tMAIL in short

The main focus of tMAIL (Teacher Mobile Application for Innovative Learning) was to develop a mobile application and a kit of tools to help policy makers, teacher educators, and (primary school) teachers to implement and mainstream innovative practices in the educational sector.

tMAIL developed a mobile application for teachers offering them personalized training on the innovative practice that needs to be implemented. This mobile app for teachers automatically collects, generates and processes information about teacher learning and classroom practice that can be used by decision makers to 1) implement innovative practices, 2) monitor the implementation, and 3) use empirical evidence to customize future policy (support) to contextual needs and priorities. How?

tMAIL combines the teacher mobile training (supporting the actual implementers) offered through the app with instruments automatically monitoring impact on teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and confidence to implement the innovation, as well the implementation itself (actual changes in classroom practice). This information - in anonymized and aggregated format - can be accessed on this policy monitoring platform.

Want to know more about the tMAIL project? Have a look at the tMAIL Final Report.

What innovation do we currently support?

tMAIL developed the above tools (teacher app and policy platform) to implement one particular innovative practice, which is primary classroom practices that foster students' self-regulated learning. But, what is self-regulated learning and why is it important?

Self-regulated learners are considered proactive agents who select and apply specific strategies to attain self-set goals and adjust their approach based on various sources of feedback. Self-regulated learning skills involve all kinds of strategies students can use to uplift or maintain their motivation and positive emotions towards learning, as well as strategies that enable students to effectively plan, monitor, and evaluate their work (Pintrich, 2000).

Great! How do I use the platform?

Are you a policy maker? Do you want to use this platform to shape your self-regulated learning policy? We suggest you follow the next two steps:

• Step 1: make yourself familiar with the concept of self-regulated learning and the constructs shown in the graphs below. A correct understanding of the concepts is crucial for an appropriate interpretation and use of the information.
  How?
  • Download the tMAIL mobile application and get a quick introduction self-regulated learning. Or
  • Have a look at chapter 1 of the tMAIL theoretical framework to read more about the theoretical models used as a basis.
• Step 2: get to know the policy monitoring platform
  How?
  • Explore the platform below. Or
  • Read the tMAIL User Manual for Data-Driven Policy. It explains the policy platform in more detail and discusses future developments necessary to use the platform to its fullest potential.

Important! Before you start

At the moment, the platform is an open platform and no registration is needed. The tMAIL app was tested in one pilot period only. Hence, the information is based on a rather small group of schools and teachers. In order to guarantee schools' and teachers' privacy, the current platform does not show detailed information nor allows zooming in on particular regions/schools etc.

Nevertheless, the platform does show the kind of information policy could access as well as how the information can be used in a policy context. Further policy actions, like inviting schools and teachers to use the app, are required in order to use the full potential of the policy platform.

Have a look at the graphs, and enjoy the journey!

The tMAIL team

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.