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Developing International Dimension and Digital Learning
Start date: Sep 1, 2014, End date: Aug 31, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Within the context of an information-saturated world and of increasingly-globalised and hich-tech society typical to the so-called Digital Age, we need more international cooperation projects to keep up with the rhythm imposed by digital education and today's key competences, such as 21st century skills. Thus, from the wide spectrum of identified needs, our school project intends to approach two strategic priorities: the necessity of implementing a long-term policy plan on internationalization and the need to promote innovation and quality in education through the alternative way of exploiting the high potential of digital technology in the didactic process to ensure that tomorrow’s European pupils are highly competitive in the digital world. These two essential directions circumscribe the following main areas for improvement: European dimension, staff competences (language, digital, management competences) new teaching methods or tools, curriculum. Based on the previous needs, we have outlined the European Development Plan which includes six European mobility projects within four professional development courses. With regard to enhancing international cooperation, we have chosen two courses "How to make your school more international ? " proposed by Euneos , How to become a teacher trainer " , by Cambridge Bell. Specifically, "How to make your school more international " Euneos clearly meets the need for development and integration of the international dimension in the curriculum, by creating both tangible results ( drafts of international development plan, concluding (bi)multilateral partnerships) as well as development of key competences of a good international coordinator, able to develop a school vision and long-term policy plan on internationalisation. The course "How to become a teacher trainer" organized by Bell Cambridge, with a world-wide reputation in the academic excellence, addresses our school’s need of a highly-qualified English teacher trainer able to design, implement and run 20 bimonthly workshops throughout the year to facilitate linguistic preparation for our colleagues keen to develop and involve in international partnership projects. Given that technology plays a vital role in today's society and students are incredibly receptive to digital technology, it becomes imperative to adapt ourselves to and adopt the new technologies in education. Therefore, the course " How to use tablets in education" meets our school’s needs to specialize two teachers from different subject areas in digital education, to acquire the didactic and digital competences needed to successfully implement by 2016 pilot projects of tablet use in students’ learning program to facilitate the transition to digital education. Moreover, we need to learn from and be inspired by the efficiency of Finnish educational system by sending two teachers (at least one person from the Board members) to attend Best Practices Benchmarking in order to improve both our school management and to set up a qualified team of promoters of innovation in the school responsible with improving the quality of teaching and learning through the development of innovative digital learning methods and tools ( blended learning, flipped classroom ) . In conclusion, the six European mobilities for teacher training proposed within our school project are appropriate to achieve the two strategic objectives for institutional development. Moreover, once these strategic priorities are achieved, they trigger a major impact both on organizational level, as well as on individual beneficiaries and local community level. At macro - institutional level, the short and medium-term impact is visible in the following concrete outcomes : • workshop at school level based on planning, implementing and evaluating European partnership projects • at least one multilateral strategic partnership project grant • training course materials for the workshop English for International Cooperation Project • bimonthly workshops throughout one year to develop English language competences of staff willing to participate in future international projects • a guide for parents and teachers on How to use tablets in classroom (advantages / impact of using tablet applications in learning) • trainings for school staff on the use of tablets in teaching and learning • teacher’s portfolio of digital resources with lesson plans integrating technology (plus a DVD with interactive lessons ) The long-term impact is quantified by defining and successfully implementing : • a policy, strategy and vision of the school to promote international dimension and innovative methods in curriculum • pilot-projects based on the use of tablets in classroom to facilitate the transition to digital learning • a more international and innovative oriented curriculum ( how students learn Finnish ) by integrating iPad applications in lessons
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