WELCOME TO 2013 C2LEARN SUMMER SCHOOL
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Summary on the activities of the 2013 C2Learn Summer School
The 2013 C2Learn Summer School took place in Panormo, Crete, from 30th June to 5th July 2013. Overall, 27 participants from 12 countries attended. Their backgrounds were diverse, too, including various teaching specialisations and specialisation combinations.
Participants attended six keynote talks by internationally renowned academics, as well as eight practical and interactive workshops, in which they gained new experiences connected to the design of student-centred, game-based and creativity-oriented educational activities.
Before the start of the summer school, participants had been invited by email to start preparing for this highly interactive, participatory course, by proposing their own ‘initial idea’. This could be just a general idea, a vision, a wish, or maybe an example of existing practice, preferably from their own professional context, classes, schools, areas of expertise.
During the course, participants then developed these initial ideas further, based on the new experiences and insights they were gaining through the various workshops. Each workshop had a special focus, enabling participants to pay particular attention to specific aspects of their ideas. In this way, the initial ideas were growing and maturing session by session, day by day, becoming fuller 'educational scenarios' by the end of the course. On the last day, each participant presented their final scenario to the rest of the group.
This whole process and interactions and exchanges among the participants were supported by an online shared space on the Open Discovery Space portal, the online community of the summer school. Each participant uploaded their ideas into this virtual space and shared them with the rest of the group. In addition, the online community also supported and enhanced the processes of the summer school in various other ways. It facilitated the operation of thematic sub-groups within the group. In addition, it supported the different sessions and workshops of the summer school by giving tutors spaces to provide information, instructions, readings, and invite feedback on the workshops. There was also a space dedicated to wider discussions going across the boundaries of sessions and workshops. In addition, in another dedicated area of the online community, information was provided about the field trips included in the summer school programme, and generally events outside the seminar room. What is more, participants were given personal space (‘blogs’) to share their thoughts and feelings with the rest of the community. Finally, the organisers encouraged the participants to use the online community as a space for continual interaction, collaboration and exchanges after the end of the face-to-face course.
Overall, participants were invited and encouraged to initiate, discuss, and share, as equal members of an open community. One of the results of this process was also the formation of a group in Facebook.
Below is the content of the original home page of the 2013 C2Learn Summer School:
How can we foster creativity in education? Can we use student-engaging games in this effort? Can we, as educators, design learning activities to this end? Can we involve our students as creative actors in this design?
Are you a school teacher, other school staff, or a teacher trainer? Are you interested in creativity, creative thinking, and/or games in education?
Join us in Crete on 30th June - 5th July 2013.
In the pleasant surroundings of summer-time Crete and a top holiday resort, we will be exploring synergies of creativity and digital games in today’s schools, co-designing educational activities together with you and with your own professional context in mind.
This summer-school training course is offered in the framework of Comenius In-Service Training. If you apply to your National Agency early enough (by mid-January 2013 at the latest) your travel and participation costs may be covered through a Comenius Training grant. In the Comenius Training Database the course title is ‘Be Creative, Play Digital: Creativity in Learning through Gamification’ (reference number: GR-2013-228-001).
If you are interested:
- Contact your National Agency to find out about the application procedure and deadline for a Comenius In-Service Training Grant. In most cases the deadline is on 16th January 2013.
- Contact us to reserve your place and get a confirmation letter, and proceed with your grant application.