Etwinning

The National Support Service celebrates its tenth birthday

It is not every day that the eTwinning programme celebrates its tenth birthday and from the National Support Service we wanted to celebrate it in style by gathering together in Madrid a significant representation of the different “voices” that make up eTwinning action in our country.

Two days of nerves, to be precise 19^th and 20^th May, preceded by the intense organizational work, many phone calls and different procedures which were all made worthwhile when we saw so many friendly faces that have been part of eTwinning history over these last ten years. We were also able to bring together many others, who from their different schools, continue to stimulate and expand this wonderful eTwinning family. In short, two days of emotions, many emotions. It was a unique opportunity to look back and take stock of the amount of consolidated friendships and collaborations and successful projects which have arisen from this programme which brings us so much satisfaction day after day.

But let’s go step by step, starting with the afternoon of 19^th May.  We met at 15:30 h in the State School Council (Madrid) to celebrate the 2015 National Prize Giving Ceremony. This event was presided over by the Director General of Territorial Evaluation and Cooperation at the MECD, Mr. José Ignacio Sánchez Pérez, and the Director of the Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training, Mr. Félix Serrano Delgado. Both underlined the enormous growth of the eTwinning initiative in our country, offered satisfactory figures related to its development and emphasized the pedagogical benefits for teachers’ professional development of a programme like that of eTwinning for the whole Educational Community. Mr. Carlos J. Medina coordinator of the Spanish National eTwinning Service led the awards ceremony.

There was then a commemoration of the tenth birthday of eTwinning and Ms. Rosario Ortega Pérez, a member of the eTwinning NSS, presented a congratulatory video with the participation of different eTwinning agents (the Central Service in Brussels, the European Commission, The German National Service, teachers and students). On behalf of the NSS she thanked everyone for all the expressions of affection sent from the different national schools on the occasion of the tenth birthday (photos, congratulations, videos). Then she gave the floor to each of the invited speakers participating in this celebratory event.

Ms. Maruja Gutiérrez Díaz, who was Head of the Unit for Innovation and Creativity at the DGEC of the European Commission during the first few years, described the creation of the eTwinning programme at the European Commission. She explained to those present the emotion with which they celebrated every small progress that the programme had achieved during the first few years in the European context.

Ms. Elisa Echenique Echenique, eTwinning representative in the Chartered Community of Navarre had some warm words of thanks for her companions representing other Autonomous Regions and for the members of the NSS for allowing her to participate and collaborate in a programme which has given her so much satisfaction in her professional work. She underlined that eTwinning is a European action with a notable impact on the transformation of schools, congratulated the prize-winning professionals and concluded wishing the eTwinning programme a long life and many successes.

Mr. Angel Luis Gallego and Mr. Rogelio Martínez, both ambassadors from Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha, and as excellent teachers in the area of Classical languages, delighted us with a sketch with “a Roman air” about their participation in eTwinning during these ten years. Tons of creativity and a lot of laughter among the attendees for an ingenious sketch in which we were told about how their skills and commitment evolved in eTwinning projects, in step with the changes in the technology on the eTwinning platform. 

Mr. Félix Serrano Delgado, Director of the INTEF, and Mr. Carlos J. Medina Bravo, eTwinning NNS coordinator, closed this part of the programme with a summary of the successes achieved by eTwinning during this first decade, the product of close cooperation, passion for education and a good working environment among the different agents who are responsible for eTwinning action in our country.

The event concluded with a brief presentation of each of the ten 2015 prize-winning national projects, by Mr. Ignacio Casado Alda and Mr. José Luis Fernández Díaz, members of the eTwinning NSS.

The 20^th May was also a marathon work day marked by the celebration of two simultaneous meetings in Madrid. The Workshop of ICT directors and coordinators: at the same venue and the 3^rd Meeting of eTwinning Ambassadors. We are including a brief summary of both workshops.

The Workshop of ICT directors and coordinators was held at the INTEF headquarters and coordinated by Ms. Mirian Olga Cecilia and Ms. Olga Paniagua Garrido, members of the eTwinning NSS. It was a fruitful meeting with a lot of contributions and good ideas for putting into practice in schools. Mr. Diego Rojas, member of the eTwinning NSS welcomed the attendees and gave a brief introduction about the eTwinning programme to focus the day’s work.

The first Round Table on eTwinning Action in the school community started with Mr. José Guerrero Villoria and Ms. Almudena Rubio Cámara, ICT director and coordinator from the IES Príncipe Felipe school in Madrid, explained the action protocol for the direction and organization of the ICT means and spaces to encourage the development of European projects like eTwinning in the life of the school. They basically underlined the need to promote and stimulate this type of projects due to the enormous benefits which they imply for the whole school, to facilitate means and resources, publicize what is being done, promote cascade training among peers in the school and create a feeling of community.

Ms. Mercè Travè Iglesias, eTwinning representative in the Autonomous Region of Catalonia, underlined the need to promote a system based on good communication and team work between the autonomous region and the work done from the eTwinning NSS to maintain the safety of the platform as a secure working environment, to promote the quality of the projects, and to favour their integration into other European school programmes.

Ms. Julia López from del SEPIE, focussed her presentation on the importance of establishing positive work synergies in collaboration with the SEPIE and the eTwinning NSS to be able in this way to efficiently attend to the needs of a strategic school association, improve its efficiency and enhance its impact in the school context. She also underlined the importance of a suitable institutional approach to detect needs and foment project development.

D. Ángel Pavón Muñoz, eTwinning ambassador in the Madrid Autonomous Region, explained the function of the ambassadors in the development of the eTwinning programme, the way to contact them using the ambassador map and encouraged the attendees to consult the national ambassador blog to discover more details about the different actions and activities carried out in the Autonomous Regions.

The rest of the day was spent in different working groups led by the moderators (eTwinning ambassadors and representatives in the Autonomous Regions); intense sessions with exchanges of ideas in each of the groups as well as interesting contributions to be taken into account. Among others, the need to involve not just the students and teachers in the development of these projects, but also to seek the collaboration of parents, institutions and local associations and companies. eTwinning projects should also be promoted in the VET context and in the education of students with special educational needs. Protocols should be created for the rational distribution of spaces and resources in schools to facilitate the development of European projects. The teachers should be allowed time to dedicate to this specific work and it should be recognized with innovation credits or similar qualifications for the participating teachers. Continuing education for teachers in competencies, contents, tools and strategies would permit them to efficiently promote the development of these projects in schools. The eTwinning projects should be integrated into the programmes of the coordinating departments and other departments and agents in the school should be involved. The benefits of eTwinning as a tool for teachers’ professional development and pedagogical innovation should be publicized. 

Mr. Félix Serrano Delgado, director of the INTEF, closed the workshop underlining that eTwinning is an excellent innovative educational model which produces successful results in teaching practice.

The 3^rd Meeting of eTwinning ambassadors was held on the same day and simultaneously in the NH Ribera de Manzanares Hotel with the attendance of 38 teachers coming from all the Autonomous Regions and Cities. Ms. Annette Westerop and Ms. Lourdes Gozalo Arranz, members of the eTwinning NSS organized and directed the activity plan for this meeting together with the collaboration of Mr. Carlos J. Medina, eTwinning NSS coordinator.

The day started with a review of examples of good practice of what the ambassadors carry out in the different Autonomous Regions, presented by the ambassadors themselves; the eTwinning MOOC was officially presented with the teacher Mr. Aldo Benito Bernal giving the Workshop on public speaking, Vocal awareness: the voice in the body and in space.

After this interval of relaxed physical activity, the functions of the TwinSpace were presented and delegates were taught how to take advantage of them in the training and awareness sessions given by the ambassadors; they also explored the videoconference tool WEBEX, which is very useful for the ambassadors’ work. Taking advantage of the access we had to the webex training room, we had the opportunity to connect with the Italian ambassador Ms. Elena Pezzi, who briefly spoke to us about the work of the ambassadors in Italy, and with Ms. Irene Pateraki, the person in charge of the European group of ambassadors who offered some ideas as to the future for the ambassadors.

We ended the day with a discussion table, also with the ambassadors as moderators, with proposals for the future of the national ambassador network. It was a very productive meeting.

Thank you for your participation in these events (whether physical or virtual), for giving us the feeling that what we do is worth the effort and that, in some way, the small contribution of every individual in eTwinning helps to promote new scenarios for teaching and learning.

Source of the images: eTwinning NSS.