Aim of the project

The OpenInn project aimed to:

• bridge the implementation gap in the use of ICT in a creative way to support learning and social coherence linking together different sectors;
• support the evolvement of a stable positive self-esteem both for learners and for facilitators in the learning environment. By reassuring the self-esteem through autonomous learning, it also generates inner motivation for learning;
• increase opportunities for exploiting intellectual capital of young talents and groups at-risk;
• produce a comprehensive e-Assessment Model containing the theoretical concept and didactics for creativity, with topics including: ways to support the learner to introduce new ideas, evaluating and rewarding creative results, methods for giving instructions to reach innovative solutions, providing autonomy for creative expression both for not-yet ICT users and advanced level users in their specific sectors;
• create the “Knowledge Generating House” as an innovative social network for exploring creative potentials.

 

Short description

OpenInn project provides a new pedagogical and organisational model to communities and individuals through the use of an online ideation tool. This model enhances learning in formal and informal education, and supports innovative assessment. The project is geared towards students, teachers and managers, and builds on a person’s own interests to strengthen their creativity and self-confidence.

OpenInn offers a new perspective linking education with the corporate world of “open innovation”. The project has produced quality textual and multimedia resources in 9 languages that support the independent learner/trainer and enhance open innovation, assessment and creativity. There is a clear coherence between the textual resources addressing the pedagogical model and the technological tool „Knowledge Generating House” (KGH) for open innovation in education. The approach is to be integrated into the partners’ own educational interventions.

Users could use the KGH platform looking for ideas expressed by others and by exploiting their own inner potentials as well. This generates a new learning experience, where not only young talents, but groups at-risk from falling out of educational system can be actively engaged in creating and inventing. By collaborating with others, they can attain new perspectives for understanding a case and developing it, and by the new perspectives they are able to understand themselves better. This reassures their self-esteem and makes the base for exploring their inner potentials.

The project aimed at implementing the Open Innovation concept in the educational sector to develop a new learning paradigm which exploits the potentials of ICT for learners above 15 years. There is an importance of leaving the model open for more sectors of the educational field because the field of use can still be a process of evolution depending on the end users. This concept was targeted to the primary target group which consists of talented youth in higher and secondary education. The secondary target group are persons at risk of falling out from the educational system in secondary, higher education, vocational training and adults who wish to further explore their capabilities. The tertiary target group are teachers and facilitators of talented youth and groups at-risk in secondary, higher education, vocational training or adult education institutions. The OpenInn project results could be used in the long-term perspective for the students with a specific research or scientific interest, experts, SMEs, managers of large enterprises, non-profit organisations and groups that need more support in order to be able to use the portal for enhancing creativity.

Results of the project

OpenInn has developed a web 2.0 prototype tool (Knowledge Generating House) and a pedagogical guide (the e-Assessment model) to involve schools in real-life innovation processes for lifelong learning.

As was mentioned above, main outcomes of OpenInn project are presented in OpenInn portal (see Figure 1.1.1) and includes  “The Guide to Creativity (an e-Assessment Model)” which is a complex electronic educational material serving as a “guide” for teachers using KGH, respectively for teachers interested in innovation trends in education and in innovative didactics for enhancing creativity. The Knowledge Generating House represents on-line ideation tool. The Demo video and video guide to OpenInn portal and Knowledge Generating House serves as promotional tools but also as help for perspective users altogether with  “OpenInn Guidebook “ user manual for the Knowledge Generating House with explanations of all features developed and “OpenInn project website” with all information about the project, partnership, activities done, etc.

Figure 1.1.1 Introduction page of OpenInn portal

 

The portal is multilingual – all information is available in nine languages: Bulgarian, Danish, English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Slovak and Spanish.

The “Guide to Creativity” presents on-line material for teachers and also for managers interested in innovation trends in education and in innovative didactics for enhancing creativity. The material is divided into modules containing ways how to support the learner to introduce new ideas, ways how to evaluate and reward creative results, methods for giving instructions to reach innovative solutions, providing autonomy for creative expression both for teachers who are not-yet computer users to those who are advanced internet users. Every module consists of the self-learning material “Pedagogical background” that provides the reader with a comprehensive theoretical background about the Open Innovation principle and its possible usage in the field of addressing and assessing creativity in an educational context. The ICT Tools section provides a list of ICT tools, their descriptions and ways how they can be used in an educational context. Every item contains three sections based on the level of a potential user’s digital literacy: without the necessity to use ICT tools; using basic level ICT tools; using innovative and advanced level of ICT tools. The Practical examples section presents a collection of particular scenarios describing how to apply ICT for teaching and learning to increase creativity. The 25 scenarios were developed for different educational contexts as well as for the different digital literacy of the users. Rather than a consecutive order the scenarios are presented as single independent items, assigned to two different categories: kind of educational sector (secondary school student, vocational student, university student, and adult learner), level of ICT skills (non-ICT user or beginner, basic ICT skills, advances ICT skills). The Resource library contains more interesting teaching and learning material about enhancing creativity not used in the previous sections.

The Knowledge Generating House (see Figure 1.1.2) supports the development of new ideas and online brainstorming. KGH also offers commenting and voting the ideas. These activities are divided into place for collaborative learning (‘Innovation e-Learning Rooms’ for brainstorming and mind-mapping), space for uploading documents (like academic studies, thesis, portfolios) and individual ‘creativity assessment’ (based on the level of activity, provided ideas etc.).

 

 

Figure 1.1.2 Knowledge Generating House home page

Assessment / feedback from users

OpenInn pilot testing was concerned on testing the functionality and quality of every part of the OpenInn portal. In connection to target groups and main objectives of the project, the partnership decided to provide tests with three pilot-group tests with the portal – 2 pilot-groups with 10-30 students/learners including one teacher/facilitator and one pilot-group only for teachers with 5-20 persons. Besides 25 national pilots done in Danish, German, Italian, Portugal, Slovak, Spanish language, there was realized one international pilot involving 4 partner-countries (Denmark, Hungary, Germany and Bulgaria) in English, so that students were able to use the portal with peers online from other countries. Together on the pilots participated 357 persons involving different education level institutions, based on project’s target groups: secondary schools, vocational schools, universities and adult education institutions and with different ICT skills level – no ICT, basic ICT and advanced ICT. During the pilot testing users created 113 different challenges included to various Innovation rooms (Business and economy, Social issues, Teacher training and e-learning, Career building, Self-development, Technical and organizational solution, Developing OpenInn, Miscellaneous), added 165 new ideas to these challenges and 155 comments.

Lessons learned

291 users took part on the final feedback, what represents 82% of all pilot test participants. The achieved results could be briefly generalized as follows:

• About 80% users agreed or strongly agreed, that developed OpenInn portal is easy to use and navigate, has clear layout and format, has easy-readable content and has sufficient response time. Concerning OpenInn portal structure and functionality, the pilot tests participants appreciated sharing ideas with others and possibility to get opinion from other users as also the overall layout, with the different areas visible in the top and menu to the left, placement of different articles.
• Almost 75% of users agreed or strongly agreed, that KGH part is also easy to navigate, easy to add new challenges, ideas, votes or comments, easy to find existing challenges, ideas or comments. The majority of respondents marked as best feature of the KGH for the supporting creativity itself, the possibility to read ideas from others and sharing of the contributions and the simple way to add challenges, ideas, comments and votes and possibility of get response from several different countries.
• The last specialized part of OpenInn portal – Guide to Creativity – and its subparts were evaluated only by teachers, what means 28% of all respondents’ feedback. The majority of them agreed or strongly agreed that all developed parts are clearly and easily to understand, well and logical structured and suitable to support creativity in teaching and learning (Figures 1.1.3-1.1.5).

Figure 1.1.3 Evaluation of the GtC: PEDAGOGICAL BACKGROUND

Figure 1.1.4 Evaluation of the GtC: PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

Figure 1.1.5 Evaluation of the GtC: ICT TOOLS