Abstract:

As educational technology continues to revolutionize the landscape of teaching and learning, one of the primary challenges facing educators is the continuous need for upskilling. Today teachers are continuously challenged in discovering new ways to promote learning in their disciplines, taking the most out of emerging technology. Different frameworks, such as DigCompEdu [1] or the TPACK [2] map teachers’ capacity to integrate digital and technological knowledge with subject-matter knowledge in a pedagogical context. In terms of importance, knowing how to use technology is exceeded by knowing how to design the use of technology for educational contexts. Hence, it seems valuable to shift the attention from teachers’ technical skills towards teachers’ instructional design ones.

In this paper, we explore how we can promote innovative lesson planning via a collection process for User Generated Content (UGC). The process aims to promote teachers' lesson plan design skills and sharing among a learning community. The process was part of a large-scale teacher training programme in Turin, Italy. Between 2017 and 2023, more than 1,500 primary and secondary school teachers were involved, and 270 UGCs published. The process comprises 4 phases, such as teachers’ training, teachers’ lesson planning, UGCs’ collection and feedback, and UGCs’ publication.

First, the teachers are involved in a training programme aiming at developing Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK). In other words, teachers explore how technology can support learning, at the same time teachers learn how to critically select the most appropriate digital tool according to the learning goals [2]. Framed within the DigCompEdu [1], the training explores technology as a medium to guarantee personalization and whole-class inclusion, as a trigger for creativity, problem-solving skills, and coding ones. Secondly, after completion of the training, teachers are asked to design the lesson plan for a discipline-based activity. Thus, teachers apply and combine the just learnt knowledge with their own discipline-based pedagogical experience. This step is scaffolded by a common template and it is crucial to promote technological pedagogical content knowledge. Next, teachers’ lesson plans are shared via a digital platform, and reviewed by the programme’s trainers. In this phase, teachers receive feedback on how to improve their UGCs. Once the lesson plans are comprehensive, they are published on the public platform, categorized by target and discipline.

In this paper, we will explore this collection process as a virtuous cycle. It begins with training and scaffolding teachers’ innovative lesson planning, leading to classroom experimentation. Through documentation and sharing on a platform, teachers inspire and model innovative practices, thus continuing the cycle. In conclusion, by diving into the data and identifying recurring patterns, we describe possible improvements to transferability as well.

References:
[1] Y. Punie, editor(s), C. Redecker, European framework for the digital competence of educators: DigCompEdu, Publications Office of the European Union, 2017. Retrieved from https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC107466
[2] M. Koehler, P. Mishra, “What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)?”, Contemporary issues in technology and teacher education, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 60-70, 2009.

Keywords:

User generated content, lesson planning, teacher training, TPACK.