Interesting examples - Upper secondary schools (4)

• 10. klassen Solroed, (Denmark)
• Unirea National College (Romania)
• Strabrecht College (Belgium)
• Ursulinen Mechelen (Belgium)2
• IES BECERREA (Spain)
• Polo Liceale "Rambaldi-Valeriani" e "Alessandro da Imola" (Italy)
• Alessandro da Imola (Italy)
• Institut Educació Secundŕria Emili Darder (Spain)
• Gymnázium Karla ?apka Dobříš (Czech Republic)

URL to the school website:
http://www.ursulinenmechelen.be


School name:
Ursulinen Mechelen (Belgium)

Number of students:
1 100

Number of teachers:
160

Level of education:
upper secondary school

Experience with international projects:
Several years experience with international projects: Leonardo da Vinci projects Comenius projects (both European Community projects)

How many computers/per 30 pupils?
4

Is your Internet connection:
good

Title:
ELINE (Every Day life in Europe / Electronic Learning in an international environment)

Theme:
A comparison of 50ties and present time concerning different topics in different European countries

URL to the project website:
http://www.schooljournals.net

Age and number of the students involved:
appr. 16 years old - 39 students in 2003-2004

Activities: what did students do
creating website, investigation, communication, publishing, creating CD-rom


Integration into the curriculum, - other. Which areas of describe of the curriculum?
No real integration into the curriculum. The students did work for the project during several lessons: e.g. English, Dutch, Wordprocessing but that did depend on the motivation of some teachers. The students did get marks for the work done during the lessons. the students had to do some work during their spare time at home (e.g. interviews, investigation)

Is participation compulsory for the students?
Yes

Type of partnership:
Comenius

Which technology did you use:
e-mail, websites, electronic learning environment

Describe the technical equipment in your and the other participating schools. What use did you make of the technology? Describe the methodology used.
Students could use pc's in the computerrooms at school. Communication and investigation by means of the website of the project, e-mail and internet.

How did you use it: at school, during lessons...
Students could use the internet during the lessons to look for information about their topic. The students of the different countries did communicate with each other by means of the website and e-mail

What went very well? Give some examples.
The personal presentations of the students and teachers were a good tool to get to know the other members of the topicgroups. The brainstorming between the members of the different topicgroups worked very well.

What was not so successful? Give examples.
Some students didn't cooperate very well. The comparison between the different countries didn't work out very well at our school because of a lack of time

What solutions were found to problems occurring in the activity?
The role of the topic coordinator (a teacher of a participating school) and an assistant (a student appointed by the topic coordinator) was important: they could in some cases motivate the students to work better by sending messages to those students.

What difficulties were not solved during the duration of the activity?

What kind of long term benefit and impact has the project had on learning activities?
Threshold fear for new technologies and for new challenges in general declined. Students learned to use and build a website. They learned to communicate in English without fearing to make mistakes.

Has there been an impact on other projects, on the learning and teaching activities at school? Please describe.
The use of new technologies at school improved (e.g. use of smartschool)

How did it change your practice in your school?
I'm feeling more comfortable with the use of new technologies and I use more frequent internet possibilities during my lessons.

What advice would you give to other teachers who would like to do a similar project?
The use of a electronic learning environment is an easy way to communicate with students of other countries. It opens the minds of both students and teachers towards new methodologies, technologies and cultures.

Respondent:
Linda Bevers