Abstract:

Agility and adaptability rank third among the 7 Survival Skills that future “Creative Innovators” of 21st century should develop. The “Agile2Learn" (A2L) Erasmus+ European Project is introducing Agile project-based learning as an approach to project management, teaching and learning that prioritizes agility, adaptability and collaboration. The Agile project-based approach is often used in business settings but it can also be applied to teaching and learning in primary and secondary education.

Designing agile learning environments that facilitate the education of teachers and further more students and fit in with the dynamically changing, volatile, unstable, ambiguous and complex world is a necessary skill for a successful 21st century education. The A2L online project includes an interactive Greek Community of Practice, in which teachers, educators, trainers and other stakeholders participate. They are supposed to promote collaboration and exchange their Agile2Learn experiences through an online platform, developed by the DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University.

This paper attempts to highlight possible effective techniques for activating and promoting the participation of trainee teachers of the Hellenic Open University team in the Agile2Learn Erasmus+ European Community of Practice (CoP). It will research ways in which they can be engaged into a reflective and interactive, innovative Agile Project-based teaching and learning that incorporates the advantages of modern business processes such as agile techniques and principles into the pedagogical and learning process. The paper also presents the platform that DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University has developed to support the Communities of Practice. The online platform makes use of a number of modern collaboration and knowledge tools such as Fora, Blogs, commenting tools, instant messaging, wiki etc. The results will offer evidence about which techniques or platform tools possibly empower the interest of the teachers in the Agile Project-based teaching and learning process and how they promote filling the gap between the instruction and theoretical e-learning and the practical classroom implementation. For this reason, a short learning program has been designed by the DAISSy Research Group and the Educational Work Coordinators of the Regional Center for Educational Planning of Western Greece (PEKES). It is addressed to a small group of teacher trainees and it is aimed at 6 selected skills of the Agile2Learn project. A more active participation in the CoP is expected, as well as boosting of reflective and interactive skills among teachers. As a result, a better classroom implementation will be achieved.

Keywords:

Agility, Agile Project-based learning, digital Community of Practice (CoP), e-learning platform.