Rethinking teaching and learning The Future Classroom Lab is created by European Schoolnet, its supporting 30 ministries and industry partners to help visualise how conventional classrooms and other learning spaces can be easily reorganised to support changing styles of teaching and learning. Know more about us

Stage 1 – Development of Inspirational Future Classroom Scenarios A Future Classroom Scenario (FCS) is a narrative description of learning and teaching that provides a vision for innovation and advanced pedagogical practice, making effective use of ICT. The aim is to inspire teachers to change their own practices (through adaptation of the ideas presented) rather than providing a lesson script. A Future Classroom Scenario is created by bringing together a number of diverse stakeholders who have a different perspective on the challenges and opportunities that need to be considered when planning education for the future. These stakeholders can include teachers, school leaders, educational experts, employers, parents and students etc. Their role is to identify important emerging trends which are likely to have an impact on learning and teaching in the future. They also assess the level of maturity in the use of ICT that a school is at, to identify the desired level of maturity the school would like to reach. These trends and the level of maturity are used to guide the process of writing the scenario which provides a high level description of learning activities and resource functionalities. The scenario describes the roles of learners, teachers and other participants, and focuses on advanced approaches to learning and teaching that support learners in the adoption of 21st century Skills. A Future Classroom Scenario is not limited to the ‘classroom' and can take place in any context, environment or place where learning is possible. Stage 2 – Designing Innovative Learning Activities Future Classroom Scenarios are intentionally inspirational, meaning that they provide a vision of what could potentially be delivered to support innovation in learning and teaching. For this reason, they lack certain detail and may provide a number of challenges to teachers trying to implement them. The second stage in the Future Classroom Methodology is to use Future Classroom Scenarios as inspiration for designing Learning Activities that can be practically implemented by teachers. This involves a collaborative design process, where groups of teachers, often from different subject areas and backgrounds, work together in a design workshop. A Learning Activity is a concrete description of a unit of a teaching and learning experience which is not subject specific; so, it could be used by any teacher. The collaborative Learning Activity design process is intended to enable teachers to turn visionary educational scenarios into actual classroom practices. The scenarios, therefore, provide a stimulus for the design of innovative Learning Activities. Stage 3 – Piloting and evaluating Learning Activities In the final stage, teachers use the Learning Activities as input for lesson planning. A collection of Learning Activities can be used in a range of sequences to deliver any aspect of the curriculum. Teachers need to decide how they will use the activities and when, and what learning outcomes they will achieve. The objective is for the teacher to try new and more advanced approaches to teaching, and supporting learning. As a part of this process, guidance is given in the use of resources and technologies. For example, a number of tools have been developed to support teachers in finding and making use of these resources and tools, reducing the barriers to innovation. As part of this process of trying new approaches, the delivery of the Learning Activity is evaluated, and teachers are encouraged to share their experiences within a community of practice. This is also intended to be an iterative process, with the experiences of trying new approaches and technologies feeding into the further development of increasingly innovative Future Classroom Scenarios and Learning Activities.

The toolkit can be used by those engaged in bringing about sustainable change in teaching and learning, particularly: School leaders and teachers – for example, when a school is considering investment in technology, or changing the curriculum or school layout; Advisers at regional or national level – as a change management tool, particularly when deploying technology; Technology providers, consultants and other stakeholders – to provide support and guidance to schools on how to develop their ICT strategy and to guide their own product and service development.

The toolkit encourages whole school use of ICT by: Creating an educational vision that is ambitious but achievable Involving all key stakeholders involved in designing a schools' ICT strategy Focusing on advanced pedagogical practices and change management Designing engaging Learning Activities that bring innovation through the use of ICT to support learner acquisition of 21st Century skills Evaluating the use of Learning Activities

six toolsets

Future Classroom Toolkit