Man or Machine ?

Pre-destination and Free Will in an Educational Context

I have recently started my Masters Research on Communication, Education and Technology at University of Manchester. One of my first assignments was to watch and write a critique about a 1960's series, The Prisoner.

For those not familiar with this 1960's epic (I was hooked from episode 1!) it is half Truman Show, half The Island, with a bit of conspiracy thrown it. The basic plot is this: an undetermined number of professionals are trapped on an island-prison known as The Village. Although not incarcerated in any traditional sense, the prisoners' lives are controlled in every single minute detail by The General (who in an ironic twist of fate, turns out to be nothing than a super-computer who rules all of the village).

After the first few minutes, it is clear that the villagers are not only manipulated, stripped of their free will; but also victims of the most bizarre mind altering experiments, including what is referred to in Episode 6 as "Speed Learning - A University Degree in 3 minutes!". Every day the villagers are subjected to a 15 second "lecture" where their minds are shamelessly manipulated and data is literally inputted into their brains - and they are able to reproduce every single fact, detail and date with frightening precision. However it is quite obvious from the beginning that they have no idea what their are talking about - the "15 second lectures" are nothing but a brainwashing exercises - and God knows what the "transmitters" put in their brains over and above the simple facts they are supposedly "teaching".

Yes, "teaching...." brainwashing, rote learning, drilling.....

Hands up, those of you born in the 70's, who still remember citing the mathematical tables, from 1-12, every day in class ? The periodical table ? Capitals and countries of the world ? And those who learnt how to write specific words in the infamous "Look and Say" method and not understanding a fig about what that word really did mean ? 

I once had a perfect "Idiot Savant" Autistic child in my Grade 2 class: He could reproduce whole documents from memory, but of course he didn't understand a word of it or why he was compulsively writing them all in the first place...a perfect photographic memory if I ever saw one...But to what intent ?

The truth is, no matter how many super computers are invented, no matter where technology takes us, no matter what study methods we embrace in order to cram as many facts as possible into our already over-stretched brains - none of the above can be classified as learning. To learn is to look for facts with pure curiosity for knowledge, by sifting through the information overload that we are burdened with, to question and to be critical, to look for alternative solutions. To seek, to never be satisfied with one answer, to have an opinion, to make your thoughts become actions.

Because that is what differs us from machines - even the most advanced of computers, are, in fact, stupid. Sure, they can compute, look up millions of articles in a fraction of a second, make the most complicated of calculations....But do they feel ? Do they think, unless we instruct them to ? Do they really do our work instead of us, or just react to what we feed them ?

Maybe what really marks a difference between humans and machines is that humans have free will. I do not for one minute believe in pre-destination. Because that is just another way of saying we cannot go forward, we cannot change things, we would essentially be stuck. I refuse to believe that that is what we are in this world for - to follow our destiny. In Doc Brown's words at the very end of Back to The Future Part 3 - "Your future isn't written on a piece of paper". 

Oh and by the way, do you want to know what happened to the supercomputer in "The Prisoner ?" Went up in smoke...because it couldn't find an answer to a simple three lettered word. "WHY".

eTwinning: Towards Information Literate Students

It's not about the Tools, it's about the Skills

In our so called "Digital Age", incredible as it may sound, I still come across instances where (well-meaning) teachers practise what is known as "Library Instruction". In layman's terms, Library Instruction refers to teaching through the use of access tools such as catalogues, abstracts, encyclopedias and similar tools for reference - (Grafsetein, 2002:197).  More recently, use of the Internet, as well the "teaching" of other  techniques to enable students to become information literate - came into practice (Andretta, 2005:6).

Neither the first, and most certainly not even the second statement above bear any resemblance whatsoever to the real "Information Literacy" definition. Just because we thrust these new fad tools in the lap of our students - new technologies, new tools and research methods - does not automatically imply that our students are becoming information literate. It is the just the case of same old, same old - same methods using different media - but still subject oriented, not skills-oriented.

For the students, the mere task of copying and pasting information for their tasks or assignments is not inductive to learning. Rather it creates a generation of students (and adults) who are great at retrieving information, but this is of little use to them as they have never been encouraged to ask questions, to be critical, or scrutinise their source. The tools may have changed - from catalogues of library books to Google results - but sadly sometimes the end results are the same.

Proper Information Literate students, on the other hand, are full of questions. They want to know how and why things are the way they are, they want to pursue information further, they want to be active learners -  pursue their own learning wherever they can. They know how to check their sources, they know how to-cross reference with different texts and articles; in a nutshell, they know how to THINK.

eTwinning, as an educational practice on its own, certainly plays a part in equipping students and educators with essential 21st Century skills - including Information and Media Literacy - however this is just the tip of the educational iceberg.  The action actively promotes peer to peer learning, a student centred approach with emphasis on critical thinking, and ultimately, a culture of life-long learning.

And that is, in a nutshell, what Information Literacy is all about. It is not about the tools, it is about the attitude - of students and teachers alike. Let us, as educators, encourage our students to question and not accept everything as de-facto. Let's allow our students roam freely with their minds, think for themselves, and be content creators themselves. Let our students become active citizens of tomorrow, for their sake, and for the sake of a better future for everyone.

eTwinning and Digital Competencies - DigComp 2.0

What Comes First ? A Chicken and Egg situation...

A friend and mentor recently introduced me to the online document, DigComp 2.0, published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. The document,

"offers a tool to improve citizens’ digital competence. DigComp was first published in 2013 and has become a reference for many digital competence initiatives at both European and Member State levels" 

Abstract, DigiComp 2.0, 

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomp/digital-competence-framework

 EUR 27948 EN 

I must admit it was very interesting to read the document in its entirety, especially since, as a promoter of the eTwinning Action in Malta, I have strived to instil these very skills in teachers and students working on a project. Transversal skills - Digital Competences, Entrapreneurship Competence, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Learning to Learn - all skills that I felt that could be reached and were a by-product of participating in an eTwinning Project. Let us analyse them one by one within the context of eTwinning....

• Digital Competences - no qualms there. eTwinning introduces the the uninitiated the concept of a virtual classroom for the teacher and students, creating a fertile ground for achieving these same concepts.
• Entrapreneurship Competences - especially in the case of secondary schools projects, have seen quite an interesting array of projects from the VET sector, ALP as well as 'regular' secondary schools where students were encouraged to look at the impact their actions were having on a national and European sphere.
• Critical Thinking - eTwinning is not (contrary to some beliefs) just "sharing of information". The process itself encourages students to look up information themselves, to learn how to share their results safely, to discuss, and most importantly, to evaluate.
  
• Problem Solving - Again, quite an interesting array of projects in the last seven years, focused on particular 'problems' (small and large) for which students had to find an answer. And I am not referring simply to the all popular quizzes present on the TwinSpaces. Real problems such as energy conservation, environmental concerns, animal awareness, and most recently, a project which focused on transforming a disused space in a secondary school to a reading corner thanks to the involvement of various NGOs.
• Learning to Learn - The crux of eTwinning is that all involved partners (teachers and students) engage in peer-to-peer (collaborative, not parallel) activities that promote finding information themselves, working as a group, and learning with and from each other.

In conclusion....all skills that one can safely say, fostered through an eTwinning Collaboration.

Or is it ?

Does eTwinning (when done properly and with these competences in mind) lead to the acquisition of the skills above, or is it the very fostering of these skills which leads to an increase in the quality of an eTwinning Project ? In colloquial terms - what came first - the chicken, or the egg ?

In my humble opinion, there is no simple yes or no answer to this dilemma. There are of course, pros and cons for both arguments. In a "sweeping statement" kind of way, yes, eTwinning does of course foster many (if not all) Digital Competencies as mentioned above in the project partners, especially with regards to critical thinking, problem solving and learning to learn. Indeed, these are the projects that tend to 'shine' above the rest, a far cry from the mere uploading of final results on a TwinSpace, with no real plan, process or evaluation. On the other hand, the more a partner comes 'armed' with such concepts already in place (or at least starting to form) the more an eTwinning Project becomes rich, diverse and fruitful, with an automatic increase in the quality of the final product (which is what I am mostly concerned about with all truthfulness).

I will leave you to decide...and would be honoured if readers would be so kind as to offer suggestions on the Tricider below:

Thank you for your comments, looking forward to hear your thoughts on the matter !

eTwinning and 21st Century Competences

eTwinning has always been an agent for change. Back in 2005, it was one of the first European Actions to emphasise and focus of what were then referred to as “ICT Skills” and their implementation and embedding within different subjects in the curriculum. eTwinning has always prided itself of being a “dynamic” action, as one that responds to the needs of the current educational frameworks and 21^st Century Learning competences.

If one had to scrutinise the criteria of what many NSS consider to be a pedagogically sound eTwinning Project, the following skills and criteria immediately stand out: a project must be collaborative in nature, creative and innovative, and foster communication, problem solving and critical thinking amongst all teachers and pupils.  Essentially, being involved in eTwinning, helps foster these skills in those involved and serve as an example for the ones who are standing close.

eTwinning can change the way educators look at the infrastructure; at how the foundation blocks of digital literacy are “built”. Taking the cue from the SAMR Model – Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition -  eTwinning can be truly see as an “agent of change in our classrooms”. A platform, a set of tools, which goes beyond merely substituting  one methodology with another, or just a way of making lessons more interesting (augmentation). eTwinning is about a change in Educators’ mindset, in the way learning is defined. Students become more in charge of their learning, and, in the process, they learn to ask questions, to investigate, to “not accept” all that is presented in front of them, but to be critical and self-evaluating.

Just as the technology available in class itself will not change the way our teaching and learning takes place, merely participating in an eTwinning project will not automatically bring a positive step forward to our schools.  eTwinning is about change, about making the leap from instruction to redefinition, from teacher (or technology) centred teaching to pupil centred learning The tools are there – it is however up to the educator to decide how to use the

Malta's First eTwinning Partner-Finding Fair

An Enriching Experience...

A few "posts" ago I wrote about how I had first started to deliver eTwinning Webinars for Maltese educators - http://amandaworkinglife.blogspot.com.mt/2016/05/delivering-etwinning-webinars.html - and how the process itself was a learning curve for both myself and the participants. I also wrote how, after a while, I had decided to "branch out" and offer to hold webinars jointly with my PSA - eTwinning Plus colleagues. (For those who are not in the know, eTwinning Plus countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Tunisia). Today (10 of June 2016) I have moderated the first ever Maltese-run eTwinning Partner Finding Fair, and it was one of the most enriching experiences in my whole eTwinning career.

Yes, I have run eTwinning webinars before, on a variety of topics. Yes, this was not the first time where I included teachers from eTwinning Plus countries. And no, the difference didn't lie in the fact that I used Adobe Connect for the first time (Webex license has run out and eTwinning now uses Adobe).

What really struck me was that all those educators - hailing from different and far away countries - all had one priority: they want to make the world a better place for their students, for the leaders of tomorrow. The project ideas discussed - which they have helpfully uploaded on a Tricider widget I had pre-prepared for them - all talk about how through education we can make the world a more peaceful place, how we can teach our students the sometimes lost values of tolerance and cultural understanding, how we can make children think about their rights and obligations as active citizens. The project ideas are all on the Tricider below - and if you are an eTwinner reading this, please feel free to add your idea or to join an existing project from the marvellous ones listed here....

And this, in a nutshell, is the beauty of eTwinning, and why I feel lucky to have dedicated the last seven years of my working life working with this action. eTwinners are optimists, they see the world as a better, more beautiful place: and what's more, they try to instill these values to the students in their classrooms. Because children aren't born racist or intolerant: children can be more open-minded than adults and they can surely teach us a lesson or two about living together in peace. eTwinning can be a driving force, a virtual place where all these different cultures in Europe and beyond come together, a place where we prepare our students to become the active citizens of tomorrow....a place where we all come together in peace.

That is the true meaning of eTwinning and I am ever so proud to be part of such a wonderful, positive, diverse online family of educators.

Creating eTwinning Resources: Part 1

Screen-Casting with Explain a Website

I remember when I first discovered Camtasia a couple of years back. I remember thinking how wonderfully cool the tool was and what a great resource for teachers to create tutorials for students (this was back in 2006, 2007 I guess). Of course since then, and the rise of the "flipped classroom" teaching style, screen-casting as a resource gained a much larger following, with new and simpler tools being released across all platforms (including in the mobile-tablet genre).

Camtasia is, of course, expensive and in fact I had only availed myself of a trial version. Other software packages and apps surfaced, including on Interactive Whiteboards (most models have a built-in screen casting feature) and many "free" versions online. I use "free" sparingly here: most applications (not only screen-casting software) are indeed "free" but offer limited features; they usually have "business plans" available for more serious users....however the "basic" version is usually quite sufficient for us budding educators looking to create simple resources for our students. Andrew Douch has kindly reviewed the majority of screen casting software here, so I will not go into detail about the different options available - including most educators' favourite, Jing (easy to use and most importantly, free:  https://andrewdouch.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/the-best-screencasting-software-for-teachers/).

I used Jing for a while, which served its purpose quite well actually. I also toyed with the idea of buying a license for one of the less complicated screen-casting applications....until I purchased my first tablet in 2012 and realised what a wealth of applications offered the same features using a simpler yet still powerful interface at a fraction of the price.

I settled on a simple application called "Explain a Website" (which set me back at an alarmingly low price of €1.99) and another (free) application called Educreations. The first one, EAW, is incredibly simple to use: just enter a URL and start recording. I invested in a good set of headphones with in-built microphones and I started recording away. The results were pretty good if I say so myself. Of course the advantage of using a tablet for screen casting is that you can do all the subsequent editing with the proverbial swipe of a finger, including uploading on YouTube. In an hour or so I had recorded, edited and uploaded my first screencast: It was great! Here is a rather simple example I created:

Educreations, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish altogether: It allows you to actually "record" your lessons. I would guess it has quite a following in the "Flipped Classroom" teaching methodology as it effectively lets teachers pre-record their lessons and upload them, say, on iLearn VLE, for students to watch at home prior to actually following the lesson in class. Again most interactive whiteboard software do have a built in screen recording facilities, however Educreations is fun, free, and so easy to use, even students can have a go at it.

I intend to keep creating screen-casts for teachers and upload them on our own eTwinning Malta Educators' Group (see http://amandaworkinglife.blogspot.com.mt/2016/05/more-on-social-networking-and-etwinning.html), to provide teachers with a handy database of easy-to-follow tutorials which they can refer to when needed. And, who knows, maybe they will take a liking to the idea and start creating their own, in a true, "Flipped Classroom" model :-)

European Seminars - Locally Organised

A Learning Experience

eTwinning is, of course, all about collaboration, peer to peer learning, and professional development. Most of the action takes place online of course, on eTwinning Live and the TwinSpace. However, every NSS takes it up to themselves to organize at least one Multilateral Seminar - that is, a gathering of same minded educators, working together towards a common aim (usually registering a new European Project) and learning together along the way as well.

Our size and resources actually prohibits us from organising large scale PDWs (Professional Development Workshops) however we can and do organise seminars for up to 60 educators from all over Europe. Since arriving in 2009, I was involved in the organisation of not less than seminars, including: Secondary Schools Seminar for Mediterranean Countries (2010), eTwinning/EkoSkola joint seminar (2010), eTwinning Early Years Seminar (2011), eTwinning Seminar for Secondary Educators - The Arts and Humanities (2012), eTwinning Seminar for Kindergarten and Early Years - Sharing Good Practice (2013), eTwinning Seminar for eTwinning Ambassadors (2014), eTwinning Seminar for Primary and Middle Schools (2015) eTwinning Training Seminar for Ambassadors (2015) and the most recent, eTwinning Seminar for Secondary Schools and eTwinning Plus Countries (2016.

Quite a lot of hosting for such a small country and NSS !

Organising each seminar was a learning curve. Things that I take for granted nowadays - simple things such as securing a strong Internet connection or to go easy on the food orders - took years to get right. Asking for help is also something that I learned I needed to do. In the beginning it was all about appearing as self sufficient as an NSS as possible - the epitome of teachers' mentality in Malta. I quickly realised though, that help was readily and abundantly available, courtesy of the other participating NSS - and that I didn't even need to ask. It just came.

And nothing was a problem. Nothing at all....

Weather mishaps were treated with warm smiles by the Northerners. Sure, at least it's warm and not snowing - what's a bit of rain ? Food was happily devoured and enjoyed by all - a simple ftira with tuna became a gourmet dish. Internet not working - no problem ! Let us just sit on the floor and have a discussion about how we can better involve and empower our students. Election coinciding with  an eTwinning Seminar ? (Did really happen in 2013!). Not a problem! Can we join the party ??

It was the sheer enthusiasm of my fellow NSS and our wonderful Maltese Ambassadors' Team, the teachers' joie du vivre, the whole European laid-back-attitude that so inspired me to better myself and the seminars I was so proud to be a part of. I ceased to worry about what could go wrong during the seminar, I dared organise bigger and more interesting seminars. I learned the most important lesson of my eTwinning life - it is not the journey, it is the destination. The journey will happen nevertheless, but you can be sure you will never ever be alone. Who knows - Malta might even be organising the European-wide eTwinning Conference (500+ participants) in the near future ! Watch this space :-)

eTwinning and Malta's National Agency

A Brief History

Unlike the scenario present in most of the other European Countries, eTwinning and the National Agency decided early on that marriage was not on the cards. The National Agency is Malta is housed at the European Union Programs Agency (EUPA for short) whilst eTwinning has always been directly managed by the Department of eLearning (formerly ICT Learning Centre within the Department of Curriculum Management and eLearning).

When I first started in eTwinning in 2009 I wasn't really familiar with Erasmus+ Partnerships (then called Comenius Projects). I had a vague idea of schools running Comenius activities and attending courses abroad - however my affiliation with the subject was less than it was supposed to be.

During the Workgroup and Management Meetings organized by the CSS, I started to learn about the benefits of having 'dual' partnerships: eTwinning Projects that got so good that they became the basis for Comenius. So I enquired about the National Agency in Malta and introduced myself to the EUPA staff.

For a couple of months - nearly a year - we (eTwinning and EUPA) maintained a very nice, if platonic relationship, consisting of disseminating and promoting mutual activities on our respective online platforms. This carried on until the latter half of 2010. Then, six months into 2011, it all went to proverbial pieces as there was a staff change at EUPA and my former contact persons (the only ones who had a vague idea about eTwinning) left for greener pastures - there was a problem with the Agency's Final Report and until that was settled there was a hiatus on Comenius Partnerships imposed by the Commission. 

Come 2012 and the situation at the EUPA started to get 'back to bormal' - NOT. All the previous staff which I had been happily sharing information and resources with sadly disappeared. There seemed to be no way out of this unhappy situation as EUPA staff were very busy re-building their project base.

The crunch came, quite unexpectedly as it has, in November of 2012, whilst I was
writing the Activity Plan for 2013. One of the questions in the plan is always along the lines of "Describe your cooperation with the National Agency".....at which point, I staring at the question in front of me on my computer, I physically flinched. Relationship ? What relationship ? It had all but fizzled out, we had lost contact, and barely on nodding terms.

It was then that I I suddenly decided to take the matter into my own proverbial hands, and speed dialed the National Agency. I tried uncessesfully to get through a number of bewildered people who had never, apparently, nor in their waking or life or in their wildest dreams, even HEARD about eTwinning. Maybe one or two even thought we were some kind of tea brew. Finally, trying to muster the little patience I had left, I blurted out: but we are PART of Lifelong Learning, we are European Projects too!

Finally, after speaking to more and more clueless persons, I managed to set up a meeting with a group of people from the agency. Bless their happy hearts, they came prepared with manuals and info packs and happily realized that we had been estranged for far, far too long. A gentleman's agreement was reached on the day and we pledged to start collaborating more and to get involved in common activities.

Three and a half years later, we are actually very happy to have a number of interesting collaborative activities together, including joint workshops for Maltese teachers, seminars for European teachers in Malta, and attendance to mutual conferences. We regularly tag each others' activities on social media for dissemination and look out for each other now; most notably during the recent Brussels bombings in March of 2016. As soon as I heard the news on BBC, I instinctly contacted EUPA and learned that one of their staff members was actually stranded in Brussels. I tried to help them -  although mostly I could only offer moral support - and stayed in contact all day, until they managed to get this young lady on a plane and back home late that evening.

That's friendship for you - not quite marriage material - but a solid relationship that will surely last.

eTwinning Learning Events

eTwinning's Very Own Online Courses

Since the very beginning, Professional Development was very much at the heart of the eTwinning Action. For that is one of the main scopes of eTwinning: to empower teachers (and students), to encourage peer to peer learning through sharing of experiences and skills. Learning takes place informally on the eTwinning Platform all the time; and that is something that we, as NSS, are most proud of.

eTwinning also boasts a considerable array of 'formal' professional development opportunities; most notably, what we call the eTwinning Learning Events.

Learning Events are short, online courses, usually of a duration of not more than 15 hours spread over 10-14 days. There are a good number of themes and topics to choose from - starting from basic eTwinning training, how to create a pedagogically sound project, to more specific topics such as language or STEM teaching, the use of online tools, tablets, etc. An updated list of all eTwinning Events can be accessed at any time on

Maltese teachers have always been encourage to participate in the above training opportunities, which, I might add, are free of charge and carry a certificate of completion endorsed by European Schoolnet. In 2011 however, an idea started to form in our minds that perhaps it would have been a good idea to also offer an in-house Learning Event specifically targeted to Maltese Teachers. And so the eTwinning Learning Event for Maltese Teachers was born.

The first two instillments (in 2012 and in 2013) were delivered by our then eTwinning Ambassador, Ms. Marianne Schembri. Following a change in carrier, I took it up to myself to continue with the legacy and have so far delivered two Events myself, both focusing on eTwinning and Online Collaborative tools.

Due to a change in the way Learning Events are hosted, the original platform is no longer available and thus I cannot disseminate the work already done. I managed however, to secure a couple of screenshots from the old platform and I am reproducing them here.

As a venture, locally organised eTwinning Learning events had a similar outcome to that of Webinars (see previous posts). They still required extensive promotion and advertising, through our social networking outlets as well as an endorsement via Departmental Letter Circulars issued a month or so before the commencement of the online course. An average of 15 or so participants attended for each installment, and as was the case with the Webinars, it was a most enjoyable experience for me to be able to facilitate and mentor the participants throughout this online learning experience.

For the near future, my plan is to hold more Learning Events, but with a few hours of face to face meetings thrown in as well - and create the first eTwinning Malta Blended Course/Learning Event.

Delivering eTwinning Webinars

An Online Experience

eTwinning is an online platform, a social networking 'hangout' for teachers who want to collaborate online with colleagues from all over Europe. Online eTwinning Seminars - called Webinars - had been happening for years, mostly run by experts in the field of Education of course. As time went by, and eTwinning became more than just a portal - it became a 'live' meeting place for educators, with the possibility for mere teachers to host online events through Adobe Connect (sponsored by all participating NSS). I had dabbed in organising webinars in the past; about one per term to be honest. Then, from January 2015 onwards, I tried to up the ante - and hold two to three sessions per term. The results were surprising, in more ways than one.

First, I thought that the fact that teachers would be able to attend webinars from the comfort of their home would be more enticing to them than having to drag themselves, after work, and sit for two hours listening to yours truly harp about the benefits of eTwinning or some online tools which I liked the sound of at the time of the seminar. WRONG. It was just as difficult to garner an audience for an online seminar as it had been for procuring an audience for face to face activities. The first time I thought I would be able to get away with advertising only on our online channels - website, Facebook page, Twitter- wrong on all counts. It took the publication of a predictable letter circular to get the ball (and bookings) rolling. Once the appropriate 'advertising' was in place, people started joining and registering. Since then I have always had a steady audience of 15 + participants; which bearing in mind the relative low cost of holding training online versus face to face training, was a good outcome.

Second, after running a couple of webinars, the obvious hit me: Why not hold joint webinars with other NSS or PSA ? The 2016 Activity Plan urged NSS to up our collaboration with eTwinning Plus Countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine and Tunisia).  Given the distances and obvious logistical problems to actually send and receive teachers from these countries (except of course Tunisia), holding joint online webinars felt like the perfect solution. Admittedly only two countries answered our call  - Ukraine and Georgia - but still, I was really happy to have at least those two countries on board.

So far I have managed to hold 4 joint webinars between our countries and have a last one lined up for June 2016. I was glad to have 40+ participants this time, and it was then that I really realised the potential of online webinars: one can have as big an audience as one wants, and everyone will get the same experience. No sitting at the back of the room trying to understand what was going on. By simply sharing my screen, I was able to navigate through the topics at hand....eTwinning Live, Project Showcase, TwinSpace, Online Tools, Coding....and made sure everyone was following by regularly asking for people's opinions and using the Chat facility as well as video conferencing tools to  regularly check for sound problems. I also kept the Facebook Page online messenger system open to be available to help if someone was bumped out of the session or had connectivity problems.

Overall....online webinars were a very positive experience and one that I would like to expand and increase in regularity. Apart from eTwinning Plus Countries, I plan to hold webinars with 'clusters' of NSS, such a Nordic Countries, Slavic Countries....slowly getting to know different teachers online and giving the possibility to our educators to broaden their horizons.

Coding Activities and eTwinning

Ready, Steady, Let's Code!

I was always fascinated by how software applications work, and what makes them 'tick'. Growing up in the late 70's and early 80's,  computers weren't as readily available, accessible and affordable as they are today. In the mid-eighties, I managed to get my hands (courtesy of my father, of course) on my very first PC, the ZX Spectrum +. I was immediately intrigued on how this little piece of plastic was able to conjure such incredible (read 8-bit, 16 colour) graphics and sounds (read mono and fuzzy squeaks coming out of the tiny built in speakers). And I wanted to know how.

Unfortunately Computer Studies per se wasn't being offered as a subject at my secondary school (Sandhurst Junior Lyceum, now St. Clare College Secondary). Rather annoyingly there were certain boys' schools were they had tentatively started broaching the topic, but in our case it was not an option. So I read every book I could lay my hands upon, starting writing some code and lo and behold, some of the stuff I wrote did actually work! I learned Basic and Machine Code as well as Sinclair Basic which was slightly different than 'regular' Basic. I managed to sit for the Oxford GCE and passed at the age of fifteen.

Since then I tried my hand at HTML and Flash, designing (now obsolete of course) websites for schools during the time (2006-2009) when I was engaged as an ICT Learning Teacher with the CMeLD.

Fast forward a couple of years, to 2012, when I got my first iPad. And I started to download my very first coding apps. That's when I realised that, in the couple of years I had been looking elsewhere, coding had suddenly got very cool. Very cool indeed.

Nowadays both on iOS and on Android online stores one can find a myriad of excellent coding applications, suitable for all ages and abilities. There are simple 'maze' type applications such as Kodable and the Bee Bots app, and more complex apps (complete with coding blocks and real coding terms) such as Scratch, Tynker and Hopscotch. Then there are the 'game' type apps but which still require a degree of coding skills - such as A.L.E.X and Lightbot. Most of them free, some of them cross-platform, all totally suitable to instil coding skills.

   

One of the great things about my work is that as soon as I learn something new I can disseminate the information and share my knowledge with other teachers. And so I did. Since 2012 we have organised a number of seminars including a 2 day workshop on coding and tablets; two online webinars presented by me and attended by teachers in both Malta and Europe; a Multilateral seminar in Tallinn where I was proud to present coding applications to fellow eTwinners as well as Ms. Anne Gilleran, Pedagogical Manager of the eTwinning Central Support Service...Each and every time I present Coding to teachers, I end up learning something more myself about the topic - which is so enriching in itself.

eTwinning has also supported a good number of projects which introduced Coding activities to the participating students, including in Hamrun Primary GP as well as St. Margaret College Boys' Secondary. We also participate regularly in Code Week.

Here I am sharing a presentation which I created and which I use as the base for introducing coding to teachers. I liken coding to collaborative storytelling: a group of children come up with the 'plot' and the 'story board', another group of children can 'code' and prepare the game/activity, and finally another group goes through the code to 'de-bug' and 'fix' any errors in the code.

Coding in the classroom.key from Amanda Debattista

I will now conclude with one of my favourite videos, that of a primary school teacher teaching students how to code by....making a sandwich! Very inspirational and I must credit this teacher for making me realise how coding can be such a fun activity in class.

More on Social Networking and eTwinning

eTwinning Groups

It is true to fact that, as eTwinning NSS, one of our priorities is to promote eTwinning as much as humanely and technologically possible. Hence in my previous post I discussed the importance of 'external' social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, eTwinning NSS didn't just idly sit and wait for the barrage of available services to take over. Far from it. We were just lurking in the background, trying to decide what we could do, what we could emulate, and most importantly, how to make the eTwinning Desktop more attractive than the rest.

First up, a whole re-vamp of the eTwinning Desktop - which is now called eTwinning Live! by the way - to make it look a bit more 'modern', 'flowing' and streamlined with other independent services.

The changes however weren't purely cosmetical. Some interesting features were added, including the ability for all eTwinners to hold their own video-conferencing session or online event (cut out the middle man - Skype, Flashmeeting, etc), the possibility to enrol and participate in Learning Events via the platform itself (no more multiple logins and forgotten passwords) as well as the newly added feature - eTwinning Groups. 

eTwinning Groups can be set up by anyone, anytime, and have the added bonus of being open not only to eTwinners but also to 'visitors' (by email invitation). There are many different Groups already online and quite active in their own right, such as the Creative Classroom and eSafety, as well as a Group for School Leaders. I also had an idea - which I put in the eTwinning Activity Plan for 2016 - to create a specific eTwinning Group for Maltese Educators. The Group started out in March 2016 and so far counts approximately 150 members. My idea was to bring Maltese eTwinners together, to have a specific online Group which targets their needs, and to have a repository of online video tutorials and presentations, for the benefit of eTwinners. I have also took to using the 'mail all members' features of the Group (which sends INTERNAL emails to Group members, instead of spamming everyone's mailbox) to disseminate information such as letter circulars and training dates.

So far, I feel that this Group is still a works-in-progress, I am still inviting teachers and in the near future, I would like to expand it by having external guest videos or talks (by other European NSS, for example) as well as regularly more tutorials to get the teachers to 'come back' for more.

Social Networking and eTwinning

The importance of a having an online presence

One of the most important factors that determine the success of a collaborative online network is to have a reliable and updated online presence. This is especially important in an age where teachers are 'spoilt for choice' for the number of activities and tools they can engage within their schools and beyond. At eTwinning, we pride ourselves that online safety and etiquette is of paramount importance. For a very long time, the NSS (National Support Services Staff) focused ONLY on promoting eTwinning, the Desktop and TwinSpace, and local websites. This was the norm at the beginning, when educators were still a bit wary of the possibilities outside of their VLEs and the TwinSpace.

As time went by, the NSS realised that for eTwinning to be more successful and accessible, one also had to 'branch' out to other, perhaps more familiar services, and rather than unofficially ban them - embrace the opportunities they provided.

Over the years, I have slowly built a social network for promotion of eTwinning activities, including: a dedicated YouTube channel, a Facebook Page, and a Twitter and Instagram account. I liked all these  services together so that I could easily 'hop' from one to the other, and cross-post from my mobile, anytime and anywhere,  with a click of a button.
I am humbly proud of the fact that I contributed to the creation of a eTwinning Malta's social networking presence. These are our official pages, which I take pride in updating regularly...feel free to visit them, like and share our posts!

http://instagram.com/etwinningmalta

http://twitter.com/etwinningmalta

http://facebook.com/etwinningmalta

http://https://www.youtube.com/user/etwinningtv

Welcome to my blog!

Greetings, and welcome to my blog!

For the past 10 years now I have worked in the field of eLearning and Digital Literacy, with special attention to online collaboration, eSafety, and school based projects (eTwinning). During the last 7 years, I was engaged in the running of the local Maltese National Support Service, acting as a Coordinator for the action in Malta. I must admit that there are a lot of aspects of carrying out this job which have made this a magnificently pleasurable experience, both on a personal and professional level. I have learned so much, not only from my European Colleagues, but also from the very teachers and students that engage in projects. Being here, working in eTwinning, has been a learning journey from start to finish, and I sincerely hope that I will be able to carry out working for the action for many years to come.