City of Piikkiö / Salvelanrinteen koulu
Marko Kuuskorpi
For Whom It May Concern
PRACTICAL RESEARCH
The study is realized through the international learning environment development project of Salvelanrinteen koulu school in Piikkiö, Finland. The aim of this development project is to develop quality criteria and through them a learning environment scenario and the concrete learning environment proposals connected to it. The practical testing of the project is completed within a scientific framework, but keeping it user based and applying the principles of simulation and subject learning. In addition to Finnish schools, European schools and their administrative officials participate in the testing. Their purpose is also to clarify European learning environment criteria. The research project is linked to the OECD Schooling for Tomorrow project and the Education to the Future (Koulutus Tulevaisuuteen) project of FNBE and the follow-up studies of these.
The practical implementation of the research is carried out through an international project relating to developing of learning environments in school level.The project has been supported by National Board of Education since 2006 and its working name is Forum for the Future. Forum for the Future is a European networking project directed towards future. It will last about 3 years (2008 - 2011). The project is carried out in learning environments, in cooperation with school and National Board of Education. New operating models and networking structures are to be developed through networking.
Forum for the Future is a versatile project, which operates on two levels. On one hand it involves the learning environment development project by Salvelanrinteen koulu. This part should produce interdisciplinary information about European schools. On the other hand, by said project functions also an international network, through which material is collected and spread. Operations are planned and implemented in one's own school unit, in cooperation with school and National Board of Education and in joint networking meetings and meetings of immediate units. New operating models and learning environments are formed from the information collected through networking.
Through the development of social and technical solutions relating to the project, communications between schools is easier and new channels can be created easily. Therefore in examination of the beneficiaries, one tries to bring together our national school network as well as European schools. Many of the schools involved are already part of other networks, so attention will be paid in particular to PR so that the researched information can be spread as wide as possible.
Since the developing involves actively also the boards of education in each target country, one can summarize that target group and beneficiaries are transversely all organizations involved in learning and education and their interest groups. Therefore Forum for the Future project is an interdisciplinary research, which aims to produce empiric, theoretic as well as pragmatic information. The selection of the research approach is also supported by working group memo relating to the research of learning environments and promotion of it published by FNBE (2004, 12).
The memo emphasizes the vision of the research of learning environments and improving its position as well as the preconditions of developing multidisciplinary research cooperation. In addition in the background memo relating to the Schooling for Tomorrow project by FNBE Metsämuuronen and Mattila (2007, 2) emphasize in the development of future oriented learning environments that focus should be in the development of the possibilities of the national, local and school level parties to influence and cooperate. Metsämuuronen and Mattila (2007) illustrate this vision with the figure below.
Operational level in the development of learning environments in the Schooling for Tomorrow Finland report (Metsämuuronen J., Mattila P. 2007,2)
The future learning process should be seen as an open, investigative and flexible interactive project, in which process participants will utilize the produced information in a way, which suites them the best. In addition to official, published outputs and results the project will produce local, regional, national and pan-European harmonized practices that are noticed to be good or follow-up projects, which are to be utilized in the best way possible. Since one of the goals of this project is to create more permanent networks, the development of learning environments will not stop even if the project is ended officially.
1. Practical scheduling
The practical work and scheduling are tied to the learning environment simulation project and to forming the learning environment scenario prepared on the base of the information gathered with it. The goal of the simulation project is to model the central factors in learning environment planning and find important research areas in them. To make this goal concrete, the base used for the planning is the criteria set for a good school in the FNBE book “Healthy and safe school building” (Terveellinen ja turvallinen koulurakennus).
The research goal is to produce research information on learning environments that is scientifically proven and user based and that is made concrete as learning environment proposals produced by the participating schools. The same proposal functions as the learning environment scenario that is presented in the result and report phase. The concrete base for the planning is the demonstration part of the learning environment that was presented in connection with the Grasping the Future 08 seminar 1.-3.10.2008 in Helsinki. The participating countries and their organization levels are presented in the list below and the table after it:
The participating schools are as follows:
Avelar / Escola Basica 2.3 de Avelar, Portugal
Huddinge kommun / Trånsundsskolan, Sweden
Česka Lipa / Česka Lipa Gymnazium, The Czech Republic
Hardenburg / Vechdal Gollege, Holland
Neuenhaus / Lise Meitner Gymnasium, Germany
San Lorenzo De El Escoria / Ies Juan De Herrera, Spain
Vrije Basisschool Zedelgem De Leeuw / Zedelgem, the secondary school St Amandscollege, Belgium
Mäntsälän kunta / Ohkolan koulu, Finland
Nilsiän kunta / Nilsiän yhtenäiskoulu, Finland
Paraisten kaupunki / Sarlinska Skolan, Finland
Kaarinan kaupunki / Salvelanrinteen koulu (Co-ordinating school), Finland
Administrative levels and their representatives by country:
A. Preparation
Aa. Partnership invitations
Ab. Confirming partnerships
Ac. Defining project goals (1-2.10. 2008 Grasping the Future- seminar in Helsinki)
B. Strategy
Ba Choosing working method
Bb Formalizing working method
Bc Elaborating working method
Bd Designing working method in practice
C. Simulation
Ca Preparations
Cb Background interviews
Cc Simulation plan
Cd Implementation of simulation (2009 end)
D. Processing results
Da Result collecting
Db Result summary
Dc Result analyzing
Dd Conclusions
E. Results
Ea Evaluation
Eb Result aggregation
Ec Preparing publication
Ee Publication (autumn 2011)
2. Simulation project progress
A planning meeting was held in Helsinki on the 2nd of October to start the research project that aims to develop learning environments. The meeting defined the goals, schedules and resources of the project. The simulation phases are presented in the image below.
2.10.2008—............................................................................................. —›31.12.201 Planning » modelling » interviews and preparation» simulation » results and reports
The simulation project is started in connection with the OECD Schooling for Future end conference in Helsinki 1.-3.10.2008. Representatives from all schools will be invited to this meeting. In addition to presenting the project, meeting is also used to agree upon collecting information with the questionnaires. This future organizing questionnaire is directed at school principals, teachers and school administration representatives. This questionnaire also maps the skills, abilities and education needs for school operators. Each school takes part in producing the quality criteria as well as preparing the scenario, which is to be composed into a common proposal at the end of 2009 in the common forum. Reports are written on the results of the questionnaire as planned.
After the Forum, a set of questions is drafted on the basis of Inquiry 1 for the simulation. The first inquiry is a base for the actual inquiry, which collects the critical quality factors in a learning environment together and their significance is estimated country by country. On the basis of the theoretical model, each school drafts a development plan. The schools analyze their operations, prepare for development needs and draft the strategic priorities and foci for developing their own school in co-operation with the school administration. The result is a plan of action for future learning environments, which clarifies development need and actions form now to 2030. The plan presents the weaknesses as well as strong points, but also the critical parts. A Learning Environment in 2030 scenario is to be drafted on the basis of the plans of all of the schools and countries through simulation.
The simulation itself is to be realized in the autumn of 2009. After this the results are analyzed, and the result will be a theoretic and concrete model of European learning environments in 2030. The process it self and its results are to be assessed in the third inquiry, which ensures the correctness of the results and conclusions.
3. Information scheduling
Spreading the results has been scheduled in accordance with the progress of the project through two parts. Three official reports that set the results and new intermediate goals are written for internal use of the Forum for the Future by the coordinator. Naturally, more internal reporting takes place, but on a more unofficial level. The goal is that the reports serve the Future Learning Environment 2030 scenario publication. The Future Learning Environment 2030 scenario is to be prepared in co-operation with CERI's Schooling for Tomorrow project and the following 21st Learning Environment project. The main goal is still a end report that deals with development of learning environments and the emphasis of which is especially on socio-pedagogical solutions.
Information progress (project calendar)
2006-2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Aa
----------Ab*
-----Ac
------Ad
--------Ba
A. Publication preparing reporting (Forum for the Future)
Aa. Presenting the Forum for the Future project
Ab. Goal report (* 29.9.-1.10.2008 SfT- end seminar in Finland)
Ac. Simulation foundations (reporting)
Ad. Simulation end report
City of Piikkiö / Salvelanrinteen koulu
Marko Kuuskorpi
For Whom It May Concern
PRACTICAL RESEARCH
The study is realized through the international learning environment development project of Salvelanrinteen koulu school in Piikkiö, Finland. The aim of this development project is to develop quality criteria and through them a learning environment scenario and the concrete learning environment proposals connected to it. The practical testing of the project is completed within a scientific framework, but keeping it user based and applying the principles of simulation and subject learning. In addition to Finnish schools, European schools and their administrative officials participate in the testing. Their purpose is also to clarify European learning environment criteria. The research project is linked to the OECD Schooling for Tomorrow project and the Education to the Future (Koulutus Tulevaisuuteen) project of FNBE and the follow-up studies of these.
The practical implementation of the research is carried out through an international project relating to developing of learning environments in school level. The project has been supported by National Board of Education since 2006 and its working name is Forum for the Future. Forum for the Future is a European networking project directed towards future. It will last about 3 years (2008 - 2011). The project is carried out in learning environments, in cooperation with school and National Board of Education. New operating models and networking structures are to be developed through networking.
Forum for the Future is a versatile project, which operates on two levels. On one hand it involves the learning environment development project by Salvelanrinteen koulu. This part should produce interdisciplinary information about European schools. On the other hand, by said project functions also an international network, through which material is collected and spread. Operations are planned and implemented in one's own school unit, in cooperation with school and National Board of Education and in joint networking meetings and meetings of immediate units. New operating models and learning environments are formed from the information collected through networking.
Through the development of social and technical solutions relating to the project, communications between schools is easier and new channels can be created easily. Therefore in examination of the beneficiaries, one tries to bring together our national school network as well as European schools. Many of the schools involved are already part of other networks, so attention will be paid in particular to PR so that the researched information can be spread as wide as possible.
Since the developing involves actively also the boards of education in each target country, one can summarize that target group and beneficiaries are transversely all organizations involved in learning and education and their interest groups. Therefore Forum for the Future project is an interdisciplinary research, which aims to produce empiric, theoretic as well as pragmatic information. The selection of the research approach is also supported by working group memo relating to the research of learning environments and promotion of it published by FNBE (2004, 12).
The memo emphasizes the vision of the research of learning environments and improving its position as well as the preconditions of developing multidisciplinary research cooperation. In addition in the background memo relating to the Schooling for Tomorrow project by FNBE Metsämuuronen and Mattila (2007, 2) emphasize in the development of future oriented learning environments that focus should be in the development of the possibilities of the national, local and school level parties to influence and cooperate. Metsämuuronen and Mattila (2007) illustrate this vision with the figure below.
[[image:file:C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ctari%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image002.gif width="364" height="343"]]
Operational level in the development of learning environments in the Schooling for Tomorrow Finland report (Metsämuuronen J., Mattila P. 2007,2)
The future learning process should be seen as an open, investigative and flexible interactive project, in which process participants will utilize the produced information in a way, which suites them the best. In addition to official, published outputs and results the project will produce local, regional, national and pan-European harmonized practices that are noticed to be good or follow-up projects, which are to be utilized in the best way possible. Since one of the goals of this project is to create more permanent networks, the development of learning environments will not stop even if the project is ended officially.
1. Practical scheduling
The practical work and scheduling are tied to the learning environment simulation project and to forming the learning environment scenario prepared on the base of the information gathered with it. The goal of the simulation project is to model the central factors in learning environment planning and find important research areas in them. To make this goal concrete, the base used for the planning is the criteria set for a good school in the FNBE book “Healthy and safe school building” (Terveellinen ja turvallinen koulurakennus).
The research goal is to produce research information on learning environments that is scientifically proven and user based and that is made concrete as learning environment proposals produced by the participating schools. The same proposal functions as the learning environment scenario that is presented in the result and report phase. The concrete base for the planning is the demonstration part of the learning environment that was presented in connection with the Grasping the Future 08 seminar 1.-3.10.2008 in Helsinki. The participating countries and their organization levels are presented in the list below and the table after it:
The participating schools are as follows:
Avelar / Escola Basica 2.3 de Avelar, Portugal
Huddinge kommun / Trånsundsskolan, Sweden
Česka Lipa / Česka Lipa Gymnazium, The Czech Republic
Hardenburg / Vechdal Gollege, Holland
Neuenhaus / Lise Meitner Gymnasium, Germany
San Lorenzo De El Escoria / Ies Juan De Herrera, Spain
Vrije Basisschool Zedelgem De Leeuw / Zedelgem, the secondary school St Amandscollege, Belgium
Mäntsälän kunta / Ohkolan koulu, Finland
Nilsiän kunta / Nilsiän yhtenäiskoulu, Finland
Paraisten kaupunki / Sarlinska Skolan, Finland
Kaarinan kaupunki / Salvelanrinteen koulu (Co-ordinating school), Finland
Administrative levels and their representatives by country:
Kaat De Backer
The project has been scheduled as follows:
2008 Preparation
2009 Start-up
2010 Simulation
2011 Results
Preliminary project calendar
Preliminary project calendar
Ab---------------
Ac-(*)
Bb----------
Bc-------------
Bd--------
Bd----------------
--------------------
---------
Cb------------
Cc------
Cd-
Db-------------
Dc----
Dd----
Ec-----------------
Eb----------
Ee
A. Preparation
Aa. Partnership invitations
Ab. Confirming partnerships
Ac. Defining project goals (1-2.10. 2008 Grasping the Future- seminar in Helsinki)
B. Strategy
Ba Choosing working method
Bb Formalizing working method
Bc Elaborating working method
Bd Designing working method in practice
C. Simulation
Ca Preparations
Cb Background interviews
Cc Simulation plan
Cd Implementation of simulation (2009 end)
D. Processing results
Da Result collecting
Db Result summary
Dc Result analyzing
Dd Conclusions
E. Results
Ea Evaluation
Eb Result aggregation
Ec Preparing publication
Ee Publication (autumn 2011)
2. Simulation project progress
A planning meeting was held in Helsinki on the 2nd of October to start the research project that aims to develop learning environments. The meeting defined the goals, schedules and resources of the project. The simulation phases are presented in the image below.
2.10.2008—............................................................................................. —›31.12.201
Planning » modelling » interviews and preparation» simulation » results and reports
The simulation project is started in connection with the OECD Schooling for Future end conference in Helsinki 1.-3.10.2008. Representatives from all schools will be invited to this meeting. In addition to presenting the project, meeting is also used to agree upon collecting information with the questionnaires. This future organizing questionnaire is directed at school principals, teachers and school administration representatives. This questionnaire also maps the skills, abilities and education needs for school operators. Each school takes part in producing the quality criteria as well as preparing the scenario, which is to be composed into a common proposal at the end of 2009 in the common forum. Reports are written on the results of the questionnaire as planned.
After the Forum, a set of questions is drafted on the basis of Inquiry 1 for the simulation. The first inquiry is a base for the actual inquiry, which collects the critical quality factors in a learning environment together and their significance is estimated country by country. On the basis of the theoretical model, each school drafts a development plan. The schools analyze their operations, prepare for development needs and draft the strategic priorities and foci for developing their own school in co-operation with the school administration. The result is a plan of action for future learning environments, which clarifies development need and actions form now to 2030. The plan presents the weaknesses as well as strong points, but also the critical parts. A Learning Environment in 2030 scenario is to be drafted on the basis of the plans of all of the schools and countries through simulation.
The simulation itself is to be realized in the autumn of 2009. After this the results are analyzed, and the result will be a theoretic and concrete model of European learning environments in 2030. The process it self and its results are to be assessed in the third inquiry, which ensures the correctness of the results and conclusions.
3. Information scheduling
Spreading the results has been scheduled in accordance with the progress of the project through two parts. Three official reports that set the results and new intermediate goals are written for internal use of the Forum for the Future by the coordinator. Naturally, more internal reporting takes place, but on a more unofficial level. The goal is that the reports serve the Future Learning Environment 2030 scenario publication. The Future Learning Environment 2030 scenario is to be prepared in co-operation with CERI's Schooling for Tomorrow project and the following 21st Learning Environment project. The main goal is still a end report that deals with development of learning environments and the emphasis of which is especially on socio-pedagogical solutions.
Information progress (project calendar)
----------Ab*
A. Publication preparing reporting (Forum for the Future)
Aa. Presenting the Forum for the Future project
Ab. Goal report (* 29.9.-1.10.2008 SfT- end seminar in Finland)
Ac. Simulation foundations (reporting)
Ad. Simulation end report
B. Future Learning Environment 2030 –scenario publication (OECD)
Ba. Future Learning Environment 2030 –scenario publication (OECD)