20 steps to successful eTwinning

Register online. Go to www.etwinning.net and register, using your school email

address. For safeguarding reasons, only those working in a school who already
have contact with students (teachers, teaching assistants or school librarians) are
eligible to use the site. You will then receive a verification email.

Explore. Click on the ‘eTwinning Live’ tab on the site’s homepage and have a
look at the partner forums, where you can check out project ideas proposed by
other teachers. Post a possible project idea of your own on a suitable forum and
see what response you get.

Make contact. Look in ‘People’ and send a contact request in order to get in
touch with a teacher you’d like to connect with. Once they accept your request,
you are ready to set up a project. Start by getting a dialogue going with the
teacher to get to know them. The better the teacher link, the more sustainable
the project.
Create a project. Once the project is approved you can find it in the ‘Projects’
section of the site. You now automatically have your own private TwinSpace
workspace. This is where you work collaboratively with your partners. You can
now add other colleagues who want to work with your project or colleagues from
your own school.

Schedule some dates. Map out a schedule of your twinning activities and set up a
joint calendar. Check holiday dates in each school and mark these on the
calendar. Set realistic deadlines.

Decide activities. Agree in collaboration with your colleagues what activities you
will organise and what tools you will use. You can use eTwinning tools or other
approaches which you may already use, such as Skype.

Set some rules. Agree on the ‘netiquette’ or rules for students involved in the
project, together with your project partners. Publish these on the TwinSpace and
make sure students are aware of them. You could display them in your classroom.

Keep people informed. Keep your head teacher, colleagues and students
informed about the project. You can invite your students into the TwinSpace,
giving them a username and password. Do make a note of their usernames and
passwords though!

Plan your pages. Plan your TwinSpace carefully and create pages for each of the
activities you will organise, with a short description at the top of the page. This
makes it easier for schools to share their work.

Communicate on TwinSpace. Use the TwinSpace communication tools:

Twinmail, Teacher Bulletin and Discussion Forums. Spend some time on the
TwinSpace to familiarise yourself with what there is to use.

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 20 steps to successful eTwinning

Make it live. Organise a regular ‘live’ element, such as a chat or live event. This
is particularly good to motivate students. It is also an excellent opportunity for
practising the target language.

Delegate. Integrate collaborative activities into your eTwinning projects. Team

the students up in trans-national groups and assign roles, or team your students
up according to their interests and talents. You can give some students
administrative rights. Perhaps have a group that meets one lunchtime to upload
materials to the TwinSpace.

Give feedback. Provide feedback for students by encouraging them to comment

on each other’s work, integrating ongoing assessment activities or updating the
schedule as activities are completed.

Promote your project. Promote your project on your school website, in the
school newsletter, using classroom and corridor displays or at educational events
such as TeachMeets.

Envisage an outcome. Plan to have a concrete outcome as a result of the

collaborative work, for example an eBook, a shared story or a video. This gives
you something to aim for (and will fit in with the schedule of activities). It is also
helpful when applying for awards, prizes or Erasmus+ funding.

Get recognition. Put your project forward for European Quality Labels, National
Quality Labels and eTwinning Awards and prizes. A registered eTwinning project
automatically qualifies your school for the Foundation level of the International
School Award.

Join groups. Join eTwinning groups, which are virtual places where eTwinners
meet, discuss and share about specific subjects, topics or other areas of interest.
For example, ‘On s’amuse en classe FLE’ is a ‘French as a second language’ group
where teachers can share ideas and good practice.

Be flexible. Keep an open mind if this is your first project. Plan and work to an
end product but treat it as a learning experience if things don’t go as planned!

Professional development. Look out for professional development opportunities.

You’ll find a range of online and face to face professional development
opportunities for all members of the eTwinning community, from experienced
eTwinners to new members.

Think ahead. You will already have the Foundation level of the International
School Award – why not consider applying for the Intermediate or Full Awards?
Once you are an experienced eTwinner, your school can apply to become an
eTwinning School. You could apply for Erasmus+ funding to enable you and your
students to travel and work face to face with their partner school students. You
may even choose to become an eTwinning Ambassador.

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