Together with our partners from Catalonia (Spain), Burgundy (France) and Lombardy (Italy), we have designed a project that arises from our common interests and needs: We have a rich and varied European cultural heritage which we wish to promote and preserve. We often underestimate the importance of that heritage for our personal lives, our economy and the development of our regions. Through the project 'Young European digital natives discovering and sharing "glocal" highlights' we want to motivate our students to (re)discover, understand and share their own culture, and then explore the foreign cultures. Can we succeed in reaching our students - all digital natives - via a European learning setting based on innovative practices and technologies? And perhaps even those who have not yet made use of cultural offers or haven´t had access to it? Whether using apps on smartphones and tablets, developing digital products, communicating via eTwinning chats and videoconferences, peer and cooperative learning in intercultural teams, realized in a world café and other workshops, creating exhibitions, movies, radio broadcasts or cultural festivals ... - the learning arrangement relies on digital media, creative products and types of events as well as open pedagogies as an essential motivating factor. Central activities: The participants from Italy, Spain, France and Germany will introduce themselves to each other and exchange their interests in the topic and their processing idea via eTwinning before meeting to develop a project guideline. In all partner schools, students deal with different cultural facets and specialties of their own region and analyse for example aspects of history, politics, society, economy, music, art, language, customs and traditions. The students will get an insight into their partners' cultures through digital and physical exchange in three steps: preparatory discussions of the culture in the destination country, then personal encounters and experiences, and finally evaluation. At the centre of each mobility is a mixed-national workshop to develop a multimedia experience tour (actionbound), supplemented by student presentations, cultural explorations and events, also involving external partners and experts. The virtual and real encounters as well as the ongoing project work are supported by media: teams of students prepare movie clips, radio broadcasts, podcasts and press releases. Finally, cultural festivals with project exhibitions are organized in all countries. The overall project is now being evaluated and disseminated through various channels. The participants are mainly 15 to 18-year-old students attending high school (general education and various technological or vocational branches) as well as some 18 to 21-year-old students who prepare an advanced technician certificate. The project benefits from the different student profiles and relies on mutual support with different competences (ICT, foreign languages, media and communication, project management, etc.). The first meeting to set up the project guide will involve 16 students and the four following mobilities will involve between 24 and 31 pupils each. Thanks to the eTwinning tools, even more students and teachers will be able to participate in both the content project work in schools and the digital exchanges during the 24-month project. Through this project, the partner schools would like to give students and teachers access to project-based learning in the European context and to endow participants with the following benefits in the long term: By exploring the "glocal" highlights of the four regions in an intercultural way - both through virtual exchanges via eTwinning and through actual mobility - our students strengthen their awareness of the importance of the European cultural heritage and realize diversity as pathways to new opportunities. Hopefully, they overcome (language) barriers, establish personal contacts across borders and broaden their horizons, develop their digital and foreign language competencies, strengthen their personality, improve their professional prospects and become more open to training, study and work opportunities in other European countries. The multimedia discovery tours (actionbounds) could possibly be used by the local authorities as an attractive promotional tool for cultural education, for example for school classes and young tourists from both within the country and abroad.
We partners from Catalonia (E), Burgundy (F), Lombardy (I) and Rhineland-Palatinate (D) have conceived and implemented a project that arises from our common interests and needs: we have a rich and varied European cultural heritage, that we want to promote and preserve. The importance of this heritage for our personal lives, our economy and regional development is often underestimated. The aim of the project 'Young European digital natives discovering and sharing "glocal" highlights' was to raise our students' awareness of their own culture, to understand and share it with others, in order to embark on a journey of discovery of foreign cultures. Via a European learning setting that uses innovative methods and technologies the project should reach all our students, even those young digital natives, who previously used few or no cultural offers at all. App use on smartphones and tablets, creation of digital products, chats and video conferences, digital platforms, peer learning and cooperative learning in intercultural teams, varied workshop methods, exhibitions in the Market of Opportunities, film contributions, events etc. - the learning arrangement was based on digital media, creative products as well as open learning methods and event formats as an essential motivational element of the project conception. During the project initiation we emphasized on these activities: the mutual virtual getting to know the participants and partner schools via digital profiles, presentations, soundtracks and videos, an exchange of interests and ideas about the project as well as online training. This was followed by dealing with the cultural facets and peculiarities of each region from various perspectives (history, politics, society, economy, music, art, language, customs, ...) in classroom projects. Travel restrictions caused by the pandemic required inventive project adjustments: Getting to know the partners' cultures was implemented exclusively via digital formats for many months until school trips in Europe were possible again. All partner regions were discovered in three steps: 1. preparatory study of the culture of the destination, 2. personal on-site encounters and experiences, 3. evaluation. A mobility to Luxembourg put the project topic into the European context and provided direct insights into tasks and working methods of the EU institutions. The focus of each mobility was the development and implementation of a multimedia adventure tour (Action bound), supplemented by student presentations, cultural explorations and events, also involving external partners and experts. A final online teacher training course took up the experience gained with digital instruments and served to develop further ideas on how innovative methods and tools can be used profitably in future Erasmus+ projects. The project work was processed using different media (video films, press releases, internet posts, etc.). Graduation events and project exhibitions were organized at the partner schools. The overall project was evaluated and published via various channels. 15 to 21-year-old students from different school types and disciplines took part. With their different profiles and skills, they were able to complement and support each other perfectly. This project gave students and teachers access to project work in a European context, from which they will benefit in many ways in the long run: Through the intercultural examination of the "glocal" highlights of the four regions - both through virtual exchange and through actual mobility - students were able to raise awareness of the importance of European cultural heritage and consider diversity as an opportunity. They managed to overcome (language) barriers, did networking across borders, broadened their horizon, expanded their digital and language skills, strengthened their personality, improved their professional prospects and showed interest in training, study and work opportunities in other European countries and in EU institutions. Personal insights into the fields of work of the European institutions and discussions with EU employees brought the EU closer into the everyday life of the students and will ideally increase their personal motivation in the long term to actively participate in social/political/cultural life, to reflect on European issues and to deal with their possibilities of democratic participation. The multimedia adventure tours created can be used or adapted for future projects.