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The InterActive Education Project has highlighted ways in which teachers can develop new practices to incorporate ICT in teaching and learning. The research has already had an impact among teachers and schools involved in the project, and among interested others in the region and beyond. The challenge is get the work more widely known and to find new ways of representing our results to teachers generally so that they can make use of our findings.
It was this challenge that lay behind our application to the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme for funding to communicate our findings and pursue ways to involve teachers to increase the impact of the research. We have been working on this project during 2005.
The "Tools" are designed to:
- present authentic evidence of innovation which shows what is possible in "real" classrooms
- support teachers to reflect on practice and to design rich teaching and learning initiatives which are informed by research evidence
- encourage ongoing dialogue and investigation
The tools we have produced as part of the project include:
A research library on our web site.
Mini-databases of relevant and up to date research findings have been condensed into useful "sound bites" to help users find their way to research and other literature that is relevant to them. This facility complements various national resource sites including the recent DNER (Distribute National Electronic Resources) initiative that provides a research and learning database.
Video stories
Case studies of teachers taking up the challenge of using ICT. These "portraits from practice" tell a story about the ways in which a particular teacher encountered the challenge presented by the use of ICT in their teaching. The stories include video clips and contextualising data from the teacher and the school. Each story is framed by key questions asked and faced by the teacher. Sources of relevant research which users of the tool may want to draw on are highlighted.
Video clips of authentic classroom events
These are chosen to illustrate fine analysis of particular aspects of teaching and learning with ICT. They can be studiesdalone, downloadedfrom the web or projected with groups. They are intended to stimulate discussion and encourage teachers and student teachers to engage in reflective action. Sources of relevant research are highlighted and links made to the project's web-based research library.
Tools for Transforming Learning supports the TLRP's objective of enhancing learning. Our aim is that it will contribute to raising the profile of evidence-informed teaching and learning.
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