Periodic Reporting for period 2 - iHub4Schools (Accelerating Digital Innovation in Schools through Regional Innovation Hubs and a Whole-School Mentoring Model)
Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-06-30
iHub4Schools is poised to bridge this gap. The project's objectives are twofold:
1) Creation of Regional Innovation Hubs: These hubs act as pivotal centers to spread digital innovation at various scales: local, regional, national, and even cross-border. A school mentoring model was designed and implemented through the hubs to cater intra and inter-school and wider community dynamics.
2) Enhancement of networks: By forming co-creation teams and national stakeholder networks, iHub4Schools aims to foster collaboration among universities, schools, industries, and policymakers. This synergy will streamline the introduction of cutting-edge technology-enhanced practices into schools.
From iHub4Schools' initiatives, five Regional Innovation Hubs have been developed, complemented with support mechanisms, School mentoring model and methods, and policy guidelines. Our project underscores the importance of strong policy and leadership for sustainable adaptation and acceleration of digital innovation. Moreover, fostering teacher collaboration, integrating digital maturity in school development plans, and ensuring motivation and incentives are crucial for a widespread shift in the educational paradigm.
The project targeted the creation of a knowledge base, blending evidence-based pedagogy-grounded strategies for technology-enhanced learning and whole-school peer-learning methodologies, more than 1500 learning scenarios and tasks were created by the teachers for variety of school levels and subjects to foster the development of students' digital competence.
iHub4Schools designed a adaptive school mentoring model addressing both inter and intra-school dynamics, which was piloted with more than 600 teachers. An incentive scheme was co-created to strengthen the roles of teachers and schools as mentors and mentees.
Consolidating project outcomes, iHub4Schools introduced a policy recommendation package, which was rooted in project work and was collaboratively developed with policy professionals and experts. It provides an insightful guide on establishing Regional Innovation Hubs and deploying school-to-school mentoring models, considering the diverse educational settings across different countries.
The potential for disseminating and leveraging these results is large. Our findings present a concise roadmap for educators, policymakers, and various stakeholders to drive meaningful change in education, emphasising the interplay between pedagogy and technology. The school mentoring model and related methods serve as invaluable resources for teacher trainers and mentors to support teachers to integrate technology into practice. Furthermore, the toolkit empowers a range of stakeholders to evaluate the uptake of innovations, while the support mechanisms provide a framework for mentoring program developers to establish sustainable professional communities.
training etc). The major focus of the project is on supporting the schools to become innovation agents to spread the innovative practices on digital innovation. Through such an approach, it is possible to propose solutions on how to engage less active teachers and schools in embracing digital innovation, and how to support mentor teachers, which in turn supports the idea that all learners can be part of a learning process that supports the development of future skills.