online courses,

3. the pilot planning,

4. the preliminary and the final teacher’s guide.

Additionally, the representatives from Italy presented their proposal on the CONNECT exploitation plan and the representatives from Cyprus along with the RDPSEA delegates made valuable comments. After the meeting (the second TPM day), all participants had the opportunity to enjoy coffee at a cafeteria close to the French institute, reflecting on TPM and having a friendly discussion.

Dissemination activities

RDPSEA and Erasmus Days 2022

October, 13th 2022 Athens, Greece

The meeting was centered on presenting important Erasmus programmes, including “CONNECT”, underlining their objectives and highlighting their achievements. In the context of the “CONNECT” programme, the Regional Director for Primary and Secondary Education of Attica presented an overall approach to the instruction of Mathematics, Physics and Foreign Language in secondary education. The specific presentation indicated the way the “CONNECT” educational scenarios can be used in the instruction of the aforementioned didactic objects with a view to promoting active learning. The meeting’s link on YouTube is listed below:

https://youtu.be/EsYNXywpS18

Relevant material

• Poste of the event (GR)
• Presentation (GR)
• Invitation - programme of the event (GR)

MOOC Platform Presentation:

November,15^th 2022 Athens, Greece  

The meeting was delivered online on November 15 through Webex and more than 100 educators were informed about the CONNECT online courses (MOOC) available at https://connect-erasmusproject.eu/mooc/. Representatives from CTI Diophantus presented the MOOC platform and the RDPSEA delegates initiated a fruitful discussion with educators. The meeting’s purpose was answered given that after the meeting, educators started registering at the MOOC platform.

European Multiplier Event:

December,15^th 2022 Athens, Greece

The European Multiplier Event (December 15) was an educational milestone. Keynote Speakers from Greek Universities delivered highly informative speeches. Educators were upskilled and the entire CONNECT approach was presented, highlighting the CONNECT achievements.

In detail, the “CONNECT” intellectual outcomes were presented and also important speeches ironed out significant educational issues such as student assessment, peer-to-peer evaluation, digital skills, the 3d model of blended learning and predicting students’ performance. These speeches indicated the added value of the “CONNECT” approach in the respective educational territories.

What’s next?

CONNECT project is moving fast to the last phase of its lifetime. Specifically, the piloting of the CONNECT approach to secondary schools, the final teacher’s guide as also the exploitation plan are on the way. Moreover, two (2) national multiplier events will take place in Italy and Cyprus so that recent developments of CONNECT project will further disseminated to the local school communities, school advisors, pedagogical advisors and key stakeholders (i.e., policy makers, educational policy institutions etc). The final transnational project meeting will take in Palermo (Italy), and the consortium partners will have the chance to establish a roadmap for their cooperation towards the sustainability of CONNECT outputs. 

The 2nd Newsletter is available in pdf here.