Description of the project

Cultural Heritage Awareness for Netizen Communication in Europe (CHANCE) is the chosen title for our project since it summarises our primary aims: Developing participants’ social and intercultural skills through raising awareness of European cultural heritage with the help of New Technologies and innovative approaches such as cross-curricular projects of multiple subjects and a much-needed debate programme to enhance students’ argumentative and formal language skills. We also wish to join the EU initiative: The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and seek ways of relating to it.

The partnership involves teachers and students (aged 14-17) from six schools from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain and we aim to develop students’ basic skills by involving them in culture-related activities and equip them with competences and knowledge built on digital and foreign language skills giving them the opportunity to implement mobility both within European education and labour market. We want this project to teach our students to become tolerant European citizens actively involved in a digitalized society and we are convinced that by providing our students with better language and digital skills, they will have better opportunities in the European market as well as a sense of responsibility and awareness in terms of European Cultural Heritage. We have set up our project team in a way that all partners share the same needs and all partners have expertise and good practices in various topic areas that other partners need strenghtening so they can learn and adopt.

We also have a concern for disadvantaged students and underachievement, so as teachers we have a need to improve our teaching skills to develop innovative approaches and practices that contribute to inclusive methodologies and also to a greater achievement of our students’ basic skills. We want to enhance our digital skills in order to motivate our students and address diversity with the use of innovative ICT tools.

The activities have been planned in a way that the project covers tangible (buildings, monuments, artwork, books, historic towns, etc), intagible (practices, skills, language and oral traditions, performing arts, traditional craftsmanship), natural (landscapes, flora and fauna) and digital (digital art, images, video, records) forms of our Cultural Heritage. All activities are cross-curricular covering multiple subjects, so it contributes to the cooperation among teachers from different departments leading to stronger professional relationships within and among partner schools and local institutions.

Our project activities involve students working together on tasks at national level and others collaborating during mobilities. They will mainly be implemented in the form of non-formal learning, using tools that are the most suitable for assessing the acquired knowledge and skills.

As regards the beneficiaries of the project, the target groups will go through a transparent selection process to take part in the mobilities, but project activities will also involve teachers, students’ families, volunteer students, outside partners, foundations, local authorities and communities for a better impact and dissemination.

We expect tangible and intangible results. Students will have an online portfolio and a common project website where they collect all the materials created and it will later be used for other students as well and incorporated in the curriculum. Students will take part in regular online and live debate sessions on topics related to project work between and during student exchanges.

Teachers will learn new ways to motivate students through cross-curricular activities supported by ICT tools and they will also create a curriculum for a non-formal language course, teaching debate and Content and Language Integrated Learning. They will create a manual of their teaching practice on developing basic skills and tools for different educational purposes in different subjects.

The project will have an impact on the students’ future development as the skills acquired will contribute to the improvement of their academic achievements.

The European dimension will be reinforced as a result of the sustainable cooperation of the six partner schools. Mobilities, methodological changes, and the internationalization of the institutions will mark a turning point at school level after the European experience and will serve as the basis for future cooperation. The project will also help create long-lasting synergies with institutions and collaborating partners in the activities at local, regional and international level. We will seek opportunities for carrying on joint activities based on our project findings and will take part in new eTwinning or another international project trying to involve as many new members as possible.

Objectives

General objectives

· to support the innovation and creativity in didactic activities

· exchange of good practices and creation of networks between schools

· school development and updating

· fostering individual and peer learning

Specific Objectives contributing to the achievement of some 2020 objectives

For students:

· Developing social and intercultural skills and a European Awareness of community through raising awareness of European cultural heritage.

· Enhancing and improving basic literacy, skills and inclusion.

· Improving language skills in first and second languages (English, German and French) in traditional and in electronic written and spoken communication in multinational environments.

· Developing digital skills by using modern technologies: Flipped classrooms, E-twinning, Web 2 tools.

· Reducing disparities between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and other students.

For teachers:

· Developing intercultural skills as well as a European sense of community and the promotion of E-twinning at schools.

· Improving personal and professional training and the exchange of knowledge between European teachers as well as the development of a well-connected network, making teaching a more attractive experience.

· Fostering cooperation among different teachers from different departments within schools through implementing cross-curricular projects.

· Developing digital skills through an increased use of ICT-based teaching methods and evaluation tools integrated in the curriculum.

For the schools and their surrounding areas:

· Enhancing cooperation between schools and local/regional/national cultural institutions.

· Disseminating project’s findings to the public, other schools.

· Promoting cultural and digital training for students and teachers in the use of open educational resources (OER).

· Broaden the school walls in terms of learning experience locally, nationally and internationally, increasing the European dimension of our organizations.

Concrete results:

For teachers:

· Teaching manual with teaching materials used for non-formal language courses (a collection of materials with lesson plans on culture-related topics) which be used as teaching materials in the future.

· Curriculum and materials (guides and lesson plans) for teaching debate skills

· CLIL materials on the topics of literature, history, art, architecture, geography, gastronomy and music.

· Collection of useful methods and ICT-based exercises for enhancing students’ motivation.

Results made by students:

· Webpage created by students on their research findings and presentations.

· A 'Guide to our European Treasures' with links.

· Cultural educational materials made by students for their peers: webquests, quizzes and board games.

· Students' portfolios demonstrating their linguistic and digital skills.