This project is the result of an already existing collaboration between two of the applying schools and is a product of discussions and speculations which are common topics of interest among educators throughout Europe.The focal theme is happiness at school and the outcomes will be a film directed and produced by the students and a course program on the applications of audiovisual literacy in education for teachers.The project will be implemented in a period of two years around two axes: research and film production. During the first year the students will conduct a research, trying to analyze the factors that contribute to their happiness at school and define happiness within their family environment and the broader community settings. They are also going to design and implement a variety of activities aiming to help them into better awareness of the learning process. The results will be accessible online for comparative analysis.During the second year the students of each school will use their research and experience as a stimulus to create in collaboration a film on school happiness, which will be submitted to the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, held annually in Pyrgos, the town of the coordinating school in Greece. The festival is a very important event for the local community of students and educators and can guarantee the dissemination of project results to a wide international audience.During the film making stage the students will be asked to work like professionals, organize boards, consider funds, realize and promote their outcome and share it locally and trans-nationally. The main filming to be used in the final output will take place during students exchange in order to promote team working and highlight the student - led nature of the project.Two groups of diametrically located countries are involved: Greece, Italy and Spain from the south of Europe, Denmark and Iceland from the north. This will hopefully give ground for comparing a variety of factors beyond school limits and contribute to better collection of results for the research and the output in focus. There is a clear distinction of role allocation among the five partners, based on each institution's experience and potential.The coordinating Greek school will provide the necessary technical guidance, both within the festival workshops and throughout the project, and will be responsible for the final editing of the film and its submission to the competitive part of the festival. The Danish school will be responsible for providing the scientific input on the topic of brain function in relation to happiness and learning for both teachers and students with the contribution of specialists on this field.The Icelandic school already has the greatest experience among the partners on the educational activities related to film production, and will be responsible for monitoring pedagogical methods used. The Italian school will be responsible for the investigation on the role of music in happiness, and will have a leading role in the compilation of the film soundtrack. The Spanish school will have a leading role in storyboarding and will be responsible for the students' blog.Participation in previous programs has resulted in the existence of a strong Erasmus + staff group in the Greek coordinating school and in the strengthening of a similar group in the Danish school. The six-year experience of the Greek school in European programs and its parallel participation in a training KA1 program can give confidence and guarantee advanced managerial skills in all areas of the project.The outcome of the teachers’ involvement will be a 5-day course programme on using the audiovisual art at school. It will include specific samples of techniques and activities implemented by the staff of the 5 participant schools during the two years. It will also include teaching instructions on the following aspects: - providing the theoretical background for the necessity of filming at school- guiding students into critical analysis of visual information and film content related to various subject areas- reflecting on characters and events appearing on a film - using visual stimuli for creative writing and storytelling-analysing emotions created by film content- introducing tools that can be used for film creation and editing- incorporating music in a film and its importance- using tablets for film production at schoolThere are plans of disseminating the project results to a wide audience of educators at local and European level, through on line tools, educational meetings and through contacts created from participation in Erasmus+ programs.
“Happily ever after…” was the result of an already existing collaboration between two of the involved schools and was a product of discussions and speculations which are common topics of interest among educators throughout Europe. The focal theme of this project was happiness at school and the main output was a film directed and produced jointly by the students of the four schools. A related outcome also was the outline of a course intended for teachers who would like to use filming in their class, with suggested activities to promote students happiness at school. The two-year project was implemented around two axes: research and film production. During the first year the students of the four schools conducted a research, analyzing the factors that contribute to happiness in their school. Moreover, they looked into the meaning of happiness for different generations in their family environment and the broader community settings. The group of teachers from the four schools involved in the project, designed and implemented a variety of activities, which, according to the students’ survey results, made learning more enjoyable. Most of these activities involved ICT tools and group work and were based on a cross-subject approach. Sample lesson plans are available on the project blog. During the second year, a group of the older students from each school created in collaboration a film on school happiness, which was submitted to the Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People. The film entered the 2018 Camera Zizanio Competition and was screened during the Festival week in December 2018, in Pyrgos. The film making stage involved the students deciding on the scenario and the location of their filming, experimenting with role-playing, getting acquainted with filming equipment, working under the guidance of professionals on this field, promoting their work and sharing it locally and trans-nationally. During the scenario-making stage they exchanged ideas through a wiki space. The common shootings were completed during one of the transnational meetings in Greece. Two groups of diametrically located countries were involved in this project: Greece and Spain from the south of Europe, Denmark and Iceland from the north. This fact gave ground for comparing a variety of factors beyond school limits, and contributed to better collection of results for the research in focus. It is a common conclusion that, despite all the factors that differentiate levels of happiness in each country, the source of good feelings is common: it lies among one’s family and friends. As a result of this project students and teachers learned techniques and acquired new skills in filming. More technology was incorporated into everyday teaching. New filming equipment was bought and used. Students got involved in non-formal learning methods and developed a range of life–important skills. Our partnership was based on good cooperation and flexibility. The roles that each school undertook were based on each partner’s experience and potential. The coordinating Greek team provided the necessary technical guidance, both within the festival workshops and throughout the project, and was responsible for the final editing of the film and its submission to the contest. The Danish team was responsible for providing the scientific input on this topic and invited an expert on the brain during our meeting in Denmark. The Icelandic school, having already looked on the benefits of educational activities related to film production, was responsible for monitoring pedagogical methods used, and compiled the outline of the lesson plans. The Spanish school had a leading role in storyboarding and was responsible for the project blog. Previous experience of the Greek school in European programs and its parallel participation in a training KA1 program gave confidence in managing the project. The results were disseminated to a wide audience of educators at local and European level, through social media, educational meetings and through contacts created from participation in Erasmus+ programs. Moreover, the film will be submitted to other European festivals and there will be a continuation in producing short films and submitting them to the “pocket film festival” organized annually in the Danish school. All four schools have advanced their techniques in audiovisual education and have upgraded their equipment so that similar methods can be used in the future and can be demonstrated to other colleagues in all four countries. During the two years of the project the number of 100 mobilities was exceeded, and there were about 1000 students from the four schools who were directly affected by the project activities. The nature of our project result, the collaborative film and its gripping theme of children's happiness, has motivated the interest of teachers across the four countries and has created the need for continuation on this matter.