The second transnational project meeting of the Erasmus+ Project VRACE “Virtual Reality for Augmenting Creativity and Effectiveness of School Training” took place at the University of Turku campus on 15 and 16 December 2021. Representatives from the United Kingdom participated in person while the partners from Greece, Italy and Czech Republic attended the meeting online.
Professor Mikko-Jussi Laakso, Director of the Centre for Learning Analytics, opened the meeting by welcoming the participants and delivering a presentation about the transformation of the education system with the aid of Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining practices. Following the introductory presentation, the meeting participants demonstrated their progress and brainstormed ideas for the enhancement of the bespoke Professional Teacher Training courses.
Representatives from the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra presented their teachers training course focusing on the use of information and communications technology in education. The presentation was followed by the partners from the National Research Council of Italy presenting a course dedicated to integration of Web 2.0 tools in the school context.
The partners from the Coventry University explored and presented the course materials on the creative use of social networks for teaching and learning practices. In line with the project’s key focus, the partners from Greece presented their innovative course on the integration of 3D Virtual Worlds in a classroom context.
The meeting hosts from the University of Turku further elaborated on the course focusing on guidelines for integrating gamification techniques into the design and development of interactive and engaging learning activities. The presentations concluded with partners from Greece and Finland demonstrating their joint course on the design and development of learning activities in 3-Dimensional Virtual Environments.
Due to the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity to identify and propose innovative instructional solutions is greater than ever. The activities of the VRACE project can have a substantial impact on modernising school education by improving the skills of teachers and assisting them in the efficient and purposeful utilisation of innovative educational tools and technologies.
VRACE project partnership:
- Coventry University, United Kingdom
- Computer Technology Institute, Greece
- University of Turku, Finland
- National Research Council - Institute for Educational Technologies, Italy
- Czech Centre for Vocational Training, Czech Republic
Photos: VRACE project