2. INTRODUCTION
The eTwinning action is an initiative of the European
Commission that aims to encourage European schools to
collaborate using Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) by providing the necessary infrastructure
(online tools, services, support). Therefore, teachers registered in
the eTwinning action are enabled to form partnerships and
develop collaborative, pedagogical school projects in any subject
area with the sole requirements to employ ICT to develop their
project and collaborate with teachers from other European
countries (at least two teachers from two different European
countries are needed).
3. e Twinning
The eTwinning action is an initiative of the European
Commission that aims to encourage European schools to collaborate
using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing the
necessary infrastructure (online tools, services, support). Therefore,
teachers registered in the eTwinning action are enabled to form
partnerships and develop collaborative, pedagogical school projects in any
subject area with the sole requirements to employ ICT to develop their
project and collaborate with teachers from other European countries (at
least two teachers from two different European countries are needed). The
primary workspace for the eTwinning action, is the eTwinning Portal
(www.etwinning.net) and it is available in twenty-five languages. Teachers
registered in the eTwinning action, also called eTwinners,[1] find each other,
communicate, share resources and collaborate through the eTwinning
platform. This growing and active community enforced the change in the
motto of eTwinning from "School partnerships in Europe" to "The
community for schools in Europe".
The project was born in 2005 under the European Union's e-
Learning programme and it has been integrated in the Lifelong Learning
Programme since 2007. eTwinning is part of Comenius, the EU programme
for schools.
The eTwinning action was launched in January 2005. Its main
objectives complied with the decision by the Barcelona European Council
was to promote school twinning as an opportunity for all students to learn
and practice ICT skills and to promote awareness of the multicultural
European model of society.More than 13 000 schools were involved in
eTwinning within its first year. In fall 2008, over 50 000 teachers and 4 000
projects have been registered, while a new eTwinning platform was
launched.
4. In early 2009 the eTwinning motto has changed from "School
partnerships in Europe" to "The community for schools in Europe". In June
2009, the eTwinning community consisted of nearly 65 000 members. In
2011 nearly 30,000 projects have been registered, the total number of
registered teachers has increased dramatically to 130 000, and the number
of registered schools has been 90,000. As per June 2012, more than
20000 projects have been developed between two or more schools across
Europe, the total number of registered teachers is close to 170 000 and the
number of involved schools is more than 90 000.
The main concept behind eTwinning is that schools are paired with
another school elsewhere in the Europe and they collaboratively develop a
project, also known as eTwinning project. The two schools then
communicate using the Internet (for example, by e-mail or video
conferencing) to collaborate, share and learn from each other. eTwinning
encourages and develops ICT skills as the main activities inherently use
information technology. Being 'twinned' with a foreign school also
encourages cross-cultural exchanges of knowledge, fosters students'
intercultural awareness, and improves their communication skills.
In contrast with other European programmes, such as
the Comenius programme, all communication is held via the internet and
therefore there is no need for grants. Along the same lines, face-to-face
meetings between partners schools are not required, though they are not
prohibited and some schools organise face-to-face meetings
eTwinning is also supported by a network of National Support
Services (NSS).
5. CONCLUTION
E-twinning had a significant role in Schools, for the Informative
Teaching and Active learning among the students. It has been employed in
many countries. If it is Implemented in all educational institutes in India, the
educational and intelligent level of students will upgrade to newer extreme.
REFERENCE
www.wikipedia.org