Future Classrooms' Leadership

<< Background >> Project FCL focuses on digitalization after the COVID-19 pandemic and new, innovative ways of learning and teaching in the age of Education 4.0. The activities to be carried out for the development of digital learning resources and contents, and the use of digital learning resources developed at all stages of education and training activities form the basis of our project. The educational needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic bring along the need for excellent computing and digital skills for both school administrators, teachers and students. The fact that our students stay at home continuously and spent their education at home away from school education is a situation that puts education authorities in a difficult situation and requires breakthroughs in this way. For this reason, our schools want to open the doors to a better digital education and help them act responsibly in this chaotic educational environment, while also creating healthier communication ways among their students. Teachers need more schools and ideas when working with computers and digital materials. In this age which the teacher transforms from being a 'teacher' to being a 'guide', inspiration and practical experiences need to be designed for teachers. << Objectives >>The project achievements focused on:filling the digital competence gap of the participants, -improving technological skills or to update them, -developing communication and cooperation with EU institutions, -providing practical knowledge on the use of digital tools, -promoting 21st-century skills, international awareness of teachers and students, -increasing the involvement of students and teachers in digital education, -raising awareness of what digital competences and digital competence frameworks are, -improving participants' language skills, -improving communication, cultural interaction, collaboration and content knowledge sharing, -helping teachers deal with the risks, opportunities and consequences of digitisation -increasing and strengthen the capacity of partner institutions by improving their digital skills, use of Web 2.0 tools in the distance education process, -helping institutions to cope with the risks, opportunities and consequences of digitisation, -providing cost-effective, easy, quick access to educational content, -using digitisation to improve student learning outcomes. The main result is Guide for Future Classroom as a tool showing an appropriate image of Future Classroom and the framework of digitalisation.<< Implementation >>We conducted a preliminary analysis of the technological needs of teachers and students. Conducted evaluation of technological skills included a group of 60 teachers ( 10 teachers in each institution) and 180 students ( 30 students in each partner institution). Needs Analysis Reports were produced.Then areas for improvement were identified. Selection of teachers for 5 LTTs training was made according to the application form. Periodic evaluation of teachers' and students' knowledge was conducted before each mobility. Prior to each training, the baseline of students' and teachers' knowledge and skills was surveyed using a questionnaire, interviews and observations. After the training, teachers shared and implemented the knowledge: seminars, training of educational councils, team meetings, knowledge base. Within a period not exceeding 3 months, further evaluations were carried out using the same research tools to assess the effectiveness of the implemented measures. Then reports were prepared comparing the results obtained before and after each training. Each training event and the 2 international project meetings were additionally evaluated by the mobility participants using Google Forms in terms of organization and usability. Three more dissemination events were also evaluated by online and onsite participants of the event. A Dissemination Report with quantitative indicators was produced too. After the first year of cooperation, the activities were analyzed (Mid-year Report). Next activity related to the creation of the lesson plans. Development of framework lesson plans and their implementation in the Future Classrooms which were evaluated by teachers and students. The scenarios are included in the Guide for Future Classroom. The process of dissemination was led by many canals: school websites, institutions` Facebook, local mass media, newspapers, projects Facebook page and the project`s website. The dissemination materials were: brochures in 7 languages, 6 FCL Magazines, posters or presentations. Wanting to disseminate the project at the European level, the project coordinator participated in the 37th Pan-EU Conference on Digital Education on 20.04.2022 with a presentation on Future Classroom's Leadership - Strategies and Design. The FCL project proceeded according to its objectives and planned activities. Four working areas: management, dissemination , quality control, evaluation and monitoring of the project helped divide tasks and ensured that tasks were carried out according to quality and time guidelines. Communication between partners went smoothly using mainly What`s app, emails and 7 online meetings.<< Results >>The main Intellectual Output- Guide for the Future Classroom was created by all partners with the leadership of Romanian partner. The work on the output started in April 2022 and ended in January 2024. Work on the Guidebook was progressing according to the plan. At the beginning, in April 2022 research was done in our countries in order to prepare an analysis of the current situation regarding best practices in designing the Future Classroom. We began with applying a survey on students and teachers from our city/ schools. Moreover, we visited schools/ youth centers, school clubs etc in each country, and interviewed learners and educators in order to better understand the benefits of each setting as a learning space. The Macedonian partner prepared a template survey and all partners have disseminated it. To the end of January each partner prepared Needs Analysis Country Reports R1/ A1following a template created by Asociatia Edulifelong. Chapters of the Guide were created by all partners from June 2022 to January 2023. Asociatia Edulifelong presented a common template of the chapters. The chapters were divided as follows:1. School of the Future`s vision - Italy2.The role of the teacher in the Future Classroom- Poland3. The Future Classroom setting - Turkey4. Create technologically smart spaces- North Macedonia5.Assessment in the Future Classroom- Romania6.Analysis of the current situation regarding best practices All participants were also responsible for writing Scenarios R1/ A3 and testing them in Future Classroom.The content of the Guide was modified during the development process in order to achieve a qualitatively good result. The Guide for Classes of the Future contains a methodology for activities, digital tools and educational and organizational facilities for schools to increase digitization in schools and create Classes of the Future. All partners created Classes of the Future in which they tested the lesson plans they developed. The scenarios were modified and posted on the project's website and in the guide.The impact of the result on users will be measured qualitatively and quantitatively in terms of the degree of satisfaction of teachers with the Guide for the Classrooms of the Future - survey increase in the number of participants using the digital tools and working methods of recommendations suggested in the guide - survey number of people using the guide ( degree of dissemination). The guide was disseminated from December 2023, at the end of the implementation of the project. The other outputs that were created during the project:-Evaluation, Monitoring, Dissemination and Management Plans-Evaluation materials; Technological Needs Analyses, Pre and post-surveys for each training, Selection of Participants for the mobility, Mobility reports, Evolution and quality report after I year, Report on Assessing the Impact of Learning and Development Activities on Digital Competence- students, Report on Assessing the Impact of Learning and Development Activities on Digital Competence- teachers, Peer assessment of the Result, External assessment of the Result-Dissemination materials, FCL Magazines, brochures, presentations for workshops and ME or LTTs, promoting posters-lesson plans-Facebook page, Website-Future Classrooms