| One of our aims at ELvis is to research new approaches to teaching and learning with innovative technologies. It is expected that All participants will be researchers, building knowledge and recording their progress for the benefit of others in their schools and globally. To help with this, Sarah Jones, from Core Educators and the University of Hull, joined the team in 2009. She based her PhD on the ELvis context, looking at ‘Pedagogic Shift’, or put more simply, how teachers are changing the way they teach as a result of working collaboratively in a virtual international school. She has encouraged teachers and students to join her in creating research papers and presentations – please see the list below. |
Sarah Jones, Presenting a research paper at Online Educa Berlin |
| Research Papers:
Developing High Order Thinking Skills Through Digital Media – This was presented by Sarah Jones at the Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education (ITTE) Annual Conference, held in Bedford, UK in July 2013 Developing High Order Thinking Skills Through Story Gathering – This paper was presented by Sarah Jones, Patrizia Sanguedolce and Gianluca at the 4th Global Conference Storytelling: Global Reflections on Narrative in Prague, during May 2013 New Learning Approaches and Pedagogy in a Virtual International School: Initial Findings and Implications – This paper was presented by Sarah Jones at Online Educa Berlin in December 2011 The Eurolink – Virtual International School: Reflections, Impact And Lessons Learned From A Pan European Educational Collaboration – This paper was presented by Sarah Jones at the International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation in Madrid, November 2011 |
A student taking part in the paper presented at the 4th Global Conference on Storytelling in 2013 |
| Sarah Jones, has now nearly completed her PhD – she is just awaiting her Viva, which is an oral examination. Her PhD was about pedagogic shift, or to put it another way, how teachers change their practices with the help of modern technology. As part of this, she conducted regular evaluations with the teachers involved and held skype sessions with teachers organising certain projects.
What did she find out? The process of change that teachers must go through to accommodate the appropriate use of modern technologies for teaching and learning is a complex process. Sarah’s PhD findings demonstrated the importance of understanding change as a learning journey, which necessarily takes time and is influenced by a variety of factors in which effective leadership plays a central role. The research concluded that through processes such as understanding each others’ different perspectives and the way technologies are harnessed, change is facilitated and a sense of community is built, all play an important role in enabling change to take place. ELvis 3.0 had come a long way in developing effective ways of working across the partnership of schools and could be used as a role model for other virtual international schools wishing to work collaboratively across the EU. |
Sarah has developed a model for effective ways of working in virtual international schools, based on her work in ELvis and this can now be seen here:
Virtual International Schools: Effective Ways of Working (Jones, 2015) |
