Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2013 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------My eTwinning Journey
by Maria Adriana Poka
My eTwinning Experience at University
by Alessandra Cannelli
I joined eTwinning because I saw it as an
opportunity to develop professionally. As soon as I
registered, I participated in a Learning Event
entitled “Intergenerational Learning”, which was
conducted by Daniela Bunea. I consider myself
lucky to have participated in this online event
because it put me in touch with other eTwinners.
This year I was given the opportunity to act as a
tutor for trainee teachers at Romatre University.
Here in Italy the pre-service training has undergone
several reforms and changes in recent years and it
is still not well-established. At present graduates
who want to have their teaching license have to
attend courses for one year about pedagogy and
their subject specific didactical issues, taking
several exams with a final dissertation. My role was
to guide them in the passage between theory and
practice and support their training and the writing
of the final dissertation.
eTwinning has opened for me a whole new world of
opportunities. Not only have my skills developed by
working with European colleagues, but my students
too have gained a lot from their colleagues in their
partner schools. The Learning Event gave us the
project idea. We planned to start a simple project
about Intergenerational Learning with our students.
The children sent each other PowerPoint
presentations and photos to introduce our schools
and ourselves. At the end of the school year we
agreed that it was a pleasure to work together as a
family.
I learned new skills in digital movie making, digital
editing and sound recording, I also improved my
skills in computer networking and proof reading.
eTwinning allowed my students and me to learn,
improve, have fun and make friends.
I immediately understood I could use this occasion
to spread news about eTwinning as I think it is a
perfect gym for any teacher, because it allows
continuous professional development.
I had some lectures on the subject and let the
trainees experience the website in the computer lab
and I found them really enthusiastic and involved.
My action was so appreciated that now I have been
asked to propose the use of technology for a CLIL
course for teachers of subjects different from
languages, as a new reform introduced in high
schools the compulsory teaching of subjects in
foreign languages.
I really believe technology to be very effective in
differentiating our didactic actions. In fact,
Information and Communication technologies are
increasingly being used to create rich learning
environments and are used in all types of schools
with the aim to improve the skills of the students.
However, technology alone is not enough. If you
want to promote eLearning it is essential the
83