The project APPS ASAP devised by common partners, has to be considered in the context of our schools’ ambition to integrate educational Apps and new technologies with the use of English into the teaching practice which is a key factor in developing the European dimension, furthering interculturality and enabling teachers and students to meet new colleagues and students from other countries. The main aim for all participants, is to enhance the digital competence with a deeper understanding of how technologies can be exploited to improve everyday life contributing to widen our knowledge in different subjects while integrating students who come from different cultural backgrounds. We also want more international cooperation, interdisciplinary and innovation through the use of Apps in teaching and learning. Our main objectives are: - increase and enhance the skills of teachers and students in the use of new technologies and strengthen their linguistic and digital competences; - improve and increase skills in organizing, planning and achieving common activities with institutions of other nations; - compare teachers and students work to the work of other teachers and new approaches; -gain practical skills in collecting materials, making presentations and creating web pages; - better understanding of foreign languages and other cultures; -make education more attractive in line with individual needs and expectations; - improve the skills of the staff and strengthen the teaching and learning quality; - prepare and develop assessment tools that provide necessary feedback for the teaching practice and work on social activities that ensure collaborative teaching and learning; - get new experience which we cannot get at our home country such as studying and visiting different Institutions and establish good networks among participants as a basis for future projects; - develop a sense of belonging to the local, national and European community; -have new approaches to better support competiveness and employment at regional and local level; -be satisfied from being part of an international Erasmus+ project team; -gain environmental awareness saving paper, to protect the environment In this project will take part 250 participants, students and teachers coming from Italy, Croatia, Macedonia, Lithuania and Romania. Their profile is varied as three schools are vocational (secondary school), one is a gymnasium (secondary school)and one is a primary/lower secondary school. Our main activities are: 1.Make our project concrete by choosing activities incorporated in our interdisciplinary learning and discuss with the school staff on how the programme can enhance our curriculum. 2.Use of e Twinning to choose structured courses according to the planned objectives 3.To work and link up with other European schools online using e- Twinning 4.Prepare the mobility activities: trip, accommodation and meals, with the help of the organizers. 5.To collect evidence on language skills of EU mobility participants before mobility 6. To promote activities during stay abroad aimed at a better teaching and learning. 7.To Take videos and photos to record the teachers’ experiences to showcase their result 8. Access online materials to improve the language level 9.To disseminate activities at different levels (institutional, local, regional, national and international) Methods: We are planning to use several learner-centered methods and interdisciplinary approaches to achieve our goals. Developing cooperative learning as a method will help students take part in the project while providing them with a wide range of creative activities, tasks and workshops. In a multi-cultural educational program, when students work toward a common goal, cooperative learning approaches are effective in increasing motivation for working together and learning from each other. Students learn how to solve problems, acquire reasoning skills and they can also develop and improve their interpersonal skills. The project tasks are structured so that students need each other to accomplish their common tasks and they also feel some kind of responsibility and independence. Our main approach is to create a natural, interactive, teaching context in which students work together discussing problems, explaining, encouraging and supporting each other to think creatively. The main impact of the partnership on the participating institutions is the ability to build a community of teachers and students from different countries who have a strong commitment and a sense of ownership in the project. The project shall have a positive impact on the local community as well. Parents, local associations and bodies within a wider community will be involved and informed of the project that shall also have a positive impact on the environment because of our measures to counteract paper waste that goes beyond the project itself.
The objective of the Project was to integrate the Educational Apps and new information technologies using English in teaching practice, favoring the development of the European dimension and interculturality. This goal has improved digital competence and made people understand the importance of the use of technology in daily life, thus favoring the integration among students who have different cultural backgrounds to become European citizens. Technological and digital innovation, international and interdisciplinary cooperation have strengthened the achievement of the objectives set because they are connected to the use of indispensable digital technologies, especially in such a difficult period due to the Covid -19 pandemic that forced us all to change habits of life, remaining confined to our apartments. Digital has therefore strengthened the need and confidence in moving forward. The planned objectives have been fully achieved as they have: improved, strengthened and strengthened the linguistic, digital and cultural skills of students and teachers; developed skills in organizing, planning and carrying out joint activities with institutions of other nations; made education more enjoyable and in line with individual needs and expectations; strengthened the quality of teaching and learning; compared the work of teachers and students with the work of other teachers and students who developed practical skills in collecting materials, making presentations and creating web pages; allowed to develop evaluation tools that provided the necessary feedback for teaching practice and to study and visit different institutions establishing good networks among participants as a basis for future projects; enabled new approaches to better support competitiveness and employment at regional and local level; developed the sense of belonging to the local, national and European community; acquired the concept of environmental awareness by saving paper, protecting the environment. This Project, which involved 326 participants, students and teachers from Italy, Croatia, Macedonia, Lithuania and Romania, was conceived for 250 people at the beginning. Their profile is varied as three schools are vocational (secondary school), one is secondary school and one is primary / lower secondary. The main activities have: 1.concretized the Project by integrating it with the curricular disciplines and discussed with the school staff about the importance of the Erasmus + Program and how it has actually improved the curriculum. 2. used e-Twinning to encourage the integration of the Project within the lesson hours and offered pupils the opportunity to improve language and digital skills, in particular favoring relational and problem solving skills in real contexts. 3. permitted to work and connect online with other European schools using e-Twinning 4 permitted to prepare mobility activities: travel, accommodation and meals, with the help of the organizers. 5. permitted to collect evidence on the language skills of participants in EU mobilities 6.permitted to promote activities during the stay abroad aimed at better teaching and learning. 7. permitted to take videos and photos to record teachers' experiences to show results 8. permitted to access online materials to improve the language level and obtain the linguistic certification of the Common European Framework of Reference. 9.permitted to disseminate activities at different levels (institutional, local, regional, national and international) Methodology The development of cooperative learning as a method has helped students to feel part of the Project and allowed teachers to assign them a wide range of creative activities and lab assignments. The common goals of the multicultural educational program increased the motivation to work together and learn from each other. The students, in fact, learned to solve problems, to acquire reasoning skills, developed and improved their interpersonal skills, feeling like protagonists. The tasks of the project were set up so that the students needed each other and also felt a kind of responsibility and independence. The main impact of the partnership on the various participating Institutions made it possible to create a community of teachers, students and families from different countries who showed a strong commitment and sense of belonging to the Project which also had a positive impact on the environment thanks to the measures taken to counter the waste of paper.