Keep IT simple !

We started out from similar interests and challenges, we want to invest in digital materials. To keep the project idea of Keep IT Simple, we want to focus on what children can learn from each othe...

We started out from similar interests and challenges, we want to invest in digital materials. To keep the project idea of Keep IT Simple, we want to focus on what children can learn from each other, : if a child can explain it to another child, it should work for a teacher, educator or parent... We involved Belgian students to critically test apps and tools, to learn to use them, to learn to use them in other schools and settings in Sweden and Portugal. Teachers could see benefits, without losing time of testing things out, but stay fully motivated to integrate good practice in their class full of toddlers. All partners were on a search to find methods and tools for progress. We wanted to make a difference for the teachers and students in digital skills and sustainability. We could see that there are different varieties of digital tools and we would like to work on a strategy for how to use them at different ages and for children with special needs.

We wanted to bring teachers and students of all ages together. By being involved in this Erasmus+ project, we hope to provide them with targeted education.Teachers themselves are often somewhat afraid and hesitant about the digital approach. The children can reassure them, if a child can teach it to a child , it must be simple ! We hope for learning gains,from all involved : young children, SENstudents , teachers, parents, ... We worked out various lessonplans and tested them at our schools. We don't just want to do gamification, we want to focus on extra learning opportunities and deep lesson content. We also want to focus on digital literacy and we want to reach parents so that they also participate in the digital world within education. We travelled to each other ( meetings ) and we used our digital resources to meet each other on screen, to work for greener ways of implementing the project. During the project we also learned about the SDGs. We learned about sustainability and developed learning content around the themes of the SDGs. We tested this with digital tools, we made a site, with an overview of how we noticed SDGs in the different countries, again with an eye for similarities and differences.

We worked out lessonplans on : Lego for education, Stop Motion, Canva, Kahoot, Quizlet Live, Imovie, Iclaps, Chatterpix, Bookwidget, Bookcreator, QRcode. We shared good practice and focused on integration of IT into schoolcurriculum, by working with Google platform, by using chromebooks and tablets, by using Beebots and Bluebots. We created a Google Site for evaluation and outcome results. We wrote an E-book as a result of our project. We worked out a charter on media literacy. We hoped to change the teachers' thinking and abilities in using digital tools. We focus on integration of apps, tools, hardware and software linked to this project, within all partnerschools. A larger number of young children participated in the project, so we automatically reached their parents and educators. We saw that they all were prepared to work with enthousiasm, into a mulitnational project, with a certain level of English and independance. We also saw cultural diversity and similarities in Belgium, Sweden, Portugal and European citizenship.