Global Learning and International Classroom: Evaluation Report - Executive Summary
The Aims of the Project
The Global Learning and International Classroom (GLIC) Project commenced at Anderson High School (AHS) in the session 2003-04. It focussed on the use of ICT, specifically videoconferencing, for learning and teaching purposes. Videoconferencing was introduced at AHS in three subjects at Higher and Advanced Higher Level with schools overseas: German with Germany; Mathematics with Japan; and History with South Africa. In the second year of the project, a fourth subject, Modern Studies, was introduced with the South African schools. The GLIC Project is only one aspect of a much wider initiative in which the school is involved, the 'Global Classroom Partnership’, an association of schools across several continents (see Section 2.2). The aims of the GLIC Project identified by AHS are to:
identify future changes to the curriculum, both in the nature and format of the schools learning programmes and the way students learn;
share best practices in learning and teaching internationally through the use and development of ICT;
build on the increasingly transnational nature of education systems and curricular developments through exploring collaborative learning and teaching, initially in a limited number of curricular areas, across national boundaries within the partnership schools;
enable teachers and students to acquire expertise of working within a networked curriculum through international team working;
raise the profile of the importance of sharing best practice internationally to raise overall standards and achievements of students and schools.
Evaluation of the GLIC Project
The evaluation of the project commenced in October 2004, the second year of the project, and concluded in October 2005. It has four main aims outlined below.
Aim 1
To assess the overall impact of the Global Learning and International Classroom Project on the teachers and pupils in the participating schools. Aim 2
To identify what, if any, impact it has had on teaching and learning, and the sharing of strategies and resources.
Aim 3
To explore the impact of ICT within the project: Has it helped to develop and deliver a more varied and enriched curriculum? What benefits/difficulties has this method of learning and teaching created?
Aim 4
To identify what, if any, improvement participation in the project has had on pupil attitudes, motivation, self-esteem, achievement and attainment levels.
Methodology
The data were collected from the following respondents and sources: interviews with Local Authority personnel, AHS Headteacher, project manager and coordinator; interviews with and questionnaires to the secondary teachers of German, history and mathematics from Shetland and their counterparts in the partner schools; pupil questionnaires and AHS pupil interviews; Shetland teacher and pupil diaries; scrutiny of project documentation, SQA examination results; and videoconference observations. The observations were conducted on a minimum of two videoconference sessions in each subject area with one researcher present at AHS and the other researcher present in the videoconference suite at Aberdeen University (AU). A link from AU to AHS and the partner school was enabled via an internet (IP) connection with the assistance of Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS).
Global Learning and International Classroom - Full Evaluation report (517 KB)