Cross-curricular by Nature: (eTwinning) Learning Projects in Spotlight

As one result of the new curricula in Finland the goal of learning and a school culture is to enhance cooperation and to apply more diverse perspectives on contents that are being taught. When phenomena are studied in their real life context, complex concepts and formulas feel real, and even the most complicated problems/ideas become understandable and relevant. By nature, authentic learning leads to exploring things as part of the world, using a multidisciplinary approach and looking at thing from the vantage points of different school subjects.

Contrary to common belief, cross-curricular approach brings more time and space for implementing the curriculum as it provides an opportunity to learn many things at the same time. When, in typical textbook-based learning, we tend to proceed in accordance with the objectives of one subject at a time, in multidisciplinary project learning many different subjects can be studied and goals be pursued simultaneously. For example, the results of surveys designed and carried out by the students (math) can be combined with significant social phenomena (civics), ethical reflection (R.E. and philosophy), as well as linguistic expression, interaction and presentation (native and foreign languages, art, ICT).

In practice, therefore, learning process should start with, together with the students, choosing a theme, problem or phenomenon to be studied in the project. After that you can start thinking which subjects and what kind of learning activities are to be included. When the process begins to take shape, you should take a look in the curriculum and find the corresponding objectives and contents of the school subjects, as well as the objectives of different transversal competences (e.g. ict, critical thinking, communication, team work, creativity etc.) and explore which concrete objectives this learning project supports. When you write them down in the project plan, it becomes obvious that the objectives of many different subjects are mutually supportive and are more natural to learn simultaneously than successively.

Topics Relevant for Global Citizenship Education

One example of a very topical issue and a possible theme for project learning is gender equality. In Finland, all schools are required to have an updated equality plan, which entails studying gender equality related themes, exploring and revealing attitudes and stereotypes as well as enhancing equality-based school culture. Gender equality is a very topical theme also from European and global perspectives, as recent studies have shown that differences between the sexes have, somewhat alarmingly, begun to increase again.

Last fall, I designed and built a multidisciplinary education project plan Girls are Playing Home, Boys Are Driving Cars? to support education for gender equality. It was planned, in particular, to be used in eTwinning projects. However, the project kit can be applied to different age groups and implemented with or without European partners. The learning project can be carried out in a couple of weeks or during a longer period of time. Instead of carrying out all the different activities, you can also choose just some of them. You can find the project plan here: Girls play with dolls, boys play with cars?.

Another interesting integrative theme in relation to the new Finnish curriculum is language education in the sense of multilingualism, language awareness and the language dimension in all subjects and areas of knowledge. This aspect is being raised in Girls are Playing Home, Boys Are Driving Cars? project plan (gendered words), but even more strongly in Many Stories of the World project kit. In it, the objective is to learn to see the world from different perspectives and critically examine our own interpretations, which are culturally determined and shaped by our own language(s). During the project, different activities are carried out to illustrate how the spectrum of interpretations of the world are produced by languages and cultures expressed in the shared stories of the surrounding society. The Danger of a Single Story video has a particularly eye-opening effect. It elucidates how strong and biased interpretation one single story can give and how unaware we can be of the bias. You can find the project plan here: Many Stories of the World 

Multidisciplinary approach opens a new world for the teacher as well. When it is combined with the multi-cultural dimension developed in international co-operation, transversal competences and expertise develop by leaps and bounds: thinking skills, interpersonal and intercultural skills, multi-literacy, ICT skills and feeling of inclusion and engagement. Our new curricula in Finland open paths into the future and meaningful learning.

Read more about language awareness:
Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (by European Centre of Modern languahes) - key concepts
Language Grid by Grade (CARAP/FREPA) - development of language awareness

Friendship and caring across borders

The international education developers’ team at Tampere region organized a poster and logo competition for pupils across different schools in the region. The themes for the work were internationalism, education for peace, refugees and global responsibility. The learning activity was well suited for developing pupils’ global citizenship competences and skills at using multi-media and implementing multi-literacy.

The learning process started with a classroom discussion about authentic international and global education related themes. Students expressed their opinions and worries, and solutions to different real life problems were sought together. After that the students chose the special themes or problems that inspired (or worried) them most and which they wished to influence.

It is important that the message contained in the work comes across clearly and boldly. When creating a logo message the design is simple and clear. It is based on a picture and 1 - 5 words. A poster may contain a bit more text, pictures and details, but in it, too, the message has to come through lucidly. In the competition the technique was free: the pupils could draw, write or paint by hand or by computer, they could use their own or freely accessible online photos, which they could edit, add text to or make into a collage.

The activity integrated ethical education and learning by doing. The results were awesome. They represented the pupils' strong commitment to friendship and peace, and their wish to help. In addition, issues related to immigration and refugees were strongly expressed.

Best designs and art works are printed and they are made into stickers and posters. That’s how they can be spread around the community to help make global responsibility and internationalization at home visible in school classrooms, corridors and websites. The good-will video below is a compilation of various pupils’ work and spreads the message of friendship and caring. A warm thank you to all participants!



P.S. This could be a wonderful eTwinning learning task! I sincerely recommend a similar activity to be carried out in all schools around the world as part of global citizenship education.

Authentic Learning and eTwinning

Authentic learning is, in many ways, inherent in eTwinning.

1. eTwinning and learning foreign languages

eTwinning projects and cooperation between schools, classes and individuals from different countries entail communication in foreign language. This happens even if the project theme is dealing with something completely different. Planning and working together, sharing ideas and experiences are at the core of eTwinning. At the same time your foreign language knowledge and communication skills develop significantly in an authentic learning environment, using foreign language to communicate with people who don't speak your mother language.

2. eTwinning supports project-based learning

Learning in eTwinning is almost always project-based. When learning together across borders, you learn to know each other, create confidence, share and, finally, collaborate. This forms a project structure that is based on shared goals and collaboration, student engagement and learner-centered learning, which are also core elements of authentic learning.

3. eTwinning is multidisciplinary and cross-curricular

In eTwinning, the perspectives to the studied topic are diverse and multiple. They vary according to the different learning and school cultures and established cultural interpretations. They also change when studied in their real life context instead of the text book context. More variables are brought in this equation by involving learning ICT, communication, team work and multi-literacy.

4. eTwinning supports exploration and inquiry

In eTwinning, as there are no ready-made learning materials and text books, students explore their surroundings and search information. They experiment, collaborate, document the process and share the information/knowledge they have produced. They use diverse techniques and multimedia creatively and in a personalized manner.

5. eTwinning and authentic assessment

In eTwinning, you can't use standardized tests to assess learning. During the learning process, you apply continuous assessment and reflection to monitor the project. Typically, the teacher may have a different idea of what direction to take and what to produce, but she/he is open to learner generated ideas and personal solutions. At the end, everyone involved in the project assess what you have learned and achieved and reflect on the process.

6. eTwinning, curriculum and real world relevance

The first thing to do when you start a new eTwinning project, is to check which competence development and content areas in your curriculum the project covers. Usually you realize that in one project you can learn much more effectively and develop simultaneously many more skills than in any ordinary textbook based learning.

When students study phenomena in the real world context and when they try to solve real world problems, learning becomes meaningful. Students get more engaged and become owners of their learning. At best, real world relevance will make students change their own way of life for better and act against injustice.

Towards authenticity - major trend and challenge in learning

One of the main transversal themes in the new Finnish Core Curriculum of Basic Education (FCC) is the opening of school doors and classroom windows to the surrounding community and the world. Learning can be linked to real life in many different ways.

When authentic learning approach is applied, instead of reading textbooks the students go out of the classroom to explore the surrounding nature, the built environment and their own local community or visitors from local organizations, businesses and other stakeholders, and local artists and experts in cultural heritage are invited to the classrooms to share their knowledge and experiences. A school that supports and strengthens lingual and cultural awareness appreciates and makes visible multilingualism and cultural diversity represented at the school and in the local community.

Students are roused to take the interest in linguistic and cultural diversity of the school community and the world around and they are encouraged to communicate in authentic environments. FCC p. 134

In authentic learning, phenomena and problems are studied in their real context in which they actually occur in nature, the surrounding community and in the world, where local and global overlap and merge. They are explored as they are, extensive and diverse from different and changing perspectives, crossing the borders of different school subjects. Authentic learning is an alternative approach to the learning of facts and skills disconnected from their true context and to cramming pre-chewed and, in the worst case, outdated information. Many of the world problems, such as extreme poverty, climate change, inequality and war, worry and distress children and young people. To discuss these problems together, search for solutions and act locally to promote sustainable solutions, is an important part of learning, prevention of social exclusion and the new school culture.

Well-functioning learning environments promote dialogue, participation and collaborative knowledge construction. They also enable active cooperation between the school and the communities and experts outside school... Learning environments have to provide opportunities for creative solutions, as well as the examination and exploration of issues from different perspectives. FCC p. 27

Authentic learning environments can be and very often are virtual. For authentic learning it’s essential that the sources of information are authentic and interaction takes place in real life (even if online), not drills, materials and simulated situations created for learning purposes. During a learning meaningful authentic texts (i.e. pictures, videos, podcasts, multimedia, articles, essays, presentations, cartoons) in which new ideas and innovative visions emerge are both studied and produced by students.

process

As for learning foreign languages, an authentic environment and genuine interaction across language boundaries inspires and motivates the students to express themselves and take part in real life conversations. Information and communication technology offers excellent ways to create a language learning environment that is appropriate for teaching and that supports interaction between students. All you need is a partner class for any part of the world and you can start face-to-face real-time interaction  using user-friendly free apps like chats, forums and video conferencing (e.g. Skype, Google Hangout, FaceTime).

Information and communication technology offers a natural way to implement language learning in authentic situations and meet students' communication needs. This way of learning supports student active engagement and ownership of learning. FCC p. 131

Authentic learning emphasizes students’ engagement and experience of authenticity in relation to their own learning. The student’s own ideas and strengths are exploited throughout the learning process from planning to assessment. In authentic learning the students is the owner/subject of her/his learning, not the object. Thus, learning becomes meaningful and relevant and the school as learning environment supports individual growth and the development, interaction and learning of the whole community.

New Finnish Core Curriculum, international cooperation and eTwinning

The new Core Curriculum for Basic Education (approved on December 22, 2014) strongly supports the idea that school is closely connected to the community,  society and world around it. Finland is becoming culturally more diverse and global and local continuously mingle and overlap in our everyday life. This should be visible at school and inherent in teaching.

At school we work, if possible, together with schools and developers of teaching and learning from other countries. Basic education is a positive and constructive force for change in society, nationally and internationally. CCBE p. 16

eTwinning offers an excellent and easy way to co-operate with the developers of teaching. For registered teachers, the eTwinning portal offers a wide variety of ways to network and develop professionally. In different thematic groups (eg. Creative Classroom or Language Teachers groups) teachers can share their knowledge and get tips for teaching. If you want to exchange ideas and experiences on a specific topic, you can look for a Teachers Room. If you cannot find one, you can set up a room yourself. 

eTwinning also provides continuous professional development opportunities. Learning events and webinars are offered on many different topics, particularly the ones relating to student-centered pedagogy, ICT in education and 21st century competences. These are also included in new Finnish core curriculum and there referred as transversal (cross-curricular) competences (L1-L7).

The Core Curriculum for Basic Education brings up international co-operation combined with ICT.

During the basic education, students will have experiences of using ICT in international interaction. CCBE p. 21
Contacts with schools in different countries increase students’ skills to operate in a globalized world. CCBE p. 26

Twinspace (eTwinning’s virtual learning environment) has been designed and made just for this purpose. It offers students an opportunity to interact and learn together with their European peers and partner classes. Students can chat, write messages on forums, share photos, videos and a variety of files created by themselves or together with their peers in a safe and protected learning environment. This way they can enhance their intercultural and cooperation skills as well as communication and ICT skills.

An international project is well suited for multidisciplinaty, cross-curricular and phenomenon-based learning. In eTwinning projects foreign language and ICT learning are integrated in different subject- and content areas. At the moment, projects dealing with STEM subject areas (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) are especially popular. Global education, cultural heritage and cultural diversity related themes are also quite common. They encourage students to reflect on the state of the world and the future, engage them in making the world a better place and, thus, develop creativity and problem-solving skills. They also enhance "cultural knowledge based on respect for human rights, respectful interaction and diverse ways to express oneself and one's views." CCBE p. 19

International cooperation and eTwinning partnerships have, of course, a very special role in language teaching and learning.

Opportunities are created for students and groups of students to network and communicate with people all around  the world. Information and communication technology offers a way and an environment to implement language learning in authentic situations following students' communication needs. CCBE p. 243

I started my first eTwinning projects 10 years ago just because I wanted to create possibilities for my students to use English language in authentic communication situations. It was quite another thing to tell about oneself, one’s own school and hometown

to a young European partner, who is genuinely interested in exchanging ideas and experiences, than to tell these same things to a classmate you know since kindergarten. The active use of language on discussion boards and collaboration when carrying out project tasks increased students’ motivation and significantly improved their language skills.

It is clear that in basic education all students won’t be able to participate in student exchange or mobilities and, environmentally, it wouldn’t be very sustainable. However, eTwinning offers everyone an opportunity for encounters and friendships across borders free of charge and without carbon footprints. It is Internationalization At Home (IaH) at its best.

#eTwinning10 - down the memory lane

In January 2005, I remember waiting impatiently for the eTwinning portal to be launched. I was looking for European friends for my students. The idea was to start international cooperation using a virtual environment and, at the same time, to develop the students’ English communication and ICT skills. We had prepared an English website for our school in order to facilitate partner finding and our Moodle environment was ready and waiting.

When the portal was opened, I was among the first to register. Within a week I found two enthusiastic teachers willing to try something new and plunge into unknown, one from Poland and the other from Greece. We discussed the project plan and decided the objectives and contents. The title of the project was "To Be Young in Europe in 2005". A couple of weeks later, at the beginning of February the project had been approved and we were able to start.

That spring was great fun and lots of different activities. Web-based international project work was new to all of us, as well as the use of Moodle in teaching and learning. The students were excited when they got to meet other young people online, chat and post letters in forums. We experimented with all kinds of tools and made a lot of mistakes, but it did not spoil the feeling of excitement. We felt that we were educational innovators and pedagogical experimentalists and visionaries.

We were interested in finding out about the pupils' use of ICT. It was easy to create and carry out surveys in the Moodle. So, we made quite a few questionnaires for the pupils about their use of personal computers, mobile phones and game consoles. At that time, 40% of the students didn’t have computers at home and only 50% had their own mobile phones. Today, the percentages would be very close to 100. I found the project report on the net. It still seems surprisingly fresh and up-to-date, even after 10 years. :)

As the students became friends when they learned to know each other, the same happened with us teachers. My Greek partner Panagiotis Kampylis moved to Finland to write his doctoral thesis and is currently working in the European Commission's Research Centre in Seville. I lost contact with Iwona Bujlow from Poland, but now she is again back in eTwinning.

The first eTwinning project is like a beloved child. Not quite perfect, but all the more dear and cherished. That spring, in 2005, I learned so much. I learned about project-based learning, web-based learning and project management. The following autumn I started two new projects and had much clearer idea, from the start, about what to do and how to construct a collaborative project in a virtual learning environment. As a result our project  won the eTwinning competition in 2006 in the series "pedagogic innovation". Since then it has been 10 years of projects, learning events, conferences and seminars, as well as a huge number of friends all over Europe. It sure has been worth it!

Network for Sustainable Innovation

eTwinning ambassadors are a network of teachers committed to promote cross-border collaborative learning between European students and teachers. They have experience and expertise in project-based learning and enthusiasm for spreading the good word.

Last weekend almost 300 eTwinning ambassadors gathered in a conference in Catania in Sicily. The special theme of the conference was Network for Sustainable Innovation, containing three equally important terms that are at the basis and define the essence of eTwinning.

Network

eTwinning is a huge network consisting of (216,000) European teachers, HTs and librarians sharing the desire to connect and collaborate across borders, develop the understanding of different cultures, find friends and enhance 21st century skills such as communication, ICT, team work, creativity, entrepreneurship etc. Through its members the eTwinning network is connected to over 100,000 schools and more than a million teachers around Europe.

Within this continuously growing network there are smaller networks of practice (foreign language teachers, school librarians, creative classroom teachers, ambassadors etc.) There are also communities of learners, often developed during a Learning Event or around a special group with shared objectives and interests.

Sustainability

In the global world with common world-wide problems such as pollution, global warming, limited resources and poverty, it’s vital that children learn to understand the consequences and the environmental impact of their actions. As citizens of the world we bear the responsibility of protecting and saving our environment for future generations.

Through eTwinning and internationalization at home we don’t only enhance values embedded in global education but also support sustainable way of life by offering a real possibility of working together and making friends on the net and promoting virtual cooperation and collaboration instead of actual traveling.

Innovation

By their nature eTwinning teachers are pioneers of educational change. They are willing to explore and plunge into the unknown. They’re looking for new ways of learning and willing to open the classroom doors and windows to the future. This creates the mental state and atmosphere in which creativity and innovation bloom. The moment when you enter the discomfort zone is crucial. Innovation can only take place outside the box, preferably working, learning and building knowledge together in a Network for Sustainable Innovation.

Integrating math, science and technology in an international project

My good friend, Finnish eTwinning ambassador Tuija Lindström, has been involved in new ways of teaching and learning for quite a few years, first in GOAL (Go Outside and Learn) and then in MOE (Maths on Earth) projects.

Maths on Earth is both Comenius and eTwinning project. It focuses on the use of mathematics as a tool to study real world phenomena and to lead students to mathematical and scientific problem-solving in everyday situations.

Many of the project activities are carried out outside the classroom in the nature, museums, workshops and companies. Mainly, participatory teaching methods, such as short inquiry-based projects, experimental arrangements, games and brain-storming, are used. The idea is to connect everything that is studied in students’ everyday life. The partner teachers design learning materials and workshops to be held jointly together, thus widening and deepening their own understanding of teaching and learning.

The students aged 13-15 are extremely motivated to carry out the tasks. Their communication and social skills have developed. Especially the girls have benefitted from the new holistic approach to math and science.  The communication between students from different countries in an authentic virtual environment supports foreign language learning. Students have the opportunity to design their own learning and work. In this way their own initiative is encouraged and their self-esteem and self-organizing skills are developed. The results of the students’ work are published on the net.

Tuija outlines her own experience:

As a teacher I’ve developed and widened my views. Sharing and learning together with teachers and students from different cultures has been rewarding.  My relationship with my own students has developed as my role as a teacher has changed. The students’ uniqueness and diversity as human beings has become more evident day by day while working together with them, side-by-side.

MOE - project website

Promoting cultural awareness and understanding

Last week I had great news. The eTwinning project Intercultural dialogue through fairy tales, drama and art was awarded by the Mevlana prize for connecting people across borders. I had the pleasure of being one minor part of this huge project comprising students and teachers from 35 different schools in almost as many countries.

During the one year project students first chose a traditional fairy tale of their own country, translated it in English and illustrated it. After that they made a drama video of one of the partner countries’ fairy tales. The process of students working together was documented. All the project products were published on a shared wiki containing an eBook of the fairy tales called Once upon a Time in Europe and a video book containing the students' performances. 

It’s inherent for eTwinning projects that the activities involved are integrated in the school curriculum and support achieving its goals. The best projects are typically cross curricular, so that many different subjects and skills are developed. In this project our students learned Finnish, English and art and, especially, communication and media skills, creative use of digital photography and videos, team work and cooperation. Their awareness of different European countries and cultures developed and their horizons widened while reading the fairy tales, watching the videos and writing cards and sending greetings to their partners.

Once a year excellent eTwinning projects are rewarded at a prize giving ceremony at the annual eTwinning conference. This year it will be in Lisbon on the 14th of March. It's a wonderful opportunity for many of the teachers who worked closely together for a year to meet face-to-face for the first time. The winners of 2013.

"Participating in an eTwinning project means that you wish to (…) offer your pupils the possibility to exchange, to share, to cooperate and to broaden their horizons. (…) By running this type of project you are making a specific contribution to improving the quality of teaching. (…) The practices you carry out in your projects (…) are teaching treasures and techniques that deserve to be shared, and should be made known and recognized by the whole of the European educational community."

The Future School - School in 2020

In November I gave a three-week online course for nearly one hundred eTwinning teachers from all over Europe. The topic of the learning event was the future school. We watched videos and presentations, and discussed future trends together. Participating teachers shared opinions and ideas about the future of learning in small groups comparing different scenarios.

The same issues worry teachers across Europe: the poor economic situation leading to cutbacks that target schools and educational development, the enormous pace of technological development impossible to keep up with without major education policy changes and concerns about technology replacing human interaction.

When discussing what  future school buildings and learning environments would be like, a large part of the teachers were in favour of large, spacious and adaptable areas containing workstations for various activities and facilities that support learning in groups of various sizes and independent work. Virtual environments will allow individual learning paths, learning together in international projects, large scale interaction with the world outside and overlapping of school and free time activities.

On the whole, the participants felt that, in the future, collaborative student-centered learning methods will be prevalent. By working together students learn important skills: communication, knowledge-building, creative thinking and learning to learn, of which the last one, the teachers considered of a special importance.

Teaching profession was discussed using five different scenarios. Many participants found especially interesting the scenario in which teachers specialize in one or two different learning methods. Teachers offer a variety of learning paths for students to choose from, so that they can follow the path that suits their learning style best and is the most motivating and appealing. This scenario is built on the idea of teachers’ continuous professional development, networking and cooperation. Flexibility and student-centered learning methods are its corner stones.

You can read more about the learning event here. If thinking about the future with other teachers interests you, there will be a new course in April 2013.

Here you can read the results of the team work:

Open publication - Free publishing - More education