eTwinning deemed a success
The proportion of European schools participating in the European Commission's eTwinning programme more than doubled in 2006, from four per cent to over eight per cent, after just two years of operation.Almost 24,000 schools have registered their...
The proportion of European schools participating in the European Commission's eTwinning programme more than doubled in 2006, from four per cent to over eight per cent, after just two years of operation.
Almost 24,000 schools have registered their interest and more than 8,000 schools are already participating in a project. More than 100 Maltese and Gozitan schools are participating.
The eTwinning initiative promotes the creation of international "virtual" school partnerships over the internet and is available for free for schools across the continent.
In recognition of these achievements, Ján Figel, the Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and Youth, awarding prizes to six shining examples of eTwinning school partnerships out of 350 submissions.
One of these examples is from Malta where the Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph primary school of Paola was one of the six finalists. The project, named Once Upon Blog, was conducted together with St Attracta's Senior National School in Ireland. Teachers and students used blogs and podcasts to share information and learn about each other's myths and legends.
The winning project of the 4-11 years category, named Gingerbread House, was conducted by a school from Slovakia and another from the Czech Republic. Students transformed their school life into a fairytale one. Their fairytale worlds are expressed through drawings and then transformed into a digital audio-visual format. The jury said it was impressed that this project involved not only the entire schools but also their communities. It brought eTwinning out of the classroom and into the homes of the pupils involved.
Other Maltese and Gozitan schools participated successfully in eTwinning in the past. Dun Salv Portelli Primary School in San Lawrenz won a prize in the first eTwinning competition held in Linz, Austria, a year ago. Other Maltese projects were showcased.
The eTwinning scheme was launched in January 2005 as the main action of the European Commission's eLearning programme. The aims were two-fold: To encourage greater use of computers for communicating between schools, and in so doing, promote inter-cultural dialogue.
The scheme differs from the European Commission's other action programmes in the domain of education in that it does not give grants to participants. Rather, it provides free access to a computing infrastructure, the eTwinning Portal, which facilitates the establishment of partnerships between schools across Europe. Schools are entirely free to decide on the type of cooperation they want: from short-term projects lasting a few weeks, to long term collaboration on joint curricula, for example. The subjects covered are also up to the participating schools.
More information on eTwinning at the international portal www.etwinning.net. The Maltese national support service portal is accessible at www.skola.gov.mt/etwinning
Almost 24,000 schools have registered their interest and more than 8,000 schools are already participating in a project. More than 100 Maltese and Gozitan schools are participating.
The eTwinning initiative promotes the creation of international "virtual" school partnerships over the internet and is available for free for schools across the continent.
In recognition of these achievements, Ján Figel, the Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and Youth, awarding prizes to six shining examples of eTwinning school partnerships out of 350 submissions.
One of these examples is from Malta where the Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph primary school of Paola was one of the six finalists. The project, named Once Upon Blog, was conducted together with St Attracta's Senior National School in Ireland. Teachers and students used blogs and podcasts to share information and learn about each other's myths and legends.
The winning project of the 4-11 years category, named Gingerbread House, was conducted by a school from Slovakia and another from the Czech Republic. Students transformed their school life into a fairytale one. Their fairytale worlds are expressed through drawings and then transformed into a digital audio-visual format. The jury said it was impressed that this project involved not only the entire schools but also their communities. It brought eTwinning out of the classroom and into the homes of the pupils involved.
Other Maltese and Gozitan schools participated successfully in eTwinning in the past. Dun Salv Portelli Primary School in San Lawrenz won a prize in the first eTwinning competition held in Linz, Austria, a year ago. Other Maltese projects were showcased.
The eTwinning scheme was launched in January 2005 as the main action of the European Commission's eLearning programme. The aims were two-fold: To encourage greater use of computers for communicating between schools, and in so doing, promote inter-cultural dialogue.
The scheme differs from the European Commission's other action programmes in the domain of education in that it does not give grants to participants. Rather, it provides free access to a computing infrastructure, the eTwinning Portal, which facilitates the establishment of partnerships between schools across Europe. Schools are entirely free to decide on the type of cooperation they want: from short-term projects lasting a few weeks, to long term collaboration on joint curricula, for example. The subjects covered are also up to the participating schools.
More information on eTwinning at the international portal www.etwinning.net. The Maltese national support service portal is accessible at www.skola.gov.mt/etwinning