school partnerships in europe heads of school meeting, national curriculum centre, 23 january 2005

School partnerships in Europe

Heads of School Meeting, National Curriculum Centre, 23 January 2005

What is eTwinning?What is eTwinning?

• Officially launched by the European Commission is a core part of the eLearning programme on 14 Jan 2005

• Promotes school partnerships in Europe• School partnerships in Europe are

– increasingly common practice– gaining widespread recognition– proven to improve student learning

• Aim is to have 30,000 twinned schools by 2007

More about eTwinningMore about eTwinning

• Collaborative work• pedagogical, social and cultural benefits• opportunity to motivate young people to

learn about – each other - their school culture– their faimilies - the world

• practising their ICT and language skills• enhancing pedagogy• a worthwhile activity that adds value to

conventional learning

What are the activities?What are the activities?

• Language, ICT and collaborative work are common to all projects

• Any project that you or your teachers can think of!

• Probably it will be...... more interesting and motivating... more successful

How can I participate?How can I participate?

• Forget forms, documents and red tape!

Register your Register your SchoolSchool

Register your Register your SchoolSchool

Gain access Gain access to online to online

toolstools

Gain access Gain access to online to online

toolstools

Find or be Find or be found!found!

Find or be Find or be found!found!

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eTwin!eTwin!eTwin!eTwin!

Discuss Discuss possible possible project/sproject/s

Discuss Discuss possible possible project/sproject/s

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RegistrationRegistration

• By registering:– Demonstrate interest in participating– Select preferences for partnerships

• Teacher/School Admin/Librarian• Languages/Themes• Country/ies

– Open to multiple partnerships?

• Your preferences will be added to the database

Online ToolsOnline Tools

• Registration is through the eTwinning Portal

• TwinFinder• eMail• Chat• Forum• Helpdesk

European eTwinning PortalEuropean eTwinning Portal

Malta eTwinning PortalMalta eTwinning Portal

Registered SchoolsRegistered Schools

• 6 Maltese Schools– Dun Salv Portelli Primary

School – San Lawrenz – Qormi St George Primary

School– Nadur Primary School– Filippo Zammit Primary School

- Qrendi– Margaret Mortimer Girls’ Junior

Lyceum– 'Guzeppi Agius' Primary 'B' -

Paola

• 717 Registered Schools

• 18 Partnerships• You can view

these on the eTwinning Map

European eTwinning PortalEuropean eTwinning Portal

MaintenanceMaintenance

• Each eTwinning partnership will be monitored by the NSS and the CSS

• The ‘Progress Card’• This is to measure the successfulness

of the project• To refine the support needed• To reward and disseminate good

practice

What do I stand to gain?What do I stand to gain?

• Your students’ gain:– Pedagogical, Cultural, Social– ICT use in authentic situations– Language development– Collaborative teaching & learning

• School Recognition – eTwinning Label• eTwin&Win – National Competition• eTwinning Prize 2005

Competitions...Competitions...

• National competition– collaborative projects among schools – promoting pedagogical approaches – promoting the development and use of

digital resources

• Submissions – March-December 2005• Ceremony in Brussels early in 2006

ToolsTools

• Language• ICT

– eMail– Chat– File Sharing– Websites– Digital photos

– Electronic Presentations

– Spreadsheets– Video Conferencing– Digital Video

• Exhibitions• Project Books

Start small...Start small...

• A project does not need to be huge

• Teachers often realise the potential by starting with a small project

• The relationship will grow if it works

• Eventually involving more teachers...

• ...ideally the whole school

• Can be coupled with town twinning programmes

• Or Comenius projects

Examples of eTwinning Examples of eTwinning projectsprojects

• Cross-curricular• Mono-curricular• Activity-Based

• Many schools out there wishing to find partners in Malta!

• Added value - projects can come from both schools

ExampleExample

Walking through TimeWalking through Time

“We are a primary school with 256 pupils and we are interested in eTwinning with a primary school in Malta to support our current Primary Seven (11/12 yo) class project on the local impact of WW2 in the Highlands. We wish to get a different view of the experience of this time from a different location for our children.  We have a small number of able children who we would like to involve in the initial eTwinning process…”

School WebsiteSchool Website Project WebsiteProject Website

First eTwinning partnership First eTwinning partnership from Malta!from Malta!

• Dun Salv Portelli – San Lawrenz and Terra Novaskolan in Sweden

• A project that will see young pupils sharing information about their villages and learning from each other

Stuck for Ideas?Stuck for Ideas?

•The eTwinning portal can suggest possible projects that can work for you

•These have been submitted by other teachers and educators from all over Europe who are experienced in this kind of work

•Browse to the Good Practice Section of the CSS portal

Go there!Go there!

Count on us!Count on us!eTwinning National Support Service

(NSS)Department of Technology in

Education– Helpdesk - Pedagogical– Promotion - Technicalwww.skola.gov.mt/etwinningwww.skola.gov.mt/etwinning

etwinning@schoolnet.gov.mtetwinning@schoolnet.gov.mt

2598 23242598 2324