There is widespread discussion in the literature about innovative models of teaching and learning and their relative strengths in helping students to develop “21C skills” (Bocconi, Kampylis & Punie, 2012; Dede, 2010; Voogt & Pelgrum, 2005; Voogt & Roblin, 2012). Constructivism and social constructivism resonate well with 21C models and the latter is particularly relevant given the importance placed on collaboration, teamwork and communication in 21C frameworks. Teamwork, like any other skill, can be learned and developed through practice. A major objective for any novice to teamwork should be to learn how to work and learn as part of a team. As a student’s confidence with collaboration increases, they can then engage more effectively with curriculum content or other challenging material.

Bridge21 is a particular model of 21C teaching & learning which has been developed in the author’s institution (Lawlor, Conneely & Tangney, 2010).  The model is designed to leverage the potential of technology-mediated learning within a collaborative team-based paradigm, where teachers orchestrate and scaffold learning activities. Teamwork is the most distinguishing aspect of Bridge21 and it follows the team model of the World Scout Movement. Elements of project and inquiry based learning are used and the role of the teacher is that of an orchestrator of learning. Learning activities follow a template structure which is influenced by practices from the field of Design Thinking (Brown 2008).

Bridge21 began as part of the university’s social outreach mission working with students from schools in areas of designated social disadvantage.  More recently the research team  have been working with teachers in the second level system in Ireland to help them introduce and adapt the model for use in the classroom (Conneely et al, 2015).

This presentation will focus on out-of-school student activities in the purpose designed Bridge21 learning space on the university campus with students aged 15-16 from a network of schools associated with the university access programme. The activities involve a series of week long workshops which take place during school hours with ~25 students, from between 3-5 different schools, taking part each week.

The initial week introduces students to the Bridge21 model through a series of collaborative, multimedia workshops. Students work in teams to create videos, audio recordings and more. Each team must organise themselves, assign roles, make decisions, meet deadlines and present their work to the group. The focus is on skills development and no curriculum content is covered.

Some students are invited to spend additional weeks in Bridge21. These programmes during these weeks usually focus on a theme or topic from the formal curriculum such as; Computer Science, 21^st Century Media, History, Mathematics, Language Learning and Peer Teaching.

Previous publications emerging from these programmes have included work on student motivation (Lawlor, Marshall & Tangney, 2014),  a study on teaching computer science (Tangney, Oldham, Conneely, Barrett & Lawlor, 2010) and a study which explored how teams of students would teach their peers curriculum content if given the opportunity (Sullivan, Tangney & Marshall, 2015).

This study looks at the participants’ overall experience with this alternative approach to teaching and learning, including their perceptions of their skills development during the activities and their attitudes to learning in general. The findings are based on data collected immediately after participation in the workshops and, in order to gauge any long-term impact, on data collected form participants up to four years after participation.

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