School Education Gateway - Teacher Academy Courses

Moving to Maths 2.0

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A key challenge in teaching Maths is not only its fundamental principles, process and applications, but also fostering a sense of curiosity and confidence in transferring the knowledge and skills to new situations. In other words helping pupils to understand the relevance of this competence outside of the Maths classroom.The course aims to address this situation by helping teachers develop students’ Mathematical competence as defined by the EU’s Key Competences framework: the ability to develop and apply mathematical thinking in order to solve a range of problems in everyday situations, with the emphasis being placed on process, activity and knowledge.By the end of the course we will have an understanding why it is important to innovate and personalize Maths teaching. We will have developed a Learning Design that incorporates activities for different learners, developed a Learning Diary with key reflections on the course topics and shared resources to support Maths activities for students of different dominant intelligence types.The course is substantially based on Irina Vasilescu’s Learning Event “Maths for Every Student” on eTwinning. Irina Vasilescu, an experienced Maths teacher and teacher trainer, will be directly involved in the running of the course as a course moderator and you'll have plenty of opportunities to directly interact with her. 

Neuroscience and Education

4.8

This course has been developed by Amaya Alonso Cabria, in close collaboration with the School Education Gateway.Educational neuroscience is born from the interaction and interrelation between three different fields of knowledge: Neurosciences, Psychology and Education. The objective of the intersection of these three disciplines is to improve classroom practice and achieve more efficient and satisfactory learning.What is involved in this course is to provide participating teachers with knowledge about the functioning of the human brain and its relationship in the participation of different cognitive and behavioural functions, in such a way that they can use them in their teaching practice and learning. 

Project-Based Learning to Enhance Key Competences

4.9

The Project-Based Learning to Enhance Key Competences course introduces you to two key concepts that can help you shift your teaching to an engaging and effective learning process. The course will help you to implement a project-based learning (PBL) approach in your classroom so as to develop key competences for lifelong learning, such as entrepreneurship, digital competence, citizenship, and others.We will start with a reflection process about the period of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, so as to understand how PBL can be an effective method in online, blended, and face-to-face settings and should be seen as mechanism to take lessons learnt from this period into the new school year.We will also investigate the different components of a PBL approach, such as student collaboration or student agency, and how they can help us to address some of the key competences for lifelong learning. Furthermore, we will be sharing tools and strategies that can help us to implement a PBL approach and discuss how best to assess PBL.As part of the course, you will be working on your own PBL scenario for implementation in your classroom, which should set you on a good path to try out this inspiring method once the course comes to an end. 

Open eTwinning: Project-Based Learning and the Community for Schools in Europe

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Join this course to learn about eTwinning and how it can help you design a project-based learning experience for your students in cooperation with colleagues across Europe and beyond. During the course, you will learn about the principles of project-based learning and how to start a project in the eTwinning community.Throughout the activities, we will look at the entire life cycle of a project, starting with the initial idea, including finding a partner and negotiations to design a common project, and ending with the implementation and evaluation of the project. We will include principles of project work and collaboration, as well as the educational use of various ICT tools that facilitate project work. We will also look at the social aspect of collaborative projects, showing eTwinning not only as a platform in which to implement educational projects, but also as a meeting place between colleagues, an environment where we can share ideas and participate in various professional development activities.This course is based on the content of the Open eTwinning course previously created by the National Support Service in Spain for eTwinning, from the Spanish Ministry of Education. It was partly adapted to incorporate a more European perspective and resources. The team behind the original course supported the redesign of the course for the Teacher Academy.Enrol now and join the conversation and the activities on our Facebook group, and using the hashtag #twinMOOC on Twitter.  

Formative Assessment in Practice – Shaping Student Learning

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In this course, we will examine what formative assessment is, why it is important, and how it can be implemented in our classrooms. As part of the course, you will encounter examples of practice, discuss and interact with peers, and prepare a lesson plan for use in your teaching.

Building a School Digital Strategy with the SELFIE Tool

5

The course will help you to take a snapshot of your school’s current use of digital technologies and set out a path for improvement, thereby setting the foundation for a school digital strategy.The course shows participants how to use the SELFIE tool in their school and how to develop a more comprehensive strategy based on the results offered by the tool.

Fostering Life Competences through Education

5

This course has been developed by Kornelia Lohynova, in close collaboration with the School Education Gateway.In the course, you will explore the “Personal, Social and Learning to Learn” competence. You will learn how to embed this key competence in your teaching practice through activities in your classroom.

Learning with creativity: Let the game begin!

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From Plato to Kant and from Froebel to Piaget, philosophers, biologists, educators and psychologists have tried to investigate, understand and explain the roots and purpose of the ubiquitous behaviour of play. According to several studies, play and creativity have been linked in numerous ways, as play has been found to facilitate insight ability and divergent thinking.Actually, play has long been an essential tool for learning. For some time now, a number of educators around the world have come to realize that games are problem-solving activities approached with a playful attitude. That’s why they engage and excite students, resulting, consequently, in deeper learning and development of various skills when used for educational purposes. However, along with its influence in all areas of society, technology has brought many changes in the playtime as well. Kids nowadays, for instance, can create their own games instead of going to the closest store to buy one, or they can immerse themselves in virtual or augmented reality experiences to play.The Learning with creativity: Let the game begin! course aims to encourage primary and secondary teachers from all subject disciplines to reflect about the importance of learning through play and to show them ways to introduce games in the classroom. This MOOC is especially valuable for teachers who want to promote learning with games, creating through games and creating games, and it will serve to provide participants with various tools, resources and practices for a more efficient and innovative teaching and learning.Join us on this unique course at the Teacher Academy and find out some useful resources and ideas to make your lessons more engaging by implementing game-like learning principles in your teaching aiming at bringing play-based learning into the classroom. Get inspired and earn a certificate recognising your work!To get the most out of the course, you can participate in our Facebook group or share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #gamescourse! Introduce yourself now and… let the game begin!  

Five Strategies for Learning Online

4.5

As teachers we have busy work schedules, but more importantly, we have schedules that are not very flexible, usually tied to a strict teaching timetable. That makes it more complicated to attend face-to-face professional development such as a workshop or conference. Online learning has therefore become for many teachers a useful additional layer to their professional development activities, something we want to support and promote at the Teacher Academy.However, online learning can easily be overwhelming. Especially in open learning settings like the online courses offered at the Teacher Academy. These courses are organised as MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses – meaning they are open to anyone who wants to join. This results in hundreds and even thousands of participants joining a course. If you are not used to learning in such an environment, this can be a challenge. In this short self-paced course, we therefore introduce you to five key strategies to help you make the most out of our courses and support your online learning in general.The following five strategies will be addressed on the course:Strategy 1: Reflect on how you learnStrategy 2: Plan your learningStrategy 3: Use a learning diaryStrategy 4: Build a personal learning networkStrategy 5: Find support 

Career education – When preparation meets opportunity

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The general aim of this Short Online Course is to provide a sound understanding of the role of building pupils’ career development awareness in schools.By establishing a common understanding on what career education is, we will identify career success stories in a fast-paced and ever-changing world.We will then explore career readiness and illustrate how interests, values and skills such as communication skills, language skills, digital skills, creativity, critical thinking and personal marketing can foster a resourceful mindset.The course will also provide you with practical support in terms of designing an innovative plan to inform a future career path for your pupils , alongside with exploiting other effective data-gathering tools.Each of the four modules consists of multimedia resources and discussions around these, practical tasks using a wide range of digital tools, forums for exchanging ideas, as well as a further- reading section with extra resources.

Ιnquiry-Based Learning in Early Years Education – from Theory to Practice

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This course provides a general overview on early childhood pioneers/theorists, and allows educators with no early years experience or knowledge to familiarize themselves with Inquiry-Based Learning and build a stronger learning environment.It also encourages early years educators to implement Inquiry-Based Learning in their classrooms to ensure that inclusion is adaptable, flexible and visible also from a young age group.

Introducing Project-Based Learning in your Classroom

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The Introducing Project-Based Learning in your Classroom course introduces you to the concept of project-based learning (PBL) and helps you to implement this pedagogical approach in your classroom by providing concrete examples, ideas and tools that can inspire and support you and your students to embark on a PBL learning journey.We will be exploring three key challenges related to the implementation of PBL: how to get students to collaborate effectively, how to facilitate student-driven activities, and finally how to assess PBL in your classroom.The course offers an introduction to these topics and provides you with a framework to engage with fellow teachers and other education stakeholders by sharing resources, experiences, ideas, etc. The goal of the course is to develop into a professional learning community discussing PBL even after the course has finished.You will find a range of resources on the course ranging from classroom videos, lesson plans, interviews, presentations, digital tools and classroom materials to peer-review and self-assessment activities. The course draws heavily from materials and ideas used in the past on the eTwinning network.Join us on this exciting first course on the Teacher Academy and meet like-minded pedagogues, find useful resources, learn about innovative pedagogy, and earn digital badges and a certificate recognising your work!The course is entirely free and is organised as a MOOC-type course, allowing anyone to join.You will receive digital module badges for every completed module of the course as well as a course badge and a course certificate upon completion of the full course. All badges can be exported to the Mozilla Badge Backpack.The course is relevant to all teachers, school leaders and other school stakeholders who are interested in the topic of project-based learning. However, the focus of the course is on the practical and pedagogical activities within a classroom environment so the course will be more relevant to practicing teachers. No prerequisite knowledge is required but a basic level of digital skills is necessary to navigate the course and to interact with peers.

Competences for 21st Century Schools

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This course is intended for teachers and other educational professionals interested in competence-based education. The course aims to provide you with a thorough introduction to the topic, as well as make you aware of the issues and challenges related to making competence-based education a reality in the classroom. Furthermore, teachers will be given concrete tips on how to implement project-based learning, a particularly suitable method for delivering competence-based education, as well as on how to assess this type of collaborative learning.Module 1 will provide you with an introduction to the topic, looking at the importance and definition of competences as well as international frameworks; how competences are understood, expressed and implemented in various countries across Europe; and the main teaching and assessment methods associated to this approach.Module 2 will look at practical ways in which teachers can use project-based learning techniques in the classroom and beyond to develop their pupils’ competences across a variety of subjects and skills. Inspiring examples from across Europe will be provided, and possible solutions to challenges explored. There will be a special focus on how to best develop students' collaborative problem-solving skills within project-based learning.Finally, Module 3 will help you understand the assessment methods which are most suitable to competence-based approaches to learning, and will provide you with concrete advice on how to implement these various methods and in which contexts. An Irish case study will provide participants with an inspiring example of how Ireland introduced competence-based assessment in Mathematics. This module will also give participants the opportunity to learn more about assessing an important transversal skill explored in module 2 - collaborative problem solving. 

Discussing Diversity and Discrimination - Using the Online Tool 'Stories that Move'

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The course Discussing Diversity and Discrimination - Using the Online Tool 'Stories that Move' will enhance your skills as an inclusive educator, able to discuss sensitive and complex topics with your students. The focus will be on helping students be aware of the need to respond to antigypsyism, antisemitism, discrimination of LGBT+ and Muslims, and racism.You will get to know the Visible Thinking and Blended Learning methods, and understand how to create ‘safe space’ by using some of the modules of Stories that Move – Toolbox against discrimination.The course prepares you to develop your own lesson plan and requires that you assess two lesson plans of your peers. A special focus will be put on international student exchange programmes.Please note that this course has concluded, although its content remains available for perusal. You can access the modules by enrolling in the course and clicking the "Modules" tab above; however, it is no longer possible to receive the course badge or the course certificate. Finally, please note that support for this course is no longer provided by the course instructors or the Teacher Academy team. 

Surviving Your First Years of Teaching

0

The Surviving your First Years of Teaching course aims to support you in overcoming the commonly known “practice shock” which most new teachers experience when moving from their initial training to their first job in the profession. This “shock” is often caused by inadequate preparation during the initial training phase, the changing role of teachers in schools, the increasingly complex demands on teachers and the common “loneliness” of new teachers working in environments where there are only experienced teachers.The course offers guidance and ideas on how to deal with common challenges faced by teachers starting a job at a new school for the first time. It also provides a space to overcome any “loneliness” experienced as a new teacher, offering you a place to interact with peers in similar situations. Furthermore, the course makes an important link to school mentors, experienced teachers who have been trained to support new teachers in their first years.During the course we will be looking at important questions around how to integrate into a school community and find the right support as a new teacher, how to develop teaching confidence even when experiencing inevitable setbacks, how to become more time-efficient in your planning and preparations, how to develop a positive atmosphere in your classes right from the start and avoid common mistakes in the first days of the school year, as well as what tools are out there to support your daily work inside and outside of the classroom.The course is targeted at (student) teachers who are about to enter the profession for the first time as well as those in their first five years of teaching. It is relevant for teachers across all school types and levels. Practising school mentors who are working with new teachers are also welcome to join specific parts of the course and provide input into the questions raised.Join us on this unique course at the Teacher Academy and meet colleagues in similar situations, find useful resources and ideas to help you overcome the “practice shock”, learn about innovative tools that can make your life a lot easier, and earn digital badges and a certificate recognising your work!To get the most out of the course, you can participate in our Facebook group or share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #IstartTeaching!