My Learning Diary

That's me, Elena ...

Hi everybody! I'm Elena, I teach Spanish in a secondary school in Bologna, Italy.

I like reading, learning, cooking, knitting, but, above all ... travelling!! (don't you see the wonderful Macarella's Bay in Menorca up above?)

I am also a teacher trainer in the field of digital technologies (I am a member of a research group - Servizio Marconi TSI - in our regional office of the Ministry of Education).

Moreover, I am eTwinning ambassador and trainer.

I've been studying, researching and working on PBL, active learning, digital contents, assessment and self-assessment topics for a lot of years now...

Involving colleagues in learning and working together is one of my aims, that is why this pilot is very important for me. I am sure that I will learn a lot from it!

... and this is the school where I work ...

The school where I teach is a secondary school in the centre of Bologna. It is a very old and historical building, so at the beginning learning and working with technology seemed quite a nonsense within the classrooms of our ancient convent...

But furthermore we began to implement the use of ICT: first of all, the computers room, then some electronic whiteboards in some classes, then some pc and now we have got two classes where we "experiment" a mixed and mobile setting done by Chromebooks notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Some of them have been bought by the school, some of them are BYOD.

If I have to tell the truth, I could not come back to my first "pen and paper" eve... Students are much more engaged in their own learning process, learn much more one from each other and have access a much wider range of knowledge than before.

Some colleagues of mine have the same frame of mind, some don't ... but I strongly believe that our students will engage them ... We just have to wait a little more...

This pilot is a step forward to create a community of learning and teaching among teachers and could be a wonderful mean to show how digital technology can help us to know more about our teaching practice and share experiences ...

Let's go!

My experience in eTwinning

A relevant part of my professional life is related to eTwinning, where I learn, teach, share, run projects, find friends ...

Together with two eTw Ambassadors I moderate a Group called Virgilio whose aim is to help and support new eTwinners to find their way through the "dark wood" of the platform. I have also run some Learning Events about digital literacy and PBL approach.

Since March 2018 my school has been awarded with eTwinning School Label: a great achievement but also a great challenge to do more!

If you still don't know the platform ... don't miss this wonderful opportunity! Register immediately!

Erasmus+

My other "addiction" are Erasmus+ projects (and Comenius beforehand...)

Our school has been involved in European projects since 1998 (they were called Socrates at that time...) and since 2008 we've worked and organised both in-service training projects for school staff (KA101) and multilateral partnerships with a lot of European schools (Spain, France, Germany, Romania, Poland, Finland and so on...)

Our last achieved project is "Laboratorios de Humanidad", Erasmus+ KA219, which ended last August 2018.

But we are running a new adventure: "No man is an island", a partnership that we will carry out from September 2018 until December 2021 ... Our partners: Spain, Portugal, Finland, Réunion Island, Tahiti.

And then ... from 2021 until 2027 we will be able to carry out a large number of training and mobility activities as part of the Erasmus+ accreditation we have just obtained!

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