Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2013 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lifelong Learning in the Learning Lab
by Arjana Blazic
What I like about eTwinning is not only the
opportunity to connect my students with their peers
but also the opportunity to grow professionally.
Continuing professional development can be
pursued in workshops, seminars and conferences
organized by eTwinning Central Support Service
and National Support Services in different countries
all around Europe, but also online, in eTwinning
Groups, Teachers' Rooms and Learning Events.
While all of these activities provide eTwinners with
amazing opportunities for both professional and
personal growth, I am especially fond of Learning
Events.
Learning Events are short online course aimed at
improving your skills and putting you in touch with
other eTwinners. They take place in a specially
designed platform called the Learning Lab. Learning
Events are organized all year round and focus on a
wide range of topics from subject-specific to more
general ones. It is really easy to apply for
participation in a Learning Event. The link to the
application form will appear on your Desktop a
week before the event starts. If you are accepted,
you will receive your login and password details
which will open the door to at least ten days of
intensive learning and connecting with like-minded
teachers from across Europe.
Up to now, I have taken part in several events as a
participant, but in March 2013 I was given a
wonderful opportunity to run my very own Learning
Event as an expert teacher along with Bart
Verswijvel, Pedagogical Adviser at the Future
Classroom Lab, a blogger with his
http://teacherinresidence.wordpress.com/, NSS for
Belgian eTwinning and my ”partner in crime” in
many educational projects.
Bart and I strongly believe that technology is not a
mere replacement for the traditional way of
learning and teaching, but that it should be used as
a means to redefine new tasks and new ways of
learning. This new, redefined and transformed use
of technology can perfectly be integrated in
eTwinning projects because eTwinning provides
teachers with a solid framework which enables
them to enrich students' learning experience and to
promote the development of the 21st century skills
through a seamless integration of technologyenhanced learning. That is the reason why we
designed our very own learning event about the
pedagogical value of eTwinning projects, fondly
nicknamed 'A Learning Odyssey', because we
wanted to take our participants (all 150 of them) on
a journey where they would acquire the skills to
carefully navigate through the sea of available web
2.0 tools, select the ones that hold the strongest
pedagogical value and use them in different
educational settings.
The emphasis was placed on the pedagogical use of
new technologies that stimulate the acquisition of
the key pillars of the 21st century education: critical
thinking, collaboration, citizenship and assessment
and self-regulation, which are essential for
preparing students for their future life and career.
Most of the activities that we designed for our
participants were asynchronous. This meant that
they worked on the tasks and went through the
suggested readings at their own pace and whenever
it suited them best. The participants eagerly
contributed to all the activities. In only two days,
for example, more t