21st century skills can be developed through innovative teaching and learning, particularly involving effective use of technology. Mobile devices such as smartphone, iPad or tablet spread fast in today´s internet society. A rising tendency of their usage can also be observed in school, although most countries in Europe are still deficient in terms of mobile apps usage. More than that, even though some schools have been equipped with the appropriate devices, the teachers are not always trained in the way they should use these tools and they often prove worthless. The reason why we have embarked on this project is that we want to observe other schools in European countries, in the way and the extent to which technology and mobile learning are included in the teaching-learning process. Also, since some of the school are only beginning to get acquainted with this technology-based teaching, it is imperative that we shed some light on the huge diversity of mobile apps and web 2.0 tools. OBJECTIVES Through the project activities developed both locally and transnationally, we target the following objectives for teachers: - to gain / improve knowledge of Google tools, mobile apps - to improve digital proficiency - to practice using digital tools - to increase their confidence in using technology in the classroom - to develop their creativity and sense of initiative - to develop communication and collaboration skills - to improve their knowledge of other cultures Through the activities implemented, we also target a set of objectives for the beneficiaries of our activities, students: - to improve digital proficiency for educational purposes - increase motivation for learning - to develop communication and collaboration skills - to develop creativity and sense of initiative - to practise using Google tools and mobile apps for educational purposes - to connect with their peers and share experiences - to improve cultural awareness and intercultural competence. ACTIVITIES LTTA1, short-term joint-staff training - course on Google tools and the use of mobile devices and apps for educational purposes. LTTA 2 is a student exchange on “Google tools and their use in the classroom.” LTTA3, student exchange, follows the same procedure as above. The topic is mobile apps and web 2.0 tools for collaborative learning LTTA4, student exchange - mobile apps and web 2.0 tools for content creation LTTA5, student exchange - mobile apps and web 2.0 tools for assessment PARTICIPANTS The project involves two main target groups – students and teachers. Students’ age is 11-16 and they are either vocational or general education students. Both boys and girls are part of the target group. They will represent the selection pool for the exchanges too. 20 of them in each country will participate directly in the transnational events, while the others will be the target of the intensive dissemination activities developed after the exchanges. Teachers – 3/country in LTTA1 and 2/country in the other exchanges – a total of 65 teachers will attend transnational events, either as beneficiaries in LTTA1 or as accompanying teachers in LTTA2-5. They are mainly IT, language, science, math teachers, but other specializations too. IMPACT Teachers and students will get hands-on experience in using mobile apps and tools in the teaching and learning process, which will obviously benefit the entire school, as they will become more active and competent in the use of modern methods. Classes will become more interactive and participants will become more motivated and involved in the educational process. All these benefits will bear effects on the entire school through dissemination of project activities and results. As a result of these, we intend to attract more teachers to use modern technologies in their teaching. Schools will therefore increase their suitability for the 21st century demands, will become more attractive to students in their areas and will establish partnerships with local institutions in this field. RESULTS We aim to produce both tangible and intangible results. Participants will be more motivated, more digitally proficient and more involved in the teaching-learning process. The schools and classrooms will become more attractive, more adequate for the purpose of educating 21st century students. Our tangible results consist of reports about the use of mobile apps and Google tools in the teachinglearning process, at the beginning and at the end of the project, based on analysis of the current situation in schools, on questionnaires applied on teachers and students; training course materials, feedback of the teachers on it, lessons/activities created by each partner on the topics of the exchanges etc.
Our partnership was created based on the need to observe, learn, and then use Google applications and tools not only in the teaching of various subjects, but also in the private lives of teachers and students. During and outside of the multinational meetings, we attended seminars and practical training on mobile applications that partner schools use. In this way, we exchanged practical knowledge with each other, which we subsequently transferred to our organizations, where we organized meetings for teachers from our schools but also for teachers from neighboring schools and practical workshops for students aged 10-15. They were led and supervised mainly by students who personally participated in the international meeting. With the acquired knowledge, our students have gradually improved their digital skills, mainly practically, which is also evidenced by their use for educational purposes - working out projects, presentations, and educational tasks at different stages according to assignments on various subjects. They developed their creativity in tasks aimed at finding information, processing it, and then presenting it with the help of applications, they also practiced and learned new practices of using Google tools such as documents, recording content by voice, automatic correction of English grammar using Grammarly, sharing them, working with tables in Google Drive - dividing cells, inserting, editing, using mathematical operations. Together with the teachers, they can gradually work out tasks and assign tasks at different levels of difficulty through the EscapeRoom application, they use it mainly in English and mother tongue classes. By combining Yunuene, Marvel, and Motion Portrait, they are adept with teachers to develop a character that accompanies them in explaining the main character of their product. Here they prove that they know how to work with their imagination and creativity. They adopted the Kahoot application very quickly and use it skillfully. Already during the meetings at the partner school, as soon as they had free time, they created competitions in mixed groups on their own through the aforementioned application. We can evaluate not based on our assumptions and observations, but also based on regular questionnaires, that the students in our schools have increased their motivation to learn, as they stated, by using applications, which is characteristic of them in today's technical world, they play and subsequently learn new procedures, they like to brag about their product, they learn to present it, they increase not only their awareness, but also their self-confidence, they are proud of themselves also based on the positive evaluation of their surroundings. Since the entire partnership was also based on constant communication in the English language, their developed communication and cooperation skills are visible. It was wonderful to watch them establish contacts, spend time together outside of planned activities, and are still in touch today. Before each multinational meeting, the students gradually prepared materials with the help of information technology on topics related to their culture, which they then presented to the visiting school. Videos, photo albums, and sounds were also processed with the help of applications learned during the project. The topics of their presentation were - Our school life, Leisure activities, Customs and Famous personalities of our country in the 20th and 21st centuries. The goals of the project also had a significant impact on the teachers, who improved their digital knowledge, as they also learned the applications, subsequently led seminars for their fellow teachers of nearby schools, introduced part of what they learned into their educational process, thereby increasing their self-confidence and, above all, gradually learning to use technologies from work but also private the environment. For their part, they use applications such as Canva, Book creator, Mozaweb, Nearpod, Genially, Google forms, and Worldwall the most. The entire partnership had to work, communicate, solve problems, and spend time during meetings with their foreign partners, so even according to the results of the questionnaires, we can declare that their language skills have improved significantly, and they trust each other more.