IO-1. Guidelines
IO-1 is carried out as a “state-of-the-art” analysis and includes the necessary information for the IOs 2 to 4, which are documented in a requirements catalogue. The working title of the requirements catalogue is “Content, systemic and information technology requirements for media education in preschool age”.
A scientific analysis of the situation in the media education of preschool children in Europe is a prerequisite for a European transfer and the development of European IOs and it intends to provide requirements catalogues as a target for the IOs to be developed after this.
The necessity of this WP also follows from the very dynamic development in the IT sector especially with regard to digital media and the following functions:
- scientific analysis of the initial situation in the field of media use in pre-school education
- determination of the “state-of-the-art”
- scientific analysis of the initial situation in Europe and the partner countries concerned
- compilation and formulation of the possibly resulting new project requirements
- creation of a requirements catalogue for the transfer, taking account of the development carried out since the application
For the requirements catalogue, the following breakdown is expected from the current perspective:
- Presentation of the initial situation – specified according to IO
- Presentation of the general principles and requirements to be considered
- Requirements catalogues specified according to IO
- Notes on sustainability
- Instructions for multipliers
IO-2. Development of a modular training and further education concept in the form of an interactive manual for media education in preschool education
The modularised training and further education concept is to be provided as an interactive manual on the Kit@ portal. More and more providers of electronic devices for the use of different digital media are also taking advantage of an interactive manual. Therefore, it is only obvious for Kit@ to provide the manual with the help of innovative web technologies.
What are the special features of an interactive manual?
- Web-based maintenance & provision of the Kit@ manual
- Interactive linking of outline, terms, search possibilities within the manual
- Web-based interactive linking of outline, terms, search possibilities with external sources thus supporting rather than overloading the users
- Accessibility of information through folder structure, free-text search over all documents as well as keywords and categories
The manual will address the possibilities of incorporating media into the educational work for children in preschool age, and provide information as well as guidance on how media can be integrated. The interactive manual will therefore be directly linked to the contents / products of the IO-3 and IO-4. Since there is also a large number of external sources, an interactive manual can also include these and use them for the information of the target group. These will result in a high synergy effect and already existing manuals can supplement the information offer.
IO-3. Development of web-based e-learning user tools for qualification and coaching of educators for media education in preschool education
The web-based e-learning user tools correspond structurally to the modularised training and further education concept, which is to be provided as an interactive manual on the Kit@-portal. The detailed content is a result of the IO-1 with the corresponding requirements catalogue.
The creation of IO-2 as an interactive manual provides essential and effective learning opportunities for the educators by direct linking the manual with the corresponding learning sequences that are part of the IO-3 as well as by linking it to external sources.
For the creation of the e-learning tools, information technological elements are applied, which facilitate an efficient transfer into other languages. This means that no audible video sequences are used. Necessary information is provided by text. This makes it possible to transfer to other languages via the so-called language tables, which do not require any special IT knowledge from the partners, who have to assume this task in the respective countries.
IO-4. Providing practice-oriented application examples for IT-based learning in preschool – Kit@ project pool
Experience shows that the sustainability of a project is higher when the products that are developed offer a direct benefit to a target group. With the IO-4, sample projects for the implementation of media education in kindergartens are to be developed, tested and become freely accessible.
It is planned to develop a total of ten sample projects on various possibilities of media use and media integration in the educational work, test them and upload them on the Kit@ portal. The sample projects will be transferred to the partner countries and will therefore be ready for direct and for long-term use. This means that all necessary documents, teaching materials and guidance will be provided.
The exact content of the project examples is finally defined as the result of the IO-1. The following basic structure will therefore have to be specified after the conclusion of IO-1:
Sample project – tablet use
- Target group-related information technological basics
- Methodological / didactic requirements / notes
- Project preparation – list of materials, checklists, documents and materials to be prepared
- Instructions for the practical procedure
- After the project life
- If problems occur – FAQs
This structure makes it clear that the educators should be able to carry out simple exercises and projects with the children with little preparation. Guidance is to be provided to answer any challenges. There will be different degrees of difficulty so that a very easy entry is possible – especially to remove barriers from the educators – but also to enable them to implement more challenging projects.
IO-5. Development of a specified method for the evaluation, validation and crediting of learning achievements through online-based test methods for educators in the media education
With the IO-2 and IO-3, products will have been developed which can lead to the acquisition of professional skills and competencies by educators. It should be noted that learning in these cases will always be a mix of different learning paths. ECVET offers the possibility to determine outcome-oriented learning services and to confirm them. A prerequisite is the outcome-oriented description of these learning services and a competency assessment based on this description, since this will confirm that these professional abilities have actually been acquired.
This IO will be supported by appropriate empirical assessments on a scientific basis under the leadership of the board member of G3, Dr. Muschter, who has developed a methodology how to apply ECVET in a flexible modular further education system. In doing so, the learning activities in the work learning environment should be included in the consideration.
According to the described method, the ECVET analysis for assigning learning services will be conducted according to the following steps, which can be divided into two phases:
- Phase 1: Definition of learning times
- Phase 2: Competency assessment and recognition
In IO 5, two products are going to be created which complement each other and are therefore deliberately not listed as separate IOs. This is, on the one hand, an outcome-oriented description of the competences of the possible skills acquisition based on IO-2 and IO-3.
To test the skills acquired, a self-test competency test is to be created and provided on the Kit@ platform. The test will be based on MC questions to be created. The system provides the results immediately after the test is complete. With a corresponding print function, a formatted printout can be created with the results achieved and a note on the project.
IO-6. Multilingual online portal for preschool media education with integrated interactive manual, web-based learning offerings, web-based competence checks and application pool
In accordance with the project objectives, all results will be made available on the Internet. This is not just a download function on a project home page. The project home page is a separate product and is not part of this IO.
The Kit@ platform is an interactive offer and is the necessary information technological basis for the developed interactive educational offer. All IOs are directly linked to each other, resulting in a joined-up offer for efficient learning based on IO-3 and IO-4. The offer is rounded off with the possibility to test the acquired abilities / skills.
Thus the IOs are permanently available in rural areas and can be used for competency acquisition according to the project’s target.
The platform is set up on the basis of a content management system in order to enable partnership work on the platform. The content of the informal part will be managed by the partners via corresponding access rights.