eTwinning for Democracy & Citizenship

Claire Morvan

Central Support Service PDW Stockholm, Sweden, October 2013

Introduction

1. Democracy2. eTwinning3. The Internet phenomenon4. eTwinning & Democracy

What is Democracy?

It is derived from the Greek δημοκρατία ([dimokratia), "popular government” 5th - 4th Century BC

Do you know how many countries are in the world?

195 countries in the world

Do you know how many are democracies?

117 Electoral Democracies

A History lesson!

Who is this man?

Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg Address 1863‘that all men are created equal.’

‘and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth’.

The Consitution of the 5th Republic France

States that the principle of the Republic of France is

"gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et pour le peuple"

a literal translation of Lincoln's words.

Wikipedia:definition of democracy

Even though there is no universally accepted definition of 'democracy', there are two principles that any definition of democracy includes.

The first principle is that all members of the society have equal access to power

and the second that all members enjoy universally

recognized freedoms and liberties

Another History lesson!

Now an accompanying measure to the Comenius programme

What is ?

?

eTwinning

2005 - Officially launched in January

2007 - Officially Integrated into the Life Long Learning Programme

2013 - Due to run until this date

eTwinning is

An initiative of the European Commission to give an opportunity to as many EU children as possible to communicate with other children in other EU countries using Information and Communication Technologies at school.

Central Support Service.

Run by the European Schoolnet on behalf of the European Commission

National Support Service

(1 in each country)

Official Definition

eTwinning is a portal :

• Which takes advantage of the possibilities offered by the Internet and digital media

• to promote European school cooperation, collaborative learning and project based pedagogy.

• eTwinning does not finance single projects but supports them by offering tools and support.

Re-examine this sentence

To promote:

European school cooperation

Collaborative learning

Project based pedagogy.

What has happened since 2005?

The Internet phenomenon

1. The Internet has changed

Pre 2004 Web 1.x– Passive– Read the news– Retrieve information

Essentially an online encyclopedia

Interactive & Creative Web 2.0

- make the news- publish ideas- create archives- comment on events- communicate

Since 2005

February 2004

January 2005

February 2005

October 2006February 2004.

20061999

April 2006

Http://election.twitter.com/

The Internet is democraticDemocracy and the Web Editorial New York Times - Published: May 19, 2008

‘Users of the Internet take for granted their ability to access all Web sites on an equal basis. That could change, however, if Internet service providers started discriminating among content, to make more money or to suppress ideas they do not like.

What has happened in eTwinning since 2005?

Oct. 2013: 213096 members

3045 Active projects

September 2005 7000 teachers registered

Image of the network of connected eTwinning schools in Europe

Networked World

eTwinning is not just about projects.

Projects are the outcome of a much larger process

The process of community

Social Networking

To benefit from a media you must understand the media

Digital citizenship

Digital citizenship

A digital citizen commonly refers to a person utilizing information technology (IT) in order to engage in society, politics, and government participation. K. Mossberger, define digital citizens as "those who use the Internet regularly and effectively.“

eTwinning for Digital citizenship

eTwinning can easily be seen as the perfect entry to become a great Digital Citizen via project based learning and CPD opportunities

Being Digital Citizen in etwinning

Teachers connected in groups

To collaborate and create together within and outside formal projects

Netiquette

Continuous Professional development & RecognitionOnline learning– eTwinning learning events– Communities of practice based on pedagogical

resources– Webinars

Conference on CitizenshipWinning project last year: rainbow village

http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/discover/people_say/projects.htm

eTwinning also continues

To empower the teachers and pupils of Europe to work together engaging and creating ideas.

To provide the tools to promote understanding between schools of different cultures

And

It still costs nothing!

To conclude

eTwinning is a democratic tool to become a digital citizen

Over to You!

Thank you for your attention

claire.morvan@eun.org

http://www.etwinning.net