E Twinning Pdw 28 5 10

Reinforcing the eTwinning community

Brian HolmesHead of Department

Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture

Villasimius, Italy28 May 2010

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EACEA - Lifelong Learning Programme


Agenda

• The Executive Agency – what we do• Evolution of the eTwinning community• Role of eTwinning Ambassadors• Online learning communities

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The Executive Agency

Partners with Complimentary Roles

Directorates A, B & CPolicy and Programmes

European Commission Executive Agency

Policy Programme implementation

Centralised actions

• Policy documents• Programme definition• Priorities• Committees• Impact analysis• Management of

decentralised actions via National Agencies

• Management of centralised actions

• Calls, selection, contracts• Monitoring, acceptance,

payments• Clustering & dissemination• Results & feedback

• Centre for Programme management

• ~400 staff• Based in Brussels• Managed by EC officials

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The Executive Agency A widening portfolio of programmes

Lif

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ng

Learn

ing

Era

sm

us M

un

du

sTem

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s

Exte

rnal

coop

era

tion

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or

Cit

izen

s

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th in

A

cti

on

Cu

ltu

re 2

007

Med

ia

2007

2010 Total Budget: ~660 Million €

Leonardo da VinciComeniusErasmus, etc

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Agenda


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Evolution of the eTwinning communityMore than just projects

Source: eTwinning (2009)

Meet new people

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Evolution of the eTwinning community

More than just projects

• eTwinning projects at the core of theinitial strategy

• Projects were just the tip of the iceberg• Below the surface, a whole range of

networking activities were taking place• Supported by a vibrant community

• Strategy changed in 2008:

from School Partnerships in Europe

to The Community for Schools in Europe

Informal collaboration

Comenius Partnerships

Peer learning

Sharing of resources and ideas

Communitybuilding

eTwinning Projects


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Agenda


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Role of eTwinning Ambassadors

eTwinning is about people

Through personal contact


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Role of eTwinning Ambassadors

The personal touch

• Ambassadors support eTwinning through personal contact and expertise

• At the national level:– Promoting eTwinning: e.g. potential headmasters– Helping teachers: from isolated projects to whole school– Linking with the wider community: town twinning, partnerships, etc

• At the European level:– Learning events: leading an event, replicating an event locally– eTwinning groups: moderating/animating a group– eTwinning book 2010: contribute and encourage others

Help widen the eTwinning community and make it sustainable

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Agenda


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Online Learning Communities

Online Community

Possible features of an online community:• people who interact socially while striving to satisfy their own needs;• shared purpose (an interest, need, information exchange, or

service) that provides a reason for the community to exist;• policies in the form of tacit assumptions, rituals, protocols, rules, and

laws that guide people’s interactions; • And computer systems that support and mediate social interactions

and facilitate a sense of togetherness.Preece (2000) cited in Ala-Mutka (p.25, 2008)

eTwinning is an online community of teachers.

The community aspect is being reinforced through Learning Events and eTwinning Groups

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My research

• Looking at Learning Events as examples of non-formal learning in online groups

• Looking at eTwinning Groups as examples of Communities of Practice

My research is looking at competence development in online learning communities and the impact of social issues. Supervisor Dr. Julie-Ann Sime.

Observed the Learning Event entitled ‘Exploiting web 2.0 – eTwinning and collaboration’ led by Tiina Sarisalmi. Carried out an online survey of participants after the event to solicit their opinion. Obtained 130 valid replies from the community of 207 participants.

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Survey results (1 of 6)

45%

42%

10%

2%

2%

Po

sitive chan

ge

Neg

ative chan

ge

87% indicated that they felt more confident and competent after the LE

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17% preferred the independence 47% preferred the collaboration

C: I preferred the independence D: I preferred the collaboration

Nu

mb

er

of r

epl

ies

36%

4%

13%

20%

27%

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49% felt a stronger sense of community

E: There was a stronger feelingof community

F: The feeling of communitywas roughly the same

Nu

mb

er

of r

epl

ies

27%

14%

10%

26%23%

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62% found the profile pages really useful

K: I didn’t really use the profile pages

L: I found the profile pages really useful

7%

16% 15%

30% 31%

Nu

mb

er

of r

epl

ies

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Preference for receiving feedback rather than giving feedback

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

I enjoyed posting my comments

I enjoyed giving feedback

I enjoyed asking questions

I enjoyed socialising (chit-chat)

I enjoyed reading the comments of others

I enjoyed receiving feedback

1st choice

2nd choice

3rd choice

4th choice

5th choice

6th choice

n= from 101 to 109

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‘… taking part in the online Web 2.0 course was a great and exciting discovery for me that acquainted me with the amazing possibilities available to teachers nowadays’

‘I find it amazing, even more as in the school where I work my colleagues do not want working in team’

‘Learning events community is a special garden of teachers. it is far away from etwinning’

‘I have noticed a great openness and liveliness in the way the teachers collaborated and interacted’

98% would recommend the Learning Event

n=111

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References

Ala-Mutka, K. (2008) Review of learning in ICT-enabled networks and communities, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), JRC, European Commission, http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=2721

eTwinning (2009) Beyond school projects - a report on eTwinning 2008-2009, Brussels, eTwinning Central Support Service, http://resources.eun.org/etwinning/25/EN_eTwinning_165x230_Report.pdf

eTwinning (2010) eTwinning 2.0: Building the community for schools in Europe, Brussels, eTwinning Central Support Service, http://resources.eun.org/etwinning/25/EN_eTwinning_brochure.pdf

Preece, J. (2000) Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Socialbilty, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY, USA.

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Thank you!

http://www.etwinning.net/

Comenius and the Lifelong Learning Programme:

The Executive Agency:http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/index.htm

eTwinning portal:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/index_en.html

DG Education and Culture:http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/index_en.html

My research blog:http://holmesbrian.blogspot.com/

E Twinning Pdw 28 5 10

Education

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