Visibility of eTwinning Projects Groups July 2019 Newsletter Newsletter 9 | Page 135
Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2019 Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For this reason, we will provide members with
support material for managing the new TwinSpace,
collect recurring doubts/issues and (hopefully)
answers, in order to create a list of FAQ.
This is not enough: we plan to revise the pages and
replace old information with new content, related to
new tools and structures, adjust the forum, keep on
offering constant forum assistance. Of course, our
“core business” is to disseminate all eTwinning
initiatives and assist the members in the completion
of their activities.
That is why we will organize other live Helpdesk
sessions and live promotional sessions.
What is more, we plan to organize some formal Live
Events - with guests/experts if possible, targeted
at the different stages of the eTwinners’ journey
(introductory - project planning - project
development...) as well to organize informal
internal Events (as we already did this year, upon
request or in set occasions)
We think that the huge amount of messages in the
forums (our group is the one that records the most
interactions in this section) is an interactive and
engaging activity and a tangible outcome in itself:
as we stated before, Virgilio is a place where users
either come, ask their questions, read the answers
and come back at the next question, or look for
what they need, take it, and come back the next
time they are in need.
Our last point is for a proposal: what we would
really like is to accompany the Group activities with
a set of mini-Learning Events for new eTwinners (or
everybody struggling with the new features).
A sort of “survival eTwinning kit”.
We would like to organize these Learning Events on
the different new features and the opportunity they
offer/the challenges they pose in the development
of a project, so that eTwinners can test them in
advance and then properly take advantage of them
in their projects. We would like to organize these
Events hosting an expert (CCS member,
developer…) that can give his/her point of view.
We think this kind of events could raise huge
interest and could be extremely useful. Moreover,
since the quality of projects is among the eTwinning
priorities, these LEs could give us the opportunity to
have eTwinners reflect on how to structure a
project as well as how to use the TwinSpace tools.
Just a quick final note: 2018 was a great year for
Virgilio, which reached the 10,000 members in
December and keeps growing. However, we want to
keep it growing (not only “surviving”) and
effectively assist eTwinners: this, given the recent
challenges, will require lots of work and renovation
in a short time. That is why we will need assistance
ourselves by all eTwinners, yes… you too!!!
Our responsibility is to let them find their
answer/meet their needs as soon and as easily as
possible. Our aim is orientation of eTwinners.
Since Virgilio is not a thematic Group, Virgilians
have different interests, stories and needs, and all
they have in common, as far as we know, is their
interest in the eTwinning opportunities. That is why
it is not easy to involve them in a common activity:
in the past we tried with ebooks, and it was a
successful step at the time, but we had to keep the
subject very wide and vague (and for this reason
not particularly interesting).
We want to stress the fact that, differently from
other Groups, our aim is to keep eTwinners into
eTwinning, not into the Group. They may (and will)
come and go!
However, we will try to create simple products
during the webinars, which are the moments when
Virgilians actually gather and interact in a creative
and effective way. We will then share the products
within the Group first, and then in the eTwinning
community.
Paola Arduini, Laura Maffei and Elena Pezzi, AKA Virgilio
Ladies, have always been passionate about European
projects, sharing, collaboration and technology. eTwinning
has therefore represented all this for them, and since they
discovered it they have not left it! They believe in
collaboration, sharing and in the European dimension of
education. They are curious and passionate about new
technologies as educational tools. They like
experimenting, not getting bored and not being boring.
They believe eTwinning is the ideal space to build shared
knowledge, that is why they run the featured group
“Virgilio - an introduction to eTwinning".
My first year as an Italian eTwinning School
by Antonietta Calò
I was appointed Ambassador for the Italian region
Campania in 2010 and since then I have tried to
involve my colleagues in the different activities that
are offered by the eTwinning community of
practice. Step by step I could organize a skilled
135