Conor Galvin from the eTwinning pedagogical advisory group set the scene for the 2007 eTwinning National conference with an overview of what makes eTwinning different:
- Simple and non Bureaucratic
- Unprecedented level of support
- Opportunity for the international work in your school to be recognised
- Opportunity for your school to be awarded
In addition, it’s:
- flexible
- teacher friendly
- collaborative
- adds a European dimension
- provides opportunities to share resources
- provides a pedagogical use of ICT
- gives teacher’s excellent professional development opportunities
- creates opportunities for pupils that they just wouldn't otherwise have
Teacher’s who took part in a survey about eTwinning felt that eTwininng was, “easy to participate in” and overwhelmingly, “worth the time and effort you put in”.
He also recommended some of ICT tools teachers might use in their etwinning projects:
- Etwinning tools - webspace, forums, chat and more
- Blogger - free blog tool
- Webquests
- Digital Video
- Scratch - free tool to create multimedia resources
- Comic Life - tool to create cartoons which pupils love using
- Bubble share – share images and presentations
- Clay animation
- Bebo - community site
- Neopets – share, buy, train pets
- Secondlife – huge educational potential
- Flickr – treasure trove of educational resources
- The Sultan's Elephant
Conor concluded with words of advice and encouragement for eTwinning teachers:
- Focus on value of using ICT
- Have courage
- Be imaginative
- Be patient
- Engage with school leaders
And don't forget the dog-ear-heavy but important: Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar...
[There is no road, we make the road by walking... ]
Posted by: Conor | June 02, 2007 at 12:40 PM