Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter no. 5 - July 2015 | Page 42

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2015 Newsletter

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------At another brown bag for the Teacher Leadership
Faculty I co-presented with Bart Verswijvel,
Education and Communications Officer from the
European Schoolnet in Brussels. He joined us via
Webex and was so kind to stay with us during the
whole session, even though, unlike us, he did not
get a brown bag. Bart and I talked about the
eTwinning network and how teachers use it to
launch projects, connect with their peers and
develop professionally. Our presentation was so
inspiring, that this September one of the Penn State
professors is going to visit eTwinning in Brussels
and meet with Bart Verswijvel and Anne Gilleran to
learn more about eTwinning.

But of course I did not forget Europe and European
teachers because I brought eTwinning to the United
States with me! As an eTwinning ambassador I
promoted eTwinning in the United States whenever
I could. One of the events where I talked about
eTwinning was a brown bag lunch.
Brown bag lunches, informal meetings that take
place over lunch, are very popular in the US. A
brown bag lunch is usually an informative session
about a topic that is of interest to faculty and
students who bring their own food, usually packed
in a brown bag. Sometimes the food is provided for
the participants. While in the US, I attended a
number of brown bags, both as an attendee and an
invited speaker.
At two brown bags I talked about Croatia and the
things I love about my country: romantic
lighthouses and beautiful sunsets at the Adriatic,
traditional wooden toys, Dalmatian dogs, coffee and
those beautiful Chicagoan Indians on Horseback by
the Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, to mention
just a few. I think I was a good ambassador of my
country, because after the presentation, some
attendees told me they would like to visit Croatia.

During my Fellowship year, Bart and I designed and
led two learning events on the topic of
implementing augmented reality in the classroom.
400 teachers took part in these two learning
events. We enthused and inspired the participants,
boosted their creativity and originality and
encouraged them to let their imagination run wild
with augmented reality. Most of the teachers had
little or no experience with these new technologies
before the event. But in less than two weeks of
intense learning about the pedagogical use of
augmented reality, they became more confident
and started implementing innovative approaches in
their classrooms. Some of them collaborated with
other participants and their students and many of
them tried out the activities at home with their
families. The work they shared represents great
examples of best practice of augmented education
(ARieTW and ARETW).
In October 2014, a conference for eTwinning
ambassadors was organized online. I was very
excited about the invitation extended to Bart and
me to talk about our learning events and to share
our "secrets" with the eTwinning ambassadors. We
talked about the "ingredients" that we use to create
a place where our participants feel welcome,
comfortable and happy to share the joy of learning
with us.

42