TEACHING EXCELLENCE DATABASE

The TeachingClinic (TC) is a Master-level course in teacher education programs that merges service-learning, digital learning, and design-based research. In this course, practicing teachers (as external stakeholders) submit their real-world challenges and then work in close collaboration with groups of students of teacher education to find, develop, and evaluate tailor-made solutions to that challenge. Throughout the whole process, students receive digital coaching from a teacher educator and have access to a large platform of relevant, online courses and other resources. This original service-learning approach within teacher education has important implications for the involved stakeholders and beyond, as attested by a recently peer-reviewed, international journal publication about the concept (Froehlich, Hobusch, & Möslinger, 2021). Students learn in a context that is close, if not identical, to their actual future workplace, which not only increases engagement throughout the course, but also facilitates transfer of the acquired competences. The flexible, digital support system allows for a student-centric learning environment, in which students can pick their own learning goals and journeys. The practicing teachers that submit their challenges and work together with the students as external stakeholders benefit from the project in manifold ways. For example, the students deliver a service that is of explicit value to the teachers; their specific challenge is being addressed as part of the students’ workload. Furthermore, knowledge is being transferred from the academy to the individual classroom: The TC shows how state-of-the-art research can be translated into a design that has a direct impact on the teacher, the classroom, and its pupils. What is special about the TC is the benefit it delivers on the individual level, on the institutional level, and even on the societal level (national and international cooperation and exchange across borders).The TC can be a powerful component of Third Mission activities; this is especially true due to manifold multiplication effects of the delivered service. It is a learning experience not only for the students (who are becoming teachers), but also for the established teachers. Building knowledge cumulatively—and publishing it via peer-reviewed, international journals as well as via student-managed social media accounts allows the TC to reach a large population of teachers and, indirectly, thousands of pupils.

Methodology

TC Step-by-Step: Through a bottom-up process, practicing teachers submit their individual, school-related real-life challenges to the TC. Students then assign themselves according to their own background and preferences to one of the projects; typically 2-6 students work together on one project. They then collaborate with the teacher to refine the problem and they devise a theory-driven plan to tackle the challenge using design-based research. They execute the plan and thereby deliver a service of immediate value to the teacher. They also evaluate their measure and publish the results (e.g., in international peer-reviewed journals, but also via social media towards practitioners) or request funding at national funding agencies on behalf of the teachers (to sustainably implement the innovation in practice). Throughout the whole process, the students receive coaching (research methods, project management) from the course instructor; they also get access to a large library of relevant and scientific online courses. How is this innovative? The TC contains many aspects that by themselves are teaching innovations, such as the course platform or the student-centric, alternative grading concept of dynamic grading (see 5.2). But here, we focus on the bigger picture. The TC is a unique combination of service-learning, design-based research, and digital learning (with facets of international learning) in the domain of teacher education. This is innovative also due to the scale of impact and multiplier role that this original combination can achieve (see below). How is this relevant for the category? The TC is in line with university efforts under the banner of the Third Mission, the idea to have a more direct impact on society than via teaching or research. While this is true for many service-learning courses, the TC is hosted in the context of education and thus reaps substantial multiplication effects: One single instance of a TC features about 6 projects, which include on average 6-10 teachers; so it improves the classroom experience for hundreds or even thousands of pupils just in one semester. Considering cumulative effects over a teacher’s professional lifetime, the impact is massive. Currently, even an increased transnational roll-out of the concept with partner organizations abroad is being tested; the described impact is highly scalable. What are the outcomes? The TC achieves outcomes for the students, for the participating teachers (and their pupils), as well as for the participating institutions (schools and the university), which has been documented in a peer-reviewed evaluation study to promote international dialogue. Section 5.3 will focus on each stakeholder group in more detail.

Tools, equipment, technology used

Application of innovative tools The TC applies a range of innovative digital and non-digital tools. This includes a fully-gamified course platform that offers more than 15 relevant online courses (with proprietary video material of 3-9 hours per course) to be used as needed (cf. student-centric design). They are guided by the course facilitator through these resources using live office hours (which are booked using an innovative group booking tool that simplifies the process) or through asynchronous multimodal videofeedback (see Froehlich & Guias, 2021). But these are just examples and the TC utilizes many more tools, such as a TC-project planning canvas for easy project management or a professional social media management platform, through which students manage the social media activities via student takeovers. Application of new methods Many innovative methods have already been mentioned, for instance in the direction of giving multimodal videofeedback. Another example would be the coaching model that underpins the whole TC and that, for instance, connects course instruction and the on-demand video platform in a student-centric and sustainable way. Lastly, grading utilizes an innovative method: A dynamic grading system is applied, in which students can decide on the individual and team level which deliverables will support their individual learning needs and project interests. This highly personalized and flexible learning approach makes the TC format adaptable to a wide range of conditions and different settings. New learning environment and how students navigate it/encouragement: The tools and methods mentioned above are used to help students navigate the new learning environment created in the TC. Based on student feedback, it is easy to see that the course is radically different from any other course that the students had experienced before. It is an open environment with digital and analogous components, with multiple stakeholders, resources, and deliverables that all need to be brought into a coherent pattern by the students themselves. Students need to be versatile in applying these different tools/methods and in adapting to this flexible learning environment. This is demanding, but it also prepares the students for a complex professional environment. The service learning aspect purposefully promotes the versatile use of tools and methods to adapt to flexible and dynamic real-life-learning environments, which is a key competency for the later working setting of professional teachers. The learning environment is continuously updated based on student feedback, which we seek through weekly qualitative interviews and surveys.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

The TC achieves measurable outcomes for the students, for the participating teachers (and their pupils), as well as for the participating institutions (schools and the university). Ad EHEA’s goal of student-centered learning The students experience the TC similar to an internship, where they gain valuable practical knowledge and experience (which they are always thirsty for). They learn in a real context, which facilitates the transfer of any lesson learned. And conducting TC projects has lots of learnings to offer: On top of gaining subject-matter expertise in the context of the project, vital project-management skills, writing skills (also in the context of funding applications), digital skills (see below) are gained and a “scientific mindset” is being developed. Ad EHEA’s goal of Promotion of Young Academics and Expand knowledge and innovation transfer Some teachers and students have also used the opportunity to publish their first internationally peer-reviewed journal publications through student-faculty co-creative projects based on TC projects. Ad EHEA’s goal of continuous enhancement of teaching The teachers get to work on a project that is relevant to them with additional resources (the students). So they can tackle the challenges in depth (and potentially with additional funding, which was applied for during the TC). Through this process, a transfer of university knowledge to the classroom happens—and also the “scientific mindset” is being transported. This transfer could also be described as a way to contextualize knowledge from the literature (which often is about “average”). Ad EHEA’s goal of strengthening higher education capacity for innovation The TC brings together three relevant stakeholder groups (students, teacher educators, teachers) that all have their specific perspectives on the challenges. The TCs have shown that this is a fruitful way of finding innovative and evidence-based solutions to the presented challenges. All these benefits were scientifically evaluated; an international, peer-reviewed publication written by participating teachers, students, and course-facilitators describes the benefits in greater detail.

Lessons learnt

The TC is situated in a verys complex and volatile, multi-stakeholder environment. As such, multiple lessons have been learned in the past, some of which are documented in the evaluation paper. Here, we outline a few exemplary lessons learned. Good solutions/sober-minded decisions: All parts of the TC are super-flexible. This makes it easy to adapt the design to projects in very different fields and/or of very different magnitudes. It also makes adoption by other course facilitators or institutions/countries very easy (confirmed through a pilot test with a Spanish university). The digital video library and the interactions with the course-facilitator around it help to implement a very student-centric design. It helps to navigate the problem of heterogeneous students in a TC classroom; the students are at very different levels of research competence when they enter the TC. The course library levels the playing field and made all projects entered by teachers feasible so far. Mistakes/wrong decision and Avoiding implementation mistakes: We have rolled-out the concept to the Bachelor’s level once. There, the open learning environment that the TC uses was very challenging for the students and the quality of work suffered. If the concept is to be implemented at that level, more support and structure needs to be given. All stakeholders of the project need to have clarity about their role within the TC. This also includes the course facilitator, for whom the work may differ quite a bit from a regular teaching assignment.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

Adaptability and How to Adapt: The TC provides a highly adaptable learning environment. Each method used (e.g., coaching via office hours booking platform, varying number of projects, the grading system) has been integrated with the goal of increasing flexibility. Institutions that seek to adopt the course format could take the resources and templates we have created as a starting point (course calendars, online courses, analysis templates,...) and get started without much effort. This was verified by pilot testing the concept at a Spanish university within an arguably more complex COIL setting. The test went well, even though the other university had very different curricular affordances (e.g., duration was 2 semesters instead of 1, different grading, different position in the curriculum). Sustainability: Long-term use of the TC seems likely: 1. Since the publication of the TC evaluation paper in early summer 2021, the idea has gained a lot of traction and we were invited to present the concept in many countries. Participation for teachers is also part of further education for a major non-public player in this domain; this guarantees a steady inflow of interested partners without effort. 2. The TC is sustainable for course facilitators, because once the resources are created (or adopted from our templates), the teaching load is relatively low. 3. The generated knowledge is sustainable because TC projects are real, bottom-up projects. Beyond the immediate project, follow-up funding is being requested as part of the TC for long-term implementation.

Promotion of best practice

Impact: There are three major goals with our promotion efforts: 1. We disseminate the knowledge created in the individual TC projects at multiple levels. The solutions that were developed and evaluated for participating teachers should be accessible for all. 2. We promote the idea of the TC itself, as it fills an important gap in teacher education, as outlined above and also represents a huge opportunity for service learning/Third Mission efforts in different institutions, settings and countries. 3. Promotion is also needed to find partnering teachers for each semester. While we have solved this on the systems level and cooperate with large organizations/schools that nominate teachers regularly, we also strive for a heterogeneous audience and promote the concept to practitioners who did not know the TC.# Levels and channels: We communicate to a diverse set of stakeholders located at different levels using a thought-out communication mix: 1. To academics/the EU-level we communicate mainly via int. journal publications and int. presentations. 2. To teachers at the national and institutional level we communicate mainly via digital training for teachers; certificates for students and teachers. The TC is integrated in the educational program of a major non-public player (Teach for Austria). 3. To the general public (national and int.), we communicate mainly via social media (facebook, instagram, Twitter via student takeovers) and the webpage.

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• Faculty level
• Institutional level
• Cross-institutional level
• National level
• EU/EHEA/International level

Course/faculty level: The course fulfills the curriculum and establishes a “brand” for bottom-up applied pedagogical research. The collected empirical evidence promotes exchange about pedagogical challenges (see international presentations) with educational institutions globally. (Cross-)Institute level: The host institution has a strong emphasis on Third Mission, for which the TC is a clear example of. This led to the invitation for the course facilitator to participate in a round table on service learning to further roll out this didactical approach at the institution. Also, we were invited to many talks at other universities to establish institutional networks about service-learning/TC. National EU/EHEA/International level: The TC contributes to achieving the EHEA goals as shown in section 4.1 and it serves the system goals of promoting academic knowledge and expanding innovation transfer and locational advantages. Additionally, the TC facilitates the knowledge transfer from academia to society. The possibility of a transmission of TC across the borders of Austria with COIL initiatives supports the guiding idea of a truly European education system, which is so far hardly to be found in teacher education.

6.1 Digitalization

• Outstanding, innovative, excellent practices of online / blended / hybrid learning
• Innovative, novel methodology in using digital tools/devices in teaching
• Novel digital solutions (tools, frameworks, devices, tasks to enhance efficiency and motivation)
• Digital scientific sources used in T&L

Reasoning: 1. TC gives students access to >60 hrs. of research methods courses. Students navigate this gamified platform in a self-directed way. 2. Digital coaching is booked using an automated booking tool; digital feedback via video is given. 3. Int. guest speakers are integrated via live YouTube/facebook livestream 4. Students take over the TC social media channels. 5. Some projects also focus on digital topics (e.g., “how to teach about basic digital skills if the schools do not have any hardware”).

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6.2 Internationalization

• Outstanding practices of international online collaborative learning
• Developing students' multicultural awareness
• Students engagement in international projects
• Courses implemented in international cooperation (projects, co-teaching, virtual/blended mobility, etc.)
• International projects/research results embedded into course development and T&L

Reasoning: The TC was conducted partially with partners in Spain (UAB) in a COIL format. TC output is disseminated internationally: invited talks/presentations in AT, RO, DE, ES, USA, paper publications in international journals (Frontiers of Education). International guest speakers are invited for special topics (e.g. design-based research). Many TC projects also focus on topics of culture and language (lots of TC projects in highly heterogeneous classrooms!).

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• Inclusive course design, universally designed divers activities to meet special students' needs
• Universally designed teaching material - adjustable for special needs
• Innovative teaching methodology for inclusion and meet diverse student needs
• Alternative, flexible assessment methods for students with special needs
• Senzitivizing students to consider special needs when practicing their profession
• Course includes hints on how the services/products of the profession could be universally designed/inclusive

Reasoning: The students move through the TC in a super-individualized manner; the plenum acts only as a sounding-board/peer-support group, most of the work is done in the smaller and self-paced project teams. The facilitator gives individualized support through coaching hours, videofeedback, the large video repository (which are mostly in agreement with universal design). Dynamic, individualized assessment is used, which enhances inclusion. Many TC projects also focus on inclusion/special needs.

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6.4 Sustainability

• Sustainability goals are addressed in the course(s)
• Social entrepreneurship projects, service-learning in the topic

Reasoning: The whole idea of the TC is to provide a sustainable mechanism for teacher development. The TC sensitizes becoming teachers to taking sustainable action; most of the projects do not end with the TC but further funding is requested from external funding agencies. Education for sustainable development and the UN 2030 Agenda SDGs are often in the focus of TC projects; one teacher eventually published the results of two TCs in which he participated in an impact-factored journal.

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Dominik E. Froehlich	dominik.froehlich@univie.ac.at	https://teachingclinic.dominikfroehlich.com/