E-LEARNING, E-TWINNING - MODERN APPROACH OR JUST FASHION?

There has been a great development of the usage of the Internet recently. Its appearance has influenced politics, commercials or leisure time. But it is worth mentioning that education is more and more concerned with the Internet. It is helpful for both teachers and students, who can seek for the valuable information concerning any possible subject. It is a very fast source of information, however, it makes our students less curious to look for the necessary information in a library or to read books. They very often rely on what they have found online.

It's due to the constant hurry we live in, as someone said "If you don't run, you move back."

E-learning is becoming very popular among students at universities, institutions or companies offering courses for their employees. It's based on the use of multimedia, the Internet, satellite transmission, audio, video or CD. It is distance learning, which means that the contact between students and teachers is limited. Students are becoming more responsible for themselves and their process of learning.

This way of learning has also appeared at school, even primary schools. Seems strange and unbelievable? So E-TWINNING! - That is my answer. Everyone probably has heard about this project. It is the European Partnership of Schools which combines a great range of competences, such as:

• linguistic
• intercultural
• technical
• personal

Sounds interesting for both teachers and students, as they cooperate with another school from the EU on any topic they wish (sport, cuisine, culture, places, music, school, and many others) using virtual platforms. What more would teachers like to achieve? Their pupils are taught all these elements at the same time, which is the perfect input for impatient and bored students.

I know what I am talking about, because last year my group of students worked on such a project with Spanish School. It was a great experience for them as they were exposed to the real language. They cooperated with their Spanish peers using English, which was the language of our project. Students were registered on a special virtual platform, offered by e-Twinning, where they could exchange e-mails, write their comments on the forum board, visit chatrooms and of course prepare materials for the project. It was very safe, because teachers-coordinators of the project could control everything at all times.

I think that it was a great lesson of English. They learnt about culture of Spain, its history of the 70s, its entertainment, politics and education as it was the main topic of our cooperation. They also had a possibility to compare the counties and see what they look like while exchanging pictures and photos.

But it is not enough. They also learnt how to cooperate and work in a group. They has become more tolerant and open to other habits and national behaviours, which will be helpful in their future lives. The last but not least is the fact they got to know how to work under the pressure of time. It was one of the most difficult tasks to cope with. It was caused by different school calendars in different European countries. However, it should not be an excuse!

Interesting? Fine! But now it's time to present some warnings and problems while cooperating. Oh, maybe not warnings but WARNING, ONE WARNING! Before you start doing the project, check access to the Internet at your school and if you have the required number of computers. As I know, it may be a problem. At my school we also met it. However, my students were so willing to do that project, that most of their work was done by them at home and we only consulted and discussed prepared materials.

But I think that when you establish pros and cons of taking up such a project, you will know what to choose. I have experienced it once and I know that it was not the last time.

To read more, take a look at etwinning.net

OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Outdoor environmental education is a thematic and interdisciplinary field of education in the natural and cultural landscape. Through thematic studies and activities in the landscape, outdoor environmental education tries to animate the often abstract concepts of the subject disciplines, and thereby create a local, ecological, historic, physical and social sense of place among children, students and teachers ( Dahlgren and Szczepanski, 1997).

The classroom walls constitute "a third layer of skin" that separates us from nature, culture, and society – the systems of the real world for which the classroom try to prepare us. Outdoor education tries to shift the perspective and the division to the playground/schoolyard and the surrounding landscape as learning environments. Dewey ( 1859-1952 ) argued that we develop through practical experiences by doing things "under the skin". The pragmatic (action-centered) educational philosophy, of which Dewey was an advocate viewed education as a continuous reconstruction of experiences. In this concept of "learning by doing", reasoning is connected to action.

In outdoor education, feeling ( heart ), action ( hand ) and thought ( head) are united.

At school, learning still relies heavily on texts ( literary knowledge), an increased amount of digital texts and virtual reality, and less and less on first-hand experiences. The fundamental idea is to create more opportunities for concrete experiences in the outdoor classroom. Ingvar (1997), expresses the significance of our senses: "It is necessary to spend time outdoors for brains to be stimulated by the flow of sounds, light, shapes and colors that nature offers. We need the outdoor stimuli for our hearing, our vision and our skin, e.g. singing birds, whispering winds, sunlight reflections and shadows, moisture and fog, and the colors of flowers and insects. The growth of our brain cells depends on this special stimulus nature offers".

Outdoor education and outdoor recreation can make us experience the living conditions and problem solving abilities of early Man. In nature’s learning context, members of a group become dependent on each other. This contributes to personal growth, increased self-confidence, and an ability to trust others. Perhaps the health pedagogic perspective also is one of the most important methodological tools for working with outdoor education. Recent studies point to evidence of more movable learning environments and daily physical activity promoting health and preventing disease as diabetes type II, obesity, bone-weakness ( osteoporosis ) and stress syndrome, caused by high levels of stress hormones (cortisone). The sensory education’s road to knowledge demands a bodily meeting, where the frame of reference of our sensory capability, which has evolved for millions of years in a "forest landscape", becomes stimulated. One of the main reasons for learning in, and from, reality is offers chances for experiences, and very likely also prevents learning without reflection. The advantages of learning in outdoor environments are that many senses are activated and it creates a firmer sense of social community.

Education of the student or child should follow the old axiom:

"I hear and I forget;
I see and I remember;
I do and I understand".

I want to share with you one activity that I took part in Sweden. The name of this activity is: "Travel time". We traveled in Vikings time. The activity took place in a forest on a bank/shore of a lake.At first we were introduced in that period, the year 839, and therefore, an actor who was dressed in a warrior said:

"The summer of 839 is unrestful. Vikings from Smaland and northern Skane has attacked southern Ostergotland and are at the moment plundering somewhere in southern Kinda. The signal fires have been set alight and have been seen across the lakes.

The chieftain of Rimforsa, Grimbjorn, has taken all the men he can spare, and gone to join the men of Kinda in en effort the drive the enemy out. Across the land there are hundreds of landmark posts where signal fires have been prepared. All of them have to be manned 24 hours a day and guarded by a smaller force.

The women, the elder and the children are gathering for safety at the strong points that the hill forts can proved. In the early Viking age 99% of the Swedish population was farmers. The women had a strong position in the society and the wife ruled absolutely inside the house, where the men had to behave. Brawls would have to be taken outside.

Life for the most part where centered around the farm, the field work, the animals and the wood. The Vikings were good craftsmen and often skilled in woodwork, blacksmiths and so forth. Communication took place by boat. The rivers and lake systems of Kinda were therefore the most important routes of communication. If the enemy would appear, he would come by boat.

In the early Viking age the population was grooving and many farms had young men at home with not much to do. They where often easily recruited for adventurous raids and small warfare by chieftains who needed them to burn and plunder. As long as the political system was week plunder could be got from the neighbour, in time with better organization at home the raiders would attack all over Europe.

Now the Vikings of Kinda were themselves the victims of Viking attack.

There is a lot to think about. Will the men succeed or will they fail ?

While staying there a lot of work needs to be done, most important, do scan the lake after enemy boats. In order to be able to light the signal fire in time.

Everybody man and women has to be able to defend themselves, so the first group had to be trained in weapons, bow and arrow, spear and shield.

The second group had to make vessels from clay and the third group had to prepared the meal because everybody was hungry.

What kind of outcomes do I expect from the students after this activity ?

Heart :

• * Care and concern for the environment and other living things;
• * Confidence: sense of well-being and feeling safe outdoors;
• * Creativity-development of ideas inspired by the outdoor environment;
• * Curiosity and wonder about the outdoor world
• * Physical and spiritual enjoyment of being in the outdoor environment;
• * Sense of personal responsibility towards local environment
• * Willingness to co-operate with others.

Hand :

• * Skills for life, developed in outdoor setting;
• * Safety and survival skills;
• * Technical: using a variety of tools ( for battle, for cooking, for making dishes etc) and equipment.

Head:

• Increasing knowledge about:

• * history ( the way of living in 839, in Sweden );
• * geography ( knowing plants and animals, knowing how they have influenced and been influenced by their environment, about earth's resources, about environment issues, leading to effective action to protect the environment)