Next Level Educational Innovation: Evidence-Informed Practices to Innovate Higher and Secondary Education

This presentation offers a systematic and evidence-informed way to design thought-through blended learning environments in secondary education. The design principles have been tested in practice by Teacher Design Teams across Flanders, Belgium.

Covid has challenged our society on many levels. In education, the global pandemic opened doors to ‘rethink school’ in new and innovative ways. Starting from the idea to ‘never waste a good crisis’, it is time to move beyond the remote emergency teaching into which Covid forced us and take it to the next level.

Our practice-based research project (2021-2023) aims at using and optimising insights gained from experiences with the unexpected, rapid transitions our educational system faced during the Covid pandemic. The goal is to support and coach teachers in designing and implementing thought-through blended learning environments that pave the way to(wards) ‘a new normal’ within our educational systems. The focus of our research project is on secondary education, as this is the educational level at which the implementation of blended learning that was catalysed by the pandemic has ample room for growth in the long run.

In our project, we define a blended learning environment as a well-thought-through learning environment in which learning experiences are optimised through a combination of face-to-face interactions and digital technology and in which students are given the opportunity to learn both individually and in groups, at their own pace, at different points in time and/or in different places. The goal is to bring each student to effective learning.

In previous research (Achtergaele, Dewaele & Stienaers 2022:13), we found that to implement successful blended learning environments, self-regulation skills are vital: blending without taking self-regulation into account is destined to fail. Therefore, modelling and scaffolding self-regulation must be embedded in the design of the learning environment.

These blended learning environments must be designed in a systematic and evidence-informed way. In our research project, we have developed a toolkit containing evidence-informed design principles that Teacher Design Teams can use to create blended learning environments. This toolkit is based upon the instructional principles of Merrill and integrates insights from both cognitive and motivational psychology and the science of learning. Starting from the concept of affordances, digital technology is being implemented when and where it adds value.

Our toolkit has been tested by several Teacher Design Teams while (re)designing their curriculum into a blended learning environment. The successes and pitfalls they encountered throughout the process, were used to refine the toolkit, and formulate takeaways for other Teacher Design Teams to use in the future. Furthermore, examples of good practices were added to the toolkit as a source of inspiration.

Overview

• Discover a toolkit with evidence-informed design principles to design blended learning environments in secondary education.
• Transform your course(s) into a blended learning environment that facilitates the development of your students’ self-regulation skills.

This presentation shares a research of how higher education institutions in the Netherlands work in an evidence-informed manner on educational innovation.

Renewing or innovating education is not something you do based on a gut feeling. An effective approach requires a broader perspective: an evidence-informed perspective. Ideally, insights gathered from peer-reviewed literature, data, and expert knowledge are translated to the context of your educational program with all its unique aspects.

However, adopting evidence-informed methods as a main educational design strategy in Higher Educational Institutes (HEI) is not as obvious as it seems. So, how do HEI successfully promote and implement evidence-informed educational innovation?

We will share the outcomes of the study ‘Educational Innovation with ICT, performed by the Dutch Acceleration Plan, of how evidence-informed innovation takes place within HEI in the Netherlands.

Which factors contribute to successful implementation of evidence-informed educational innovation at different levels of HEI? With this as its central research question, we interviewed various experts - about vision, resources and conditions, process, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.

At the end of the session, we want to discuss if the factors that influence the evidence-informed educational innovation process in Dutch HEI are also relevant in an international perspective. We also want to have a dialogue about "good tools are half the battle": what are good evidence informed examples and instruments? What kind of tools and instruments are you using in your practice regarding evidence-informed educational innovation?

Overview

• Inventory of how higher education institutions in the Netherlands work in an evidence-informed manner on educational innovation.
• Recommendations from a Dutch perspective for improving evidence-informed educational innovation.
• Better insight in the aspects of evidence-informed educational innovation (with or without ICT) as adopted by your own institution.