E.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH AND ITS EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENTS.

This project will significantly contribute to fundamental and applied research in many areas such as information technology, communications, languages, psychology and education. Its interdisciplinary nature is a major strength, especially as it is reflected within the principal scientific staff.

The proposed research is expected to build a technology-based bridge between CIT Teacher Training in the CEE & NIS and EC countries. It will offer a model for FDL that allows learners to acquire skills and knowledge at their own pace, to choose the location of study (at home, at a workshop, at school, etc.), to choose the time for the group sessions, to navigate in a modular curriculum by using flexible learning materials based on CIT. We expect a significant contribution to the development of CIT Teacher Education in all participating countries and corresponding impact on the society (2.1.1, 2.1.2, here and below numbers in brackets refer to the research sectors and priority theme of Copernicus Information Package).

The adaptation of educational pre-normalization & standards (including software and hardware) for CEE and NIS countries will facilitate the development of portable technology-based learning materials appropriate for different educational settings and cultures (2.2.3).

Properly designed educational software, learning materials and activities will allow teachers and students to process and analyse scientific data, to have discussions with distant partners, to collaborate for producing technology-based learning materials (2.1.2). The modular teacher training course on CIT that utilises the FDL model will allow to overcome a paradox situation in the education when CIT became really open to general use but they couldn't be effectively applied because teachers can't manage to include them to their didactic repertoire (2.1.1). The creation of a telematics network for teacher educators provides an important infrastructure which will improve the quality of teaching and research across Europe as well as supporting flexible and distance learning (2.1.2). TEFL will also be considered as a first case to inform the development of similar networks for other disciplines and will be the first telematics network of its kind in the world. It is expected that the courseware, protocols and pedagogy will be transferable as will the technical developments and some of the equipment. A real application such as this project is much more valuable than one artificially constructed for the purposes of research. Real-life studies such as this have been called for (Eg. Gale, 1992).

The language engineering aspect will provide new forms of computer-aided language learning (CALL), which will not only enhance the teaching and learning but permit teachers to adjust materials to the wide range of students, including the pressing needs of university staff (2.2.2). Specific work is required to adjust old forms of CALL to the learning needs and models in CEE countries and to enable innovative work from those countries to be appreciated in EC countries. This work will inform the development of language engineering standards (2.2.3).

The case of English as a foreign language has been carefully chosen also to enhance the use of telematic networks and CALL internationally including the CEE and EC. Teachers of English will also support their colleagues within their own countries and they frequently support clients in commerce and government too, as least in the early days of an innovation. In addition universities prepare teachers in the schools and thus the next generation. This project therefore has important multiplier effects throughout the community within and across countries and will influence the development and uptake of systems for business, home and personal use (1.4).