Data literacy and data science are increasingly recognized as essential competencies in data-driven societies. However, the integration of data science into K–12 education often remains fragmented and limited to isolated lessons or pilot projects. This poster proposes a spiral curriculum model for embedding data science elements into existing subjects, particularly mathematics and computer science, in a sustainable manner. The model combines three structural principles — spiral conceptual progression, the reciprocal development of statistical and computational thinking, and the data science investigative process as an organizing structure — and articulates concrete developmental stages from Grade 1 to Grade 12.

Version Control Systems (VCS) have become essential in the software industry, enabling effective team collaboration, change tracking, and code quality assurance. Despite these clear advantages, adopting tools like Git in educational contexts often faces resistance from faculty and practical challenges when embedding them into teaching practices. Drawing from our experience in developing an applied computer science bachelor's program, this study explores the ways early and continuous VCS integration, examines why some educators remain hesitant to adopt these tools, and suggests feasible approaches to facilitate successful implementation.

Technology surrounds us everywhere. The opportunities offered to us by technology have changed our lives, our communication, and our behaviour, even the way of our learning and teaching. A few years ago we proposed the Smart Schoolhouse concept. So far we have tested it in different schools and are trying to find a way to describe to different stakeholders the core aspects of the hardware and software architecture for “smart schoolhouse” that enables automatic data collection from physical learning environment so that this data could be integrated with the digital footprints of learners (in their BYOD and online platforms) and then used for learning analytics purposes. During the case study, which lasted four years and involved 19 schools from five different regions participating in the project “Smart Schoolhouse by means of IoT”, data were collected in various methods (participatory observation, questionnaires, focus group's interviews etc.). In this article, at first, we will give a brief overview of the situation, explain the Smart Schoolhouse's approach to STEM learning and describe a reference architecture of the Smart Schoolhouse to explain and visualise the implementation of our Smart Schoolhouse concept to the different stakeholders. The greatest value of this article is a reference architecture of Smart Schoolhouse that we provide to explain and visualise the implementation of our Smart Schoolhouse concept to the different stakeholders.

The article is a continuation of the articles exploring the concept of Smart Schoolhouse which are based on the activities of the project “Smart Schoolhouse with IoT” and the data collected during it. We developed a school self-assessment model that addresses the interests of different stakeholders in order to map the readiness of schools to implement the Smart Schoolhouse concept.For this purpose, we used focus group interviews and literature analyses. As the literature analysis complemented the list received from the experts in the focus group interview, we focused on three aspects in selecting articles: (1) to get an overview of the models and frameworks that have been used in educational institutions, in general, in connection with the usage of technology, (2) to get an overview of the models and frameworks used to analyse the whole organisation (school), and (3) to find additional models or frameworks developed during different research which support the pedagogical and technological innovation used in the Smart Schoolhouse concept. Out of 3029 articles a total of 56 different models, 1S frameworks, 1 standard, and 4 matrices were found. Of These, 6 concepts were used as a basis for selecting the areas of the self-assessment model and another 17 for describing the levels of the criteria.Based on the benchmarking of these findings and ideas gained from the focus group interviews, a model consisting of three (pedagogical innovation, technological innovation, and change management) areas with criteria and descriptions was developed. We used the nominal group technique (NGT) to validate the created self-assessment model. After validating the model, we created a web-based environment for schools to conduct self-analysis.

A project “Smart Schoolhouse by means of IoT” was launched to integrate possibilities of IoT in the learning process. Our Smart Schoolhouse concept integrates inquiry based learning (IBL) and problem-based learning (PBL) with easy-to-use IoT devices and interdisciplinary STEAM education. The project engages 19 schools (with more than 2000 students) in pedagogical design experiment that focuses on innovative learning using Internet of Things (IoT). This paper summarizes the setbacks that occurred during the use of IoT kits in the learning process, and suggestions which would support the teachers by giving them an opportunity to work more frequently with these kits. This information was collected by using focus group interviews with the teachers involved with this project. A special focus is given to the design of the new type of teacher training and community-building that is aimed at upscaling the change towards innovative learning using IoT kits.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects are of critical importance to students but too few students are genuinely interested in them. There is also a common belief that STEM education is complicated and not suitable for girls, which makes it a source of fear. This article introduces STEM education in Estonia, outlines some bottlenecks, and describes the activities we plan to implement in order to raise the awareness of teachers about teaching STEM subjects and to offer students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of different subjects to solve everyday problems through practical activities, integrating IoT opportunities in their learning process. We will present an overview of the project, involving 8 basic schools and 10 upper secondary schools, with nearly 3,100 students involved (from grades 6, 9 and 10-12).

This work in progress proposes a Smart Schoolhouse approach to STEM education in primary schools through engaging learners in inquiry on their surroundings in a data-rich physical and digital environment. The paper summarizes the process and outcomes of an interview with a group of experts on requirements assessment for setting up data-rich school buildings. Experts from various fields (business informatics, computer science, electronics, learning analytics and STEM pedagogy) were engaged in a focus group with a twofold purpose: to identify the setbacks of using different sensors for data collection in the physical learning environment; and to classify the possible types of data collection technologies. A small rural school has been chosen for piloting the proposed technological and pedagogical setup as an experimental school providing in-depth inquiry-based learning of STEM subjects, using the schoolhouse itself as an object and an instrument of study.

In this paper we discuss work in progress regarding the challenges in education (generation z, smart devices, etc.), especially at technical universities where the teaching staff lack or have very little pedagogical background. One potential way of aiding the instructors who want to improve their teaching practice is through the recording and observation of their own classroom activities (e.g., using video or other sensors), which would enable lecturers analyse their teaching and make informed decisions about any necessary changes in their teaching methods. The present article will give a short overview of related work (teaching analytics and instruments currently used in recording classroom management) and share the steps taken in implementing the approach at Tallinn University of Technology (TUT), Estonia.

A socio-technical learning scenario sharing platform LePlanner was evaluated by beginning users of educational technology. The users estimated the affordances they perceived with different functionalities of the system while using the system for creating and sharing and getting awareness of learning scenarios. The findings illustrate the beginners perceived interactivity of LePlanner.

This paper draws a big picture in order to summarize three alternative software development projects aiming at offering an technologically and pedagogically innovative alternative to the mainstream software platform used in Technology-Enhanced Learning today: institutional Learning Management Systems. The analysis follows the dialectical logic, comparing and contrasting various initiatives in creating Personal Learning Environments as a dialectical antithesis to LMS. The paper analyses three innovative PLE solutions that can be interpreted as the dialectical synthesis, that are making use of the best from the both worlds: LMS and PLE.

This paper describes LePress, a WordPress plug-in that enhances blog-based personal learning environment (PLE) with features and semantics that facilitate planning, implementation, and analysis of learning flows. The paper introduces learning flows in LePress, and then explains learning semantics the LePress supports. In order to demonstrate the advantages of LePress for learning analytics, we describe how it can facilitate explicit data collection and analysis of learning activities in blog-based PLEs. In order to demonstrate the advantages of LePress for learning analytics, we describe how it can facilitate explicit data collection and analysis of learning activities in blog-based PLEs.

This paper discusses how to facilitate cross institutional knowledge building in the context of university-workplace partnerships. The elements of new type of university-workplace relationship, and the role of technological support are described and illustrated with a case study on Web 2.0 enhanced digital portfolio implementation in Tallinn University.

Abstract: It is against the dynamically evolving nature of many contemporary media applications to be analysed in terms of conventional rigid ontologies that rely on expertise‐based fixed categories and hierarchical structure. Many of these rely on sharing ‘folksonomies’, personal descriptions of information and objects for one's own retrieval. Such applications involve many feedback mechanisms via the community, and have been shown to have emergent properties of complex dynamic systems. We propose that such dynamically evolving information domains can be more usefully described by means of a soft ontology, a dynamically flexible and inherently spatial metadata approach for ill‐defined domains. Our contribution is (1) the elaboration of the so far intuitive concept of soft ontology in a way that supports conceptualizing dynamically evolving domains. Further, our approach proposes (2) a whole new mode of interaction with information domains by means of recurring exploration of an information domain from multiple perspectives in search of more comprehensive understanding of it, i.e. multi‐perspective exploration. We demonstrate this concept with an example of collaborative tagging in an educational context.

The goal of e-learning could not be just economical (saving money on travel or textbooks) or organizational (better and more flexible access to education). E-learning is also about bringing up the pedagogical innovation, introducing the new ways of learning and teaching that meet the needs of knowledge society. Yet there is little empirical proof regarding the strength of this link between new learning environments and innovative educational practices. Teachers seem to use up-to-date learning management systems (LMS) in conservative way, mostly for publishing texts and collecting homework. But maybe we should not blame the teachers, maybe the outdated practices are promoted also by the most modern learning environments? In this paper we are going to argue that trend towards taken-for-granted pedagogical neutrality of LMS is mainly good for marketing purposes. From the viewpoint of pedagogical innovation, the built-in pedagogical neutrality of LMS increases the alienation of theoretical discourse of educational science and technology from the practice of teaching and learning. One solution would be designing a 'pedagogically biased' LMS, as it was done in the Centre for Educational Technology, Tallinn Pedagogical University.