Understand pedagogy-led technology use
Explain how learning goals, teaching methods, cognitive demand and evidence of understanding should guide decisions about AI, ICT and digital tools.
Erasmus+ teacher training course
Smart Teaching by Design: AI, ICT and Learning Science in Practice
How can educators make AI and ICT pedagogically meaningful rather than simply new?
Design purposeful, inclusive and responsible learning with digital tools, AI and established educational principles.
Target group: Teachers, adult educators, trainers, curriculum coordinators, school leaders, digital-learning coordinators and other education professionals from all educational levels.
- Activity type
- Physical mobility
- Duration
- 1 week
- Language
- English
- Equipment
- Laptop required
Purposeful AI, ICT and Learning Design for Educators
Smart teaching is not defined by the number of digital tools used in a lesson. It begins with understanding how people learn and then choosing methods and technology that support that process. This course connects learning science, lesson design, ICT and AI without placing technology before educational purpose.
Participants explore attention, memory, prior knowledge, feedback and active participation. They apply these ideas in practical work with digital collaboration, multimedia, assessment, accessibility and AI-supported tasks. Each tool is examined critically: does it make learning clearer or more inclusive, or would a simpler approach work better? Privacy, accuracy, bias, copyright and human review are included throughout the course.
Participants bring the week’s learning together in an original digital learning prototype that is responsible, led by educational goals and ready to adapt to their own context.
Learning outcomes
What You Will Learn
Revisit educational models critically
Use Bloom’s Taxonomy, scaffolding, retrieval, feedback and active-learning principles as adaptable lenses rather than fixed lesson formulas.
Evaluate and use AI and ICT purposefully
Assess whether a digital tool or AI-supported workflow improves learning, efficiency, creativity, access or collaboration without creating unnecessary complexity.
Create inclusive and original digital learning
Design an adaptable learning activity that responds to different levels of language, confidence, access, prior knowledge and support needs while respecting intellectual property.
Use technology responsibly
Make informed choices about accuracy, privacy, bias, transparency, copyright, licensing, learner data and human oversight.
Six-day programme
Course Schedule
Day 1From digital novelty to educational purpose
Welcome, needs mapping and digital starting points
Participants introduce their educational contexts, identify their goals and map current experiences, strengths and concerns connected to AI, ICT and digital learning.
New, useful or distracting?
Participants compare examples of technology use and decide whether each one improves learning, increases access, saves meaningful time or simply adds novelty and complexity.
The HUMAN Digital Design Cycle
Participants use an original Understanding Academy framework: Human purpose, Understanding, Method, Appropriate technology and Notice the evidence. They apply the cycle to an existing lesson or professional task.
Day 2Revisiting learning models for digital education
Bloom’s Taxonomy revisited
Participants explore different forms of cognitive demand through original descriptions and examples, including remembering, explaining, applying, examining, justifying, creating and transferring.
Beyond the pyramid
Participants challenge common misconceptions, including the ideas that learning always follows a straight hierarchy, that remembering is unimportant or that creative digital products automatically demonstrate deep learning.
Activity transformation laboratory
Participants redesign one familiar activity at several levels of cognitive demand and identify how digital or non-digital methods could support each version.
Day 3AI and ICT for professional practice and learning
AI as assistant, not authority
Participants test AI-supported uses such as idea generation, differentiation, question development, feedback preparation and administrative organisation while identifying what must be verified by a professional.
ICT method studio
Participants explore categories of digital practice, including collaboration, multimedia creation, formative assessment, visual explanation, interactive presentation, digital portfolios and accessibility support.
AI workflow map
Participants redesign one repetitive professional task and document what the teacher provides, what the tool produces, what must be checked, what should never be entered and where the final human decision remains.
Day 4Learning science and digital lesson design
Learning science in practice
Participants connect digital lesson design with retrieval practice, cognitive load, worked examples, scaffolding, spacing, feedback and learner reflection.
Technology or no technology?
Participants analyse teaching scenarios and decide whether AI, ICT, a blended method or a non-digital approach offers the strongest educational response.
Create, test and revise
Participants build a short digital or blended activity, test it with colleagues and improve it using feedback about clarity, cognitive demand and evidence of learning.
Day 5Inclusion, intellectual property and responsible use
Digital inclusion review
Participants examine language clarity, device access, reading demands, sensory load, cultural assumptions, accessibility and learner choice within digital activities.
Intellectual-property clinic
Participants distinguish between ideas, facts, protected expression, quotation, adaptation, attribution, open licensing, public-domain material, teacher-created resources and AI-generated content.
Original-resource challenge
Participants create a new learning resource without copying a protected worksheet, infographic, branded framework or commercial course material. They document any external sources and applicable licences.
Day 6Course Closure & Cultural Activities
- Reflecting on learning outcomes and key takeaways
- Awarding of Certificates of Attendance
- Cultural excursion and local heritage experience
- Informal networking and exchange of best practices
Course foundations
Recommended Reading and Theoretical Influences
- Bloom, B. S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. Longmans, Green.
- Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Longman.
- Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017–1054.
- Redecker, C. (2017). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. Publications Office of the European Union. Official publication.
- Vuorikari, R., Kluzer, S., & Punie, Y. (2022). DigComp 2.2: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens. Publications Office of the European Union.
- Miao, F., & Holmes, W. (2023). Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research. UNESCO. Official publication.
- OECD. (2021). OECD Digital Education Outlook 2021: Pushing the Frontiers with Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Robots. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/589b283f-en.
- CAST. (2024). CAST Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, Version 3.0. UDL Guidelines.
- Creative Commons. (2024). Recommended Practices for Attribution. Creative Commons guidance.
Completing the course
Evaluation, Recognition and Practical Information
Learning is supported throughout the week through participation, reflection, practical activities and constructive feedback.
Evaluation of Learning Outcomes
- Format
- Continuous assessment based on class participation, practical work and self-assessment.
- Criteria
- Active participation in discussions, reflection, collaborative activities and practical course tasks.
- Procedures
- Trainer observation, participant reflection, feedback and attendance.
Recognition of Learning Outcomes
- Conditions
- Attendance at a minimum of 80% of the course and active participation in the learning activities.
- Recognition
- Learning outcomes are recognised through participant reflection, trainer feedback and completion of the course activities.
- Documentation
- A Certificate of Attendance documenting the course title, dates, venue and learning outcomes.
Learning approach
Practical, Collaborative and Learner-Centred
The course combines hands-on workshops, real-world examples, simulations, guided reflection and collaborative activities. Participants exchange good practices, work in international groups and develop ideas that can be adapted to their own professional context.
Optional cultural, social and networking activities support local engagement, intercultural learning and professional collaboration.
Before you travel
Practical Details
Duration
One week, normally comprising 25 academic hours.
Weekly Schedule
Classes take place from Monday to Friday, in the morning or afternoon. Saturday is reserved for cultural activities.
Final Timetable
The detailed timetable will be sent at least two weeks before the beginning of the course.
Preparation
No special preparation is required unless stated in the course programme. Any required materials or equipment will be communicated before the course.
Certification
Participants who meet the attendance requirements receive a Certificate of Attendance.
Course Fee
The standard fee is €480. See what the course fee includes.
Alternative arrangements: Other course durations and schedules may be arranged on request.
Erasmus+ funding: Course fees and mobility costs may be supported through an eligible sending organisation's Erasmus+ grant. Eligibility and final funding decisions remain with the beneficiary organisation and its National Agency. Read our Erasmus+ KA1 funding guide.
Administrative support: Understanding Academy provides course programmes, learning outcomes, registration documentation and certificates. Participants and sending organisations remain responsible for transport, accommodation and grant management.
Plan your Erasmus+ mobility
Ready to Join This Course?
Check the upcoming confirmed dates or register your interest. We will contact you with information about availability and the next steps.
Need funding information? Read our Erasmus+ KA1 funding guide.