Team
DiogoColegio da Via-Sacra, Portugal
GeorgeKaratoula Primary School, Greece
BrunoColegio da Via-Sacra, Portugal
TheoniKaratoula Primary School, Greece
AnnaKaratoula Primary School, Greece
Age Range
15 & under
Coaches
Margarida CostaColégio da Via-Sacra, Viseu, Portugal
Christos PapandreouKaratoula Ilias Primary School, Greece
Category
Social Sciences & Culture > Education
Computers & the Internet > The Internet
Audience
Ages 12 and up
Language
English
Site Features
Online Activity / Game
Quiz
Photo Gallery
Video / Sound
Team Collaboration
Margarida (English language teacher) worked with 3 teams in Portugal, while Christos (Greek language teacher) did the same with two teams in Greece. One of our first difficulty was the fact that Margarida had only one hour available for activities, while Christos could spend more than 3 hours per week, as the curriculum there allows 3-4 hours for cross-curricular and cross-thematic projects.
The time difference was not a real problem as we could upload our scheduled tasks on the E-twinning platform (an absolutely safe social networking place -free of charge- offered by the European School Network.
A solution to our first problem was to make a work plan from the beginning and follow it "to the letter". So we knew what we had to do, without sparing our time.
As regards the teams, Christos gave the opportunity to George, Theoni and Anna to be the leaders, as they are very good in ICT field and could handle computers skillfully. They also helped their partners to overcome the initial problems with the keyboard (how to find the letters and pointing), the search engines and the software (Ms-Word and PowerPoint). Later they offered their place to the others in order to have their own experience with the PC. All of them collaborated and gave ideas about what to search and how to do it, about the context, the material, the quiz questions, how to construct their board game. Anna had the idea and draw the background for the Euro Currency Game!!! Of course Christos helped with the difficult software (Macromedia Flash 8 and FrontPage) in order to support the whole project. He also gave great help to Margarida in technical issues on PhotoShop 6.
Margarida followed the same process in Portugal with her students.
We communicated each other via e-mail, the chat service of our platform. The Web 2.0 tools helped us so much!!!
Our pupils found this project amusing and informative, as they learned new things about culture, economy, geography, using ICT tools. They also improved their computer and English skills. Some of them (the team leaders) had no problem, as they have a PC at their home. The others had a few problems (at the start) with the keyboard or how to search the internet and find the suitable sources. The more they practiced, the more they succeeded.
At the end of the project they estimated the role of working in teams and its great value. They also realized the new role of Web 2.0 and what the potential of social networking is.
Team Diversity
Our team consists of students coming from different countries and reflecting a socioeconomic and cultural variety.
So, pupils from a Greek rural school communicate with an urban Portuguese college -via internet- and exchange information about their school life, their hobbies, their customs, their opinions and reactions about Euro €, our new common currency.
During this process, they realize that their lives look quite the same as they are citizens not only of the European Union, but of a universal community, as well.
The globality of the mass media and the new technologies (I.C.T.) educate "digital literated" people who share or promote their experience, learn about others on the planet and try to understand other peoples' individuality and diversity. At the same time, they try to preserve their native and special habits, attributes and identities.
As regards our group's structure, we tried to achieve team diversity. So we included pupils (boys and girls) with communication, I.C.T. skills and of course with different capabilities and talents!!!
Everybody in the team presented his opinion and all together contributed to our website's context, material and structure. (See more at the team collaboration unit).
