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.