Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter no. 5 - July 2015 | Page 71

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2015 Newsletter -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In short, implementing eTwinning projects in the classroom facilitates the development of the key competences essential to the education of a person. From the most simple to the most complex in content and structure, they all require cognitive processes intrinsic to learning, foster creativity, encourage critical thinking and have a great motivational power. It is a safe way to put into practice a new methodology more adjusted to the social reality that school should never ignore. workshop, Collecting History to Your Mobile Devices, We used the ThinkLink application, while the forth workshop aimed to teach us Kahoot, another useful application to be used for our future projects. Let us change for the better! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Closing the gap between family and school: The role of digital technologies – eTwinning professional development workshop in Guimaraes, Portugal by Laura Rita Pitariu Project-based learning is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they study. After many experiences in the eTwinning projects I was given the opportunity to participate in a seminar organized in Guimares, Portugal, between 6th and 9th November, 2014 as a result of a national selection of the submitted applications. The purpose of the workshop was to justify the role of digital technologies in the eTwinning projects, as well as the necessity of involving parents and families in these projects. Consequently, we were given good practice examples of eTwinning projects during the plenary meetings. Furthermore, the four workshops that I attended were really helpful and showed us educational applications that can be used for the eTwinning projects. The first workshop, Creating Ripples was led by Claire Morvan and its target was to create a dissemination plan, so that eTwinning projects have a strong impact on the school, students, teachers, school management, the media, families and the local community. It was also the workshop that I presented at the final meeting in front of my colleagues, the local television and the local authorities. The second workshop, Learning Science in Secondary Education Using Flipped Learning, was led by Professor Joao Carlos and Fernando Franco Susa who taught us how to use blendspace classes on educational platforms. During the third Why education software and mobile applications? In today’s classrooms, the rows of quiet listeners have given way to small groups of active learners, engaged in discussions and explorations. The teacher has changed his role from standing in front of the classroom and giving information to an observing monitor who tries to get involve and guide students to make their own sense of the world. The classroom expanded too, since new technologies connect students to the wider global community. Students need to know how to use new technologies, but also to be able to select reliable information they find on the internet. Besides the educational aim of the workshop, we could also experiences pieces of Portugal: Porto and Guimaraes. This PWD was a new beginning for me in the eTwinning field, fostering a better understanding of this type of projects and creating for me relationships for future projects. I recommend teachers all over the world to attend such events and broaden their horizons for themselves and for their students. 71