innove edu

Our project references for innovation come from InnoveEdu.

InnoveEdu is a list of innovative experiences in education around the world. These experiences incorporate five important trends capable of making learning meaningful and connected with the demands of the 21st century. We will use these trends as references for our work in the project.

A range of knowledge, skills, and abilities that educators and researchers believe will help students succeed in their academic and professional careers, as well as in their personal and community life. These capabilities go beyond the learning expectations related to academic content, and can be included in the teaching of all school subjects.

The 4 C's are a widely known approach to defining these skills:

COMMUNICATION | COLLABORATION | CREATIVITY | CRITICAL THINKING.

21st century skills also involve socio-emotional skills which include the following abilities:

• Achieving goals: perseverance, self-control, and enthusiasm for achieving goals.
• Working with others: cordiality, respect, and care.
• Managing emotions: calm, optimism, and confidence.

There are also four categories for these competencies. They are:

• Ways of thinking: creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, learning to learn and metacognition.
• Tools for working: information literacy, information and communication technology literacy.
• Ways of working: communication and collaboration.
• Ways of living in the world: citizenship, life and career, personal and social responsibility.

Teaching strategies aimed at understanding and promoting the development of students in an individualized manner, respecting the limitations and talents of each one. Students learn in different ways and at different speeds, and their previous knowledge, skills and interests may vary greatly. The concept of seeing the student as an individual and promoting his or her autonomy is not new. However, personalization has become a more important trend today due to the possibilities technology offers to put such ideas into practice, and to the demands of society.

Schools today need to train young people to work in smaller, more varied teams, use digital resources to produce and communicate, and solve complex problems. The teaching process that offers a single, unvarying solution, centered in the transmission of knowledge by the teacher, does not help students develop their life projects and is disconnected from other sectors of contemporary life.

New methodologies that seek to develop learning through practical experience have merged to challenge traditional educational thinking, which is based on theory and the transmission of content that is often out of touch with the student's reality. These teaching strategies challenge students to build knowledge though the development of a project or a product and are part of a tendency called hands-on learning.

Neurological studies have shown that the brain activity of students is more intense when they take part in interactive educational activities and practices than when they simply attend lectures. Opportunities for hands-on learning can occur both through the use of technological tools such as digital manufacturing and robotics labs, and through participation in interdisciplinary projects, which do not necessarily require the use of digital technology.

The understanding that learning does not just take place in schools is the basis for a series of educational methods and programs that use the surrounding community to promote the development of students.

Community-based learning occurs in various ways, with some projects simple using community resources to promote learning, and others by going further by planning interventions in the community.

In the modern world, learning opportunities are diversified and do not merely occur through the transmitting of content within schools and universities. Diplomas that represent the completion of educational steps no longer effectively prove the concrete knowledge and skills of students and professionals. Therefore, new forms of certification are required to recognize knowledge acquired through different educational experiences such as online courses, internships in laboratories, and the undertaking of projects and volunteer work.

Documentation of such diversified skills does not replace traditional degrees, but generate mini-certificates that result in a more comprehensive and personalized portfolio for professionals and students, who are then more able to earn course places or secure job opportunities.

This and other resources and references that we will use as inspiration throughout the project can be found here.