Project Plan

The project plan is comprised of the following work units:

During this stage, which is expected to start with the approval of this proposal, the hubs, both physical and digital, will be designed and configured, and the implementation of the pilot study will be prepared and organized. The selection of procurement of 20 laptops that will be used to equip the two physical hubs will be carried out during this stage. The digital hub will be designed and an initial set of learning material will be drafted: general information on digital storytelling and its use in education, examples of student digital stories from Mrs. Gkoutsioukosta’s PhD research, short videos on the production of digital stories, etc. Finally, the six lesson plans of the intervention will be prepared: one for each of the last three grades of primary education (4th, 5th and 6th) and one for each grade of Junior High School. For the Elementary Schools, the lesson plans will be related to various subjects (Language, Literature, History, Geography, Environment), while for the Junior High School, the lesson plans will be related to Modern Greek Language, Literature, History, Foreign Languages and Computer Science courses. Preparations will also be made for the publication of the call for interest to select the 60 teachers who will participate in the main study: 30 from the area of Thessaloniki (15 from primary and 15 from secondary education) and 30 from the area of Larisa (15 from primary and 15 from secondary education).

During this stage, the trial intervention will be carried out in the selected pilot schools. Initially, the participating teachers will be trained in face-to-face workshops organized at the two physical hubs, and then the trial intervention will be carried out in six primary and junior high classes. The project team will continuously support the educational implementation with visits to the two schools and meetings with the teachers. At the same time, the digital hub will be tested and enriched with the material resulting from teacher training workshops and the students’ digital stories. In particular, the online communication of the participating teachers through the platform will be tested. At the end of this stage, the selection of the 60 teachers who will participate in the main study will be carried out. Criteria for their selection will be their familiarity with ICTs and, in general, their familiarity with educational research.

During this stage, the need for redesigning aspects of the main study will be evaluated, based on the reflection of the pilot study. Possible modifications will involve the teacher training scheme, the lesson plans and the digital hub. At the same time, the teachers of the schools participating in the main study will be trained. Two face-to-face training workshops will take place, one in Thessaloniki and the other in the wider region of Larisa. The workshops will be 6 hours long and will be held in groups of 10 people at the two physical hubs, for a total of 36 hours of training.

During this stage, the main intervention will be carried out by the 60 teachers. The digital hub will be used for the remote coordination of the project and the asynchronous guidance of the participating teachers. In addition, the teachers themselves and their students will act as researchers, implementing action research in their schools, with the support and guidance of the project team, whose members will visit the teachers’ schools and hold meetings with them. At the end of the intervention, students will be given questionnaires and group interviews will be held with the participating teachers.

After the completion of the main intervention in schools, two dissemination seminars will be organized in Thessaloniki. The first will target the students of the schools involved in the project. The students will present the digital stories created within the project and the best ones will be awarded. These seminars will also act as motivation for the entire educational / research process. The second seminar will target the scientific and educational community. It will aim to present the project, evaluate its results, and formulate proposals for the use of digital storytelling in education. Members of the project team and participating teachers will present in this seminar. Research data resulting from the main intervention will be processed. Based on the reflection, the digital hub will be enriched, with the purpose of functioning as a valuable tool for the dissemination of digital storytelling in education. The entire research experience will be reflected in an article that will be published in an international scientific journal and/or in an announcement at an international conference.