"Contemporary Literacy in Contemporary Kids" (C.L.I.C.K.) is a strategic partnership of six secondary and vocational schools from Estonia, Denmark, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Turkey, which intends to change the way how students learn, teachers teach and learning occurs. We seek to help our 16 to 18-year-olds grow effective 21st century learners, and their teachers become devoted advocates of innovative teaching. In order to achieve our goals within the project period from September 2015 to October 2017, we will be developing the digital, technology, information, media, political and intercultural literacy skills of 108 students and the innovative teaching skills of 24 teachers in close transnational cooperation. The rationale behind our partnership lies in the understanding that the number of students showing negative attitudes towards school is growing, and the popularity of traditional teaching methods is declining. However, many young people who prefer to perceive the world via the filter of computing devices do not know how to analyze, synthesize, evaluate and create new knowledge. Therefore, teachers feel that it is time to bridge the digital gap between themselves and their students. These problems are also largely discussed in numerous papers of OECD, ET 2020 Working Group, the Eurydice Network and European Schoolnet, but to change anything for better, we need to take action. At the core of our project are the three transnational learning and teaching activities that cover the six interrelated types of contemporary literacy in the innovative spirit of the "21st Century Learning Design" by Microsoft Educator Network. So every activity we do aims to foster knowledge construction and real-world problem-solving along with self-regulation and skilled communication via high technology. Through intensive intercultural interaction, we expect our students to develop their intercultural communication skills, as well as learn how to manage conflicts and how to make compromises. Not less importantly, we expect them to become much more flexible and adaptable, self-motivated and responsible – all highly appreciated qualities on the modern labor market. C.L.I.C.K. will have multifaceted impact on all levels. By applying their newly acquired contemporary literacy skills, the students will considerably improve their learning outcomes and minimize their risk of dropping out. The teachers, on the other hand, will be able to support their students with ease and confidence as they will have adopted a wide array of innovative, technology-supported pedagogies. The partner schools will benefit from the partnership in that it will change the way how students think about school, how teachers think about teaching, and how innovative learning environments are created. Locally, this partnership will help the partner schools become centers of modern education. Regionally, the schools will be able to act as role models to other schools. Nationally, the schools will have an opportunity to influence the modernization of educational systems in their home countries. Europe-wide, this partnership will promote such values as democracy, equality, solidarity, respect for other cultures and self-fulfillment, all these leading to more unity between Europeans and their neighbors.
As experienced teachers, we know that processes, experiences, organic systems, informal learning and intangible outcomes are as important as content, structures, ordered systems, formal learning and measurable outcomes. Also, we believe in a learning-centred school. We therefore saw our project as an opportunity to look for synergy rather than confrontation between the progressive and the traditional views on education. The main focus of our project lay on responsible use of modern technology, effective application of information and media, democratic citizenship and intercultural competence. We applied the model of knowledge construction, real-world problem-solving, self-regulation and skilled communication. Not only did we engage in interdisciplinary workshops to explore familiar things in new context, but we also worked on innovation in familiar context. In parallel, we focused on teacher and learner autonomy, attention and effort, upgrade feedback and measurable outcomes. This project celebrated a creative collaboration between Tartu Tamme Gymnasium, a state-funded upper secondary school from Estonia, 10iCampus, a pro-gymnasium from Denmark, CFPIMM, a vocational training centre of wood and furniture industries from Portugal, Mihai Bacescu Technical College, a vocational school from Romania, Colegio Rivas Luna, a municipal comprehensive school from Spain, and Tevfik Seno Arda Anadolu Lisesi, an upper secondary school from Turkey. During a two-year project period, we held three learning, teaching and training activities. 22−26 February 2016, 15 students and 12 teachers gathered for LTTA 1 in Lordelo, Portugal, to develop their digital and technology literacy skills. 3−7 October 2016, 20 students and 15 teachers gathered for LTTA 2 in Falticeni, Romania, to develop their information and media literacy skills. 27−31 March 2017, 31 students and 12 teachers gathered for LTTA 3 in Varde, Denmark, to develop their political and intercultural literacy skills. For the project management purposes, we had three transnational project meetings. 9−10 November 2015, 12 teachers met for the kick-off project meeting in Tartu, Estonia, to discuss the project activities in close detail and sign the partnership agreement. 17−18 May 2016, 14 teachers met for the second transnational project meeting in Izmit, Turkey, to reflect on the activities already carried out, report on the results achieved and to plan for two LTTAs yet to come. 11−14 June 2017, the partners gathered for the third time to finalize the project, evaluate its general and specific outcomes, discuss further dissemination activities and prepare for the final report. The project website https://clickerasmusplus.eu/ was constructed and developed as a dissemination tool and a repository for student and teacher outputs, but we also used it as a platform for learning. The 42 pages published so far feature ample evidence of project outcomes and outputs via transnational and local activities. Also, the photo albums, videos and blog posts help to disseminate the impact this project has had on the participants. We will be blogging for at least two more years to give our project a sense of continuity and keep the website up and running. The project e-book “A Resource Book for Creative Teachers” can be accessed via the project website, but is also directly available at https://issuu.com/lingtri/docs/e-book_click_2017. This 90-page publication is the most important output of our partnership as it summarizes the topics of the project, showcases its learning outcomes and includes 18 practical classroom activities created by our teachers to implement innovative teaching methods. The book is licenced under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, so everyone interested in Erasmus+ projects can benefit from it. Most importantly, however, we address teachers all over the world to say that the art of teaching still matters. The students of this partnership have learned to appreciate contemporary literacy as well as intercultural communication skills. Also, they have grown more flexible, adaptable, self-motivated and responsible. The teachers have developed their professional skills, broadened their intercultural experience and enjoyed variation in their everyday classroom practice. The partner schools enjoy better teacher-student relationships, more ICT used in teaching and learning, as well as stronger pan-European perception in their curricula. Local authorities highly appreciate this project for helping young people become more active citizens. Local employers regard our partnership as the one that enlightens school leavers as to the qualities highly appreciated in the job market. Regionally and nationally, the partner schools inspire other schools to set up transnational partnerships that relish intensive intercultural interaction. Europe-wide, our partnership promotes democracy, human rights and respect.