Spotlighters, a European project supporting learners with self-regulatory practices from the science of stress
Spotlighters, a European project supporting learners with self-regulatory practices from the science of stress
Spotlighters, a European project supporting learners with self-regulatory practices from the science of stress
Coordinated by the Interactive and Distributed Technologies for Education (TIDE) research group of the DTIC. The project’s kick-off meeting was held on 15 and 16 November at the Poblenou campus. The project will run for 36 months and comes within the 2018 Erasmus+ call.
On 15 and 16 November, the kick-off meeting of a new European project was held: Spotlighters (Illuminating student paths to resilience with the science of stress), at UPF’s Poblenou campus. A 36-month project, within the framework of the European 2018 Erasmus+ call for the promotion of projects concerning education, training, youth and sport, coordinated by Davinia Hernández-Leo, director of the Interactive and Distributed Technologies for Education (TIDE) research group of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF. The Spotlighters’ proposal was put together by Marc Beardsley, the acting project manager, and Milica Vujovic – both are members of the TIDE research group.
The consortium of the Spotlighters project is comprised of experts in neuroscience, education, and education technology. Partners include the University of Helsinki (Finland), Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), University of Western Macedonia (Greece), Metropolia University of Applied Sciences of Helsinki (Finland), as well as LOOP.bz a Danish consultancy and two Portuguese companies Advancis and Boon. Further, local educational institutes in each of the consortium partner countries are associate partners in the project. Institut Consell de Cent, Escola Collaso i Gil, and Escola Virolai are the educational partners located in Barcelona.
Increase the self-regulatory abilities of learners
Marc Beardsley, who helped bring the consortium together, explained the motivation for the project,
“Stress is an important part of learning. It facilitates the process but excessive stress or poorly managed stress hinders learning. Many students have not learned why we experience stress nor how to manage it – and this can rob them of the joy of learning. We want to help students enjoy and excel at learning.”
The main goal of Spotlighters is to increase the self-regulatory abilities of learners. The project will seek out what training activities, software design and instructional tools, in the area of learning, can support teachers in guiding students toward the use of evidenced-based self-regulatory practices. The project seeks to contribute how a basic knowledge of the science of stress and simple, self-regulatory practices such as mindfulness can aid both teachers and learners.
Hence, the project intends to model the evidenced-based self-regulatory practices contributed by neuroscience in a set of lessons and a massive open online course (MOOC) for students; produce a classroom ICT tool to support teachers in the delivery of the lessons; organize workshops and symposiums for teachers in Spain, Finland, Denmark, Greece and Portugal to support educators in advancing their knowledge of the science of stress and self-regulatory practices.
Further information on Spotlighters and its progress will be available on the TIDE group website. For researchers, educators and educational institutes interested in knowing more about the project, please contact [email protected].