The project "ICT tools in traditional and distance learning" responds to the irreversible direction and sustainable priority in school development. Current students, permanently accustomed to ICT technologies, enforce changes in the didactic-educational and organisational process, so that innovation and creativity are at the heart of these processes. Don Tapscott's idea: "School education must be reorganised to reach young people born in the digital age. The old teaching model - the sage on the stage must be replaced by a new one - the teacher as an adviser" is the guiding principle of the project. The project will start on the 1st of September 2018 and will last 24 months. The main goal is to exchange good practices towards increasing the knowledge, skills and IT competencies of students and staff in the use of information and communication technologies, and to improve the quality of education in programming and robotics classes. At the same time, the goal of the project is to improve the language skills of the youth, the staff and the parents. The added value will also be the increased knowledge about the culture, tradition, history and today of other countries. The project is also aimed at understanding and applying by students the principles of tolerance and acceptance of social, cultural and economic diversities. It will also ensure greater internationalisation of the school as well as increasing the mobility of students and teachers. It projects 6 participating schools whose needs and direction of development are convergent with the subject of the project. Activities related to learning, teaching and training will include: 3 short training meetings for employees (2 in the first year of the project, 1 in the second year) and 6 short-term exchanges of student groups (3 mobilities in the first year and 3 mobilities in the second year of the project duration). Short training meetings for employees will last 3 days, each meeting will be attended by 2-4 employees from each school, each meeting has a specific theme, specifically pursuing the set goals: "Educational platform - user manual, structure, resources, method of placing materials, method of use and skilful equipping schools with modern ICT tools”, “Education systems of participating organizations", "Robotics syllabus". Short-term exchanges of student groups will last 5 days, 4-5 students and 2 teachers will take part in each meeting, each meeting has a specific theme specifically pursuing the set goals: "Creating modern presentations", "Online learning - educational platform, pros and cons of use", "Effective use of interactive whiteboard", "Building and programming robots", "Creating websites", “Use of educational platform - creation and placement of own materials." The students and employees mobilities also serve the development of group work skills, planning and implementation of project tasks, and motivation for learning foreign languages, strengthening school cooperation and expanding knowledge, competences and skills. The project also includes local activities that strengthen the project's results, such as: meetings with students about ICT tools used in the project, meetings with students and their parents about history, culture, traditions and everyday life of countries participating in the project, extra-curricular activities, establishing cooperation with digitally advanced external units, e.g. science and technology park. The methodology used in the implementation of the project includes active participation in the planned activities, exchange of good practices, self-presentation, creative action, self-reflection, observation of the use of modern ICT technologies. Assumed results: digital educational platform with e-courses, websites, presentations using the latest solutions, each school (students) will create presentations, robotics syllabus, report on the use of good ICT practices in school management, interactive whiteboard lessons, better knowledge of foreign languages, greater cultural and social awareness, education of tolerance and acceptance of differences, internationalisation of the school. Expected impact of the project: equipping students and staff with modern ICT tools used in classes and extracurricular activities, which will permanently increase the attractiveness of lessons, long-term cooperation with participating schools, introducing the syllabus into the set of school syllabuses, strengthening Europeanness, increasing language competences, self-presentation, learning tolerance, increase in the school's prestige in the region. The potential long-term benefits may be: use of the robotics syllabus for "Robotics" lessons, use of the education platform for online learning when a student must stay at home or as a way of unassisted work, daily use of ICT tools by students and school staff, increased use of ICT in school management.
The project was initiated on September 1st, 2018 and lasted until February 28th, 2021. Its main goal was to exchange good practices towards the increase of knowledge, IT skills and competences both among students and staff in the area of using information and communication technologies and improve the quality of education in programming and robotics classes. At the same time, the project was aimed to improve language skills among young people, school staff as well as host families involved. An increased knowledge about different cultures, traditions, history and modern daily lives encountered among the participating parties has also contributed to the project as its added value. Personal involvement in the project helped to achieve the goal by understanding and applying by the students principles of tolerance and acceptance towards social, cultural and economic differences. An increased mobility of students and teachers has also contributed to larger internationalization of the school. The project was carried out within 6 partner schools from Poland, Finland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey, whose aims and development were coherent with the subject of our activity. Short training visits for the staff were held within periods of no longer than 3 days. The first training meeting in Bulgaria concerned newly created "Educational Platform" and the participants learnt how to operate the system, its structure, resources as well as the rules of using and placing educational materials were discussed in detail. During the second training meeting in Croatia, we learned about principles referred to appropriate school equipment with modern ICT tools and shared our views on education systems in each of the participating country. Following it initiated discussions on similarities, differences and effectiveness of different education systems. The last training meeting for the staff members took place in Poland. These classes were conducted virtually. Polish students presented robotics classes with the use of Lego Mindstorms sets. Partner students from Bulgaria presented their project on the use of the Arduino controller. During the meeting "Robotics curriculum" was presented, which had been previously implemented in the Polish partner school. Short-term student group exchanges lasted 5 days. The first one was appointed in Finland and its main theme was "Creating modern presentations". Following another mobility was held in Poland and the main theme was "We are building and programming robots". The second year of the project was initiated with a meeting in Italy, and the topic of the workshop was "Using the educational platform - creating and placing own results". During the next meeting which took place in Turkey, the topic of "algorithmic thinking" was discussed. Partner schools which could not participate in this mobility conducted classes in own schools with the use of materials provided by the Turkish party. Next to last meeting was held in Croatia and its main goal was "Effective use of the interactive whiteboard". The final mobility for students and teachers had been appointed in Bulgaria, but due to the pandemic situation it had to be postponed and ultimately took place virtually. The main theme of these online classes was "We create a website". Participation of students and the staff during the meetings broadened their knowledge, competences and skills in the area of ICT tools usage, developed international team work, planning and carrying out project tasks and motivated the participants towards further foreign languages studies.