The project was created in response to two basic needs identified at the level of the schools involved - the need to boost students' motivation and consequently their school results and the need to promote intercultural dialogue among people from different countries and backgrounds, in a European context which is now facing great challenges. Therefore, the purpose of this project consists of two apparently distinct directions. On the one hand, we want to get students more involved in their own learning by having them use the computer in their studying, thus improving their results and performance. On the other hand, we want them to experience what it means to be European, to expose them to different ways of thinking, values and beliefs. The partnership includes 5 schools – DE, FR, ES, RO, TR. AIM: to improve students' motivation, involvement and school results and to promote intercultural dialogue OBJECTIVES The objectives we envisage are: 1. to involve students in their own learning with a view to attaining better results and becoming more motivated; (at least 40 percent from the target group will improve their school results) 2. to develop students' transversal skills - numeracy, computer literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability; (at least 30 percent of students will improve these skills) 3. to develop intercultural understanding and acceptance; (at least 60 percent of students will have better knowledge of other cultures) 4. to develop communication skills in English; (the 156 participants, students and teachers, will improve communication skills in English) 5. to promote European values and develop cohesion among European citizens. (measurable by analysing students' and teachers' attitudes to other cultures, as seen in the post-LTTA feedback) MAIN ACTIVITIES C1 – Dec 2018 – FR DIGITAL AGE AND EDUCATION (JOINT STAFF) C2 - Feb 2019 - DE - Topic: Using online tools to create quizzes, Maths C3 - Oct 2019 - RO - Topic: Using online tools to create booktrailers; Literature C4 – March 2020 - ES- Topic: Digital tools for artwork; Religious Studies C5 - May 2020 – TR - Topic: Digital tools for artwork; Science Studies NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS 120 students aged 13-16 from the 5 schools, selected from the target group of 250. The students come from very diverse backgrounds - urban and rural - and have a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, which makes the project even more appealing. 36 teachers of ICT, English, Maths, METHODOLOGY The project is designed to cover 5 main areas: A1. Project management – includes monitoring and evaluation, risk management, financial management, cooperation and communication strategy that will be applied throughout the project. A2. Implementation of activities - involves selection of participants, preparatory training sessions, participation in exchanges A3. Elaboration of ICT lessons - done prior to the exchanges by each partner institution A4. Dissemination - dissemination will be a continuous process that involves the sharing of both tangible and intangible results at local, regional, national and international levels, using a variety of channels and addressing school and non-school audiences A5. Follow-up and sustainability - each school selects a group of teachers to implement the new methods during regular class work. The success is measured comparatively against the results and level of satisfaction of students who learned the same contents without digital instruments. Then another school in each area will be supported to include digital tools during class work in the next year. RESULTS AND IMPACT Students will improve knowledge in terms of ICT tools for educational purposes, practical skills related to designing mini-lessons, storytrailers, digital projects, online quizzes, digital artwork, motivation, school results, experience another culture, increase adaptability, self-awareness and awareness of cultural differences which make Europe so diverse, and yet unitary. Teachers will have the chance to exchange good practices, teaching methods, opinions and will improve English and digital skills, organisational skills, teaching methods and tools. Schools will promote a positive self-image and become more visible in the community. They will gain project management experience and will set examples for other schools to apply for projects. They will also become more cohesive and a positive atmosphere will be created among the members.
The project pursued five major objectives: 1. to involve students in their own learning process 2. to develop and improve their ICT skills 3. to widen their English skills 4. to boost their motivation and consequently their school results 5. to increase their knowledge and their understanding of other European cultures and people These objectives were being achieved by working intensively on computer based lessons in maths (Germany), Literature (Romania) and Religious Education (Spain). For each of these meetings students were developing ideas about what they could present, e.g. which mathematical problem they wanted to create a lesson about, or which religious event they wanted to "teach" the others about. Then they collected the appropriate material, such as drawings, calculations, or photos and texts about religious events, made them digital and searched for internet platforms like kahoot or animoto to make the lesson an entertaining and at the same time educating experience. All teachers and students from the different countries taking part at the meetings were getting actively involved in the various presentations. For instance multicultural groups were being established to compete against each other, solving mathematical problems on kahoot. The same happened with questions about literature and religious items. In so doing the students didn't just experience a joyful lesson, but also learnt a lot about other cultures, their specific problems dealt with in selected pieces of literature, and about the meaning of different religious events, like e.g. Easter. Presentations / lessons were being discussed and evaluated among the students, which led to an increased knowledge about other cultures , their values and traditions. It created the basis for a better understanding and acceptance for people coming from different cultures. These learning processes were flanked by a lot of culture-orientated activities during each meeting, such as getting a guided tour through Fort-de-France on Martinique, visiting Frankfurt am Main and the "Römer" inGermany, exploring the most traditional university town in Romania, Iasi, and seeing one of the most impressive landmarks and historic buildings of Spain, the Alhambra. Staying with local families during the time of the meeting students could also get an interesting insight in the everyday life of people in the hosting country. The charts showing the exact percentages and figures of what the students learnt can be seen on the project's website www.smarttoolsinschools.eu, password: SMART2019. Both the presentations / lessons and the discussions were held in English, just as any conversation happening during breaks or private talks among students from different countries. The students had to use English to make themselves understood, which widened and improved their English performance significantly and increased their self-confidence in this foreign language. For many of them this has led to a higher motivation to learn even more English, for some also the motivation grew to do generally more at school. All presentations/lessons had to be computer based, involving ICT skills and the usage of the internet. In so doing students developed and improved their ICT skills a lot and got the chance to actively take part in their own learning process and that of others. This turned out to be a 'blessing' for both teachers and students, because before the project could be finished Corona came up and all lessons provided during "home schooling" had to be digital. This led to a high advantage of those having participated in this project, because they knew better than many others how to create a digital lesson and which tools to use. Here dissemination took place through telling colleagues (teachers) or friends (students) how to prepare and present digital lessons or the required homework. Dissemination also happened through press articles in local newspapers, texts and photos on the homepage of each school, the project's website and corresponding links on etwinning and facebook. This project was very successful and students and teacher benefitted a lot from the mobilities and the meetings. We really hope that after Corona many people will start travelling Europe again with Erasmus+., because friendships or mutual understanding don't grow well on computer screens.