collaborating with colleagues worldwide to launch and develop projects
striking a balance between traditional teaching and modern tools of communication on the net
i
ntegrating
new technologies across the curriculum.
European Medi@Culture-Online http://www.european-mediaculture.org
Author: Dumitru, Petru.
Title: A Teachers’ Guide to collaborative projects.
Source: http://myeurope.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/myEurope_Schools/content.cfm?ov=29041&lang=en [14.06.2004]
Published with kind permission of the author.
Petru Dumitru
A Teachers’ Guide to collaborative projects
This guide helps you to find out more about the pedagogical and instructional benefits of web-based classroom projects.
It provides solutions and ideas for:
collaborating with colleagues worldwide to launch and develop projects
striking a balance between traditional teaching and modern tools of communication on the net
integrating
new technologies across the curriculum.
The guide is in seven parts:
Introduction
What is a Web-based classroom project?
Joining a project
Launching your own project
a)
Preparation
b) Testing
c) Implementation
Review
Annex 1
Annex 2
This guide was written and updated according to the feedback of about 160 experienced teachers and experts from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA. Thank you to all of them!
The
Internet is a powerful instructional tool that brings new ways of
teaching to schools and helps teachers to connect to classes
worldwide. It is also a good research tool, which may be used
successfully to find teaching and learning r
esources.
Learning on the Internet is a positive experience for everyone involved: pupils, teachers and parents, because they share and exchange ideas with peers in other parts of the world. Learning directly from people is better than reading a book, because it includes real life experience.
To get involved in a web-based project, you need computers connected to the Internet, ideas and dedication.
A
project is a short or long term activity aiming to match clear
educational goals. It consists of a set of tasks and sometimes it has
a budget e.g. Comenius. A teacher or a team of teachers can
initiate and coordinate a project. They should define its strategy, a
start and end date.
A web-based project gives you the opportunity to innovate in your teaching and learning in order to bring something extra to the classroom, which motivates pupils better.
Basically, a project developed in the educational environment is implemented to motivate participants to engage in online learning experiences, widen horizons and learn first hand about other cultures.
Usually the goal of the common project is the exchange of information: texts (e.g. stories, essays), graphics (e.g. photos, drawings, artwork) or spreadsheets (e.g. tables of data, analyses), as a final research.
Getting involved in web-based projects provides pupils with real-life and concrete experiences for acquiring a variety of skills while looking for information e.g. interviewing, looking for a phone number, making telephone calls etc.
Taking part in a project provides increased motivation for pupils to learn and practice complex skills of communication; they are faced with real facts, writing more, proofreading, revising, editing and finally publishing their common work on the Internet.
Children interact with real pupils on the net and they are more careful about their spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary, using modern or classic methods and tools, sharing and exchanging knowledge, and finally creating learning resources for others. Moreover, by involving pupils in this kind of projects may ensure parents that this is safe way to use the Internet.
A
ccording
to many experts in this field, your first step could be to join an
existing project. By starting to contribute with your pupils, you
both realise that you are part of a team which will share success. To
join a project, you may check the EUN Partner Forum or the
section Featured Projects on the myEUROPE site.
Many of the projects might fit right into your curriculum, covering some of its areas. At this moment you may start gradually planning your pupils' work as part of a team. Try to involve the school staff, colleagues and headmaster, informing them regularly about the project's progress and achievements.
Keeping
staff informed is a method of getting them and their classes involved
in the future, opening up the project activities and subsequent
learning activities to many more pupils. It is also a way of
mustering interest among staff and to extend their own personal
knowledge and professional i
nterest
in the use and benefits of ICT in the curriculum.
Before joining, make sure your pupils will learn about more topics than just technology. Find out which are the main requirements of the project: level (age group), curriculum area(s) and language(s). Try to adapt it to the needs of your class(s) because every curriculum is different.
Prepare your class(s) before discovering the Internet and its benefits. Start to interact with your partners, help out when needed and stimulate your pupils' creativity, talents and skills.
Share your ideas, plans, problems and challenges with the whole group. This learning experience might be very useful for becoming more independent and eventually even coordinating your own project.
Starting a networking project is like teaching a class. When you launch it you are responsible for the classes who join you.
A successful collaborative project begins with rigorous planning, but should be flexible, taking into account the diversity of educational systems worldwide. Furthermore, a careful diagnosis of your pupils' needs and what you intend to achieve is necessary.
The process of launching a project passes through three phases:
Preparation
Testing
Implementation
Find your theme and concept. To use innovative teaching methods means more than encouraging your pupils to exchange messages in a pen pal club. A successful step is to look for a project topic that appeals to their on-line world. The pedagogical and social value of your topic and also its uniqueness may make your project more interesting and valuable for others on the planet!
Define specific goals and describe clearly the tasks and activities scheduled, a final product you would like pupils to create, and the final outcomes that will contribute to their academic development.
It is very important
to find a short, expressive and unique 
name
for your project. A project template is included in Annex 1. If you
are considering starting a project, fill in the summary field with a
brief description that will catch the reader's interest. Get familiar
with the other items of the template and at this stage take into
account four variables: level (age group), curriculum area(s),
project language(s) and timeline.
Split your project into several phases, so that your partners can easily follow the timeline. Be sure to set a good example yourself by following the schedule.
Define clearly the chosen topic and explain how it might cover the curriculum needs. Describe the tasks according to the pupils' level and include suggested activities, listing the benefits for the participants. Later on you may involve your partners and colleagues to update and complete these tasks.
You may test your project idea on a small scale in your classroom, and then launch it on a larger scale, involving more classes from your school and outside.
Once
launched, the project might be improved, revised, and updated
together with y
our
partners. Their needs and suggestions should come first.
Become familiar with the subject you have chosen and test the tools you will be using during the project (email, browsers, online communities).
Announce your project four or five weeks before the starting date and include guidelines for your colleagues. You may post the announcement either on the myEUROPE mailing list or on one of the EUN forums.
You might ask your colleagues to register, by filling in the registration form attached to your announcement.
You will be able to plan the common work better and manage the activities via email or an EUN online community, according to the school calendar. Make sure that you have already outlined dates and deadlines.
These activities help the group prepare to work together as a team:
Setting up a mailing list
Open a mailing list
using your own school's mailer facilities or us
e
one of the on-line services offered freely by some well-known servers
around the world, like Yahoo or Microsoft . List all participants'
names and email addresses, so they can be in contact not only via the
mailing list but also person to person.
Getting to know your partners
Send out a welcome message to introduce yourself and your pupils: describe your school, class and community, your teaching situation and the pupils' interests. Be sociable and ask the group to reply, this is key to accomplishing your mutual goals.
Encourage participants to start planning their work. There is no universal recipe for that, because as mentioned earlier, the curriculum is different from country to country. A key action is to appreciate any effort of the participants in finalising their work. The project outcomes depend greatly on your colleagues and their pupils. Be cooperative and flexible. Read and reply daily to all messages, be positive, honest and open to changing circumstances.
The project coordinator is responsible for publishing the project outcomes on a website, making it available for everyone in the world.
Distribute some tasks for your pupils. For instance assign them to small teams and ask then to design a web page. You may launch a web page from the very beginning, post information and update it regularly. It is much better to start early than to publish all the work at the end of the project. The participants will enjoy seeing the project growing and will be more likely to send in their work if they can see that it is being posted promptly.
It may be a good idea to inform parents periodically when new items are published. In this way you keep their interest by sharing them. There are two effects caused by this: children proudly may invite friends and family to see their work while adults begin to see the Internet as a lifelong learning tool.
Before starting to design your project website, together with your team, make a plan and organise logically all the contributions. Use a simple structure, so the web pages can be navigated easily: a satisfying experience for your visitors means successful promotion of your project. A common language should be agreed. Often projects' outcomes may be published in two or more languages: the native language and a second language.
Check all written work and apply the standards of writing conventions: grammar, capitalisation, punctuation, spelling, and paragraphing. Your final work should be a model for other pupils.
A modern electronic publication like a website needs to strike a balance between text, graphics, colours or animation, have a unique identity and be pleasant for your visitors. Try to find a good combination between the effects, ideas and content. Be careful when choosing graphics as those who do not have a fast Internet connection (ADSL or broadband) may get bored or angry waiting for the page to download.
Before uploading your files to the net, test them with different browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Netscape or Opera. You may ask your friends to have a look at your website because it could be displayed differently according to the size of the screen, browser type and settings. By publishing the contributions on weekly basis you maintain and increase the interest of your partners in delivering outcomes.
Evaluating your project is the moment when you and your partners need to look back on your achievements and learn from them. Here is a set of questions which you might discuss with your colleagues:
How innovative was your work?
How did your work improve communication and cooperation between pupils?
Has been it efficient for education through the use of new technologies, both inside and outside the classroom?
How did your project empower pupils with skills for real life?
Did your project motivate others to get involved? (School staff, pupils, parents, local community)
How did it stimulate the use of the new technologies for educational and cultural development of pupils?
What can others learn from it?
What is the main message of your work?
By reading this guide you have learnt how to get involved or coordinate Web-based classroom project. The diagram below helps you better to get a complete picture of managing a Web-based classroom project.
|
Preparation Phase |
Testing Phase |
Project Phase |
|
1. Definition
2. Elements
3. Task Description
|
1. Tools
|
1. Introductory activities
2. Planning team work 3. Sharing and publishing outcomes 4. Closing activities
|
Project title:
Project URL (Web address):
Short project description:
Age of pupils participating in the project:
Starting date:
Closing date:
Possible project/classroom activities:
Expected outcomes/ products:
Language(s) of project:
Coordinating school:
Name of coordinator:
Email:
Partner schools:
Subject(s):
Keywords:
Open for new participants:
Expected partner(s) profile:
Name of teacher:
Age of pupils:
School name:
School URL:
Regular postal address:
Email address:
Telephone:
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