The "Digital Storytelling Through Timelapse Videos" project will involve young people from three considerably different European regions Spain, Finland and the Czech Republic), regions that differ geographically, have contrasting history, diverse conditions but all offer stories to be told. The increasingly popular genre of timelapse videos represents an attractive and meaningful way of communicating these stories. The main objective is to give students a chance to create videos telling stories and thus provide young Europeans with a creative and original look at their own home region, to provide them with a look at their home through the eyes of their peers from other European countries and let them reflect on their lives in European context. The participants will be students aged 15-18, attending secondary schools that focus on general education, and their teachers. There will be teams of 8 students and 2 adult supervisors from each partner school participating in each of the three planned transnational training activities. The three scheduled transnational training activities will take place in schools in Leppävirta (Finland), Murcia (Spain) and Prostějov (Czech Republic). Participants will be trained in making timelapse videos, choosing the right locations, video editing, choosing and adding suitable soundtrack, and guided through the process of telling stories of specific sites, regions and communities through creative timelapse video making. An exceptionally important step will be adding a voice commentary to the videos so that the created content would be accessible for any potential visually impaired viewers. Methodology to be used in carrying out the project will include lecturing, demonstrating, collaborating, peer learning and group discussions. The project management will use a traditional, sequential methodology (Waterfall), every step will be preplanned and laid out in the proper sequence. The results of the project will be a set of inclusive digital storytelling timelapse videos with an optional voice commentary track, students trained in taking and producing timelapse videos reflecting different regions of Europe and raising their understanding of the concept of Europeanism. The potential and desired longer term benefits include broadening the participants horizons, supporting their interest in other European regions, improving their inter and intrapersonal skills and enabling them to unleash their potential. General public (families, classmates and friends of the participants as well as other viewers of the videos and dissemination activities participants) will get a unique chance to see their own home region through the eyes of young people from different places in Europe.
The project was called "Digital Storytelling through Timelapse Videos" and it provided a chance for groups of young people from three different European regions (in the Czech Republic, Finland and Spain) to meet, collaborate and create timelapse videos reflecting their experience and tell the stories of places and people they visited and encountered in an innovative - digital - way. The main objectives were to strenghten participants' motivation to master new skills in digital era, express themselves in a creative way, learn from their peers and teach them about their own regions and way of life, improve their English and support their understanding of needs of visually impaired citizens. The participants were students of secondary schools from the towns of Leppävirta (Finland), Prostějov (Czech Republic) and the city of Murcia (Spain) and their teachers. The students were aged 14 - 18 and were chosen based on their motivation, academic achievement, knowledge of the English langue and other special criteria connected to the project themes. Three international meetings - training activities (short-term student exchanges) took place, one in each partner's town. Each of these meetings was attended by 8 students and two supervising teachers (a project coordinator and a group leader) from each partner school. During the training activities (short-term student exchanges) the participants learnt how to make a timelapse video, got to know each other and the host school and region, learnt about its history, people who live there and used timelapse videos as a platform to tell their stories. Thus they learnt "digital storytelling". For the project management a sequential "Waterfall" methodology was used, all the steps were pre-planned and then carried out. When working with students, a large scale of methodological tools were used: lectures, demonstration lessons, moderated discussions, mindmapping, workshops, buzz groups or feedback sessions. The main result of the project is a set of 22 creative timelapse videos reflecting participants' experience they gained when visiting their host schools and regions. The videos are available from vimeo.com/showcase/5061907. Impact on participants include increased motivation of participants to learn new skills connected with digital era, improved intrapersonal and interpersonal skills and improved command of the English language. Long-term benefits for participating organizations are: having empoyees with better organizational and project management and implementation skills and raising the school to an European level.