From 9th to 13th October 2017, students, teachers and academics from Belgium, Denmark, England and Norway met at Howest University, Bruges to plan the year’s activities.

The Belgian team provided a varied program of meeting artists and educators working in the field of STEM to STEAM, the arts and design thinking. They also introduced us to the city of Bruges with a bike ride, boat ride and visits to local places of interest. We visited a middle and a primary school, talking to teachers and pupils.

The team from England included teachers from Standens Barn Primary School (Sophie Butterworth, Katie Mason and Wayne Chalmers), students from the BA QTS course (Charlotte Bennett, Phoebe Dickenson and Sara Northover) and academics (Helen Caldwell, Karen Woolley and Jean Edwards).

We are looking forward to trying out the digital and creative approaches we explored in school with pupils and at university with students.

The year will culminate in a MOOC focused the DLAB approach to STEAM, using the arts and digital technology in with science, technology, engineering and mathematics, available to an international audience.

Jean Edwards
Jean teaches on the Foundation Degree Learning and teaching (FDLT) and BA Learning and Teaching (BALT) courses and she is Admissions Tutor for the FDLT.

Helen Caldwell
Helen teaches on the Initial Teacher Training and BA SEN and Inclusion courses and is the Programme Leader for the Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Computing.