As we said in the beginning, we are facing two major problems - bad influence on our students from internet YouTube personalities and youth unemployment, which is problem throughout Europe. We want to tackle both of those problems, and also to help our students to improve their academic performance; the whole project is designed to use the enthusiasm of our students and employees towards modern information and communication technologies and direct it towards educational goals and, possibly, into further careers. With this project, students will find creativity that they may not be able to exert enough in school, and perhaps this project will help them in their further work, life, progress, maybe someone will continue to post creative videos on their YouTube channel and in the future make money out of it. Exactly the same can be applied to teachers, we are witnessing that the world we live in is changing rapidly and that the need to use ICT in teaching is increasing and increasing (especially with the whole new concept of online teaching due to the pandemic of COVID-19) so why not to take advantage of the opportunities we have and make our teaching more inventive and meaningful? With that in mind, we have selected the objective of the project - innovative practices in digital era, with priorities - promoting entrepreneurship education and strengthening the profiles of teaching professions - this project wouldn't be just for students, it will be to help teachers, too. Each school will select, based on results of first activity - contest about creativity - 20 students, which will participate in this project - 120 in total. Up to 10 teachers will be also selected from each school, so the number is 60 total, but much more will gain the access to the results of this project trough it's YouTube and internet dissemination. Selecting students based on their creativeness and not on popularity will ensure that only the hardest working and gifted ones are selected for this project, which is our goal. The teachers will be also selected based on their motivation and willingness to participate in this kind of a project and they willingness to learn new techniques of teaching. All "Learning, teaching training activities" in partner countries have a specific topic, and all topics combined are defining this project. Beside the most logical activities for this project - learning about creativity, YouTubing, producing, filming, teaching, etc, we have also included the activities in which we will learn about new cultures, religions, regions of Europe, etc. So, this will be win-win situation for all parties included. All schools have their responsibilities in this project, from making a movie about it to coordinating everything to go as smooth as it can. The results of the project will be ensuring that all of project objectives are fulfilled. We will do everything that we have written here, and we will try to do even more, so that a lot of students and teachers, both those in and out of this project, can see the benefits of it and it's significance in modern day society. As the main objective is to create "innovative practices in digital era", we want to do exactly that, to create new approaches for something that everybody is taking for granted - new technologies and it's possibilities and uses in 21st century. With this project we want to promote entrepreneurship education in digital era and help our students realise their hidden potentials; with "strengthening the profiles of teaching professions" - we will do exactly like it's written - we will empower teachers to be more open to using digital tools and materials in everyday teaching, to have more self-esteem and to widen their knowledge about digital practice. Potential long-term benefits are enormous. Students will find their lost creativity and, hopefully, make into the world of inspiring YouTube personalities and creators. That is very important since we don't even know what would job market look like in ten, twenty years from now; basically, we will give our students a craft in their hands and make them ready for living. Teachers will use new things that they have learned during this project and incorporate it into their own everyday teaching, and, with dissemination of this project, larger teacher community in all towns where partner schools are from, will also have benefits of this project. Finally, with the website and twinspace platforms included, European colleagues will have the access to the results and best practices of our project.
We wanted all participants to gain confidence, both in and out of school. The health crisis was very difficult to deal with during the first year of the project. The closed periods were a tough test to overcome, they had to stay at home and the only way to have a social life was through social media or online video lessons so we tried to develop good practices to help the pupils manage their emotions and feelings. During the first year of the project's life, we could not do mobilities, then the project was extended and we finally started to organize mobilities in 2021. We used our students' enthusiasm for modern information and communication technologies to enhance the achievement of educational goals and to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship. The competition among the students always took place calmly and was characterized by respect for each participant who freely expressed the uniqueness of their creation. This project had a positive impact on all participants: schoolchildren, their parents, teachers and visitors. Participating students became familiar with different educational systems, improved their knowledge of all the countries involved, including their history, traditions, culture, lifestyles, and this led to a better understanding to cultural, social and linguistic diversity. They increased their awareness of European citizenship by living European values positively. Students improved their English language skills, in fact for many students participation in this project was the first opportunity to use the language in real-life situations after the long pandemic experience. They acquired and developed their skills in project management, teamwork, autonomy, creativity, discipline, critical thinking or evaluation of their own actions. An immediate consequence is the enhancement of their self-esteem and motivation to study. They have greatly developed creativity and critical thinking: students took part in a number of workshops in which, after active listening, they put all the skills they acquired to use. Students from different social backgrounds participated in the project and some of them came from disadvantaged backgrounds. The students always supported each other in the working groups by collaborating and sharing knowledge and procedures; in terms of group work during the workshops we always mixed nationalities and this was a choice that proved to be successful. The project also had a huge positive impact on teachers, their home institutions and a positive impact on our local communities. Motivated teachers participated in the project and were particularly sensitive to digital innovation, which became a preferred tool to be integrated into their classroom practice with students. The "learning, teaching and training activities" implemented at each partner school were diversified and in line with what was planned in the initial phase. Group workshop activities were carried out to enhance the creativity of the pupils without forgetting to value and respect the culture of each country along with its traditions and geographical and historical knowledge of the host country. We wrote articles, made videos, conducted interviews and meetings with parents and among students to spread the ideas and results of this project. The image and prestige of the partner schools have greatly improved. The first mobility took place in Spain, in October 2021: we wanted to give all our students the opportunity to experience other cultures and meet new people after the long pandemic period. In our selection of students, we all agreed that we wanted to motivate students who had fewer opportunities because of their social background. It was really gratifying for us to see the joy in their eyes when they said it was their first time on a plane! The second mobility took place in Portugal in June 2022, and the third mobility took place in Poland in September 2022; the students participated in ice-breaking activities, creative workshops aimed at shaping pro-ecological attitudes, training on the technique of creating videos with smartphones, and field trips documented through a photo report and by short instructional videos. At the end was a meeting with the families of the Polish school students, where parents prepared refreshments of Polish cuisine. It was an opportunity to involve the parents in the project activities and spend some time together before the guests returned home. All activities planned during the visit aimed to stimulate the creativity of the young people, develop digital, social and language skills, and learn about the history and culture of Poland. It was also intended to provide all participants with the best possible sense of security because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The fourth mobility was implemented in Serbia in October 2022 and the fifth mobility was implemented in Italy in late March 2023. After the music reception and school visit, the students took part in workshops held by content creators, participated in outdoor games, orienteering activities, and learned about the territory of our region. They were hosted in the homes of Italian families, which allowed pupils and parents to experience the Erasmus mobility in an even more authentic way as well as helped keep project costs down for the host schools. The sixth mobility took place in Turkey in May 2023: a mini Turkish music concert was organized for the reception. Then the teachers and students visited the school, received information about the 'organization of classes, participated in a seminar on making videos for You Tube, discovered the flavors of Turkish cuisine, and then attended the workshop for making ceramic plates.