eTwinning is a European Union program that enables schools to partner together on projects using information and communication technologies. It provides schools with online tools like TwinSpace, a private forum for teachers and students to share files, communicate via messaging and chat. Over 230,000 members from schools across Europe participate in more than 5,000 projects annually through eTwinning to collaborate on various topics and help students learn skills like ICT and cultural awareness.

1. e- Twinning
Submitted to
Mrs. Sushama Prabha
Lecturer in Natural Science
Submitted by
Bindu R R
Natural Science optional
Submitted on : 29/08/2015

2. Index
Sl No. Content Page no.
1 Introduction 3
2 History of e-twinning 4
3 Operations of e-twinning 4
4 Content 5
5 Software tools used 7
6 Conclusion 7
7 Reference 7
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3. e Twinning
Introduction
eTwinning is a community of people. There are some rules to keep eTwinning
credible and safe. eTwinning is part of the European Commission's eLearning
programme. It is a supported scheme to promote and enable partnership activities
undertaken by two or more schools in Europe.The scheme enables us to cooperate with
colleagues from other European countries, using Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) to carry out a pedagogically relevant activity and to discover, innovate,
motivate and share. All over Europe, eTwinning activities and events take place all year
round. 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.
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4. History of e Twinning
The eTwinning action was launched in January 2005. Its main objectives
complied with the decision by the Barcelona European Council in March 2002 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. 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. Currently (June 2012), more
than 20 000 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.
Operations in e-Twinning
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.eTwinning projects last for any length of time ranging from
only a week, to months, up to creating permanent relationships between schools. Schools
(both primary and secondary) within the European Union member states can participate
in the eTwinning project, in addition to schools from Turkey, Norway and Iceland.
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
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5. 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.
Content
eTwinning is the community for schools in Europe. eTwinning offers a platform
for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the
European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and,
in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe. The
eTwinning action promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing support, tools and
services for schools.
The eTwinning Portal (www.etwinning.net) is the main meeting point and
workspace for the action. Available in twenty-six languages, the eTwinning Portal now
has the involvement of nearly 230 277 members and over 5462 projects between two or
more schools across Europe. The Portal provides online tools for teachers to find
partners, set up projects, share ideas, exchange best practice and start working together,
immediately using various customised tools available on the eTwinning platform.
Launched in 2005 as the main action of the European Commission’s eLearning
Programme, eTwinning has been firmly integrated in the European programme for
Education, Training, Youth and Sport, since 2014. Once registered, we can login to our
Desktop to get in touch with other eTwinners, exchange ideas, learn together and plan
future collaborative activities. The Desktop is your personal window in the platform, so
be sure to keep it updated so that we can share what we do with other eTwinners. If we
are ready for an eTwinning Project, once we have found a partner and have decided on
the project, we will run it together and can register it on the Portal. Then we will have
access to the collaborative tools in the TwinSpace as well as the eTwinning Label, which
we can print off and post in our school. To keep the world up-to-date on the progress of
our work, we can publish entries in our Project Diary.
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6. If we want to set up a project, start looking for a potential partner with the following
criteria:
• sharing similar objectives and agreeing on a topic for our collaborative project;
• communicating regularly and openly;
• having comparable age, number and language level of pupils;
• having access to ICT equipment at school to allow for effective collaboration.
If we are a part of a school , getting started with eTwinning is very easy.
Step 1: See what's out there already
Step 2: Register on eTwinning
Step 3: Develop our eTwinning experience
Step 4: Start working with our partners
An eTwinning project can be carried out by two or more teachers, teams of
teachers or subject departments, librarians, headteachers and pupils from schools across
Europe. Collaboration can be within the same subject or cross-curricular through the use
of Information and Communication Technology. Pre-school, primary, secondary and
upper secondary schools can all participate (age range of pupils: 3 to 19).
eTwinning applies to the Member States of the European Union: Austria,
Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Other
overseas territories and countries are also eligible, including Norway and Cyprus.
Once we have registered, we will get a username and a password which will
enable us to go to the Desktop where we can use the eTwinning tools to find partners,
communicate and collaborate with them. Once you have a partnership, you get a
TwinSpace, a private space that you can use to work together. The TwinSpace is
available from the Desktop which you reach when you login. In addition, all registered
partnerships are given the official eTwinning Label. ou can work on any topic you and
your partner choose. The project should have a good balance of ICT use and classroom
activities, and should preferably fit into the national curriculums of the schools
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7. participating in the project. f you are stuck for ideas, get inspired by the project examples
and kits available on the portal. There is no upper limit to the number of partners in a
project. eTwinning prizes are given to schools that have run high quality eTwinning
projects. There are three categories: School Collaboration, Pedagogical Innovation, and
Digital Resources.
Software tools used
The eTwinning portal provides participants with a virtual learning environment,
called the TwinSpace. The TwinSpace is a forum where files, documents and links can be
shared between partners. It has an internal messaging system and chat room where
teachers and students communicate in a closed network. It is browser-based and works
with all operating systems.
You may wish to use other tools such as instant messengers (MSN, Yahoo, ICQ,
for example), voice over Internet Protocol systems (such as Skype), Web logs (blogs) and
audio recording software (such as Audacity). There are links to many freeware and open
source applications .
The e-twinning newsletter appears monthly. It is available in 21 languages. You
may wish to receive it in your own language or that of the country with which you wish
to collaborate.
Conclusion
eTwinning supports collaborative projects between at least two schools from at
least two different European countries. They form a partnership and use Information and
Communication Technology to carry out a pedagogically relevant project. In eTwinning,
schools communicate and collaborate via the Internet. There are no grants or
administration connected to the scheme, and face-to-face meetings are not a requirement.
Reference
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/etwinning
2) www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning/what
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