Background of Project This project answers a common need to develop these competencies in our school environment. The Internet is one of the most important additions to our lives and we take full advantage of it. Parents, struggling for existence& career, neglect their children, don’t have enough time to listen, share their joys and sorrows, guide them. Frequently young people seek refuge in the virtual world and feel the Internet makes their life easier, empowered. Being liked, acquiring skills in games, feeling equal& killing the time fills the void of adolescents with deficient social skills. This project approaches social& civic EU key competencies because our students need to understand how they can attain personal& social well-being through a healthy lifestyle. These include personal, interpersonal& intercultural competence and cover behaviors necessary to participate in an effective& constructive way in social& work life. Acquiring the civic competence will allow them to engage effectively with others in the public life, and display solidarity& interest in solving problems affecting local& wider community. Objectives This partnership intends, through a European cooperation, to make pupils aware of the need to rational, efficient& safe use of Social Media, preventing school abandonment. It promotes the ‘learning to learn’ key competence -the ability to organize one's own learning, including effective management of time& information. This includes awareness of learning processes& needs. Thus, our students can gain, process and assimilate new knowledge& skills, seek and make use of guidance. Participants 1.Regarding LTTAs: in 4 short-term student exchanges, a total of 92 pupils will take part and a total of 26 accompanying persons (teachers) will accompany them. A minimum of 3 teachers from each partner school will take part in the training for teachers organized in Turkey. From previous experience, this number is usually exceeded. Students& teachers will participate in meetings in partner countries& work in multicultural teams, according to planned activities. The partnership is a chance for all to participate, work, see, compare& learn in a multicultural environment, in a foreign country. Methodology All partners will involve actively: taking part in project meetings, working in multicultural teams in planned activities, evaluating project progress& impact, sharing experiences& best practices, plan next activities. Project’s coordinator will monitor fulfillment of the tasks, cooperating with the people responsible for the teams. Results and Impact Impact on students: -Awareness& improvement of Social Media (SM)safe and rational use -Knowledge of SM addiction danger& effects -Development of social& civic skills, self-esteem, critical thinking, creativity& synthesis -Enhancement of healthy& accountable alternatives to SM -Hobbies importance for talent development Teachers: -Professional portfolio enrichment with extracurricular activities (competitions, shows, photo exhibitions, campaigns for healthy& responsible lifestyle) -Digital skills improvement (Web 2.0 tools) -English skills improvement School: -Local, ,national& international school image improvement -Increase of attractiveness, students’ number& competitiveness, implementing new teaching strategies -Introduction of new approaches to institutional development& resource management -EU projects experience gain -Extracurricular offer diversification -European dimension’s consolidation in education, active European citizenship promotion Wider learning community: -Providing other schools with new teaching strategies -Other schools’ benefits by using disseminated end products -Promotion of lifelong learning& school application for EU projects in other schools Community: -Parents’ awareness of SM dangers& rational use need -Local, national& international image promotion -Improvement of school-community relationship, community’s confidence
Since the last century, the new ICTs have changed the way of life to the point that today we cannot do without them. The students, often left alone by their parents busy at work, are part of the so-called "digital natives" and use the new ICTs with extreme ease, but often with the same ease, without understanding the risks. Instead of demonizing the Internet and new technologies, the project wanted to help: 1) students to approach the new ICT with greater attention, to avoid its risks; 2) parents to be more attentive and aware of the use that their children make of it; 3) teachers to instruct students on how to avoid the risks of the network and use it in a safe, conscious and rational way. Partners of the project are the same who presented it: Italy (coordinator), Poland, Portugal, Romania and Turkey. As planned, we have provided students with new skills to use ICT, in a safe and rational way, during the LTTA and the activities carried out at school and online. The topics that have trained students in a safe and conscious and low-risk use in the use of social media and in the virtual world, are: - account management; - reduction in the use of social media (hikikomori disorder); - alternatives to social media; - greater self-esteem and self-confidence; - avoid cyberbullying. - ability to face and solve problems without the mediation of the computer; The target were students, teachers, parents. The teachers learned new teaching / learning methods on ICT and on the social approach. The partners actively and effectively participated in the work of the project, sharing its objectives and aims, each giving their own contribution without distinction of roles and all were equal in its management: * Italy as coordinator shared her strategic partnership and eTwinning experiences, providing the platform to share files. * Poland created the project logo, shared a presentation on managing social media accounts, organized a workshop where students could appreciate advanced VR and be informed about the risks of the network and the correct attitudes to avoid them * Portugal created the Facebook page of the project * Romania created all the necessary material for the online magazines, created the questionnaires, organized meetings with students and parents. * Turkey completed questionnaires and reported the results. The 5 countries carried out the LTTAs by mutual agreement, taking into account the 12-month extension of the project, due to Covid 19. The reorganization of the meetings helped to achieve all the objectives, complete the activities and complete the expected results. The first LTTA was attended only by teachers, while the others were groups of students and teachers (6 students and 2 teachers per country). The following methods and tools were used in line with the needs of the partners: * webinars / conferences * online meetings between coordinators * online meetings with school groups * Interviews / Reports * Cooperation with stakeholders * Logo contest / public point * Photo competitions * eMagazine "Alternative", 4 issues * questionnaires * Exchange of good practice experiences * Twinspace / FB group / youtube channel The 17 teachers took part in the first LTTA, while the following were attended by a total of 137 students, aged between 11 and 18, of which 31 were disadvantaged, and 37 teachers. Each country handled the selection as it saw fit, through tests and interviews in English, project presentations, participation in activities or on the basis of academic results. The aim of the project is to prevent the risks of the network, learning to use the tools it makes available in a correct and rational way. To achieve this, the students were involved as an active part of the change. During the LTTA we tried to achieve the set goals: -how and what is "too much"; -management of social media accounts; - alternative activities to social media; network risks, how to avoid them; excessive use of social media. Concrete results at the end of the project: -eMAgazine "Alternative" - 4 numbers - Lesson plans for safe use of the web - Photographic competition -Results of the questionnaires -Poster with famous people from partner countries -Platform eTwinning of the project - from images to stories -Travel stories through Europe - Promotional materials (pens, notebooks, USB sticks, bags) To support the project, we plan to * implement new ones through eTwinning partnerships on the conscious and rational use of social media * identify local, regional and national partners to extend the impact of the project in our communities through conferences and material produced even after the end of the funding * create workshops to disseminate the results of the project