School partnerships in Europe Heads of School Meeting, National Curriculum Centre, 23 January 2005

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 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? 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? Forget forms, documents and red tape! Register your School Gain access to online tools Find or be found! 12 3 eTwin!eTwin! Discuss possible project/s 4

Registration 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 Tools Registration is through the eTwinning Portal TwinFinder Chat Forum Helpdesk European eTwinning Portal European eTwinning Portal Malta eTwinning Portal Malta eTwinning Portal

Registered 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 Portal European eTwinning Portal

Maintenance 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? 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... 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

Tools Language ICT – –Chat –File Sharing –Websites –Digital photos –Electronic Presentations –Spreadsheets –Video Conferencing –Digital Video Exhibitions Project Books

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 projects Cross-curricular Mono-curricular Activity-BasedActivity-Based Many schools out there wishing to find partners in Malta! Added value - projects can come from both schools Example

Walking 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 Website School Website Project Website Project Website

First eTwinning partnership 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? 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! eTwinning National Support Service (NSS) Department of Technology in Education –Helpdesk- Pedagogical –Promotion- Technical