TellNet Tellnet

The Tellnet project is now officially over! The project lasted for three years from December 1 2009 to November 30 2012. We are now wrapping things up and submitting our final reports. In the process, we keep putting our latest material and outcoms out on the Tellnet site.

The Tellnet was part of the Key Activity 4 'Dissemination and Exploitation of Results', one of the aims of which being "… to ensure that the results of the LLP are appropriately recognised, demonstrated and implemented on a wide scale." Towards this goal, the Tellnet project has sought wider audience through academic publishing in conference and journal. Additionally, seeking external quality assurance and validation through scientific peer reviews was also an integral part of the quality processes designed within the project.

This has resulted in 10 conference and journal papers, one series of symposium papers (3 papers) and additional 2 workshop papers. They are enlisted below.

Conference and journal papers

• Fetter, S., Berlanga, A. J., & Sloep, P. (2010). Fostering social capital in a learning network: laying the groundwork for a peer-support service. International Journal of Learning Technology, 5(4), 388 – 400. doi:10.1504/IJLT.2010.038774
• Fetter, S., Berlanga, A. J., Sloep, P. B., Vegt, W. v. d., Rajagopal, K., & Brouns, F. (2013). Using Peer-Support to Connect Learning Network Participants to Each Other: An Interdisciplinary Approach. International Journal of Learning Technology.
• Kampylis, P., Brocconi, S., & Punie, Y. (2012). Fostering innovative pedagogical practices through online networks: the case of eTwinning. Presented at the SQM & INSPIRE Conference, Tampere, Finland. Retrieved from http://www.sis.uta.fi/sqm2012/inspire-talks.html
• Pham, M., Cao, Y., Klamma, R., & Jarke, M. (2011). A Clustering Approach for Collaborative Filtering Recommendation UsingSocial Network Analysis. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 17(4). Retrieved from http://www.jucs.org/jucs_17_4/a_clustering_approach_for
• Pham, M. C., Kovachev, D., Cao, Y., Mbogos, G. M., & Klamma, R. (2012). Enhancing Academic Event Participation with Context-aware and Social Recommendations. Presented at the ASONAM. Retrieved from http://manet.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/~kovachev/publications/ASONAM2012_CR.pdf
• Pham, M., Derntl, M., Cao, Y., & Klamma, R. (2012). Learning Analytics for Learning Blogospheres. In Advances in Web-Based Learning-ICWL 2012 (pp. 258–267). Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/index/Y5MU85X212QM4663.pdf
• Song, E., Petrushyna, Z., Cao, Y., & Klamma, R. (2011). Learning Analytics at Large: The Lifelong Learning Network of 160,000 European Teachers. In C. D. Kloos, D. Gillet, R. M. Crespo García, F. Wild, & M. Wolpers (Eds.), Towards Ubiquitous Learning (Vol. 6964, pp. 398–411). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/x402xq1904m507r2/
• Vuorikari, R., Berlanga, A. J., Cachia, R., Cao, Y., Fetter, S., Gilleran, A., … Sloep, P. B. (2011). ICT-Based School Collaboration, Teachers’ Networks and their Opportunities for Teachers’ Professional Development - A Case Study on eTwinning. In H. Leung, E. Popescu, Y. Cao, R. W. H. Lau, & W. Nejdl (Eds.), Advances in Web-based Learning (Vol. LNCS 7048, pp. pp. 112–121). Presented at the ICWL 2011, Hong Kong, China, December 8-10, 2011.: Springer-Verlag. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/m307684517q5626l/
• Vuorikari, R., Gilleran, A., & Scimeca, S. (2011). Growing beyond Innovators – ICT-Based School Collaboration in eTwinning. In C. D. Kloos, D. Gillet, R. M. Crespo García, F. Wild, & M. Wolpers (Eds.), Towards Ubiquitous Learning (Vol. 6964, pp. 537–542). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/e5647123267h3473/
• Vuorikari, R., & Scimeca, S. (2012). Social Learning Analytics to study Teachers’ Large-scale Professional Networks. In IFIP-OST’12 Conference. Presented at the Open and Social Technologies for Networked Learning, Tallinn: Springer LNCS. Retrieved from http://ifip-ost12.tlu.ee/

Symposium papers

• Berlanga, A. J., & Vuorikari, R. (Eds.). (2012). Symposium - Learning Networks for Professional Development: Current  Research Approaches and Future Trends. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Networked Learning 2012. Maastricht, The Netherlands.
  • Cachia, R., & Punie, Y. (2012). Teacher Collaboration in the Context of Networked Learning. Current eTwinning Practices and Future Perspectives. In Symposium: Learning Networks for Professional Development: Current Research Approaches and Future Trends. Presented at the Networked Learning Conference. Retrieved from http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/abstracts/pdf/cachia.pdf
  • Pham, M. C., Cao, Y., Petrushyna, Z., & Klamma, R. (2012). Learning Analytics in a Teachers’ Social Network. In Symposium: Learning Networks for Professional Development: Current Research Approaches and Future Trends. Presented at the Networked Learning Conference. Retrieved from http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/abstracts/pdf/pham.pdf
  • Rajagopal, K., Berlanga, A., & Sloep, P. (2012). Supporting Teachers’ Networked Learning Skills for More Online Engagement. In Symposium: Learning Networks for Professional Development: Current Research Approaches and Future Trends. Presented at the Networked Learning Conference. Retrieved from http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/handle/1820/4225

Workshop papers

• Fetter, S., Rajagopal, K., Berlanga, A., & Sloep, P. (2011). Ad Hoc Transient Groups: Instruments for Awareness in Learning Networks. In Proceedings of the 1st European Workshop on Awareness and Reflection in Learning Networks (ARNets11). Presented at the 6th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, Palermo, Italy. Retrieved from http://dspace.ou.nl/handle/1820/3826
• Vuorikari, R. (2011). Virtual mobility and teachers’ collaboration networks. Presented at the The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, "Mobility as a tool to acquire and develop competences from childhood to seniority, Poland. Retrieved from http://konferencje.frse.org.pl/Presidency-mobility/lang:en

Closely related

Drachsler, H., Verbert, K., Manouselis, N., Vuorikari, R., Wolpers, M., & Lindstaedt, S. (2012). Preface [Special issue on data℡–Data Supported Research in Technology-Enhanced Learning]. Retrieved from http://lnx-hrl-075v.web.pwo.ou.nl/handle/1820/4633

The Tellnet project has helped create a new type of professional development material for eTwinning teachers. The material comes with easy to use instructions and it can be used by any teachers, for example with colleagues in the same school or with teachers in another school.

The material consists of five scenarios introducing different possible futures of teachers’ profession in compulsory education in 2025. By reflecting on possible futures through the support of five scenarios, teachers are encouraged to discuss and explore different ideas of how the teacher profession could be in 2025 and beyond.

The material is now available on the eTwinning Portal and it has been translated into 24 languages, just like many other materaial on the eTwinning Portal. There is also a Teachers' Room to encourage teachers to exchange on the topi

120 eTwinners participated in a Learning Event called "The Future School - School in 2020". The Learning Event, which is part of eTwinning's offer for tecahers' professional development, included 6 parts. It was carried out from November 5 to 22 2012.

Below, we give an outline of some of the activities:

1. One of the parts focused on the Tellnet's scnarios for the teaching profession in 2025.
Riina Vuorikari, Tellnet's project manager, gave an online lecture to explain the context for the scenarios. The participants continued the activity using Google docs and other online tools to reflect on their own views on the future. The slides are availble below.

2.Teachers' thoughts about School in 2020

Teachers worked as teams and created an eBook of their thoughts and reflections on the topic in general (Schools in 2020) and on the Tellnet scenarios in particular. The book is available here.

3. Lesson plans in schools 

Teachers worked on producing and sharing lesson plans. They can be viewed in the slides below.

The concept of "Teacher networks" was presented in a national event called "Spaning på IT i skolan" for Swedish education policy-makers and shapers in Stockholm on November 21 2012. Around 80 people participanted in the event from the MoE, the National Agency for Education, the School Inspectorate, and other agencies and local decision makers. 

The event also included input from UNESCO’s work on ”Mobile Learning” by Francesc Pedró and final results from the OECD's recent study called Connected Minds by Lynda Hawe.

Below the presentation from the Tellnet project manager Dr. Riina Vuorikari.

The session in the Media & Learning Conference in Brussels was attended by 30 people. The session shared results from the Tellnet project and gave an update on teachers' practices on the use of social media in schools for educational purposes.

• Teacher networks for professional development: Riina Vuorikari (below)
• Teacher networks in 2025: Yves Punie

 Pictures from the workshop courtesy of Media and Learning Conference, more pictures available in the Gallery

128 eTwinning Ambassadors from 30 countires attended the Professional Development Workshop in Athens, Greece. The keynote focused on the eTwinning teams in schools (an upcoming book with 15 case studies on eTwinning school teams) and on Teacher networks, the upcoming Tellnet publication.

The new Tellnet publication deals with the evolving role of the teaching profession and the role of teacher networks in response to changing skills needs in society. The book, called "Teacher Network - Today's and tomorrow's challenges and opportunities for the teaching profession", argues that teachers can be the main change agents for reforms of education, provided that they are well supported and enabled to do so. Recently, various teacher networks have emerged at the local and international scale, and questions around their role in supporting teachers, both in their Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Continuous Professional Development (CPD), have been raised.

Download here the pdf in English, a short version in German, in French, in Spanish and in Dutch.

The book will be officially launched at the Media & Learning Conference in Brussels on Nov 14, 2012. The Tellnet also runs a workshop called "Social media networks in schools and in teacher’s lives" on the same day from 11.30 to 13.00.

The RWTH Aachen, one of the project partners, recently participated in the following conferences where Tellnet related results were presented.
 
ICWL 2012 (2-4 Sept., 2012, Sinaia, Romania, http://www.hkws.org/conference/icwl2012/)
This year, RWTH Aachen has a full paper accepted to the conference called “Learning Analytics for Learning Blogospheres”.  In this paper, we exemplify the learning analytics approach using two real-world learning blogospheres: the Mediabase -- a large blog collection for technology enhanced learning, and the European eTwinning Network -- a lifelong learning blogsphere. 

ASONAM 2012 (26-29 Aug., 2012, Istanbul, Turkey, http://www.asonam2012.etu.edu.tr/)
ASONAM is a high-quality annual conference in the research field of social network analysis (SNA). Social software analysis is the main methodology applied to explore the teachers’ lifelong learning network, eTwinning. The paper, called Enhancing Academic Event Participation with Context-aware and Social Recommendations, applies the same SNA methodologies as of TeLLNet and therefore helps validate the research methodology with a wider research community.

The paper " “Learning Analytics for Learning Blogospheres” being presented in ICWL 2012.

One of the project partners, the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) has published some recent results on the project outcomes in the following European conferences.

The 17th INSPIRE conference, organized by the British Computer Society and the University of Tampere, addressed process improvement (PI) issues related to European and international teaching, training and research. JRC-IPTS presentation and related article (that is going to be published during November in the proceedings of the SQM / INSPIRE 2012 Conference) focused on the role of teachers' collaboration networks in fostering ICT-enabled innovation for learning at system level.

Kampylis, P., Bocconi, S., & Punie, Y. (in press). Fostering innovative pedagogical practices through online networks: the case of eTwinning. Proceedings of the SQM / INSPIRE 2012 Conference, Tampere, Finland, 21-23 August, 2012. Tampere, Finland: School of Information Sciences of the University of Tampere and the British Computer Society
 

The "e-Learning for All" Conference in October 2012 organised by the University of Piraeus Research Center and ITisART Ltd in the context of the eLearningExpo, which is the biggest eLearning event in Greece bringing together industry, academia and practitioners. The aim of the conference was to highlight policies and modern approaches that concern the way e-learning for all philosophy has been applied into formal and informal learning settings in order to ensure people from all walks of life have access to high quality learning.

The JRC-IPTS keynote speech entitled 'Scaling-up ICT-enabled innovation for learning: challenges and opportunities' presented IPTS ongoing research in the context of SCALE CCR and TeLLNet project (in particular the scenarios for the future of teachers profession in 2025).

Kampylis, P. (2012). Scaling-up ICT-enabled innovation for learning: challenges and opportunities. Keynote speech at the "e-Learning for All" Conference, Athens, Greece.

The 1st International Symposium on Innovation and Sustainability in Education (InSuEdu 2012) was hosted in October 2012 by the City College, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield in the context of the 10th International Conference on Software Engineering and Formal Methods. The symposium aimed to bring together educators, researchers and policy-makers who are interested in investigating innovative and sustainable models, methodologies and tools for any level of education.

In JRC-IPTS presentation entitled 'Creative Classrooms: A Systemic Approach for Mainstreaming ICT-enabled Innovation for Learning in Europe' eTwinning was presented as an existing case of ICT-enabled innovation for learning with significant scale in Europe.

Bocconi, S., Kampylis, P., & Punie, Y. (in press). Creative Classrooms: A Systemic Approach for Mainstreaming ICT-enabled Innovation for Learning in Europe. In  InSuEdu 2012 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Thessaloniki, Greece: Springer

In this JRC-IPTS report we have mapped eTwinning (and three other innovative initiatives) against the 'Mapping Framework of ICT-enabled innovation for learning' taking into account the nature of innovation, the implementation phase, the access level, the impact area and the target groups.

Kampylis, P., Bocconi, S., & Punie, Y. (2012). Towards a mapping framework of ICT-enabled innovation for learning. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. EUR 25445 EN.
 

The final Tellnet event will take place in November 14 2012 as part of the Media & Learning 2012 Conference in Brussels. A booklet with final results from the project will also be released.

The booklet will include a set of possible future scenarios of teachers’ profession in compulsory education in 2025. Although it is impossible to be certain of how the future will look like, the use of fictional scenarios help discuss plausible futures. Other inputs include research using authentic data gathered over 6 years in the European eTwinning community and focus on the importance of professional development networks for teachers' lives.

Date and time: Wednesday 14 November

11.30 - 13.00 Social media networks in schools and in teacher’s lives
Content: This participatory workshop session is organised in the context of the Tellnet and SMILE projects, both led by European Schoolnet (EUN). It will focus on how teachers use social media in schools and for their professional development purposes. Inputs will include authentic data gathered over 6 years in the European eTwinning community.

Speakers: 

• Riina Vuorikari, Tellnet project manager, European Schoolnet
• Janice Richardson, Coordinator of the Insafe and SMILE, European Schoolnet
• Yves Punie, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)

18.00 - 18.30 Drinks reception sponsored by Tellnet
Join the Tellnet and SMILE team for a drink to discuss the impact of social networks in schools and in teacher’s lives. The drink also celebrates the inaugural Digital Citizenship Research Grant received from Facebook.