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Transcript

All about

the VALIANT project

<- UAB Team

<- Who?

<- UAB Timeline

<- Aims?

<- Workpackages

<- What is it?

VALIANT stands for Virtual Innovation and Support Networks for TeachersIt is an Erasmus+ KA3 European Policy Experimentation project (626134-EPP-1-2020-2-ESEPPKA3-PIPOLICY). It runs from February 2021 till March 2024.

Bring together teachers, student teachers and educational experts to learn about and co-construct virtual innovation and support networks to: 1) test the efficiency of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks as a means to overcome teachers’ sense of isolation and low motivation in rural areas and isolated contexts; 2) develop teachers’ ability to operate effectively in online international networks of professional collaboration; 3) test the efficiency of Virtual Exchange for providing students of Initial Teacher Education with access to the realities of the teaching profession through regular interaction with in-service teachers.

The consortium is comprised of public authorities and universities: Public Authorities: Consejería de Educación, La Junta De Castilla Y León,Spain Directorate-General for School Administration of theMinistry of Education, Portugal Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Slovenia Consellería de Educación, Universidade e FP, Galicia,Spain Ministry of Education and Research, Norway Universities: Universidad de León, Spain (Project leader) Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Portugal University of Oslo, Norway Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus Maribor University, Slovenia Pädagogische Hochschule Weingarten, Germany Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany University of the Arts, London, UK

Dr. Melinda Dooly (local coordinator), Dr. Dolors Masats, Maria Mont, Dr. Emilee Moore, Cèlia Pratginestós, Claudia Vallejo and Dr. Xavier Fontich

Stage 1: Planning WP1: Design and planning of pilot modules WP2: Research design Expected output from WPs 1 & 2

  • Design and Content of Virtual Networks
  • Training course in moderating Virtual Communities of Practice for future facilitators of the Virtual Networks
  • Detailed description of research protocol and tools are published on the project website
  • Development and Publication on project website of the models of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks
Stage 2: Implementation WP 3: Running of 2 cycles of virtual networks Expected output from WP 3
  • All modules of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks (i.e. the field trials) take place during both semesters as timetabled
  • Modules are refined and improved if necessary following the first semester of the experimentation.
  • Collection of data from treatment and control groups.
  • Collection of the quantitative and qualitative information from the field-trials by the researchers.
Stage 3: Evaluation WP 4: Analysis of the data from the Virtual Networks field trials & writing up evaluation report of field trials. Expected output from WP 4
  • Analysis and interpretation of findings in collaboration with public authorities to establish the level of impact of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks on the development of the specified competences.
  • In collaboration with public authorities, authoring and publication of findings of EPE.
Stage 4: Upscaling & sustainability WP 5: facilitate the transferability and scalability of successful Virtual Innovation and Support Networks education programmes in partner countries Expected output from WP 5
  • Introduction and trialling of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks in other ITE institutions and schools in the participating regions/countries.
  • Specific recommendations for participation in Virtual Innovation and Support Networks are published in Public Authorities’ publications on ITE training and policy.
  • Specific mention of experience of virtual professional networks in European Diploma Supplement of trainee teachers who participated in the EPE.
  • Specific forms of recommendation for in-service teachers who took part in Virtual Innovation and Support NetworksTraining workshops held in each of the participating countries to ‘train the trainers’ to use Virtual Innovation and Support Networks in ITE.
  • Funding applications are made to various national and European agencies to ensure the continuation of the networks after the lifetime of the project.
  • Calls for new rounds of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks are published online.
Stage 5: Dissemination WP 6: Ensure dissemination of results to policymakers at national and EU level. Expected output from WP 6
  • Presentations on Virtual Innovation and Support Networks and of project deliverables to university network general assemblies and academic and educational conferences.
  • Holding an international conference on Virtual Innovation and Support Networks to launch the network and disseminate the activity.
  • Publication of academic articles based on the EPE
  • Establishment of an Academic Network for Virtual Innovation and Support Networks
  • Recommendation document for educational policy makers on introducing Virtual Innovation and Support Networks.
  • Short online video presentations of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks and its role in teacher support and education.
  • Regular 6-monthly updates on project deliverables and activities.
  • Brochure on the project and how the activity of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks can support international learning at university and school level.
Stage 6: Management & Quality control (UAB leader) WPs 7 & 8: Ensure the internal management and fluid development of the project throughout its duration UAB will: 1) establish project steering group for quality control - including research ethics review; 2) provide evaluation reports on each work meetings held by the project partnership; 3) provide evaluation report on the running of the field trials and data collection; 4) provide intermediate and final quality reports. Expected output from WPs 7 & 8:
  • Mid-term and final reports to the Agency
  • Mid-term and final quality control reports
  • Reports on project meetings
  • Four project meetings

UAB Timeline of events

Local meeting

UAB team met on 23 March for update on project outline (2 hours). Attending: M. Dooly, X. Fontich, M. Mont & C. Vallejo First outline of survey for WP 7 was discussed.

Meeting w/Cyprus team

April 19th - first brainstorming session with Cyprus team for module on 'Teachers as Mentors' Attending for UAB: M. Dooly (1.5 hours) Together we came up with the outline for a pilot module that will partner inservice and preservice teachers for 'in-the-moment' decision making. Description: Trans-national mentoring sessions involving in-service teachers in virtual exchange with practicum students of Initial Teacher Education who are completing their teaching practice to provide just-in-time teaching and mentoring in response to problems or challenges that arise in their classes. Participants: In-service teachers (mentors) from participating countries and practicum students of ITE (mentees) Organisation of participants:They meet and collaborate in four working groups of 6 practicum students of ITE (mentees) + 2 in-service teachers (mentors). The exchange includes stages where the practicum students of ITE and in-service teachers work separately and others where they work together. Theme of Virtual Exchange: Overarching theme: In-service teachers provide just-in-time mentoring to practicum students of ITE in response to challenges related to classroom management. Subthemes: Subthemes will emerge as ITE students describe the specific challenges they face in their practicum classes during the exchange. Duration: 7 weeks Number of synchronous (videoconference sessions): 3 (one every two weeks) Number of ‘off-line’ working hours for in-service teachers: 10 hours Number of ‘off-line’ working hours for practicum students of ITE: 10 hours Learning aims:

  • Practicum students of ITE (mentees) learn about strategies of classroom management and receive just-in-time teaching and mentoring about challenges they face in their practicum classes.
  • In-service teachers (mentors) receive training in mentoring from experts. They also work with practicum students of ITE towards working out solutions to common problems/challenges that arise in their classes. OPTIONALLY: THIS CAN BE THE ONLY FOCUS AND WE ONLY WORK WITH INSERVICE TEACHERS. WE WILL DECIDE ACCORDING TO PRELIMINARY DEMAND
Digital tools:
  • Zoom for synchronous video conference sessions, Moodle Forum for asynchronous interaction, Google Drive for collaborative task completion, Flipgrid/Loom for reflection
Phase 24 Practicum Students of Initial Teacher Education (Mentees) 8 In-service Teachers (Mentors) 2 Experts in Classroom Management 1 (Week 1) Pre-activities (1 hour video conference + 2 offline working hours) Introduction and Training phase: 1.1. Practicum students of ITE are introduced to the module and the platform (Zoom session). 1.2. Practicum students receive training by experts in mentoring. Training could be in the form of pre-recorded presentations by experts and relevant readings (asynchronous). Introduction and Training phase: 1.1. In-service teachers are introduced to the module and the platform (Zoom session). 1.2. In-service teachers receive training by experts in mentoring. Training could be in the form of pre-recorded presentations by experts and relevant readings (asynchronous). 2 (Week 2) (1 offline working hour + 1 hour video conference) ‘Getting to know you’ phase between classes of practicum students of ITE (mentees): 2.1. Practicum students of ITE create 2 minute long video presentations to introduce themselves (asynchronous). 2.2. Practicum students of ITE join in a videoconferencing session in working groups of 6 practicum students and one in-service teacher and participate in ice-breaking activities (Zoom session). ‘Getting to know you’ phase’ between in-service teachers (mentors): 2.1. In-service teachers create their profile and upload it on the platform (asynchronous). 2.2. In-service teachers join in a videoconferencing session in working groups of 6 practicum students and one in-service teacher and participate in ice-breaking activities (Zoom session). 3 (Week 3) (2 offline working hours) Exchange of ideas phase: Practicum students of ITE exchange ideas on the discussion forum: 3.1. Practicum students discuss the challenges they face in their classrooms while on practicum (asynchronous). 3.2. Practicum students compose and upload questions (in text or short video) addressed to in-service teachers about the best ways to deal with a specific challenge they are facing in their classrooms while on practicum (asynchronous). Exchange of ideas phase: In-service teachers exchange ideas on the discussion forum: 3.1. In-service teachers discuss their experiences with mentoring practicum students of ITE (asynchronous). 3.2. In-service teachers respond (in text or short video) to the practicum students’ questions individually (asynchronous). 4 (Week 4) (1 hour video conference + 1 offline working hour) Information exchange phase: 4.1. Practicum students and in-service teachers meet in break-out groups (6 practicum students +2 in-service per group) and discuss the practicum students’ questions and the in-service teachers’ responses (Zoom session). 4.2. Practicum students write a report summarising best strategies to deal with classroom management issues and they upload it in Moodle. In-service teachers provide feedback on these reports (asynchronous). 5 (Week 5) (2 offline hours) Collaboration phase: 5.1. Practicum students work in groups of 6 and follow a problem-solving methodology towards composing a problem solving report about the case-based scenarios provided by the in-service teachers. They receive mentoring asynchronously in the discussion forum (asynchronous). Collaboration phase: 5.1. In-service teachers design and present to practicum students case-based real-life scenarios of classroom management challenges that they face in their classes. They provide asynchronous mentoring to practicum students in the discussion forum (asynchronous). 6 (Week 6) (1 offline hour to view presentations + 1 video conference) Presentations and feedback phase: 6.1. Practicum students create ppt presentations/audio/short film of their problem-solving reports and upload them on the platform. In-service teachers view presentations (asynchronous). 6.2. Practicum students and in-service teachers meet in Zoom and discuss the presentations. In-service teachers provide feedback drawing from their real-life classroom experiences (Zoom session). 7 (Week 7) (1 offline hour) Wrap up and reflection phase: 7.1. Practicum students reflect on a) similarities and differences in the experiences of the practicum students between different countries and b) on what they have learnt from the 6-week virtual exchange that will be useful for them in their future practice. Reflections could be written on the discussion forum or oral with Flipgrid or Loom (asynchronous). Wrap up and reflection phase: 7.1. In-service teachers reflect on a) similarities and differences in the experiences of the in-service teachers as mentors between different counties and b) on what they have learnt from the 6-week virtual exchange that will be useful for them in their future practice. Reflections could be written on the discussion forum or oral with Flipgrid or Loom (asynchronous).

Survey 1

Compilation & summary: 25th March 2021. 3 hours Summary of results (internal quality control) Part 1. All Part 2. (non-attendees) If you answered other, can you please elaborate on your answer? (4 responses)

  • I was in class with my students, but another colleague (Margarita Vinagre) attended the meeting and kept me informed about everything. I hope I will be able to attend the next meeting.
  • I attended in part as I had other obligations. Those parts that I could attend, I found very informative, well organized and very appreciative of everyone's contributions.
  • Had another meeting that could not be postponed or moved to another time
  • As a coordinator of the Degree in English Studies, I had a meeting at the same time.
Part 3. (attendees) Were there any issues you felt should be discussed that were not included in the agenda/meeting?
  • No
  • No.
  • Yes, but the google document for further questions solved this problem
  • Not really
  • The budget and the funding to each institution - don't know what the outcome will be in comparison with what was applied for.
  • no
  • Not at this point
  • Work on the work packages
  • I think all important issues were covered.
  • Nothing to comment. There was not much more that could be discussed in 2 hours.
Do you have any suggestions with regard to the content or organization of the next meeting(s)?
  • No
  • More time needs to be allocated when working in small groups in order to have meaningful discussions
  • I think it was excellent
  • It was a very good first meeting, so we can have a similar meeting next time. It was good that we took a short break because it is impossible to stay focused on zoom for 2 hours.
  • no
  • For an all partner meeting we could have a meeting (if on-line of course) divided into three of four days, each day an hour and a half. It's easier to fit into ones schedule and more content can be reviewed.
  • No: I quite agree with the set and members of the future working groups.
  • it should be longer ;-) or several ones
  • Regular meetings with smaller working groups.
  • No.
  • For administrative/technical support - to explain how we should report co-financing in more detail.
  • Smaller groups working so we get to know each other better
Do you have any suggestions or comments on how to improve future events?
  • No
  • I believe working in groups as already planned will make meetings more effective
  • Keep up the good job
  • Ask all participants to use the renaming function in Zoom to add their respective affiliation after their name. Makes it easier to grasp who's from where etc.
  • no
  • As written above
  • split groups up according to work packages
  • No.
  • No.
  • It would be nice to add technology like padlet for when we brainstorm ideas
Any other comment or observation?
  • No
  • None
  • I'm concerned that, with so many participants from such different backgrounds, some of the project's goals might not be applicable to all and that other contexts may have to be included (i.e teachers in other situations in addition to those in isolates areas).
  • It feels wonderful to be part of this project and Rob's leadership skills are outstanding.
  • Congratulations to Robert ODowd as he is doing a great job managing this network composed of HEIs and Ministries.
  • Not at this time.
  • my evaluation was rather negative because of the short duration of the event, in general it was the best you could get out of 2 hours. I would have wished it had taken place earlier though. I also would have like the working groups to meet earlier.
  • No.
  • Nice meeting you all.
  • It was a wonderful event, thank you for making best of what we can do at present.

Kick-off meeting

18 March 2021 (2 hours)Due to the current travel restrictions, the kick off meeting was held online. Full agenda! Melinda Dooly & Xavier Fontich attending for UAB

  • Welcome by the Vice-rector for Internalization of the University of León.
  • Partner presentations and background (One person from each institution made a brief (3 minutes maximum) oral presentation about: 1) their organisation 2) the participating colleagues and their roles in the organisation and 3) their reason for being interested in this project.)
  • Introductory overview of the project by leader Robert O’Dowd (U. of León)
  • Break-out groups for participants to get to know a small number of their colleagues.
  • Presentation and discussion on internal communication tools (project logo, website contents, online newsletter, mailing lists).
  • Presentation of dissemination activities.
  • Short presentation on administrative issues by Rafael de Paz and the International Project Office team at ULE.Pilar Garcés from the Regional Government of Castilla y León discusses the role of the ministries in the project.

Announcement to local teachers

In her capacity as director of English Language support for Centre de Recursos Pedagògics del Vallès Oriental IV, team member Maria Mont sent out the announcement for the VALIANT pilot projects. Several teachers from Catalunya have signed up. 20 March 2021 (1 hour)

2nd consortium meeting

20 May. 2 hours As with the first meeting, due to the current travel restrictions, the 2nd meeting was held online. Once more, a lot to cover. Melinda Dooly, Maria Mont & Dolors Masats attending for UAB. Potential PhD student Xiaoting Yu also attended. Notes from the meeting. Overview of project progress by project leader, Robert O'Dowd.Report on our survey of teachers. Good news: We have collected data from more than 1000 teachers from 31 different countries. Bad news: Most of the participants are from Portugal, due to the fact that there is a national authority involved in the process of disseminating the questionnaires, which could lead to bias in the results since too many participants are from the same country. Some results:

  1. Most teachers disagree that they are working in rural area (60% and more)
  2. Most teachers disagree that they are in isolation.
  3. For those who feel isolated, they feel it because they feel lack of time/human contact/support from others (whether it’s from individuals or communities)/feedback.
  4. Participants report they were more confident using videoconferencing, than word processing platforms (google doc etc.), then LMS like Moodels, then video editing.
  5. Participants are more interested in working with other teachers, than experts in workshops, then student teachers. But the difference is not really significant.
  6. Most participants (56.3%) prefer to spend 1-2 hours on VE every week.
  7. Although many participants would attend this project voluntarily, there are some participants who say they would like to demand some kind of payment (e.g. promotion credit, credit for training, money, etc.)
  1. Presentation of VE modules to be piloted in autumn 2021
    1. Modules and themes at present
    2. A need for shorter modules for some partner universities?
    3. Need participants for pilot study.
    4. How can these modules be sustainable?
    5. Can students who are not ITE participate in the study? (yes but only in pilot study)
    6. Is it possible that we recruit participants from disciplines other than language teaching?
    7. Is it possible that we work or collaborate with institutions like eTwinning? (contacted eTwinning but they have not been really positive about the collaboration)
    8. What to be done next: develop task sheets for the modules.
  1. Presentation of quantitative survey to be piloted in autumn 2021
Good news: The quantitative questionnaires have already been launched. Bad news: It is a little bit hard for us to get feedback from in-service teachers and student teachers. Concerns:
  1. More clear instruction is needed.
  2. We should make it clear to the participants which kind of data we are collecting: we want to know their general status or pandemic status.
  3. Is it convenient for participants to use sliding bars for the questionnaire?
  4. We may want to add a demographic questionnaire.
  5. We may want to add a progressing bar.
  6. We may want to add a work-readiness questionnaire.
  7. For collecting feedback, we can add some open-ended questions at the end of each section and ask if the participants have anything to say about the section. These questions should not be mandatory.
  8. Feedback from group members should be sent to Dr. O’Dowd who will later send them to Dr. Rogaten.
  1. Presentation of planned VE exchanges for pilot study in autumn 2021 by Robert O’Dowd. (Includes update on virtual platforms to be used.)
Zoom & Moodle: for we have plenty of funding, and these two platforms would be the least challenging for participants and researchers.
  1. Presentation of dissemination activities
  1. A dissemination sheet was offered to all universities and institutions involved in VALIANT, which should be filled out.
  2. Dr. Soule shows some data based on the sheet filled out by UAM, which is quite inspiring.
  3. What to be done: video describing the project, and afterwards a video for recruiting participants would be made.

Survey 2

Compilation of results (4 hours) June 2nd, 2021 Summary of results (internal quality control) Responses: 24 total: 5 did NOT attend the meeting; 19 attended. Reasons given for NOT attending: Ticked responses: I had other responsibilities (2) Another team member attended (2) More specific answers (open-ended):

  • I have 3 children to take care of
  • I had an overlapping meeting
  • My role is related to management, and this was not on the meeting agenda.
Answers to questions from those who attended: Vy useful Useful Quite useful Not useful No opinion Responses 13 6 Expectations met/not met according to points in the agenda: Vy informative & Important Informative Somewhat informative Not informative No opinion Roadmap 13 5 1 Survey report 15 4 Presentation VE modules 14 5 Presentation Quantitative survey 12 6 1 Presentation planned exchanges 10 6 2 1 Presentation dissemination 12 5 1 1 Any issues that were not included in the agenda and should have been discussed?
  • No
Were there any activities that you felt should have been included to help advance the project development?
  • (Most responses were no).
  • More information on the modules
  • The results in the survey were not as expected. In the end the results were partial, most answers came from Portugal and not transversally from the other partner countries.
Do you have any suggestions or comments on how to improve the meeting organization? (Most responses were none).
  • I have no suggestions. I think the whole team is doing very well.
  • Less mails, feedback on survey through collaborative tools.
  • The meeting was well scheduled
  • Any other comment or observation?
  • It was very well organized and timed. Thank you.
  • No, everything is fine.
  • Great work organisation team!
  • No, everything seems to be going accordingly.
  • Very happy with everything, great effort from everyone involved.
  • I don't understand why there are so many researcher listed from several universities (WP1, WP2) when they have not been involved at all so far.
  • Just that the project is developing very fast (too fast?) so there is not much time to really enjoy the cooperation with colleagues. I feel like we are running, instead of thinking through what we are doing, how we should do things etc. It is more about meeting deadlines rather than carefully thinking through the project. Also, the amounts of emails can be quite high often with short response deadlines.

Local meeting

Thursday 3rd June: Short meeting (1 hour) between M. Dooly & D. Masats to discuss ideas for module on mentoring.

3rd consortium meeting

17 June 2021. 2 hoursThird (and final meeting) for the summer. Again online. Melinda Dooly attending for UAB. Notes from the meeting.

  1. Overview of project progress: by Robert
a) recruitment video is finished; b) Moodel is set up, and please sign up for it and contact Dr. O’Dowd about which topics you are interested in after signing up. What remains to be done before July: WP1: Task sheet for each VE. WP2: Qualitative questionnaire for the pilot study. WP3: recruitment of the participants.
  1. Update on WP1
There will be another meeting held on June 24th, since some of the task sheets are still incomplete. Common ground rules for participants will be used.
  1. Update on the quantitative and qualitative study instruments
All three parts of the quantitative questionnaire are completed What remains to be done: all three parts of the diary entries, which would be the qualitative instrument of the studies. Question for quantitative instruments:
  1. Is it possible that we reduce the number of items? Do we want to test it before the pilot study so that we could make reductions?
  2. Introduction test for quantitative instruments (which should include consent form).
  3. Accessibility of the survey now for other groups.
  4. How can we identify people from different VEs? - Add an item asking participants to report their topics and tutors. Also, we may want to ask for their names/give a code and emails in case we have to reach out to them for deeper interviews. The problem is, if asking for a name, it could cause ethical issues, but by only giving a code, it could be possible that participants forget their code and thus lose contact. In the pilot studies, codes would be given to participants so that we could see if it is reliable or not.
  1. Update on planned pilot studies for autumn 2021
Need more participants from Slovenia, Germany, Norway, Italy… Currently we have enough participants from Spain and Portugal. To promote the recruitment, we could use social media and contact the government for help. We want to recruit 120 participants for all VEs at most, but considering the possibility that participants might drop out, we want to reach as many people as we can. Participants can sign up for multiple topics and VEs. Message everyone can use for disseminating the VALIANT exchanges among in-service school teachers Researchers: Create an account for the Moodle courses here: https://valiant.moodlecloud.com/login/index.php
  1. Update on dissemination activities and tools
Eurocall / IVEC conferences... Not much progress has been made since the last meeting. Need to fill out the dissemination of your university so that people could keep track of what is going on.
  1. Update on plans for project meeting in Portugal on 9-10 September by Fernando and Lilia
No accommodation is provided due to different rules of travel in different universities. Recommendation of hotels nearby would be offered so that people who come could have activities after the meeting. This meeting would also allow people to join online. However, since the covid situation has not been extremely clear by now, by the end of July, more information about the meeting will be offered. If the situation gets really bad, this meeting might be cancelled and held online.
  1. Update on timesheets / signing bilateral contracts bt Rafael de Paz (International Project’s Office, León, r.depaz@unileon.e)
Please send the signed agreement as soon as possible, or you will not get paid for your work done for VALIANT. Send the timesheet and justification document before July 31st. A general timesheet would be sent by Dr. O’Dowd to the group.

Survey 3 sent

Sent out 21 June 2021 It was agreed with the project leader to create a shorter feedback after the third meeting and right before the summer break (to avoid survey burnout). How has your experience with the project been thus far? Any suggestions as we move forward?

Conference submission

June 18, 2021 Melinda Dooly & Dolors Masats have submitted an abstract to present the VALIANT project at the ICERI Seville 2021 Conference. Hopefully it will be accepted AND that we will be able to attend IN PERSON!

2nd meeting w/Cyprus team

June 22, 2021 (2 hours) UAB team and Cyprus team are racing to get their module task sheet done before the Thursday 24th meeting (UAB won't attend as it is a holiday in Barcelona). Anna & Melinda met for a productive session. The task sequence is coming together although there is still a lot of work to be done! Time is never on our side! But it looks like Anna can time travel (or at least space travel)!

3rd meeting w/Cyprus team

June 29, 2021 (1.5 hours) UAB team and Cyprus team met again to discuss their module task sheet following the Thursday 24th meeting. We are refining the main points and the module is gaining more coherence with each work sessions but there is still a lot of work to do so we've agreed to meet again on Thursday.

4th meeting w/Cyprus team

July 1st, 2021 Smiling faces after 3 and half hours of intensive, hands-on work! We are satisified with the shape the module has taken and especially excited about the final output and event (virtual 'launch' of collaboratively elaborated OER e-book on strategies for dealing with teaching challenges that emerge in the classroom. Based on just-in-time mentoring, these ideas will be discussed and assessed by cohorts of teachers with varying degrees of expertise, along with invited external experts. Final output will be presented to representatives from the Ministries involved in the project. Now we just need to wait for feedback from project colleagues and then begin transferring the materials to the moodle. Onwards!

Survey 3 results

Results collated 1 July 2021 The survey has not been closed to participants yet, but for the moment, the report indicates that everyone is quite satisfied with the way the project is progressing. The suggestions for change are minimal and mostly have to do with the work pace and slight organizational shifts. Open-ended survey consisting of 2 questions.

  • How has your experience with the project been thus far?
  • Any suggestions as we move forward?
Respondents: 19 total Summary: The survey has not been closed to participants yet, but for the moment, the report indicates that everyone is quite satisfied with the way the project is progressing. The suggestions for change are minimal and mostly have to do with the work pace and slight organizational shifts. Q1: How has your experience with the project been thus far? (19 responses)
  • Interesting but time-demanding.
  • Excellent! Everything is well organized and moving smoothly and all partners are engaged and make a valuable contribution.
  • Excellent!
  • Excellent. Thanks to the project coordinator everything flows smoothly.
  • Very positive. Meetings are concise and well prepared. Tasks are progressing well.
  • Really positive
  • Both good and bad. Good: Getting to know people, interesting project etc. Robert is supportive, and so is Shannon. Others too. Bad: The tempo has been too high at times. It is frustrating not knowing who people are/where they work. This situation makes project work difficult, especially when one is in a position where one has to rely on other's work, or have to ask others to work. I don't think everybody is on the same page when it comes to the road map and deadlines, which also makes work a bit difficult.
  • I am satisfied with communication and organization. The team is great. I like that the comments and suggestions of all participants are taken into account.
  • I am utterly impressed and humbled by the scale, the work and the progress of the project so far.
  • Profitable, broadening my views, sometimes difficult to coordinate in terms of scheduling.
  • It has been regular, but somewhat frustrating given that the consortium is very big and collaboration has been kept among those who already know each other. There has been no time investment in getting to know one another and Zoom meetings hfurther complicate that.
  • Personally, I am very happy to participate in the project. Although there has been a lot of work to do and many meetings to attend and, with so many classes, exams, assignments, etc., it is difficult to combine everything, I think that from September it will be easier to do it if the health situation allows us to return to The normality.
  • It is a very promising project, and I would like to go on with it further.
  • We are happy to be in the project, it is well coordinated and hope to learn and achieve knowledge on the subject.
  • It has been quick work but from my perspective, a lot has been accomplished in a short time.
  • A bit intense since I'm participating in two WP, 1 and 2, whose work is concentrated in these first months of the project. Everything is well organized, though, and WP leaders are doing a great job.
  • I have no comments on the work on the project. The work goes smoothly, communication is good, we work well with other partners. I think a good group has been formed.
  • Good experience, but I feel that we are always rushing against time, which can be very stressful. I also think that some people are very engaged and working hard, but others haven't really got into the project yet.
  • It has been very insightful and helpful.
Q2: Any suggestions as we move forward? (16 responses)
  • None.
  • When meetings are schedule, can they be sent as an invite with the agenda and a zoom link to keep it organised. It is hard to keep track of all that is going on and all the links in the emails.
  • Limit the time for discussion about technical/administrative matters (e.g. timesheets) during full consortium meetings. There are specific people from each partner designated as administrative staff to deal with those issues. Some of those issues need a lot of time to be discussed/clarified, so technical meetings should be separate and more frequent.
  • There's an imbalance in partner participation, some partipate a lot more than others, although I guess this is difficult to solve.
  • I think more people than myself needs to learn how to use and navigate using google docs. I would appreciate a list of all names and affiliations plus emails (listed based on WPs).
  • No.
  • It was difficult to be present in all the meetings as my schedule is highly irregular. It would have been very helpful if the Valiant day for meeting is decided already now for the coming term, so I may have a chance to alter my other engagements.
  • Create meetings and time for consortium partners to really get to know each other and collaborate beyond previous knowledge and work they may have done together.
  • Actually, I don't have many suggestions to make because I think the project is very well organized and the people in charge of the project do a great job to make everything easier for others. If anything, I would propose that, after each meeting and each phase of the project, they send us an email summarizing the tasks to be carried out by each group because sometimes it is not possible for us to attend the meetings.
  • Not really.
  • I hope everyone can find time to take a break during their summer holidays to come back refreshed for the autumn.
  • Not really. Have a nice holiday!
  • Since we are working on several different projects, it would be desirable to write VALIANT in the subject first in each email we write and then all the rest of the text. This way, all participants could immediately know which project it is.
  • I think it would be good to remind people again of their roles and make sure those who are working hard do not feel demotivated and frustrated, or overwhelmed.
  • So far, everything is going well.

UAB Timeline of events (ii)

2 work meetings

2 more productive meetings with the Cyprus team! This time we were joined by our PhD researcher, Xiaoting Yu. Wednesday 27th September & Thursday 7th October 2021

  • Revision of the tasks - discussion of participants and profiles.
  • UAB provided template for OER booklet.
  • Division of tasks
  • Initial transferral from tasksheet to moodle (Cyprus - hired assistant to do this)
  • Editing of instructions and language use (UAB to do this)
  • Adding members to module (assume facilitators do this - will need to be confirmed).
  • Agreed to meet again right before the launching of the module.

Meeting to set up research frame

Discussion of research agenda with Xiaoting. Overview of her proposal: The VALIANT project is a virtual exchange program for telecollaborative teacher education that aims to overcome teacher isolation and low motivation, improve teachers' telecollaboration skills; and provide students teachers the opportunity for practical exposure to the teaching profession that will benefit their professional development. In her research project Xiaoting will closely observe the entire process of running the program in a virtual learning community and explore models for the telecollaborative teachers’ education. It is important to note that in this paper, virtual learning community refers to a learning exchange space. She will also request permission to take part in the research workpackage (the UAB has few hours in this WP). A second phase of the project will be, after having identified key features of teachers' virtual learning education, to apply it to the context of isolated Chinese language teachers to identify if the sociocultural factors of this model will fit or, if not, how they must be adapted to this particular environment.

Paper accepted for publication

September 3rd, 2021: Research article accepted for publication The co-authored paper (with Vincenza Tudini) entitled '"We should google that", The dynamics of knowledge-in-interaction in an online student-teacher meeting has been accepted for publication in the journal Classroom Discourse. Abstract: This paper takes a multimodal conversation analytic approach to explore knowledge-in-interaction (Bateman and Church 2017) in a technology-mediated online environment (Skype videoconference) during a meeting between eight university students studying to become language teachers. The analysis considers the ways in which the student-teachers demonstrate their knowledge or understanding (Koole 2010) of telecollaborative project-based language learning while taking part in a telecollaborative exchange themselves. Given the growing predominance of online teaching and learning, it is increasingly relevant to have a deep understanding of the ongoing learner interaction that takes place in these environments; particularly considering that interaction that can be understood as a trajectory of knowledge building (Heritage 2012). The study examines how the student-teachers’ make use of the different technological features of a videoconferencing platform to manage the assigned task, which is to complete a collaborative exam. These features include camera, shared links, parallel text chats and editing tools. Findings imply that the student-teachers sequentially organize their knowledge synthesis and co-construction of pedagogical understanding through technologically-supported mutually coordinated interaction. Although the analysis is contextually bound, the task-focused interaction that is highlighted is relevant to higher education teachers in a variety of contexts, apart from teacher education.

Consortium meeting

Consortium meeting to discuss the final planning before the launch of the pilots (first week of November) was held on October 25th (2 hours). Things are beginning to look very polished.

Prepping for the pilot

October 11th, 2021 (2 hours) Anna, Melinda, Victoria and Xiaoting have been very busy populating the module for our VALIANT kick off next week. While there are still some things to do, we are feeling more and more confident that this will be very successful.

Survey 4 designed & sent

Design & sent 28th October. Survey 4 questions are designed more specifically to each group and their break out sessions (Ministries and Academic team running and researching Pilot studies). The questions are: Part 1: Break-out sessions How useful did you find the break-out session meeting? Were there any issues you felt should be discussed that were not included in the session? Do you have any suggestions or comments on how to improve the meeting organization? Any other comment or observation? Part 2: On-going progress How would you describe the progress towards your specific objectives (e.g. Ministries - recognition; Academic teams - piloting of modules/research parameters; data compilation plans)? Do you have any suggestions or comments on how to improve the workflow? Any other comment or observation? Another question added by the IP of the project (Robert O'Dowd): Do you have any overall concerns or problems which you would like to see discussed?

Week 1 Pilot

Week 1: November 1st-5th We launched the Pilot of our Module with an online meet-and-greet on November 2nd.

Survey results

Results of the Pre-pilot online meeting survey have been compiled on November 3rd and sent to the PI. Survey Results (online pre-pilot meeting, 25 October 2021) VALIANT meeting Valiant Project Quality Control Responses: 17 total: 4 persons from Ministries; 13 persons from academic institutions running pilots. Answers Part 1 (Break-out session): Usefulness of the break-out session meeting: Vy useful Useful Quite useful Not useful No opinion Responses 11 4 2 Any issues that were not included in the session? All covered No response Provided comments Responses 10 5 2 Comments:

  • The discussion went well and we covered all issues. The fact that we had attended the facilitators workshop a week earlier helped us move quickly through the topics in the BO room.
  • As I am planning the Vein the next run, I felt everything was relevant and a learning opportunity.
Suggestions or comments on how to improve the meeting organization: No suggestions No response Provided comments Responses 4 8 5 Suggestions or comments:
  • Maybe we could find a way to also have short breakout sessions with the ministry representatives of our own countries and then provide feedback with open questions and possible solutions to the whole group. Otherwise we have to organise other meetings with the ministries and it's always difficult to find a time that suits everyone. Too many meetings.
  • Perhaps in the meetings it would be useful to briefly update the overall view of the whole timeline/tasks of the project for the different partners. Some of us partners still need to reinforce this general view and tasks prior to focusing on the concrete object of the meeting.
  • I think the meeting was well organized and all concerns clarified.
  • Everything is OK.
  • It was efficient
Any other comment or observation?
  • I keep being utterly blown away by the organisation: you are able to make such a large and disparate group effectively achieve the set goals in the span of just a short meeting each time.
  • it is good that the agenda is followed and only little additional is discussed, if at all
  • Those meetings are very important for project progress.
  • This was well-structured and focused.
Thank you. Answers Part 2 (On-going progress): How would you describe the progress towards your specific objectives (e.g. Ministries - recognition; Academic teams - piloting of modules/research parameters; data compilation plans)? Complete and very satisfactorily done Almost complete The basic planning is there Sporadic, a lot left to plan still No opinion Responses 1 12 4 Suggestions or comments on how to improve the workflow:
  • The first round in the spring 2021 was very caotic and hectic and now I have learnt that my "partner" in the module development is not participating in the project anymore. In the spring things happened VERY quickly and it wasn´t easy to dedicate the time needed in thinking through content etc. Luckily the module is not going to be piloted in autumn 2021 anyway.
  • Coordination is going soft and smooth with evident hard and good work, as a comment I would only insist that some of us partners need to reinforce the overall timeline tasks of the whole project and a general short introduction would be well received.
  • Maybe a little space for exchange between the respective VE partners (academic teams) during the meetings, e.g. in a short breakout session.
  • No, I think we're working well together and making good progress
  • Section for ministries in the moodle platform
  • I am too new in this to comment
Do you have any overall concerns or problems which you would like to see discussed in the next meeting?
  • How to set up a structured discussion process/workflow between the ministries
  • As we start the VE questions might come up
Any other comment or observation?
  • Just some gerenal thoughts. I truly love the idea behind the project and appreciate highly to be a part of this great group of competent colleagues within teacher ed. Still, it is quite challenging to get into the core of the project when you have not been working together with the group in the previous project (something to think about when including new partners). This is of course a challenge as we haven´t been able to have a physical meeting yet due to Covid. I also find the focus on language quite high. This is probably due to many of the consortium members being language experts but that also narrows the content/focus of the exchanges. Finally, to our local situation. We do not seem to have the same flexibility as many of our colleagues in the consortium. Implementating exchanges or other new elements in the teach ed. programme takes long time. So having such a short time from project start to the first exchanges taking place makes it almost impossible to integrate them at our end.
  • An important factor is the strategy on how to find more teachers in real isolations to participate.
  • Meetings are very well organized.
  • Everything is going on the dot.

Weekly meeting

Work in progress ... Weekly planning meeting for the pilot module (11 November 2021) Attendees: Anna N., Melinda D., Xiaoting Y., Victoria S., & Saavi A.

Weekly meeting

Work in progress ... Weekly planning meeting for the pilot module (16 November 2021) Attendees: Anna N., Melinda D., Xiaoting Y., Victoria S., & Saavi A.

Mid-pilot modules

Checking in half way through the modules All six modules were presented and discussed by the corresponding facilitators during an online meeting on the 22nd of November 2021. In general, the feeling seems to be that everything is going quite well; there are some technical glitches, unforeseen problems and some interesting tweaks that have been added to each module. Onwards!

Finale of our module

We finalized our pilot module with a presentation of the e-booklet to invited guests We rounded off our module with presentations from the 3 groups - each responsible for one chapter of the e-booklet on 10th of December 2021. The guests expressed their appreciation of the final output and even requested permission to use the e-booklet with their own practicum students! Here is the link to the draft (final version to be published once the students have had a chance to revise one more time, based on the feedback from the guests) and here is the padlet with suggestions and comments from the guests.

Consortium meeting

Busy 2 days! Here's the agenda. 20-21 January 2022 From the UAB, Xiaoting Yu attended online.

  1. 09.30: Welcome and team presentations - what have been your experiences so far on the project? What would you like to focus on today and tomorrow?
  1. 10.00: State of the project by Robert O’Dowd. What should we have achieved by now? What have we achieved? (Includes short reports on each of the VEs from the pilot round)
  1. 10.30: Report and discussion on WP1 led by Pia Sundqvist:
    1. Finalisation and publication of output “Manual outlining content of modules for Virtual Innovation and Support Networks”
    2. Discussion: Adaptation of VE models for next round of VEs?
  1. 11.00: Report and discussion on WP2 led by Euline Cutrim Schmid:
    1. Finalisation and publication of the research protocol for the field trials. This is the link to the current version of the document.
    2. Discussion: Data analysis methods haven’t been included yet. What methods should we use?
11.30-11.50: Coffee break
  1. 11.50: Presentation and review of findings from pilot round of VEs led by Robert and Jekaterina
    1. Initial results of pre-post test
  1. 12.30: Group work:
Group 1 (led by Pilar Garcés): Public authorities Zoom breakout room
  1. Recognition of VEs in teacher careers (Creation of table of minimum requirements/info from ALL ministries for certification)
  2. Dissemination of new round of VEs among teachers and universities of teacher education
Group 2 (led by Marga Vinagre): Zoom breakout room
  1. Adaptation of research tools (pre-post test items etc.)?
  2. Agreeing approach/timetable for organisation and analysis of qualitative data (open questions, portfolios, interviews etc.)
13.30-15.00 Lunch break
  1. 15.00: Continuation of working groups / reporting of outcomes of the working groups in plenary session
  1. 16.00: Presentation of VEs planned for Spring 2022 led by Shannon Sauro
    1. Working Draft of Table for the Spring Round with overview of next round of VEs - theme / coordinator / number of participants needed (Based on Posted VE Descriptions)
    2. Identifying numbers and profiles of participants (Current list of registrations here)
    3. Identifying dates for the VEs (Date ranges identified in December Recruitment report)
    4. Strategy for recruitment of participants
    5. Strategies for ensuring completion of surveys
Friday 21 January:
  1. 09.30: Review and discussion on administrative issues by Sara Fernandez and the International Project Office team at ULE.
  1. 10.00 Reviewing and reporting on our VEs
  1. 11.00: Presentation of dissemination activities with Anna Nicolaou.
    1. Second video of project
    2. Recording video of the project team?
    3. Conferences and other dissemination activities6
  1. 12.00-13.00: Next steps / deadlines:
    1. VE coordinators will work with Pia to finalise the content of our VE manual and publish online by 15 March. Template for review and comments on the different VE descriptions this week is here. Please offer your comments on the template by 28 January. Pia will then finalize the template for VE descriptions and share it, so that everybody can fill in relevant information about their specific VE.
    2. Euline will conclude the content of the research protocols document and publish by 15 March. She will ask colleagues for input when necessary.
    3. Anna in Malmo and Melinda in UAB will provide a first draft of interview guide to be used in all VEs by the end of January.
    4. Jekaterina will react to the questions which Rob has collected and begin to provide data from the pilot round.
    5. By Thursday 27 January everyone has to complete the information for the spring round of VEs. Add Notes for Recruitment if you have ideas for populations you work with or can contact.
    6. Research teams check again their chosen area of research in this table.
    7. Public authorities, led by Lilia, will provide a table outlining all necessary information about VEs and participants in order to ensure accreditation across all countries and regions.
    8. Anna Nicolaou has asked for materials for the video to be sent to her before 1 February
    9. Add your informal data from the pilot round of VEs to your VE folder here.
Next meetings: Arrange a meeting of research team to agree on research methodology for analysing data.

Survey 5 designed & sent

Designed & sent 28th January. Survey 5 questions are designed to collect information about those who attended (and their feedback according to modality) and those who did not (reasons for not attending. The questions are: Non-attendees: Why did you not attend the meeting? Online attendees: How accessible and easy to use were the link and online meeting features of the online meeting? In-person attendees: How organized was the overall event? How safe did you feel regarding Covid 19 measures? Content of meeting (answered only by attendees from both modalities): Rating of the following items (from 'very useful' to 'no useful' and 'no opinion' as an additional option).

  • Welcome
  • State of the project (WPs presentations; pilots)
  • Group work (day 1)
  • Presentation of VEs for Spring
  • Administrative issues (day 2)
  • Reporting on VEs
  • Dissemination report
  • Wrap up (next steps)
Respondents could also add any additional observations they liked.

Survey results

Results of the Pre-pilot online meeting survey have been compiled on February 4th and sent to the PI. Survey Results (online/in-person) 20-21 January 2022) VALIANT meeting Valiant Project Quality Control Part 1. All Part 2. (non-attendees If you answered other, can you please elaborate on your answer? (4 responses)

  • I had originally planned to come but with the rise of cases of Covid (Omicron), I had to take up extra teaching due to confinements. I think that this is a side of planning for meetings, and side effects of Covid, that might not be taken into consideration as much as the more visible impacts of issues with travel. I appreciate the difficulties of planning a meeting like this in these times. Kudos for the extra effort.
  • My parents are very elderly and have a delicate state of health.
Part 3. (attendees) Those who attended in person (13 respondents): Those who attended online (12 respondents): Everyone: Welcome 17 very useful 2 useful 2 quite useful 4 no opinion State of the project (WP presentations, pilots) 18 very useful 6 useful 2 no opinion Group work (day 1) 13 very useful 6 useful 1 quite useful 5 no opinion Presentation of VEs for Spring 15 very useful 9 useful 1 quite useful Administrative issues (day 2) 12 very useful 4 useful 3 quite useful 6 no opinion Reporting on VEs 9 very useful 9 useful 3 quite useful Dissemination report 16 very useful 7 useful 1 quite useful 1 no opinion Wrap up (next steps) 18 very useful 5 useful 2 no opinion Were there any issues you felt should be discussed that were not included in the agenda/meeting?
  • No (5 respondents)
  • The time at our disposal, in the different countries, for working on and contributing to the VALIANT project. We seem to have ended up with very different conditions in terms of our expected work input into the project and the actual hours in our respective work plans in our home institutions. From my perspective, the demands of what I am expected to contribute with to the project and the time I have for doing this just don't add up. Although I enjoy being part of the project, the situation is difficult and it affects motivation.
  • More information on teachers participants in the project
  • We should have had some time to discuss the number of participating teachers from each country in the first round, and then discuss more strategies for recruiting teachers , with this specific information in mind. Time was an issue. Ideally we should have had two whole days, at least.
  • The final number of student teachers and in-service teachetrs involved in de VEs per country.
  • Administrative and financial info should have been given earlier. A reminder should have been sent out earlier that we have to hand in the 2nd report by 1st February. There was not enough time to discuss how the VEs went. Content discussion was not intensive and detailed enough.
  • The agenda was adequate for the meeting's purpose
  • Unfortunately I could not attend many meetings
Do you have any suggestions or comments on how to improve future events?
  • No (4 respondents)
  • Prepare COVID resources and guidelines in advance for those who need testing or other procedures due to their countries of origin. This will help with travel planning.
  • We need more days for the meeting. Perhaps 3 days.
  • It was actually a bit difficult to understand what people in León said at times when they had to where masks AND when the sound quality was poor. Fortunately, the quality was fine most of the time, so it worked out good enough. A break for 5-10 min each hour would have been helpful.
  • They did a great job
  • Not at this stage
  • Possibilities for further hybrid meetings.
  • Set aside time for working on the contents/outcome/planning of the VEs e.g. by creating a sub-group for this.
  • Everything was great. I hope that more participants will be able to take part in the future, if covid allows us to do so.
Any other comments?
  • I appreciate that this continued to happen in person and think it serves as a good model for future hybrid or in-person events during the pandemic. My thanks to the organizer.
  • I enjoyed the meeting. The teachers discussed many important issues and shared their opinions on things which are inspiring.
  • Thank you for a well organized and very enjoyable event - even online :)
  • Thank you for the organisation of the meeting!
  • This meeting was very successful in my point of view. It helped us to build a better team spirit. The Spanish team was extremely hospitable and we felt very welcomed and cared for.
  • Atmosphere was great.
  • I will try to join you in the next meeting. Sorry I could not make it this time
  • Thanks to the organisation!! Perhaps a working group could be set up to find a method to objectively evaluate the virtual exchanges and check that they have been successful, so that we would have more data and not just the individual perception of the participants.

1st meeting for 2nd pilot

Work begins on the modifications and enhancement of the module for the next iteration. Online meeting on 9 February (1.5 hours)

Consortium meeting

September 9th, 2021 Consortium meeting (2 hours)

  1. Overview of project progress by Robert O’Dowd
(Relevant document: Project Roadmap)
  1. Publications on project website
  2. Ethics approval for the project
  3. Recent dissemination events (Eurocall etc.)
  4. New attempt at planning a physical meeting - January 2022? (This meeting will focus on reviewing results of the pilot studies and preparing for the next round of exchanges. Doodle: https://doodle.com/poll/akryhuiihyuaczrp?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
  5. Another doodle - this time to agree on a new day/time for monthly meetings:
https://doodle.com/poll/tsh3agux2v6tggms?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link Notes: More deliverables to be published soon. Valiant members should answer the Doodles by Monday morning (about the Physical meeting in January 2022 in León and about the group meetings this academic year)
  1. Preparing to run our field trials (teams from WP1 and WP3) Pia and Robert
    1. Finalise tasks and task sheets
VE1 Module: Teacher as a source of experience. Theme: Teaching foreign language online VE2 Module: Teachers as co-learners. Theme: Integrating technology in the foreign language classroom VE3 Module: Teacher as a source of experience. Theme: Using gamification in foreign language teaching VE4: Module: Teacher as international collaborators. Theme: Setting up a Virtual Exchange for your pupils VE5 Module: Teachers as co-learners. Theme: Inclusion and diversity in our secondary classrooms VE6 Module: Teachers as mentors. Theme: Learning during teaching practice VE7 Module: Teachers as co-learners. Theme: Inclusion and diversity in our primary classrooms
  1. Assign participants (i.e. in-service teachers) to each VE (Who wants to help organise the participants into the VEs?)
  1. Establish start-end dates for the VE - (Here we have an overview document which shows the VEs and their timelines. This needs to be updated by all moderators now.)
Check that information is correct in the document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G4kHpnpeBKi98fFTR3KluT1_ChmPwIpwsCU18bE5-NI/edit#gid=0
  1. Prepare moodle course for each VE (See VE 1 as a possible example)
https://valiant.moodlecloud.com/
  1. Set date for preparation session for moderating our VEs
In this meeting moderators will discuss the creation of the common resources (‘bank of resources’) for all the VE modules (tutorials on how to use different tools) that will be hosted on our Google Drive. People running the VEs this autumn need to meet next week or the following.
  1. VE Leaders: Contact your teachers about VE (1) - inform them of timeline
Urgent! The leaders need to write to the teachers and introduce themselves and say your VE is starting this day and I will send you more information by this day...
  1. VE leaders: Contact your teachers about VE (2)- send them log-in details and document with tasks
  1. Finalising research tools and protocol (Euline)
  1. Finalizing the research protocol for the field trials. Last output for WP2. Euline has started writing it. WP2 members should go through the text and make comments, add information, etc…(deadline: 22nd of September).
Colleagues in WP2 have to go through this document and add comments: 23rd is the deadline. Also, we will need a short meeting at the end of this month or beginning of October to finalise this and upload it to the website.
  1. Jekaterina explains about Qualtrics data collection strategy
Marga is going to share a model of an ethics form to ask VE participants for their permission to use as much data as we are interested in using. All the ethics related documents will be together somewhere to make it easier for the VE participants. Our main goal and problem is to get a high response rate. It would be best if the invitation comes to the person who mentors each group. ‘Please fill in this particular survey…’. VE moderators can access the data collection urls here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UQ9Y6NtbSDDMONP1FA2YXZYU9iTPnsrkmBvQVacOtHc/edit There are also QRs, in addition to the URLs. VE moderators are responsible for these to be shared with the VE participants. It is easier to do the survey in class (with pre-service teachers) to ensure that it gets done (if possible). The first one is the longest one and would take half an hour. If they close it they cannot go back to it. At the moment we cannot link the surveys and the moodle info at the moment. But we can compare pre and post surveys (participant 1, participant 2, etc…). Being able to triangulate all the data would be ideal. This is a pilot study and participants will provide feedback for us to improve the surveys.
  1. Agree on a timeline for distribution of surveys (e.g. 1 week before VE start?)
The survey (pre-test) should be answered once they have seen the face of their VE moderator they will be working with. Since they will become more likely to actually participate in the survey. VE moderators working with pre-service teachers don’t have access to them until a week before the VEs start. Explaining the respondents the reasons why they are answering the surveys can be beneficial to get their answers. If they don’t want to answer the survey (e.g. because it is not anonymous) what should we do? We can’t force participation, this is voluntary. We can tell them that what is shared with their teachers is whether they have completed the survey or not and not their answers as such. But ultimately we can’t force them. To avoid collecting real names we can ask questions that create unique codes. There is a system from Austria that works fairly well (Pia knows how it works).
  1. Data collection: Some points and questions
  1. Remind colleagues running the VEs that they need to use the questionnaire before and after the VE. This has to be given both to trainee and in-training teachers.
  1. How are we going to organize the control groups in each of the institutions? The control groups also need to be given the questionnaire before and after
A lot of us do have access to student teachers who are not participating in the autumn VEs and could be asked to complete the surveys. (But then if we want them to participate in the future in the VEs they would be familiar with the survey already and that would contaminate the data) so it would be more convenient to get in-service teachers to complete the surveys.
  1. I don’t know whether we solved the issue of having different links for the different VEs so that we can have access to our own participants’ data as well as being able to differentiate between the data and results from the different VEs.
This has been solved.
  1. How are the links going to be made available? Where are the answers (i. data) going to be stored?
  1. Do we have to give participants a document (ethics) to sign to request permission for data collection and analysis?. If so, do we have to design one?
Notes: In the VALIANT website the VE modules do not coincide with the ones in Google drive. Creating common resources for all the VE modules: tutorials on how to use Zoom, padlet, etc and keeping them in Google Drive and/or as part of our website. Some people are having problems with accessing the VE1 in Moodle that should serve as an example.
  1. Report on dissemination activities planned for this semester. (Anna)
This project is going to be presented in IVEC 2021. There’s events coming up in Washington in fall and Shannon is putting proposals together The communication office at MaU will make a notice on the project. These notices can be picked up by professional journals. We have money for conferences but they have to take place in Europe. Dissemination docs where you can write it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g5OQJyEK0eYWNEdWOgvmIBVMPYqihU6DAMFILrmQToA/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EZZ9cN9XymRWTiWSTmnj6nSMK9GGP6s6/edit#gid=1842207688
  1. Recruiting process for the spring 2022 semester.
We have to start recruiting participants. We have to make a copy of the google doc and make a strategic plan to disseminate it to recruit participants. If anyone is interested in doing this, that person can contact Robert directly.

UAB Timeline of events (iii)

Research team meeting

2 March 2022: Research team online meeting (1.5 hours) The VALIANT project participants who will be analyzing the data from the pre- and post-test qualitative data (open-ended questions) met today to discuss frameworks for approaching the data. Marga Vinagre led the session, providing a clear overview of grounded theory and how to ensure inter-researcher reliability. It was an interesting opportunity to hear about different approaches to qualitative data and helped the smaller teams begin to focus on the approach that will best fit. It is still under debate regarding whether one framework (etic or emic) will be applied across the board for all the different items/competences to be included in the final report (format book). UAB members attending were Melinda Dooly and Xiaoting Yu. The UAB team is working with Castelo Branco (Portugal), led by Üte Massler (Weingarten, Germany) in the analysis of teacher isolation. It was agreed to set up smaller online team meetings to being looking at the data (massive corpora) of the first pilot in order to look for emergent themes that will be tested with the second survey.

Launch of iteration 2 of module

Our 2nd interation the module begins this week (March 7th-11th) Our module will meet for 1 hour for the next 5 weeks. We have 21 participants enrolled and are lucky enough to be working with the same wonderful Initial Teacher Trainer from Turkey as in the first iteration. This time around we also have a more international group of experienced teachers which promises new and global aspects. This round our module has been shortened by one week due to the overlap between Easter holidays (in plural: interesting intercultural 'new' knowledge - Easter dates are different according to the 'national religion' - Catholic in Spain, Orthodox in Cyprus!).

Consortium meeting

March 9th, 2022 (2 hours) Agenda

  1. Overview of project progress by Robert O’Dowd
    1. Welcome to new consortium members -Kelly Arispe (Uni León / Boise State University, USA) and Valerie Rapp (PH Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany)
    2. Progress report due 30/04/2022. (See the template here.)
    3. Reminder of our next project meeting - Oslo, Norway 27&28 June 2022.
  1. Recruitment and start dates of the spring round of VEs by Shannon. (See the courses in Moodle here.)
  1. Update on finalisation of the VE Manual by Pia. (Document was published on 8 March.)
  1. Update by Euline on finalisation of Experimentation protocol. (Document to be published by 15 March.)
  1. Presentation of first draft of interview guide to be used in all VEs this semester by Anna Wärnsby and Melinda Dooly.
  1. Update by Ute and Gabriella on discussions about sustainability - VALIANT teacher platform etc.
  1. Update by Marga Vinagre on initial plans for qualitative data analysis. Discussion on timetable for publishing final report.
  1. Report by Lilia on accreditation requirements across all countries and regions. (See proposed certificate here.)
  1. Report by Anna Nicolaou on infographic, promotional video and planned conference presentations.
  1. AOB
Useful documents/links for our meeting (Please add here any links relevant to your reports in the meeting):
  1. The ‘to do’ list agreed at the León meeting.
  2. The moodle site with overview of new VEs for this semester

Research team(Isolation)

1.5 hours22 March 2022: Research team (looking at teacher isolation). Our first online meeting We have made some important decisions, including 1) Xiaoting will take the lead on the state-of-the-question review on teacher isolation. The rest of the team will be co-authors and we will present it as an article. 2) We will do the inter-rater reliability with specific questions, based on the thematic coding that Marga has begun. 3) We will have our first round of results ready by Wednesday 30th of March, for a data session on the 1st of April.

Survey 6 Designed & sent

16 March 2022: General survey designed and sent

End of iteration 2

Our 2nd interation was wrapped up on March 30th! Lovely presentations. Each iteration seems to be better and better.

Report of feedback Survey 6

22 March 2022: Survey report completed Open-ended survey consisting of 2 questions.

  • How has your experience with the project been thus far?
  • Any suggestions as we move forward?
Respondents: 14 total Summary: On the whole, the responses are very positive regarding the way in the which the project has been organized and there is evident enthusiasm towards participation. Several responses mentioned overcoming a sense of being overwhelmed and beginning to feel more comfortable in the pace and assigned roles of the project. Timing is still an issue as well as the workload. It is suggested the members try to take part in the consortium meetings as much as possible because this can help alleviate feelings of demotivation. Well wishes were sent to one colleague undergoing chemotherapy. Q1: How has your experience with the project been thus far?
  • Seems very well managed.
  • The project has been running smoothly and all intended outputs seem to be progressing as planned. I feel that the project is under control despite having to meet diverse goals and involving a large consortium.
  • My experience with the project so far has been very good. I’m glad I can be part of such a great team. There have been no major problems at work so far, all project partners are friendly and always ready to help to the best of their ability. I would like it to be the same on other projects and that this team might be involved in another project.
  • Excellent. I feel highly included in the project and see a lot of initiative emerging from different individuals who may or may not be WP leaders. This looks very healthy as it means the work is being distributed and carried out by a wide range of people on the project so it is not just a core few doing all the work and decision-making. However, I am aware that some partners and individuals are still doing a great deal more work and that the timing of events may not always allow for the full participation of all individuals or consortium members and I hope this trend will increase. I also feel that the many subgroups that have emerged around, for instance materials development, creation of outputs, field trials and data collection/analysis are letting people to get to know one another and that on the academic side we are not in isolated groups. I find this commendable for such a large project and one in which only a minority of the participants have been able to meet in person.
  • Very good, except for the huge misalignment between my workplan and the hours I work in the project. Something is seriously wrong with the budget, my university or EU bureaucracy (or a combination of all).
  • Very enriching
  • It has been very useful and practical
  • Structured and very informative. I find the energy and expertise in the different groups and in the whole group inspiring.
  • I have gained much knowledge in organizing steps for the project, learning to find the right digital tool for the VE or reflection, learned a lot about how to motivate others to live the European teaching idea.
  • It has been positive mainly because there have been more meetings in small groups.
  • Very good. You regularly keep us well informed about what our tasks are and what we need to do.
  • My experience has been very positive. In the beginning, everything was a bit rushed, as we needed to have everything ready for the pilot study in a short period of time. This was a bit overwhelming for me. Also, I felt like some partners were not completely on board. However, this changed as people started to understand the project better. I feel like there is a core group who is showing a lot of dedication. However, there are still some people who have a passive attitude. But I think this is the minority. Robert has been very effective in coaching the leaders of the different WPs and in getting people to do the work they are supposed to do. I thought the Leon meeting was very important to create more of a team spirit, even though most people were not there. I think our main challenge will be the data analysis and dissemination of results. Since the partners need to spend a lot of energy on the design and implementation of the VEs, there isn't so much time left for that. Time is always an issue. In my case, VALIANT represents only 5 % of my workload, but I'm certainly doing much more than that! It's OK if you have time, but if you don't, it's a problem. But one good thing about the project is there is some alternation regarding responsibilities and tasks. The partners can be more or less active depending on the stage of the project.
  • Good
  • The meetings of the whole group are very interesting because you can see how the whole project is progressing. I especially appreciate the working group meetings to make progress on specific topics.
  • The coordination, communication of information and management are very positive aspects of the global organization of the project.
Q2: Any suggestions as we move forward?
  • No particular suggestions.
  • I'm happy with how things are run so far.
  • I have no special suggestions as everything is great.
  • I hope we will continue moving forward with at least the next in-person meeting and whatever others the state of the world will allow as I think that can be helpful in bringing together different parts of the consortium. I also hope that Jekaterina is being sufficiently supported right now. I am moved by her continued involvement in quantitative data collection and analysis even while undergoing chemo. My gratitude and warmest wishes to her for this.
  • Not really, but I am wondering why some researchers are in the project when they do not ever seem to contribute with anything? What's the point? I don't get it.
  • none
  • So far so good
  • The leadership structures and styles are absolutely unbelievably effective and inclusive. Thank you for all the hard and extraordinary work you put in into the project.
  • It is always good to have many templates and examples things in the drive folders. I want to use pre knowledge rather than start all over again.
  • It is difficult for our requests for corrections to reach the right person, for example, in connection with the title of VEs. Maybe we could have a forum for important messages concerning the running & management of the project.
  • the possibility of hybrid meetings, ie live and online.
  • We need to be realistic in terms of what can be achieved in the time frame of the project. Otherwise people may feel overwhelmed and this can be demotivating. People should be encouraged to take part in the Oslo meeting, as this is key for the team spirit.
  • ___
  • None. Let's continue this way!

Isolation teamMeeting

30 May 2022 (1.5 hours): Moving Forward Lead/cooperation:

  • Xiaoting has agreed to the proposal of taking lead on introducing and analysing the data in NVivo. She had already scheduled an NVivo workshop (in Chinese) in the upcoming weeks.
  • Training in Chinese: it was suggested that Xiating might try to use the English version (if they offer this) or ask for a glossary or make screenshots for us/other persons working on NVIVO later on.
  • Could she get refunds for this Chinese training (around 240 Euros) from VALIANT?
Next steps:
  1. Using pre-test data: yes/no (Margarida’s question): let’s start with the mid/post-test data (decide about pre-test later once we have updated info on the latest research practices)
  2. Data of mid-diary and post-test need to be reorganised on an Excel file for better use on NVivo (Margarida’s question): Margarida Vinagre sent around an updated Excel file already, is that what you mean or is it something else?
  3. Xiaoting is currently working on the main themes
    1. literary review (Xiaoting presents her literature review (tagging system)
    2. Definitions on isolation:
      1. How do they define isolation? types of isolation?
      2. How do they define professional isolation? Subcategories?
      3. What are the main reasons/causes for prof. isolations in education context? (e.g. ….)--Sunday 5th June
      4. What are the impacts/results/consequences of isolation? (e.g. anxiety, alienation,...)
      5. What are strategies (remedies) to overcome prof. isolation?
      6. ⇒ What are the commonalities of the mentioned aspects/ which aspects are mentioned most often? Will help us create our own categories
Pre-liminary meeting on Friday: 11.30, 3rd June
  1. Xiaoting will go through the categories and define them in some more detail: She will exploit our already existing documentation and add to it. Only a skeleton to work on ;-) not a comprehensive summary (e.g.: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gfAlfN0tAH6VWgtv8xs5kqm9ktPCz2Wx/edit)
  2. Xiaoting will also add an example from the data.
  3. Isolation/professional isolation/causes+impacts - by 5th June
  4. Xiaoting will do the category extraction before the meeting in Oslo
  5. Who could support Xiaoting (at Margarida’s place/at the PH WGT)?
  6. Interrater: Melinda? Or another PhD student from UAB? Or?
Software programme: NVIVO
  • Number of NVIVO licences:
    • Margarida: need 1 license, as my group (cc) at IPCB could work together with 1 license. If there are 2 licenses for us, that will be even better.
    • Xiaoting/Melinda?
    • Gabriella/Ute
Tutorials (Kelly’s recommendations):
  • NVivo for PC users (for NVivo 12): https://youtu.be/AczCzACaLtc
  • NVivo for Mac users (for NVivo 12): https://youtu.be/_Htw45Oq-k8
  • Here is the general catalogue of playlists from NVivo QSR (if using a different version, for example):
  • https://www.youtube.com/c/NVivobyQSR/playlists
Working together in Oslo:
  • how? when?
  • inviting NVIVO experts?
  • are colleagues joining the discussion online?
Monday 27 June: 13.00-14.30: (Colleagues can join the working group which is most relevant to them) Option 1: Coding cafe- research team presenting and discussing coding to date. Session led by Marga Vianagre (online) and Anna Nicolaou (on site). Option 2: Organisation of dissemination workshops and events in 2023. Discussion led by Pilar Garcés. 14:30-14:45: Coffee break. 14.45-16.00: (Colleagues can join the working group which is most relevant to them) Option 1: Coding cafe continues - research team presenting and discussing coding to date. Session led by Marga Vianagre (online) and Anna Nicolaou (on site). Option 2: Further planning of recruitment for round 3 - Discussion led by Shannon Sauro. Option 3: Further planning of workshops and dissemination events - Discussion led by Pilar Garces-. Tuesday 28 June: 13.00-14.30 (Colleagues can join the working group which is most relevant to them) Option 1: Coding cafe continues - research team presenting and discussing coding to date. Session led by Euline Cutrim Schmid. Option 2: Further planning of recruitment for round 3 Option 3: Further planning of workshops and dissemination events 22.03.22 11.00 - 12.30 CET
  1. Agree on an understanding of isolation
  2. Agree on how to evaluate/proceed analysing data
    1. Grounded theory or thematic analysis
  3. Agree on organisation
Individually:
  1. Analyse data using the scheme (below) creating codes/subcodes/examplesMargarida: Questions (which related to isolation): J and M and W
  2. Look at the theory and revise our analysis
  3. to be done:
    1. Margarida will send/upload the extracted columns by 23rd March done
    2. Thursday, 31st, 2 pm (CET)
Together: We agree on the data/codes together Then we code all the data
  1. Time plan:
    1. Definitions by May (Xiaoting leads the theoretical review)
    2. Analysing individually by Thursday, 31st (UPLOAD it by Wednesday, 30th, 1 PM)
    3. Agreeing on further steps and who analyses which data
    4. by September we should have the data analysed so far

Data analysis(Coding)

23-31 March (total of 6 hours) Each member tests their hand at initial coding in order to create the code book for the Oslo meeting.

Isolation teamMeeting

July 8th (2 hours). Struggling with understanding the coding. Discussion with Jekaterina regarding the need for more specific questions on isolation in the next survey. Isolation Codebook: complete partial quotes (Ute) find missing quotes (everyone) translate quotes into English (Melinda) arrange table (Ute): Monday and inform VALIANT group/upload it Open questions for 6month later survey or for post-survey? questions started on in Oslo

  • Has and if so how has the VE impacted your feelings or understanding of isolation?
  • Has the VE changed your sense of community or connectedness with other teachers professionally? And if so how?
  • Has the VE given you a sense of new opportunities for professional development? And if so how?
  • Has the VE shown you new ways of dealing with geographical/spatial… isolation?
  • Has the VE shown you new ways of dealing with a sense of separateness?
  • How has the VE impacted your collegial interaction?
  • Has the VE shown you new ways of overcoming poor interaction with colleagues?
  • Did the VE provide you with new ideas or solutions re problems you are dealing with in the classroom or in school?
  • How has the VE changed the way you think about your working condition?
Jekaterina suggests: 2 main open-ended questions (keep them quite broad) The other elements we try to turn into small scale-type questions (e.g. question on satisfaction) for the post-test survey

Isolation teamMeeting

June 20th. Preparation for Oslo Meeting (2 hours) Discussion of codes emerging from literature review (done by Xiaoting) and data (top-down; bottom-up)

Consortium meeting

June 27-28: Oslo (hybrid). Melinda attended online. Xiaoting Yu attended in person.

Isolation teamMeeting

July 18th. Decisions made on how to move forward following coding café in Oslo Time plan for rounds 1 and 2 (only isolation questions)

  • familiarising ourselves with NVIVO and the codes - till 2nd August: 2-4pm or 3-5 pm or 4-6pm (Xiaoting / Carina will send their first coding results to the group by Monday 1 pm)
  • Our questions on the code: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Iys9gi-R8kG5uO218FwFPYEJq0KpQQX/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116616179473183079046&rtpof=true&sd=true
  • Feedback on our coding result;
  • Data Excel : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17HrGCigSBDt228CMuAjkImXgzASp6bAC/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116616179473183079046&rtpof=true&sd=true
  • comparing intermediary results: first and second-rater compare results 16th-18th August
  • 20%, 44/ 220 participants
  • comparing results + interpreting 6th September
Data for 2nd round Deciding which questions focus on isolation ⇒ Xiating will insert the survey (Pre-round) into NVIVO and mark the questions focusing on isolation questions on isolation (ute extracted them, need to be checked if they are comprehensive) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XyYl9yyUjhV8JwfQeXE7t-dAP8yC999UYyecqkabkdQ/edit Pilot round data with questions: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XgCFAD5_B0Tvr0RXwPlGUKFgjAJMZCAX9e3tjNYzHRQ/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=108758124577061956296 Data distribution
  • Who codes which data?
  • who is first, who is second rater for which data?

Isolation teamMeeting

July 25th. Only Xiaoting attends (Melinda on way to USA)

Data analysis(Coding)

August Xiaoting & Carina work on interrater reliability

Isolation teamMeeting

September 19th. 1.5 hours

  1. Coding Cafe
  2. Technical aspects:
    • colour exports are not possible into a pdf!---Confirmed by German NViv
    • seperating teachers and students answers possible so we can see them in the pdf extracts?
    • why are some quotes marked in blue?---“Annotation”
  3. Description: This code includes statements in which participants reported they choose to work isolated [before the VE] because they can work better and more effectively alone and it enhances individual autonomy. This includes reporting that working/studying online remotely has advantages, e.g. easier access to content or less time spent travelling to work/study..>>not clear, also before the VE? Or could it also include after participation in a VE?
  4. The school has not sufficient resources to all students. The wi fi is weak. Not all students have access to the best mobile devices and most don't have internet on their devices. ⇒ did the question refer to isolation?==> or should we proceed like with ‘the pandemic* questions
Discussing points 3 and 4 of the presentation report (29th September) 3. Presentation and discussion of findings: Were you expecting those findings? Why? If you found something that was unusual or unexpected, what was it? Why do you think this happened? ???project did not manage to reach out or integrate persons feeling isolated (no matter if they live in a rural area or not)??? ??no one said that they couldn’t develop professionally (or participate in professional development because of living in a rural area (however, some said they could not develop/discuss because they had only one or no colleague in their school)?? ??maybe carryign out a VE in an L1 might help isolated persons to connect with others since l2 is not a barrier then?? starting questions and analysis:
  1. overall - global overview about what all the participants said - the most recurrent themes (order them in order of recurrency, same for other questions)
  2. student teachers - teachers - recurrent themes seperated with regard to those two groups
  3. persons identifying themselves as isolated and analysing why they feel isolated, differentiated again into teachers and student teachers (recurrent themes)
  4. which are the most recurrrent codes for the self-identified as non-isolated) (also with regard to the most recurrent codes)
  5. Isolation in the context of the pandemic
  6. Isolation data based on the questions referring to isolation
  7. Which codes are virtually non-existant in the data? We’re not going to remove them now, but will keep them till the next two rounds are analysed
    • Administrative Isol:
    • Equipment and suitable materials offered (1)
    • Isolation\Distribution of teaching and administrative load and scheduling: (1)
    • Incompatability with school ethos (1)⇒
  8. Professional Isolation: overall levels of isolation did not change significantly for teachers but there was a slight increase in isolation in students that took part in VE. However, interestingly, there was a substantial increase in feelings of isolation in the control group. Thus, it seems VE although did not change the levels of isolation, comparing it with the change in the control group suggest that it had more of a preventative effect in relation how much more isolated people may feel.
  1. Based on your findings, do we need to change something in the data collection instruments? In the VEs?
  1. Aspects for presentation 29th that we are missing (Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11WVXmG_els_21zLaGRhGobi8GnT38Ze7/edit)
  1. Add to your codebook the following new nodes/codes all areas will be sharing:
  2. General comments
  3. Denying any learning
  4. Suggestions
  5. Problems
  6. Uncertain
b) In addition, create:
  1. a case for each VE
  2. a case for role of participant (teacher/student/not defined or other)
  1. Preparing presentation for meeting on 29th September: (example: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u-WtNygTOZgMa09Pgo1HL9Z2HBIx2D0C/edit#slide=id.g134381b74a6_0_15 from Victoria /….)
  • Researcher role (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kS2ceU99JPSgoaVdqw9W4AHv1x75iDjG/edit) - thanks - good start- but I think it should be more detailed
  • who / till when? Feedback till when?
  1. Updating our coding sheet necessary?

Consortium meeting

September 9th (online). Participant: Xavier Fontich Full consortium meeting: Friday 9 September 2022: 09.00-10.45 CET Location: Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5208854082 Meeting folder for relevant documents. This meeting will be recorded. Participant List: (Please add your names here before the meeting) Institution Participant(s) in the meeting Institution Participant in the meeting European Commission External Experts / Guests Universidad de León, Spain Robert O’Dowd Begoña Fdz Gutiérrez Rafael de Paz Urueña Malmö University, Sweden Consejería de Educación, La Junta De Castilla Y León, Spain Consellería de Educación, Galicia Mª Luz Ares Fandiño Patricia Ares Yáñez Ministry of Education in Portugal Universitat Autónoma De Barcelona Xavier Fontich Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Slovenia Petra Bevek Borut Čampelj Instituto Politécnico De Castelo Branco Margarida Morgado Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg University of Oslo Pia Sundqvist Greta Gudmundsdottir Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research Maribor University Urška Martinc Dejan Zemljak Cyprus University of Technology Anna Nicolaou Savvi Antoniou Maria Victoria Soule Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd Andreas Kullick Carmen Platz Euline Cutrim Schmid University of the Arts London Jekaterina Rogaten Pädagogische Hochschule Weingarten Ute Massler Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Laura Torres Yolanda García (only until 10.00) Marga Vinagre

  1. Project updates by Robert
Introducing Angela’s new liaison role in the project - Angela will be contacting partners in the coming weeks to collect timesheets and other documents required for the administration of the project. She will be the project members ‘point of contact’ for all administrative issues. Her email: Ángela María Alonso Morais <aalonm04@estudiantes.unileon.es> The UAB team will send a survey next week to review people’s experiences of the Oslo meeting and the start of the new term.
  1. Update on recruitment activities for final round of VE - each ministry is requested to report on their actions to promote the VEs among secondary teachers and teachers at Unis of Education in their regions.
Document: Current list of registrations Document: Registration padlet for teacher trainers in UNIs of Education
  • Petra: published the call and invitation in diverse social media. They asked teacher influencers to promote the exchange and asked Erasmus+, National EURYDICE network, national agency of projects and ministry website to disseminate information too. Everyone asks what the deadline is for the autumn-winter exchanges. We must confirm dates (most of the start in October at the earliest).
  • Luz: she’s contacting the bilingual school network and we must confirm deadlines.
  • Pal: more effective if universities contacted their partner schools.
  • Lilia: new ministry of education, lots of changes and affected teacher recruitment. Will promote the exchange among a number of school clusters. Deadlines.
  • Erich (Baden Württemberg): Read his contribution here
  • Carmen: we can contact former teachers and they can give first-hand experience. We should ask former participants to forward the information and promote it among other teachers.
  • Margarida: new opportunities in Portuguese and Spanish, including in-service teachers and training teachers providing they can use both languages.
  1. Discussion on the upcoming round of VEs - new VE?
Pia and Anna: Invited teachers involved with Ukrainian refugees and Ukrainian educators. They need help finding experts on this matter to fill in the gaps. When should they start advertising? Early next week.
  1. Research update - Jekaterina & Marga Vinagre
Jekaterina will report on her document summarising the main findings of both rounds 1 and 2. Marga will summarise next steps in the data analysis. Document: Dataset from Round 2 of VEs Document: Jekaterina’s report on rounds 1 and 2. Jekaterina: 101 teachers and 130 student teachers overall. Not many people identify themselves as being isolated, but some do identify as living in a rural area. Our interventions seem to have prevented the effect of people starting to feel isolated. We can contact students and teachers who actually identify as isolated and examine how our exchanges help them in this sense. Everyone is satisfied and finds it very valuable. Shorten the process and probably it will help with the number of people who complete the exchange. Proposes questions to remove. Suggestion: Improved or prevented their levels of isolation? Sent a survey in July, will send it again.
  • Intrinsic motivation improves for students
  • Increasing feelings of isolation in the control group. More isolated when surrounded by the teaching environment.
  • More positive attitudes towards the use of technologies. Much more open.
  • They feel competent, more supported.
  • Consistent impact on people’s development of some skills. Negotiation and problem-solving skills; they’re better at collaborating and perspective-taking.
  • Non-completers have poorer digital skills. The control group has its separate analysis.
  • Interested in some exchanges, if you want a case study of your exchange, tell Jekaterina.
  1. Report on dissemination strategy changes and ideas for community development on the project platform - Anna and Petra
Spreadsheet (dissemination folder)- update your institution’s dissemination activities every month, even departmental meetings or promoting among schools should be recorded. We are reaching global level dissemination, mainly by online activity, probably due to the pandemic. So far we have 2 videos and 1 infographic. We should target other types of groups.
  1. Reminder of next physical meeting - Lisbon, Portugal - 23/24 February 2023

July 18th. 2 hours .... more discussion, more frustrations ... NVivo is a conundrum to us all. Xiaoting is enrolled to for training.

UAB Timeline of events (iv)

Isolation team meeting

27 September 2022; 1.5 hours: Isolation team meets to prepare for the presentation on the 29th

Preparation PPT

28-29 September 2022: Editing of Presentation for research online meeting (total 2 hours)

Presentation PPT

29 September 2022: Presentation of PowerPoint (Xiaoting attending for UAB; Melinda had class)

Preparation meeting Iteration 3

30 September 2022 (1 hour): Partners meet to discuss 3rd iteration of the VALIANT module Attending: UAB - Melinda & Xavier; Cyprus: Anna & Savvi Agreements:

  • Will need to change the online meetings to Thursday (Melinda has class on Wednesday evenings until 8 pm). Need to check with Turkish group.
  • Will duplicate the activities in similar matter EXCEPT: Melinda & Xavier will prepare brief break-out discussions for teachers and student teachers regarding mentoring/being mentored.
  • Kick-off to start on October 20th.
Preparation:
  • Create new materials on mentoring/being mentored
  • Xavier joins moodle as teacher
  • Meet with Xavier to explain the functions of module

Q & A NvivoIsolation Group

11 October 2022; 14h-15h: Online meeting for clarification / trouble-shooting isolation group work Attending: UAB - Melinda & Xiaoting; other VALIANT members: Gabrielle von Lieres, Carina Schönberg (isolation group) and Kelly Arispe Experts: Anna Nicolaou & Marga Vinagre Key questions regarding how to deal with data management in Nvivo regarding factors that only our group has (e.g. self-defined (or not) as isolated).

Post Q&AIsolation Group

11 October 2022; 15h-16h: Post Q & A meeting to decide way forward Attending: UAB - Melinda & Xiaoting; other VALIANT members: Gabrielle von Lieres, Carina Schönberg (isolation group) Still a considerable amount of questions, but we are beginning to see a way forward ...

Preparation meeting Iteration 3

14 October 2022 (2 hours): Melinda & Xavier prepare Presentations for new part of module

1st sessionIteration 3

20 October 2022 (1 hour): Kick off of the the 3rd and final iteration of the field trials Introduction to the module and break out rooms (led by Melinda & Xavier) to begin discussion of key points regarding mentoring and being a mentee.

Responding 2Iteration 3

21 October 2022 (1 hour): I spent some time responding to the first padlet entries Interesting group - nice mix of student-teachers and teachers. And from all around the world!

Responding 2questions

2 November 2022 (1 hour): I spent some time responding to the padlet Q & A from week 2 Great questions from the student teachers and excellent answers from the inservice teachers.

Online session 2Iteration 3

2 November 2022 (1 hour): Brainstorming for e-booklet UAB participants: Melinda & Xavier Intense and useful session. Looking forward to seeing the final version of the e-booklet.

Consortium Mtg

4 November 2022 (1 hour) UAB participants: Melinda & Xavier

  1. Project news and updates by Robert
  1. Update on Round 3 of VALIANT Exchanges. (Short, two-minute updates from each VE leader.)
  1. Discussion on VALIANT after the lifetime of the project and ideas for community development on the project platform- led by Petra Bevek
  1. Discussion on dissemination workshops in 2023 - led by Anna Nicholau
  1. Issues in research update - Marga Vinagre
  1. Organisational details of next physical meeting - Lisbon, Portugal - 23/24 February 2023

Online session 3Iteration 3

17 November 2022 (1 hour) UAB participants: Melinda & Xavier Nice overview from former participants regarding what they have gained from taking part in this module. Lovely to hear such nice comments from them. It's all about collaborative learning and professional development!

Editing e-booklet

22 November 2022 (2 hours): Editing of the final product from iteration 3 One of the best examples yet! Click on the image to read it!

Final session Iteration 3

24 November 2022 (1.5 hours) UAB participants: Melinda & Xavier Wonderful presentations fo the e-booklet. The UAB team invited Isabel García Parejo, an expert in the teaching of languages. She gave very encouraging remarks to the presenters. The online session was followed by 30-minute focus group discussions with the student-teachers and mentors (in separate groups). Here are screenshots of the presentations by the different groups: And here's the focus group discussion, with the student-teachers: