eTwinning & the professional

development of teachers

Anne Gilleran pedagogical manager

eTwinning Central Support Service

Anne who?
I come from Dublin, Ireland

worked in Brussels for the

European Schoolnet since
2001
Pedagogical
manager for
eTwinning since
2005

Career:
university lecturer
school counsellor
head teacher
researcher
expert in ICT for education

I have been involved in many

projects involving schools,
teachers and school leaders

Topics
Some concepts regarding professional
development
Short introduction to eTwinning
Evolution of professional development in
eTwinning
Questions?

3 questions
What is the relationship between
eTwinning and Professional
Development?
How do they influence each other?
How can eTwinning contribute to
professional development and visa
versa?

This presentation will include ideas.

Based on the report:
Teachers Professional Development:
an overview of current practice
Published March 2011 European
Schoolnet
Will be available at:
http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/news/publications.htm

Background
Lets start by looking at the OECD Talis
report 2009

Informal dialogue to improve teaching

Professional Development Network

What is eTwinning?

Launched January 2005

A Lifelong Learning
Programme initiative
- within the Comenius action
2005-2008 Phase 1

2008-2013 Phase 2

What happened in 2005 or.

The Internet context

Within two years..

February 2004

April 2006

January 2005
October 2006

February 2004.

February 2005

2005/06

2006

Web 2.0: Interactive & creative internet

Provided us with the possibility to:
- interact
- publish
- create
- comment
- communicate

Between 2005/08
eTwinning had also
evolved

eTwinning
Projects

Critical Mass
Communications and
networking beyond Projects

Informal
collaboration

Comenius
Partnerships

Peer learning
Sharing and exchanging

Sharing of resources and ideas

Time for eTwinning 2.0

Community
building

eTwinning 2.0
2 main elements
Informal social network
Continuing professional development

To understand eTwinning
You must know the following facts
33 countries participate
Each of those countries has a National
Support Service NSS
Coordination by the Central suport
Service
Its heart is the eTwinning Portal
www.eTwinning.net

Lets take a look.

at the evolution of professional

development in eTwinning

Multimodality of professional development offerings

Teachers Rooms,
Profiles
Learning
Events, Groups
National training courses

European-wide professional development

workshops
eTwinning school collaboration projects
Jan 2005

Dec 2005

Sept 2006

Jan 2008 Dec 2008 Sept 2010

Projects & beyond.

European Professional Development

Workshops - PDWs
Normally 7 per year
Approximately 100 participants per
workshop 25/75 ratio
Aimed either at specific audience or them

Evolved to include
Bilateral and multilateral workshops
with the aim of providing face to face
meetings with a partner finding focus

National Training programmes

Many countries run extensive training
programmes both face face and on line.
Part of the national in-service programme most
notably in
Spain
Poland
Estonia
Czech Republic

Learning Events
A Learning Event is a short
intense course that offers:
an introduction to a topic
stimulates ideas
helps develop skills
does not require a longterm commitment in terms
of time.
It is designed to be an
enjoyable learning experience.

eTwinning Groups

34 Groups
The eTwinning Groups are a place for teachers
to exchange about various interests

Teachers rooms
A Teachers Room is a place
where teachers can discuss
specific topics over a short
period of time and are created
directly by eTwinners.
Public Teachers Rooms are open
to all eTwinners to view and
contribute.
Restricted Teachers Rooms can
be viewed by all eTwinners;
however, to contribute to them,
one must be invited.

The Journal
a digital
portfolio
An opportunity
to share
An instrument
for social
networking

Some statistics

At this moment:
128 000 teachers
registered
10 000 participate in a
project
20 000+ log in each day
to the Desktop

Back to the 3
1. What is the relationship between
eTwinning and Professional
Development?

2. How do they influence each other?

eTwinning is seen as something that

allows up-skilling in areas such as the
use of ICT to support teaching, language
learning, project management skills and
other areas of personal development
that can also be recognised as key
competences for lifelong learning

3. How can eTwinning contribute to

professional development and visa versa?

The kind of professional development a teacher

participates in is more important than the amount of
time invested. The net effects of days of professional
development are small and only significant in a few
countries, whereas indicators of participation in
networks and mentoring (and in some countries also
in workshops and/ or courses) have significant and
stronger net associations with teaching practices in a
majority of countries (TALIS, 2009: 117).

Final points
eTwinning is the fastest growing
community for teachers in Europe
It contains both communication &
collaboration activities
And
Formal & informal professional
development opportunities

Questions?
Thank you for your attention
My contacts
anne.gilleran@eun.org