Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2012 Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
eTwinning Groups: Can They Help
You Build Better Projects? How?
By Irene Pateraki
Irene Pateraki is the administrator of the Creative
Classroom eTwinning Group. She is a Greek
kindergarten teacher but for the last two years she
has been seconded in the Hellenic Ministry of
Education.
Since 2010, in eTwinning there is an effort to
reinforce a social network environment, which is
being attempted through online groups and
Teachers’ Rooms. eTwinning Groups are private
platforms for eTwinners to discuss and work
together on a specific topic or theme. Moderated by
an experienced eTwinner, each Group sets out
activities and tasks for teachers to do and discuss.
The aim is for eTwinners to share practice
examples, discuss teaching and learning
methodologies and find support for professional
development.
But what exactly do we mean when we are talking
about groups and communities? The term describes
the social group that is created through the meeting
and interaction between people who communicate
via the Internet (Kowch, 1997). There are
important areas of negotiation, learning,
interpretation and identity (Kirschner & Lai,
2007).According to Preece (2000):
People who interact socially, satisfying
simultaneously their own needs.
There is a common goal that gives a
community a reason to exist.
Tactics, protocols, rules and regulations
which guide the interactions between the
participants.
Lastly, a digital community of practice (CoP)
consists of a group of people who communicate
with each other synchronously and/or
asynchronously, concerning a topic of common
interest – according to the well-known C. Jones.
At the moment, in eTwinning there is a great
number of groups that work on different topics and
cover many subjects with great success. Teachers
there can exchange ideas, find useful material,
collaborate with other teachers, create new
activities or share their experience on different
fields. Groups are a great opportunity to learn and
also contribute to the learning of the other
members. A successful group is a group where
members do not only use the uploaded material,
but they also contribute actively with their own
material.
But how can we keep active an eTwinning Group as
administrators, sub-group moderators and
members? Below, I will give you some tips and
some examples of what we are doing in the
Creative Classroom eTwinning Group:
Bear in mind the purpose and objectives as
well as users’ needs. You can organize
surveys and polls from time to time in order
to see what the members need or which
topics are more interesting for them.
Have a user-friendly structure. As members
enter the groups all the year, it may be
difficult to understand how they should
work there. A simple video tutorial can give
them a tour to the group and help them
understand how it works.
Be present; members can sense your
reaction speed. Lead by example. As a
group administrator or sub-group
moderator you should give the good
example and answer immediately when
members ask for something, be active in
group discussions etc.
Activities should be designed to support
sociability and participation. Groups can be
a good exercise so that members learn to
work collaboratively in their eTwinning
projects. In the Creative Classroom Group
members are invited to work together in
some activities and share the results with
the rest of the members.
Plan a strategy to engage members:
personal mails from time to time, requests
to participate in activities, rewards,
appraisal and recognition of their good
work. In the Creative Classroom Group, we
have organized polls where members voted
for the best presentation with a Web 2.0
tool, all members’ work is gathered in
thematic e-books, occasionally we have
draws and members win eTwinning goodies
etc.
Track non-active members. It is very
common that not all members will be active
all the time. As a group administrator, you
can send mails to inactive members and
7