The STEAMonEdu Consortium is currently developing a two-phase training programme for STE(A)M educators comprising a six-week MOOC and a two-week blended learning course.

The MOOC “STE(A)M education for educators: Design, orchestration and implementation of STE(A)M education” will become available during April 2021. It is based on the five perspectives of the Competence Framework for STE(A)M educators, which represents the different roles that a STE(A)M educator can have during the educational procedure:

1. Educator as teacher-trainer-tutor
2. Educator as learning designer and creator
3. Educator as orchestrator and manager
4. Educator as community member
5. Educator as professional

The course supports the professional development of educators and managers/directors at all levels of education and guides them in becoming STE(A)M education tutors, designers and orchestrators. It addresses their need to understand, adapt, apply and create modern STE(A)M educational procedures and practices that enhance the effectiveness and acceptance of short and long-term educational processes.

The participants will gain knowledge and develop competences in the following areas:

• Modern approaches of STE(A)M education
• Design and implementation of STE(A)M educational activities
• Content creation for STE(A)M education
• STE(A)M educational procedure and resource management
• Community building, participation and interaction
• Policies in the context of STE(A)M education
• Competence frameworks and lifelong learning opportunities.

The MOOC will last six weeks and will provide multilingual material in seven different languages (English, Catalan, Italian, German, Greek, Romanian, and Spanish) along with community building interactions.

The course is addressed to all individuals who are interested in applying or finding out about STE(A)M education, such as:

• active educators (teachers, trainers etc.) at all levels and settings of formal and non-formal education;
• managers/directors at all levels of formal and non-formal education;
• students or graduates.

Participation is open and unlimited. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, the MOOC will provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among learners, tutors, teaching assistants and mentors, as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments.

Following the MOOC, a blended learning programme will be delivered, which will delve into specific topics such as:

• Knowledge and experience exchange in the context of a community of STE(A)M educators
• Delving into STE(A)M curricula design and development
• Cooperative activities towards the design of STE(A)M activity templates
• Understanding the STE(A)M competence framework and educator profiles and using them towards the promotion of new educational policies

By CTI

The STEAMonEdu project is funded under the Erasmus+/KA3 programme and aims to contribute to innovative and cross-disciplinary approaches in implementing STE(A)M education by revising and strengthening the professional profile of the teaching profession. No transition to STEM or STE(A)M education will ever be possible without the active and full involvement of educators. As teaching strategies are changing, educators need to update their competence profiles in order to face STE(A)M education challenges.

In this context, STEAMonEdu consortium has developed the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “STE(A)M education for educators: Design, orchestration and implementation of STE(A)M education”. The Course is based on the five perspectives of the STEAMonedu Competence Framework for STE(A)M educators, which represent the different roles that a STE(A)M educator can have during the educational procedure:

1. Educator as teacher-trainer-tutor
2. Educator as learning designer and creator
3. Educator as orchestrator and manager
4. Educator as community member
5. Educator as professional

Who is it for

The MOOC is addressed to all individuals who are interested in applying or finding out about STE(A)M education, such as:

• active educators (teachers, trainers etc.) at all levels and settings of formal and non-formal education;
• managers/directors at all levels of formal and non-formal education;
• students or graduates.

Objectives

MOOC participants will gain knowledge and develop competences in the following areas:

• Modern approaches of STE(A)M education
• Design and implementation of STE(A)M educational activities
• Content creation for STE(A)M education
• STE(A)M educational procedure and resource management
• Community building, participation and interaction
• Policies in the context of STE(A)M education
• Competence frameworks and lifelong learning opportunities

Dates and effort

The MOOC will be launched on 10 May 2021.

The effort is estimated to 4-6 hours per week

Language

English

Participation and Certification

Participation is open and unlimited. The MOOC offers free (no fee) enrollment to anyone anywhere with network access.

In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, the MOOC will provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among learners, tutors, teaching assistants and mentors, as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments.

After the successful completion of the MOOC, you will get a certificate on “STE(A)M education for educators” issued by the STEAMonEdu consortium.

Are you interested in joining the MOOC?

For more information about the MOOC and for registration, visit https://steamonedu.eu/mooc/

STEAMonEdu MOOC started on the 10^th of May and lasted for 6 creative, learning, challenging, fascinating weeks.

The MOOC’s participants had the chance to meet their peers and tutors and familiarise themselves with the platform during the introductory week. Moreover, they acquired deep knowledge in the STE(A)M education approach, in teaching and learning techniques that promote STE(A)M education, in content, tools, content creation and educational activities design for STE(A)M education. Furthermore, other topics developed within the MOOC have covered the relevant methodologies within STE(A)M related to teaching organization, classroom management, educational resource management, lab management, human resource management, communities of educators, research and business communities, policies to promote STE(A)M education, research activities, lifelong learning, professional development, digital and transferable skills, frameworks and tools for STE(A)M educators.

Our STEAMonEdu researchers made great efforts towards the creation of a MOOC providing the maximum support to learners and the learning process by adopting and adjusting a student-centred learning approach in order to cover the needs of all different learner audiences. Also from the early stage of the design to the actual creation and operation, special attention was given to the effective communication among participants to support student learning complemented by high levels of engagement as well as the monitoring and assessment of students’ activities in order to ensure a qualitative effective MOOC performance. Some first input referring to the satisfaction of the participants can only reinforce our partnership’s endeavours for the Blended MOOC to come in early September!

Dear STE(A)M educators and members of the STEAMonEdu community thank you for your trust and your commitment!!

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

By RDEWG