ICTs for Education: An Inclusive Approach to Addressing Challenges - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

ICTs for Education: An Inclusive Approach to Addressing Challenges Faced by Roma Communities in Europe

Niina Maarit Novak, Maryam Rabiee, A Min Tjoa

Institute of Information and Software Engineering Vienna University of Technology, Austria

https://brainsintheclouds.eu

Project partners

www.scio.cz SRO (Czech Republic) www.scio.cz Sukromna zakladna skola (Slovakia) www.szsgalakticka.edupage.org Fundatia Crestina Diakonia Filiala Sfantu Gheorghe (Romania) www.diakonia.ro Verein Offenes Lernen (Austria) http://o-le.org Gaia (Kosovo) gaiakosovo.wordpress.com Technical University Kosice (Slovakia) www.tuke.sk Vienna University of Technology (Austria, Coordinator) www.tuwien.ac.at

• 1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

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Goals

• Design a program with the aim to provide an

alternative access to education for children and youth from Roma families to reduce the high school-drop

• ut rate
• Increase basic and transversal skills, especially digital

literacy

• Preventing that educational disadvantages and

exclusion are later manifested in an exclusion from society in general and specifically from the labor market

Background

• Roma people represent Europe’s largest ethnic minority
• Approx. 10-12 million people live in Europe
• Reality: severe poverty, profound social exclusion, discrimination
• bad access to quality education, employment, income prospects
• bad housing conditions and health status
• 89% of Roma leave school early
• PISA tests: 80-95% of Romani-speaking students have not acquired basic

cognitive skills and competencies

limited possibilities to find qualified employment problems to cope with the complex demands of today‘s societies

Reasons for Early school leaving of Roma

• Inappropriate teaching styles and curricula
• Socio-economic reasons
• poor infrastructure, lack of available public transport, shortages of

equipment, geographical distance to schools

• Cultural and individual reasons
• language and communication problems, insufficient understanding of

learning materials, low confidence in schools, early marriage and childbirth, necessity of contributing to household income

• 2. PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

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Pedagogical approach

Sugata Mitra: Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLE)

• Project-based learning
• Student-centred
• Creativity
• Hands-on activities
• Experiential Learning
• Mentors („grannies“)
• Collaborative
• Self-driven learning process

(curiosity) Constructionism

Pedagogical Approach

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MINIMAX approach aiming at minimal teacher invasion and maximum learner autonomy

• Inspired by SOLE, Constructionism and Makers Movement
• A maximum of “hands-on” activities
• A minimum of theory
• Self-explanatory materials (modular structure, simple and easily

understandable tasks, videos, little text, for groups or individual )

• Independence from teachers <-> self-driven learning
• Teamwork, collaboration, personality building, safety, trust, self-worthiness,

autonomy

• Topics which are not covered sufficiently in traditional school setting, based
• n previous need assessment

• 3. LEARNING MODULES

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Learning Modules

All materials are available as Open Educational Resources: https://brainsintheclouds.eu/

Learning Modules

Nr. Title Content 1 Video

+ handle a mobile device, tablet, smartphone + work with QR-codes, online apps + search for information on the Internet + make a video / short film (storybook writing, taking and editing of pictures, interviews…) + give and receive feedback

2 IT 101

+ how to assemble a Raspberry Pi computer + use (Open) Office Programs (text processing, email clients) + Online services (Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia, YouTube) + elementary level computer programing skills using Scratch

3 English

+ basics of English (vocabulary, building sentences, spelling, pronunciation, tongue twisters, family trees, describe a friend, recording audio messages etc.) + communicate with other participating students + retrieve information online (e.g. how many people speak English and in which countries?)

Learning Modules

Nr. Title Content 4 Ekopolis

+ educational board game addressing environmental issues in a playful manner + pollution, environment, sustainability, waste reduction, recycling, ecological footprint + raise awareness for the impact of human actions and stimulates discussions + get to know their hometowns (e.g. draw a map etc.)

5 Programming + hands-on programming and engineering activities using

different tools and software (Makey Makey boards, Scratch, Ozobot robots, Lego WeDo, Minecraft, Python)

6 The Real World

+ how to repair things, going on a trip + personal hygiene (bacteria and viruses, doctors, physical activity, vitamins, water drinking, drugs, first aid basics) + relationships (different levels of relationship, friendly and unfriendly behavior, bullying) + Roma culture (history, traditions, role models, language…)

Structure of Learning Modules

• Easily implemented
• Group and individual settings
• Teacher-manual
• Task sheets
• Very simple
• Modular structure
• As little text as possible
• Online hand-in tool
• Evaluation

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“Hand-it-in-App”: Website

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“Hand-it-in-App”: Evaluation Data

• 4. IMPLEMENTATION

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Learning Modules

Module

• Nr.

Content Lead Implementation 1 Video TUK, OLE

• Oct. – Nov. 2016

2 IT 101 TUW, OLE

• Dec. 2016 – Jan. 2017

3 English TUK, OLE Feb.-March 2017 4 Ekopolis TUW April-June 2017 5 Programming TUW, OLE

• Sept. – Oct. 2017

6 The Real World TUK, OLE

• Nov. 2017- Jan. 2018

Implementation of SOLE-Boxes

• 3 different locations
• Romania: Afternoon care program, about 30 kids (6-11 years old)
• Kosovo: Community center for kids and teens, about 5-30 kids (10-17

years old)

• Slovakia: School, about 20 kids (12-14 years old)
• Implementation time: 6-8 weeks per box and location
• Materials and boxes are provided
• At the beginning of each box, guidance session for teachers
• Regular skype-sessions throughout the implementation
• Regular progress evaluation

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• 5. EVALUATION & RESULTS

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Evaluation of Learning Modules

Quantitative data + 3 Questionnaires

• Learner autonomy
• Performance (tasks)
• Personality

+ Data from the „Hand-it-in App“ Qualitative data + Live observations + Interviews with children, youth and mentors + Written reports + Basic demographic data (age, gender, …) collected as part of needs assessment

Focus: LEARNER AUTONOMY (children‘s ability to learn on their own)

(1) Did the level of learner autonomy improve in the course of the project? (2) Is the level of learner autonomy correlated with certain personality traits? (3) Is the level of learner autonomy related to the activity undertaken?

Definition of Learner Autonomy

The ability to … 1. set meaningful and achievable goals 2. to find ways to reach a goal 3. identify a source of failure 4. learn from one‘s mistakes 5. see mistakes as an opportunity for improvement 6. work independently towards reaching a goal 7. evaluation if a goal has been reached

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https://brainsintheclouds.eu/wp- content/uploads/2018/09/Manual- How-To-Learn-in-the-Clouds.pdf

https://brainsintheclouds.eu

Overall Evaluation Results

• MINIMAX supported by digital materials and tools, proved to fit the needs of the participants

better and led to a higher motivation for learning

• Children became interested in learning again

(Slovakia: children that hardly participated in school classes stayed in the afternoon to participate in the program and showed excitement and pride when finishing a task)

• High attendance rates (From 100 Roma students, only one student withdrew from the HiC program)
• Better performance in school (English, Mathematics, Geography and Biology)
• Reading and writing skills improved across all locations
• Kids learned how to handle devices such as computers and tablets
• Behavior and social skills and interaction of the participating children greatly improved
• Romania: kids went from group work to individual work
• Slovakia: Girls would often come and ask for more tasks
• Independence in engagement rose drastically
• Fear of failure was also observed to demolish for some of the kids
• Gender inequality was addressed at a large scale
• Students learned to cooperate, communicate and showed increased ambition (wanted to stay longer)
• Children increased ability to coordinate, facilitate and analyze their own learning process
• Changes in children’s attitude towards initiative taking

(e.g. previously silent observers started to take initiative, individuals with leadership spirit grew and engaged even more)

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Further results and lessons learned

• Educators
• Mind shift in the work of the educators could be observed (inclusion of non-formal education techniques)
• Digital competences of educators were raised
• New understanding of basic obstacles for learning such as security and safety as a prerequisite
• “Hands-on“ activities, involving all senses work best
• Common challenges: long texts, basic concepts (e.g. world map, role models)
• To convey specific educational contents a minimal degree of intervention and guidance by

mentors appears to be indispensable

• Although the content of the educational modules is identical – very different ways of

implementing the boxes in different locations MINIMAX as possible extension/supplement to conventional teaching curricula, enabling students to acquire new learning contents in a playful and self-explanatory manner, driven by curiosity and the desire for knowledge. MINIMAX offers a way back to education for children and young adults who have already dropped-out of school

• 6. LONG TERM IMPACT

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Long Term Impact & SDGs

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Environmental Sustainability Reduced Inequalities Economic Growth Quality Education Higher Employment Rates Poverty Alleviation Healthy Lifestyle

Educational Modules

Inclusive Learning Environments ICTs Access to Information Digital Literacy Personal Empowerment Knowledge, Competences, and Skills, Transversal Skills Regular Attendance

Program Outcome Impact SDG 4 SDG 3 SDG 10 SDG 8 SDG 1 SDG 13 SDG 8

• 7. CONCLUSION

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Conclusion

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HEAD IN THE CLOUDS PROJECT

 Access to quality education for marginalized communities  Increasing digital literacy  Acquiring knowledge in various domains  Development of transversal skills and competences

(negotiation, problem solving, presentation, intercultural skills, collaboration)

 Personal development

(self-confidence, independence and initiative taking)

 Mind shift of educators and youth workers Innovative learning approach: MINIMAX

(Self-organized, engaging, collaborative, hands-on, facilitated by adult encouragement)

State of the art IT-devices

(Tablets, Raspberry Pis, Makey Makey, Ozobots, Minecraft, Scratch and Lego WeDo, Python)

Modular structured educational modules

(Video, IT 101, English, Programming, Ekopolis and Real Life)

Incorporation of sustainability principles at the core of the curriculum to improve social and economic conditions in the long-term

https://brainsintheclouds.eu

Contact: Dipl.-Ing. Niina Maarit Novak, MSc BSc Vienna University of Technology Information and Software Engineering Group

• Favoritenstr. 9-11/194-01, A-1040 Vienna, Austria

Tel.: +43 (1) 58801-188648 Mail: niina.novak@ifs.tuwien.ac.at

Thank you for your attention!

All educational modules, handbooks and the documentary are available on the project website

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