Tackling language and cultural barriers in superdiverse environments The Isotis multilingual Virtual Learning and Communication Environment for parental support, curriculum innovation and professional development.

Authors:Giulia Pastori, Andrea Mangiatordi, Valentina Pagani & Alice Sophie SarcinelliUniversity of Milano-Bicocca

EQUALITY & INCLUSION CONFERENCE UTRECHT 28-29 NOVEMBER, 2019

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

Supporting disadvantaged families in using their own social, cultural and linguistic resources to create safe and

stimulating home environments for their children (WP3)

Creating effective and inclusive curricula and pedagogies in early childhood education and care centres and primary

schools (WP4)

Competence building and professional development of key social agents, such as (pre)school teachers and other (para)professionals in extra-curricular programs (WP5)

About the ISOTIS PROJECT...

The use of a Virtual Learning Environment

“ISOTIS will develop, implement and evaluate inter-linked prototype programmes for parents, classrooms

and professional development using an innovative Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)” (p.19)

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

WP5 - Professional Development

WP4 - Curriculum Innovation

WP3 - Parent support

G L O B A L C O M P E T E N C E

(UNESCO 2013, 2015; OECD 2018)

Human rights & Social Justice Education

Plurilingual Education and Language

awareness

Intercultural Education

Critical Pedagogy

Education for Democracy

ICT Enhanced Learning and social

environment

Socio-contructivist Pedagogy & Children's

Voice

CONTENT KnowledgeValuesAttitudesSkillsAction

Design-based Research

Intervention

Theory of Change

Systemic and Eco/Biological Approach

ICT Enhanced Communication

and Learning

Process

Design-Based Research Intervention

Guiding Principles in the design of the platform

and of the interventionS

Raising awareness and knowledge of multiple languages, cultures, human rights, promoting critical thinking and establishing shared understanding

Promoting agency of all stakeholders

Using the resources available – (diverse family languages and cultural backgrounds) to innovate learning practices and to create rich learning experiences.

Sustaining communication and collaboration between stakeholders, encouraging and supporting networking between stakeholders and promoting community bonds

• Based on Open Source software• self-hosted & privacy oriented• standards-based learning environment with

a custom interface• redistributable

• Designed following Universal Design for Learning guidelines • Multilingual interface & multimedia communication

Essential Choices & Criteria FOR THE VLE DESIGN

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Providingmultiplemeansofengagement,representationofinformation,action&expression(Rose&Meyer,2002)

VLE MAIN FEATURES

REPOSITORY OF

RESOURCES

Multilingual videos

Short theoretical texts and other

selected resources

Guidelines for observation,

reflection and action

Documentation of the activities

in action

SOCIAL

NETWORKING

PERSONAL

WORK SPACE

Integration of different tools and functions

A multilingual interface• The overall interface of the VLE was available in 32+

languages; • 12 videos with scripts available in 31 languages, a few

available in “just” 27 or 23 languages;• The site Privacy Policy text was made available in 20

languages;• Support for the Romani language was added as a new

language pack during the course of the Project.

A linguistic mediator

Asmallcharacter,portrayedasaroboticbee,actedasalinguisticandaccessibilitymediator,appearingonallpagesandprovidingessentialservicesforlinguisticaccessibility:

Hello, my name is Beeba!

Here is what I can do…

Read text aloud for you (in 30+ languages) Show you a virtual keyboard to enter your text using a layout you are familiar with Translate text on-the-fly (thanks to Google Translator) Make text larger or more readable for you, by changing font size and color schemes.

resources organized into 7 main courses + several sub-themes

Videos

Already available on the main website

www.isotis.org/en/vle/videos

SOCIAL NETWORKINGA communication system designed to overcome linguistic barriers and to offer valid alternatives to writing, following the principles of Universal Design for Learning: • through forum pages that adopt graphical layouts inspired by social

media • featuring multilingual support • allowing to exchange messages in written, video and audio-

recorded form, to upload pictures, or to draw directly in the message area

It offered a shared collaborative work space for professionals, children and parents, fostering the creation of ‘communities of practice’

Multilingualism and global competence in pre- and primary schools.

The ISOTIS digital platform prototype. Giulia Pastori, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy

Co-presenters: Andrea Mangiatordi, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy

Non-presenting Co-authors: Valentina Pagani, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy Alice Sophie Sarcinelli, University Of MIlan-Bicocca, Italy Jana Obrovska, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Lenka Kissovà, Masaryk University,

Czech Republic Zuzana Lenhartova, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Joana Cadima, University of Porto, Portugal Gil Nata, University of Porto, Portugal Kostantinos Tsioumis, Hellenic Opern University, Greece

Kostantinos Vasiliadis, Hellenic Open University, Greece

SPECIFIC GOALS- Connecting and bridging home and school children’s linguistic and cultural

experience, making visible (hence legitimating, valuing) all the multilingual repertories and profiles of children;

- Promoting good attitudes/representations of all the languages and cultures, soliciting the acknowledgement and deconstruction of the power relation between cultures, ethnicities, races and languages;

- Soliciting the acknowledgement of equal rights and social justice and promoting democratic values, attitudes, skills and behaviours.

- Enhancing digital competence and increasing the use of positive technology

Overview of sites across countries

  Area Organisation N. Of Classes & children age range

N. of teachers Target group

Thessaloniki PRIMARY SCHOOL + KINDERGARTEN

3 classes: 5-7 age 5Low-SES,

immigrants and refugees.

Milan1 PRIMARY SCHOOL AND 1 PRESCHOOL

4 classes: 1: 3-6 yrs;

1: 7/8; 1: 9-10, 1: 10-11 yrs9

Culturally diverse (Maghrebian,

Filipino, Peruvian)

Brno/Ústí nad Labem 3 PRIMARY SCHOOLS 5 classrooms

(100 children) 8-11 years old

5 + 6 teacher assistants

Low SES, Roma

Greater area of Porto 2 primary schools

 7 classrooms (teachers working with 7-10, 12-14 yrs in

site 1 and 7-10 yrs in site 2)7 Low SES, Roma

Site: One Istituto Comprensivo in Milan characterized by super-diversity (>60% of disadvantaged immigrant families and very few middle-class Italian families)

Activity: A multilingual digital storytelling - 8/9 y-o children - connection to curriculum (narrative thinking; story structure, parts and roles...; literacy competences); - involvement of parents and family resources; - creating a resource for the school and for younger/new children shared on the website of the school

AN EXAMPLE FROM ITALY

Interviewing each other

Survey of the languages of the class

Survey of the languages of the 3rd grade classes

What can we do…

…with the languages we know?

1. Screenplay definition in class

25

Selecting 6/7 main scenes and sentences

Preparing drawings

2628

2. Parents’ involvement for translations

Video-messages for parents, also in different

languages

Parents’ reply through the VLE

27

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Voice-over recording in multiple languages

Digital writing of the texts in multiple languages

3. Realization of the Multilingual DS

https://vle.isotis.org/mod/page/view.php?id=3576

WHAT did WE LEARN?

ABOUT THE multilingual interface

• The great potential of using a multilingual, multimedia digital support to improve communication and bi-directional exchange between various actors • The symbolic value of a multilingual digital tool such as the

VLE in providing visibility of languages and legitimating them in monolingual contexts

• Attractive because of their audio visual multilingual nature• Encouraging reflection on beliefs, attitudes and values• Providing concrete suggestions for enactment in

practice

A “live” resource bank: a dynamic and constantly evolving repository of content – with a quality content monitoring system –

supporting continuous professional development

ABOUT THE resources

ABOUT THE SOCIAL NETWORKING

Community of practice/of learners

• Teachers/parents • Teachers/children & teachers/children/

parents• Teachers across schools and countries

✓ Sharing documentation and resources of school-home experiences

✓ Enhancing communication and collaboration

✓ Sharing experiences

SOCIAL NETWORKING

• Compatibility with mobile devices and applications must be maximized, to match pre-existing uses of digital technology,

• Lower the skill requirements• Support parents and teachers in documenting home/school

experiences for sharing & collaborative group learning

Requirements & recommendations

• ICTshavegreat potential to engage children increasing their participation in accomplishing also typical school activities such as reading and writing giving them an active role in the whole process.

• Enhancement of digital competences even of low SES or SEN children

!Consider and plan for the role children can play in facilitating parent/teacher engagement

ABOUT THE Platform use

Difficulties in engaging parents and in integrating the VLE in the educators practice: scarcity of tech equipment, unintuitive interface

àProvide adequate technical support and dedicate time to familiarization with the platform àMaximize user-friendliness and compatibility with other existing apps and resources

ABOUT THE Platform use

Platform useRequirements & recommendations

Take user needs and contexts into consideration

Flexible use And

modularity Transferability

Make resources and tools as granular and

interoperable as possible

And now…

ISOTIS BLACK FRIDAY!

community.isotis.org/demo