Course Introduction

It is widely known that Europe needs more young people to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects and careers to become part of a much-needed qualified workforce in the upcoming years.

At the same time, a wide range of factors affects students’ interest and pursuit of STEM careers - from the given curriculum to teachers’ knowledge to even participation in professional development activities. Whatever these factors may be, they are usually directly linked to school organisation.

For this reason, it will be of vital importance to build the capacity to empower the most relevant stakeholders in school leadership and school organisation. The Opening Schools to STEM Careers MOOC is meant to train heads of schools and career counsellors to successfully equip schools with tools for introducing and attracting young people to STEM careers.

In this MOOC, participants will: 

1. Understand why STEM is critical for students’ future welfare and success;
2. Recognise some of the most relevant STEM career pathways;
3. Appreciate different types of career counselling approaches at the school level; 
4. Determine the most significant soft skills and STEM abilities, methodologies and pedagogical approaches that teachers and career counsellors should use/focus on;
5. Learn how to address gender stereotypes and foster a culture of understanding;
6. Learn how to collaborate within the school on the subject of STEM career counselling (including collaboration between parents and teachers);
7. Learn how to initiate and maintain community partnerships for STEM career counselling; 
8. Learn how to host and create STEM career events; 
9. Learn how to build a STEM career counselling vision and an action plan for schools (including leadership perspective aspects).

During the course, we will be sharing, discussing, and reflecting on the topics above. Furthermore, you will discover a community of like-minded professionals who can support each other in improving their classroom practices. We will be using a variety of online tools and social media outlets to communicate with each other and to engage in a number of peer-review activities as part of the course.

You may already join us in the Opening Minds to STEM Careers MOOC’s Facebook group and share your ideas about the topic on Twitter using #STEMcareersMOOC.  

This MOOC is a result of the collaboration of three different projects:

SYSTEMIC, Scientix, and STEM Alliance.

The SYSTEMIC project is a joint initiative of both Ministries of Education and industry, with the overall objective of increasing young Europeans' interest in STEM careers and providing teachers with the appropriate pedagogical tools to enable them to teach STEM topics in a more attractive way.

Scientix, the community for science education in Europe, promotes and supports a Europe-wide collaboration among STEM teachers, education researchers, policymakers and other STEM education professionals.

The STEM Alliance – inGenious Education and industry – brings together industries, Ministries of Education and education stakeholders to promote STEM education and careers to young Europeans and to address anticipated future skill gaps within the European Union.

Course Introduction

Welcome to the Opening Schools to STEM Careers Course

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION BEFORE TAKING THIS COURSE 

Opening Schools to STEM Careers is the second course in a series of three MOOCs offered by SYSTEMIC, Scientix and the STEM Alliance. The first course, Opening Minds to STEM Careers, was built to train and empower you in successfully introducing and attracting young people to STEM careers from an early age, as well as to learn about private and public initiatives on STEM education. We encourage you to briefly review the first course, Opening Minds to STEM Careers, here. 

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Welcome to the course and thanks for joining us. If you haven't completed the pre-course survey yet or added your marker to the course participant map, please do so by clicking on the links.

For starters, take a look at this course introduction, which provides you with an overview of how the course is organised:

Main points to remember

1 - Modules & Activities

The course is divided into 7 modules, with an additional 1.5 grace week at the end of the course to complete all the tasks (that makes 8.5 weeks in total). This course has a two-track approach, meaning we will open two modules per week, instead of opening one module of the course at the beginning of each week. We hope that in this way, everyone can personalise their learning schedule, and finish the course at their own pace. Once open, the modules will remain so until the end of the course, so you can always catch up at a later time. This means that participants will be able to finish it in minimum 4 weeks, maximum 8.5 weeks.

• You can start submitting your course activity on the 16th October
• The final deadline for submitting your course activity is 15th November, and 
• The deadline for submitting three reviews of your colleagues’ activities is 22nd November. 
• The sooner you submit your final course activity and the reviews of your peers’ work, the sooner you can graduate

Each module consists of

• a number of videos,

• reflection and discussion activities,

• and a short quiz or peer-review exercise that checks you have been following the module.

2 - Duration & Workload

The course will run for 8.5 weeks, from 25th September 2017 to 22nd November 2017. Thus, the final deadline for all work is the 22nd November 2017.

All the course content will remain accessible after that, but it won't be possible to do the final activity anymore and receive the course certificate.

Each module lasts 1 week but remains open for completion until the 22nd November. This leaves you with enough flexibility, should you be very busy during one week and need to catch up at a later date. However, please note that peer-review exercises have separate deadlines, so make sure to check the information carefully.

After the 22nd November a "blackout" period of 1,5 weeks will follow, during which the course will not be accessible. All your work on the course is saved and will become available again at the conclusion of the blackout period.

This “blackout” period is a designated time during which we will focus our attention on assessing the work of course participants, dealing with any possible issues (plagiarism, missing final course activities/reviews, technical aspects), and preparing the course certificates.

If you are wondering about the workload, we estimate it to be around 2-3 hours per week depending on your level of engagement.

3 - Discussions & Exchanges

As part of the activities, you are welcome to share and discuss materials, opinions or experiences related to this course through a variety of online tools, which are integrated directly into each module. We have chosen these tools based on their user-friendliness, so you should not have to sign up to use them and most of them should be fairly self-explanatory. You will see that for most sections we have focused on the Padlet tool. For an introduction, check this FAQ on how to post on Padlet.

However, we also encourage you to share your ideas and thoughts on Twitter using #STEMcareersMOOC or on our Facebook group.

4 - Assessment & Certification

Each module will be scored based on an automated assessment in the form of a short quiz intended to gather the main ideas of each module. It is important to complete the quizzes if you wish to receive the digital badges and certificate at the end of the course. In the final module, we will have one last activity which asks you to submit an activity and then peer-review other participants' activities. In order for you to receive the digital certificate at the end, you need to submit the lesson plan AND peer-review other participants' lesson plans.

5 - How to get help

If you have a question on the course or you have some technical issues, please always check the course's FAQ section first. There you will find common questions and answers; if that doesn't help, please post your question in the relevant forum category.

Please only email us or contact us on social media in emergencies. We are a very small team and cannot respond immediately if you contact us through these channels.

Would you like to know who is behind this course?

The Opening Schools to STEM Careers course is a joint initiative of three projects coordinated by the Science Education Department colleagues at European Schoolnet: Scientix and SYSTEMIC, funded by the H2020 and Erasmus+ programmes of the European Commission respectively, and the STEM Alliance, a school-industry project with 13 companies supporting it.

The three projects have contributed to all of the valuable content you will find in this course. You will see interviews with companies, teacher presentations and many tools and resources curated and handpicked to support you in introducing STEM careers to your students.

We have also received help from teachers across Europe, and the Scientix Ambassadors who voluntarily offered their knowledge and expertise.

European Schoolnet is the network of 30 European Ministries of Education, based in Brussels. As a not-for-profit organisation, we aim to bring innovation in teaching and learning to Ministries of Education, schools, teachers, researchers and industry partners.

B. Who you will be working with

Below you will find some data on your fellow course participants. As of 25.09.2017 we are 773 participants. We are a large enough group to guarantee lots of diversity in backgrounds and views which will be great for the discussions.

At the same time, we need to be aware that school cultures are very different from one country to another. That means an idea which sounds like a great solution to us might be less relevant or suitable to you. It's important to keep this in mind as you go through the course and to think about how the various ideas can be made relevant to your context. However, that should not stop you from sharing your ideas and experiences, because only by reflecting on how we teach and learn and by seeing how others teach and learn can we truly develop our own practices.

It is great to see that we have a good mix of experience levels on the course and while most of us are working at secondary schools, you shouldn't hesitate to share your experiences if you are working at a primary school or even outside of school. It is important that we get a variety of perspectives on the issues we discuss.

If you have not yet answered the survey, it only takes 5 minutes and you can access it here. If more of you answer the survey and there are significant changes to the percentages presented below, we will update the graphs. You can of course also add your marker to the course map by simply clicking the big + button below (top right corner).

C. Your Learning Diary

What is the Learning Diary?

We highly recommend that all course participants create their own Learning Diary. The Learning Diary should be a COLLECTION OF ALL ELEMENTS FROM THE COURSE RELEVANT TO YOUR OWN CONTEXT. A good Learning Diary will provide you with a summary of the course at a later stage and focus your attention on those areas that are especially relevant to your own context. 

A good Learning Diary will also show that you have reflected on the questions introduced on the course and that you have engaged with the ideas of others on the course.

The diary can include anything you like, but we would suggest collecting...

1. Your answers to the questions posed during the modules (usually underneath the videos).
2. Comments, ideas, resources from the course materials or shared by other course participants that you found interesting or relevant to your own situation.

Your diary can of course be in your native language, but in previous courses we found that course participants really enjoyed sharing the Learning Diaries amongst themselves and giving each other feedback. This will be much easier if you create your Learning Diary in English, as otherwise you have to find course participants who share your language.  

Why a Learning Diary?

There is a lot of material on the course and there will be even more once everyone starts discussing and sharing ideas and resources. Not all of this will be relevant to your own situation, so to avoid getting lost, we recommend that you create this Learning Diary. This will be a valuable resource for you, should you want to revisit the topics of the course at a later stage.

How do I create my Learning Diary?

You can create your Learning Diary any way you like, but make sure that it is easily shared and understood, as this will allow others to provide you feedback. An easy-to-use tool is Padlet, and we have provided instructions for setting up your own Padlet below. As we will also be using Padlet in other parts of the course, it will be useful to get familiar with it early on. However, you are welcome to use alternative tools to create your Learning Diary such as Glogster, Dipity, Google Documents, or any other tool you think works well for this. The example of a Learning Diary you can see below was created by a participant of another course using the Tackk tool.

How can I share my Learning Diary?

Probably the easiest way to share your diary and get some feedback from your peers is by posting it on social media. We have also created a dedicated forum category where you can post your diaries.

Some suggestions for a great Learning Diary:

1. Your first entry should briefly introduce yourself. Tell your peers a bit about who you are.
2. Your second entry should briefly introduce your teaching context. Tell your peers a bit about your school, classroom and what technologies you have access to.
3. All following entries should clearly identify which module and which question the entry is linked to. The easiest way is to include the module number and the question in the title of the entry (see the example below). 
4. Make sure to include links, photos, videos, documents, etc. in your entries. 
5. Don't forget to add any interesting piece of content you come across on the course to your Learning Diary.

D. Code of Conduct

As we are a very diverse group of course participants it is important that we agree on a framework for interacting with each other. Therefore, please take a look at the Academy's Code of Conduct. By continuing on this course you agree to abide by this Code of Conduct in all communications associated with the course's activities.

Code of Conduct

This code of conduct applies to all spaces that are part of the European Schoolnet Academy portal. This includes all our online courses, mailing lists, social media channels, and any third-party tools we use to communicate with each other as part of the European Schoolnet Academy activities. In addition, violations of this code outside these spaces may affect a person's ability to participate in them.

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, we ask that you report it to academy@eun.org.

Be friendly, welcoming, and patient

We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability. It is therefore important that when interacting with each other we are aware of this diversity and do not discriminate against each other.

Because of this diversity, our understanding of how things work will be different, our cultural and linguistic references will be different, and we will have very different solutions to the problems we discuss. This is a key strength of the community but requires us to be patient and friendly when interacting with each other. A reference you make might not be clear to someone else, and accordingly, their response might be less clear to you. This requires patience and openness in trying to understand someone else’s viewpoint.

Be constructive

Critical reflection is a welcome part of our community’s activities but it should always be friendly and constructive. Criticism should always come with concrete suggestions on how things can be improved and should always take into account as much information as is available about the context of the object of criticism. For example, in reviewing someone else’s work on the community, make sure to take into account their cultural background and work conditions when offering suggestions on how to improve their work.

Be considerate

Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you make will affect fellow users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Remember that we're a worldwide community, so you might not be communicating in someone else's primary language.

Be respectful

Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behaviour and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It’s important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Members of the European Schoolnet Academy community should be respectful when dealing with other members as well as with people outside the Academy’s community.

Be careful with the words you choose

We are a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren't acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Violent threats or language directed against another person
• Discriminatory jokes and language
• Posting sexually explicit or violent material
• Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personal information ("doxing")
• Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms
• Unwelcome sexual attention
• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior
• Repeated harassment of others; in general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop

When we disagree, try to understand why

Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time and the European Schoolnet Academy is no exception. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of the Academy comes from its varied community, people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Don’t forget that it is human to err and blaming each other doesn’t get us anywhere. Instead, focus on helping to resolve issues and learning from mistakes.