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.

Rethinking BETT show 2015

This year´s BETT hype was computing, robotics and different kinds of little gadgets you can program to do different things. So far I’ve been thinking very positively about coding and even attended a couple of courses to understand a bit more about what it’s all about – especially as coding is now included in the Finnish school core curriculum. At BETT I started to get increasingly concerned about engineers taking over education.

It’s clear that the big businesses are mainly interested in selling (actual) things: tablets, laptops, mobile devices, robots, 3D printers, screens (the bigger  the better), smart boards etc. A few years back everybody was talking about serious games and gamification of learning. Well, it proved to be something teachers found exciting and full of possibilities, but the schools had/have no money, so the interest in developing serious games slowly expired. No big bucks in that line of business. Now, we've come to the point where teachers and students are encouraged to create learning games themselves. It develops creativity and problem solving skills. Yippee! And your hard work will be recognized by a cute digital badge, if you share your game with the rest of the world.

In the light of sustainable development and solutions for the future, I’d like to see more open learning solutions, less to do with different devices and more to do with thinking and problem solving. More BYOD-based and 1:2-4 learning, prioritizing collaboration and team work skills, communication and creative inquiry.  For me the idea of the internet of things in which I have to update my washing machine (and all other home electronics) once in six months and change it for a newer model every two years is a horrible nightmare. Perhaps, it’s not a surprise that WALL-E is one of my all-time film favorites.

However, contrary to the show of things, I did enjoy the show of thoughts at BETT. Dr. Ashley Tan questioned the conventional way of flipping. It shouldn’t just be teachers working overtime making videos and students doing their homework in a bit different way than usual. Flipping entails rethinking of teaching and curriculum. In true flipping the conventional classroom roles are flipped, students are learning content creators and teach each other. For me that’s an inspiring idea and supports students engagement and them taking ownership of their learning. It shows way towards more personalized learning and design learning.

After spending three days looking at devices, gadgets, things and stuff, it was very refreshing and absolutely fascinating to listen to Sir Ken Robinson talking. He hardly mentioned technologies, but talked very critically about education. “I’m criticizing school culture and standardization, not teachers.” he said. Human mind is inherently creative. Creativity, imagination and innovation should form the corner stones of education. Education should support diversity instead of conformity. I totally agree. But how do I convince the decision makers, as creativity and diversity are difficult to measure and convert into Big Data. Blimey!

#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!

UNESCO-schools strive for peace and sustainable development

More than 50 Finnish UNESCO school teachers and head teachers met at the Finnish National Board of Education to network and exchange ideas, as well as reflect on how UNESCO school goals relate to the ongoing core curriculum reform with special focus on internationalization at home.

UNESCO-schools make a global network of schools (ASPnet), which covers levels of education from preschool to teacher training. The network was first established in 1953 to promote peace, equality, democracy and human rights. In recent years, sustainable development and environmental protection have taken an important role, as well as the protection of cultural and world heritage. In practice, the ASPnet activities focus on a variety of flagship projects eg. Baltic Sea, Sandwatch and Learning for the Future.

ASPnet network has got a new strategy for years 2014 – 2021. In it global citizenship (Global Citizen Education) and Sustainable Development (Education for Sustainable Development) are defined as the main objectives of UNESCO schools.  They are implemented through the integration of global education and sustainable development in school curricula, experimenting new and innovative approaches and teaching methods and strengthening the sharing of information, experiences and good practices among ASPnet schools.

I feel extremely pleased to realize that the education system in Finland is well advanced in these areas already today and the upcoming curriculum reform will take us even further. The increased emphasis on intercultural skills, human rights, active citizenship and sustainable development make the basis of the Finnish core curriculum 2016 and help us raise true Citizens of the World. Thus the Finnish UNESCO schools can take an active role in the ASPnet network and share the Finnish know-how in this sector.

According to the new strategy, UNESCO schools will build a virtual environment and netwok designed for discussion and sharing of ideas across the world (ASPNET in Action). In Finland, also, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) will be used in promoting ASPnet goals, sharing best practices and building regional networks. To achieve these goals UNESCO schools will cooperate closely with the surrounding community, families, organizations, and entrepreneurs. Everyone wants to promote good and build a better world.

The UNESCO school profile is strengthened when the whole school participates and is committed to common goals. Students’ engagement is crucial. Peace education, conflict resolution, human rights and the protection of the environment can be highlighted at school on a regular basis, eg. by monthly theme days  during which cross-curricular and student-centered learning-methods can be applied.

In 2012 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon launched the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI), which aims to put every child in school, to improve the quality of learning and foster global citizenship. Education must be transformative (!) and cultivate respect for the world and each other. These objectives are also at the hearts of UNESCO schools. In the words of the Secretary-General:

When we put Education First, we can reduce poverty and hunger, end wasted potential – and look forward to stronger and better societies for all.

Global is a perspective to every topic

A three-day International Symposium dealing with Education of Global Citizens took place in Hanasaari (Finland) from 5th to 7th May. The general aim of the symposium was to explore, share and promote concepts, pedagogy and practice concerning the education of global citizens, particularly in general education. Two Finnish initiatives were in special focus, namely the proposal for the new core curriculum mainstreaming global education and the KOMPPI school development partnerships creating global responsibility.

In his opening keynote Liam Wegimont identified a number of conceptual challenges: “Global education has emerged as a field that is largely consensual, anti-theoretical and makes assumptions that are ungrounded. “ Karen Pashby responded to the challenge by applying ethical approach to global education. She juxtaposed soft and critical Global Citizenship Education, the first representing universalism with one shared view of good life and the second reflexivity and dialogue interrogating our good intentions and putting action into context. Regarding global competences, she argued that they cannot have static definitions as in the rapidly changing world challenges are growing and multiplying.

Werner Wintersteiner brought up three interconnected western burdens, namely Auschwitz, Hiroshima and colonialism that underlie our relationship to Global Citizenship. In his résumé he concluded that Global Education is a challenge to Eurocentric views of the world, is a project rather than a ready made concept and needs a global educational dialogue (to pick three from a list of many).

Ethical, civic, ecological and intercultural competences of global citizens were discussed deeply in the four different workshops. On the basis of the workshop reports and the keynotes the Symposium agreed upon shared conclusions that will be published later (here, too, I hope).

On Wednesday afternoon, we had a stately visitor, as Minister Pekka Haavisto talked about development cooperation. “Ownership and reciprocity are at the heart of international development and peace keeping projects,” he said. He also referred to the Millennium Development Goals and said that there’s a small gap in quantity but a big gap in quality in reaching the MGs of education. Education of teachers is the key development area in developing countries.

In his closing words Helmuth Hartmeyer emphasized the need to put justice at the core of Global Education and to recognize the distinction and relations between individual ethics and the underlying power structure. He also reminded us about the pedagogical challenge: education cannot be transferred, only acquired by dialogue, engagement and fun.

The symposium was organized by the Finnish National Board of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and Culture and Global Education Network Europe (GENE).