Abstract
The paper focuses on Etwinning, the community for schools in Europe. Launched in 2005 as a fundamental component of the eLearning program of the European Commission, eTwinning has become an integral part of the Erasmus +, the EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, in 2014. The Central Support Service eTwinning is run by European Schoolnet, an international partnership formed of 31 European ministries of education, which designs learning tools for schools, teachers and students in Europe. ETwinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through information and communication technologies by providing support, tools and services to schools. The portal is available to teachers through online tools by which they may seek partners, can start the project, they can exchange ideas and best practices and can start to work immediately thanks to the broad range of customized tools on the eTwinning platform. From October 2007, eTwinning started to be carried out in Romania. In the long term, it aims to improve the abilities to use new technologies, to improve communication in foreign languages, knowledge and intercultural dialogue.The paper also deals with the development of key competences through eTwinning, rules of communication and behavior inside etwinning community and implications for teaching activities. The next part of the paper presents Etwinning advantages from eLearning perspective: accessibility, the freedom of decision, professional community, information resources, training opportunities for teachers, specialist support, motivation and recognition systems.
ETwinning platform is ideal for secondary education because it offers extensive opportunities for managing virtual spaces - which facilitates, in a much higher degree than other web platforms, learning activities. Benefits of eTwinning platform for students and teachers involved in online learning projects by collaboration at European level are very high due to factors such as: the opportunity to interact with students and teachers in other European countries, didactic and technological support offered by the portal to the highest European standards, innovative working tools, teamwork, stimulate interest and critical thinking. Advantages for school are also important because the image of the school is promoted by eTwinning projects and foundations of a future collaboration at the institution level in future partnerships are set up. |
Keywords
etwinning, education, elearning, projects, community, schools |