The idea of a Learning Event is that it is a short intense course that offers you an introduction to a topic, stimulates your ideas, helps develop your skills and does not require a long-term commitment in terms of your time.  It is also designed to be an enjoyable learning experience.

Each learning event lasts 4-5 days of active work and discussion, followed by 4-5 days of reflection and personal work.  The materials are online and you may access them during your own time.

How to participate? The application for each event is open to all registered eTwinning teachers, approximately one week before the event begins. The link is on your Desktop, so just log in to fill in the online form. If you are not yet registered do so now then follow the link on your Desktop.

All events take place in the eTwinning Learning Lab.

Spring 2010 Timetable

• 17 - 28 March: Building a successful project - presenter: Cees Brederveld, Euroepean eTwinning Teachers Team (Working language: ENGLISH)

This event is suitable for teachers who wish to explore a step-by-step approach to building a successful eTwinning project. Following the “KISS” principle you will be guided through the essential points for successful project work. Suitable for post-primary teachers of all disciplines. The number of participants is limited to 100.

• 22 March - 2 April: eTwinning approaches for Primary Schools - presenter: Miriam Schembri, European eTwinning Teachers Team (Working language: ENGLISH)

This learning event is aimed at primary teachers and will explore specific approaches for carrying out project work with younger pupils. In this interactive event the participants will be encouraged to team up with other primary teachers to work and plan together.   Project ideas and approaches will be discussed, touching on the specific measures that have to be taken when working with younger pupils. The number of participants is limited to 100.

• 19 – 22 April: Tools for eTwinning - presenter: Ioanna Kominou, European eTwinning Teachers Team(Working language: ENGLISH)

In this learning event, participants will learn more about the tools that can be used for the development of an eTwinning project.  Communication technology can help in the research and development of educational material, promote interaction among partner schools and make the results of a project prominent. The discovery of new tools can make projects more amusing for pupils as well as for teachers. This event is suitable for teachers of all disciplines and school levels. The number of participants is limited to 100.

• 12 - 24 April: Exploiting Web 2.0; eTwinning and Collaboration - presenter: Tiina Sarisalmi, European eTwinning Teachers Team (Working language: ENGLISH)

What exactly is collaboration? How does it contribute to a fuller pedagogical experience for teachers and pupils? What tools promote collaboration in project work? When is it appropriate to use collaborative learning techniques? These questions and more are explored in this interactive learning event which is suitable for teachers of all disciplines and school levels. The number of participants is limited to 100.

• (exact dates TBC) May: Mind Mapping - presenter: Pierre Auboiron, eTwinning Central Support Service (Working language: FRENCH)

Do you use mind maps? Join this event to learn how they may be used in your work to assist in the formulation of ideas in a fast and effective way.

For more information about eTwinning Learning Events, do not hesitate to contact the eTwinning National Support Service on 25982150, 79002150 or by e-mail on etwinning@schoolnet.gov.mt.

1. Open a photograph with red-eye effect.

Red eye reduction tutorial

2. Use the Magnifier to enlarge the view to focus on one eye.

Eye with red eye effect

3. Drag in guidelines from the side and top rulers and stop at the pupil.

4. From the selection options select feathering and type 3 as number of pixels to feather.

5. From the intersection of the guides draw an eliptical selection to cover the pupil. Use the shift to select a perfect circle around the pupil.

Eclipse select

6. From the Main Menu select Filters>Enhance>Red-Eye Removal…

Enhance -> Red Eye Removal

7. With the Threshold at 50, click OK in the ‘Red Eye Removal’ window.

Threshold

8. Repeat the steps to remove the red-eye effect from the other eye.

The final outcome

The filter is surprisingly effective and the final result is optimum.

Two of the winning videos have a Maltese Partner! The Maltese winners are Mr. Saviour Tabone (Xewkija Primary) and Ms. Marianne Schembri (Fgura Primary A). Congratulations!

From over 100 submissions to the collaborative video competition, which took place between 1 October 2009 and 15 January 2010, choosing the top collaborative videos - between two or more schools - was certainly not an easy task. However, the top three submissions certainly did this and we congratulate them for their hard work. The videos were showcased during the first day of the annual eTwinning Conference 2010 on 5 February in Seville in front of an audience of over 500 people.

The schools involved in the production of the videos will receive high-quality video cameras. This prize has been possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Belgian Dutch-speaking community’s National Support Service.

The winning videos

“New frontiers, meet new people, create links with the World”

Tatjana Gulic; OŠ Preeska (SI)

Eric Vayssie, Françoise Mazelier & Sylvie Luczak; Collège Antonin Perbosc (FR)

Daniela Arghir; Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar Sibiu (RO)

Charles-Henri Eyraud; Institut National de Recherche Pédagogique (FR)

Rossella Bragazzi; Istituto Comprensivo Michelangelo Bunarroti (IT)

Saviour Tabone; Gozo College, Xewkija Primary (MT)

“Tandem”

Claire Chevalier; Lycée Benjamin Franklin (FR)

Rogelio Martinez del Oro; I.E.S Melchor de Macanaz (ES)

“Drawing Adventures from Malta and Poland”

Miriam Schembri; St. Thomas More College, Fgura Primary A (MT)

Ewa Kurzak; Przedszkole Publiczne nr 5 w Głogowie (PL)

All eTwinners are encouraged to login to the eTwinning Desktop and look at the videos in the RESOURCES area. Type “etwinning_video_comp_2009” and you will get all of the results. Many videos are an excellent source of inspiration and support for future eTwinning collaboration.

If you are interested in contacting this teacher you can find her name on the eTwinning portal through the Partner Finding section or else contact the eTwinning coordinator Jeannette Cardona on jeannette.cardona@gov.mt or on 25982150/79002150 to get the direct email address of Ms. Pilip.

You can find this teacher in the Partner Finding section of your eTwinning profile. For further help you can contact the Malta National Support Service on etwinning@schoolnet.gov.mt or on 25982150/79002150.

Good luck!

If you need help in accessing your eTwinning profile or finding this partner, don’t hesitate to contact the Malta National Support Service on etwinning@schoolnet.gov.mt or on 79002150/25982150.

The pupils work in groups to write a story. Then they draw a picture for this tale. They exchange with their partners only the picture. The partners will then write a story for the received picture. This will create a number of different stories for the same picture. An e-book will be created and published online. This will help pupils to learn to share, coordinate their work and respect differences.

If you are interested in this project you can enter your eTwinning profile and look for Ayça Oğuz in the Partner Finding section and contact her through her email. If you are not an eTwinner and would like to participate to this project, you can register to eTwinning at www.etwinning.net.

For further details don’t hesitate to contact the Malta National Support Service on etwinning@schoolnet.gov.mt or 79002150.

Continue reading @ teachersandcomputers.blogspot.com…

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in Floriana and was presented by Ms. Marianne Schembri, eTwinning expert teacher and one of Malta’s Ambassadors for eTwinning. An eTwinning pack including a printout of the New TwinSpace notes, a pendrive and eTwinning stationery was given to each participant. The Seminar was also open for those who could not physically attend to the meeting, such as Gozitan eTwinners, by means of a FlashMeeting video-conferencing link.

During this Seminar, the teachers were taken from the very first steps of the TwinSpace - logging in and inviting other members - to the actual collaborative building of this online space.



Each TwinSpace can be personalised with Activities (Pages), and each Actitivity can be shaped in any way that the teacher deems fit, by adding widgets and page elements such as blogs, wikis, online content from the Internet, image archives, etc.  The teachers were also given some hands on activities to try out on their own TwinSpaces.  After the Seminar, the teachers met for an informal get-together in the foyer.

Present for the TwinSpace Seminar were members of the eTwinning National Support Service,

Ms. Jeannette Cardona and Ms. Amanda Debattista, and the eLearning EO’s, Mr. Emmanuel Zammit and Mr. Vincent Carabott.

Phase 1 - Teachers with children and their parents gather information about the home town of important objects, famous people, ancient cultural heritage, places of interest, language, culture and traditions.

Phase 2 - Students will present their presentation of the city, on the basis of vision.

Phase 3 - The stage presentation will focus on the hometown sounds.

Phase 4 - At this stage, students will tell you, the smell of their city.

Phase 5 - Information relating to urban tastes.

Phase 6 - Touch in our city.

Phase 7 - Project reflection.

All works are to be prepared for presentation in a presentation software and placed on the Internet.

If you are interested to join you can find Sigita Koroliove in the Partner finding section of your profile to contact her.

If you need more help you can contact Malta National Support Service on etwinning@schoolnet.gov.mt or on 79002150