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home > Media services > News > iClass workshops in Lithuania and Austria iClass workshops in Lithuania and Austria In recent months, European Schoolnet has organised two more validation workshops as part of the iClass project. Some 30 teachers and 20 students participated in the two workshops organised in Lithuania on 10-11 April (for teachers) and 19-20 May 2008 (students and teachers). The Austrian workshop was the second organised at the Tourism School in Badhofgastein and welcomed for the first time students and teachers. The Lithuanian event took place at the Teachers Professional Development Centre near Vilnius.The workshops were the occasion to demonstrate the pedagogical model at the core of iClass called Self Regulated Personalised Learning and the technical system developed by a team of software engineers which ‘translates’ the SRPL model into an online platform. Self Regulated Personalised Learning is a pedagogy which promotes personalisation of education and empowered learners able to make choices (meaningful and mindful choices as opposed to the simple action of picking) and create their own learning path based on their preferences and characters. In Lithuania, teachers had comments related to the openness of their teaching style. With iClass, there is indeed a strong focus on opening up the set of tasks and activities necessary to attain a goal (or acquire a skill). Rather than having a set of assignments given by the teachers with deadlines and tests, iClass allow the teacher to let learners choose what to learn and when to eventually acquire skills based on their own preferred learning path. One teacher said: “We have to open up the way we are used to teach. iClass also shows our unwillingness to leave a total freedom to our students thinking they couldn’t manage it.” A similar comment was heard in Austria with remarks such as: “I realised that my planning skills are wrong. Plans need to be made less linear and more holistic.” Although it seems obvious through the different workshops that with iClass, students will take more responsibility of their learning process and ultimately that the role of the teacher is expected to change from that of an instructor to that of an adviser, some barriers are still to be overcome. SRPL does not seem to be a natural process for learners and tutors who are used to more directed/traditional teaching methods. If iClass was to be introduced in class many teachers would ask for training and classroom pedagogy. As a headmaster put it, “the pedagogy in use in iClass is different to what teachers have been using and trained for. They were not trained to take in account the different learning styles of the student, or the surrounding where the student will learn.” Some participants have described iClass as ‘the future of learning’. It is also the title of a booklet created by European Schoolnet on the occasion of the final conference organised in Brussels on 26-27 May 2008. But to be the future of learning, a change in mentality will be necessary both for learners and their educators. Other events are planned or were organised on 27/05/08 in Spain, 31/05/08 in Hungary and 4/06/08 in Poland. In total more some 70 teachers will have participated in iClass validation workshops organised by European Schoolnet.
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