Teacher Training in eTwinning. The Learning Event “Approcci e strategie didattiche”

July 30th, 2015 by Carmine Iannicelli

A range of training opportunities is offered to eTwinning teachers to refine and enrich their professional development.

Online Seminars and Learning Events help eTwinners to keep constantly updated. They are live communication sessions and short intensive online events where you can learn, talk and discuss about several themes, led by an expert through active and cooperative work and the sharing of experience and know-how among teachers across Europe.

The platform, used to facilitate the online aspect of eTwinning Professional Development, is The Learning Labs. The Central Support Service for eTwinning is operated, on behalf of the European Commission, by the European Schoolnet (EUN).

From the 15^th to the 27^th March, I held in Italian a Learning Event “Approcci e strategie didattiche“, a course for professional development aimed at improving the educational-methodological skills of teachers using eTwinning platform.

The data that I collected from the customer satisfaction questionnaire administered by EUN have been very encouraging: more than 85% of teachers expressed a positive opinion.

The course aimed to present, explore and discuss theories, models of learning-teaching and teaching strategies through the most recent acquisitions in the field of pedagogy, teaching practices and technological tools, in order to promote greater awareness in a complex learning environment with a view to integrated curriculum.

The Learning Event took advantage of the most innovative educational architectures, including activities of study, testing, individual and cooperative work for the professional enrichment, in particular of eTwinners, who already experience new educational working methods and use of technology tools.

In teaching practice, it helps to use different pedagogical models which indicate specific strategies, methods, techniques, that a teacher could put in practice to facilitate learning. However, it is not always possible to apply in a serial manner a strategic device. Sometimes, you need to bend and prepare environments favorable to learning, by integrating educational theories or even excluding some from a given learning context.

Therefore, teaching methods and the environment play a vital role.
There are many experimental pedagogical models (such as the enriched, organismic and adaptive model or the most popular constructivism).

I planned the learning aims and the main objectives of my course, through a continuous scaffolding (email, forum, skype, whatsapp, mobile phone), to improve the professional know-how, to develop, outline and communicate data and information. Underlining the crucial role that knowledge of new addresses and pedagogical approaches, educational and methodological could support students and teachers.

Moreover, learning about the variety of teaching strategies and to be able to fit into a curriculum design, could help the competence of teachers, improving their reflection on pedagogical choices and ability to acquire feedback, developing methods and common tools in the working group. Last but not least teachers could be ready to exchange points of view and opinion on expert pedagogical actual issues.

Significant focus has been given to place the field of educational technologies in a formative milieu; to understand the theories that underlie the technological approaches; to assess the technological applications within the school context.

From this perspective, skill acquisition and validation of professional achievements are tools which should be developed in career profile and activated through teaching activity.

Some examples of activities

Vialogues

	Didattica e new media. Critica ad alcune teorie pedagogiche
	Ricerca didattica e (nuove) strategie per l’insegnamento. Modello costruttivista e strategie didattiche nello studio della matematica