Collaboration is at the core of ACoRNS as Mark Fry, Director of Education at New Forest School comments:
“The value of ACoRNS comes from the research that we do together. It is a real and trusting partnership, and we were able to gain insights into our practices as the research took place.”
As well as work with local partners, we are collaborating with professionals, practitioners, and academics nationally and internationally. For example, staff from the Educational Psychology Service in Neath Port Talbot, South Wales are applying the ‘I am’ Digital Stories methodology in early years settings and primary schools. We are also collaborating with other settings, schools and local authorities to embed and evaluate our creative methods and co-produced resources.
We are delighted to have had the opportunity to work closely with industry partners. For example, we worked with Autek CIC on the ESRC-funded ‘Our Stories’ project to co-create Virtual Tours for supporting young people’s transitions to new schools or sites and a set of animations and downloadable guides for creating ‘I am’ Digital Stories and ‘We are’ Virtual Tours in practice. With Widgit Software and Coleg Gwent in South Wales we evaluated the use of Widgit Symbols in transition materials for supporting young people’s move from school to Further Education. We have also worked with Cogniss to develop a prototype ‘I am’ Digital Stories app.