Twinning or the pairing
of
organizations means that your school builds a special relationship
with a school in another country, relationship which will enhance
development and the educational process in both schools. The best way
to establish such a relationship is to use the information technology
and communications tools, in other words tools, information systems
(such as computers, mobile phones), and the Internet and it's
applications (such as electronic mail and chat programs). The idea of
two schools collaborating, share ideas and experiences, learn
together and in the same time develop the skills required to work
with information technology and to communicate. Organizational
twinning works best when it benefits both parties and works best when
it is part of the educational process and the two schools share
common goals. Twinning projects based on IT&C can vary from
sharing a common blog to the creation of virtual classes or forums
dedicated to certain subjects. International twinning program for the
development of Romanian schools facilitates contacts between the 495
schools assisted in the EBC project and foreign schools. Schools are
encouraged to identify partners with which to twin and with which to
develop, later, projects on which to build durable relationships,
such as the international cooperation between schools and teachers,
financing research projects, initiate and run common projects,
opportunities for career development for the teachers.
The organizational
twinning program
is part of the component “Networking activities in schools” of
the Knowledge Based Economy, implemented by the Romanian Government
through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and
funded by the World Bank. This component of the KBE is subcontracted
to the consortium made by “Centrul Educatia 2000+” and “Educatia
2000+ Consulting SRL”. The goals of the twinning program refers to
practice communities (making up the school's contact network),
sharing information and knowledge, offering support for knowledge
exchange, especially in connection with building European expertise,
promoting best practices at a national and regional level and
integrating the lessons learnt in past projects in current
activities.
The project team will run
the
following activities for implementing the twinning program:
Defining the
twinning program and
the specific opportunities targeted
The twinning project team
will
document initiatives, projects and programs concerning organizational
twinning and will make the information available to schools on
different support media: online (on the projects web page) and in
print form. The current site has been developed as part of this
activity, having the purpose to allow the interested schools to
present and identify the rightful partners. Also the project team
provides the framework for the schools' representatives to meet.
Meetings with
local
representatives of different institutions
The team maintains
connections with
relevant institutions coordinating or involved in organizational
twinning projects for schools (for example the Electronic Bulletin of
the Network of Educational Policy Centers distributed in 10 EU member
states, the European Conference of History Teachers – EIRO-CLIO,
etc.)
Launching the
invitation to the
KBE schools to join the twinning process
The team sifts through
the
information and publishes it on the project's web page and on other
media so that the relevant information reaches the targeted schools.
Assisted schools in in the KBE project are asked to file in
suggestions and propositions regarding the information they receive
and their information needs. Also, schools will be offered local
assistance for:
the use of IT&C
for producing
documents, presentations, briefs, web pages needed for the
administration of the school, the development of projects or the
offering of information about the school and the community;
the use of the Internet
for
collaborative activities and for creating contacts and relationships
(networking) – getting teachers to know better online spaces
dedicated to social networks, virtual collaborative platforms,
educational software applications, innovative tools such as
simultaneous collaborative editing for documents and presentations,
or wiki, blog, social bookmarking sites. The team will also offer
examples of good practices;
the use of collaborative
tools to
share experiences and for career development – including the
creating of writing project applications and project management, the
use of those tools for collaborating with other institutions;
the use of online
platforms to
fulfill the educational objectives – the integrations of online
tools in the daily teaching practice and according to the standard
curricula evaluation forms.
The launch of the invitation to join the program to schools
in
the European Union
The Project team will invite in the project at least 500
schools
in the EU, by the means of the most relevant and specific
communications media.
Study visit at
the relevant
European institutions
There will be organized a
study visit
for the office workers in the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology and the Ministry of Education, Research and
Youth. Visitors will have the opportunity to make contact with
relevant European institutions coordinating twinning projects by the
use of the Internet, to improve knowledge and make knowledge
exchange.
Providing
assistance for making
implementation plans for the schools
The team will offer
support to the
members of the teaching staff in the assisted schools in the KBE
project, especially through the online media. There won't be ready
made projects, but there will be a stimulation of crativity and the
desire of teachers to take part in the community life. Positive
examples good practices will be prized and encouraged, both for the
creation of cultural exchange tools and for the follow up of the
progress.
Making
suggestions regarding the
diverse twinning activities that can be funded and implemented
through other programs
The
team permanently documents about other initiatives, projects and
programs targeted at e-twinning activities between schools and will
write a guide for the people interested in the continuation of such
activities. The guide will be available on the project's web site.
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