Society and Cultures

A NEMED Working Group

(WG3)

Partners involved in Working Group 3

Partners Roles

Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece

Coordination, design and development, implementation

University of Lecce, Italy

Design and development, implementation

Univ. Politehnica of Bucharest,Romania

Design and development, implementation

Institute of Education, UK

Pedagogic support (new technologies in distance education)

Society and cultures WG’s aim

To investigate ways in which multigrade

education is interweaved with issues

relating to the societal and cultural

characteristics of the local communities in

which multigrade schools operate

To propose relevant teacher training and

student learning activities for multigrade

schools in Europe.

Two major strands of work:1st strand (mainly 2006)

The multiple roles which multigrade

school teachers can play within the

small rural communities:

their role as change agents for the

development of a new digital culture

among local people and the exploitation of

opportunities for local development

offered within today’s information society.

Two major strands of work: 2nd strand (mainly 2007)

The new conditions faced by

multigrade schools due to the

increased mobility of populations and

the rich mixture of cultures

characterising today’s Europe, not least

in rural areas.

Work methodology for 1st strand

Propose to the teachers to experiment with ideas that will help them expand their work at

school so as to address the needs and aspirations of the whole local community.

Based mainly on ideas collected from the literature.

Provide teachers with opportunities to use existing educational applications, which will involve students and the wider local communities in activities demonstrating the possibilities offered by the information society:

e.g. an agricultural e-shop, a web-based local TV channel

Coordination with other projects

An effort is made to coordinate with other projects with a similar aim (e.g. the

international Integrated Project RURAL WINGS):To achieve a critical mass of ideas and resources.

Using existing broadband school infrastructure, to demonstrate how a rural multigrade school can act as a ‘learning hub’ for the whole community.

An exemplary application scenario

The AGROWEB learning application: a web tool realising an agricultural e-shop

Allows students to buy and sell agricultural products of their area over the Internet, and monitor the financial activities of the e-shop.

Why in NEMED? To demonstrate the creation of horizontal links between the school and the local community.

An exemplary application scenario

The WebTV platform: providing the educational community with great opportunities for learning through entertainment.

Multigrade school students can work in teams, select an aspect of their culture to promote, write the scenario, collect the content, shoot the film, add music and subtitles and upload it onto the WebTV platform.

Why in NEMED?Acting as stimulus for intercultural dialogue between schools.Providing teachers, students, parents and members of the local communities with a resource for processing and communicating their own audiovisual content.

Sites of implementation

First stage (2006): schools in Greece (5), Romania (5), Italy (?), and possible contacts in the UK.

Following stage (2007): experiences gained utilized for designing a wider application, involving schools from other network countries, too, such as Spain.

Timetable

01/06 04/06 07/06 10/06 01/07 04/07 07/07

Training design

1st cycle of implementation

Evaluation and Re-design

2nd cycle of implementation

Conclusions – contribution to final report

Activities in Spring/Summer 2006

Training in Greece and RomaniaWhen: end March – June 2006

(Romania: May – June 2006)

Number of schools involved: 5 + 5Mode:

Provision to teachers of materials through the portal, and of guidelines through the portal, via email, over the phone, etc.Visits to the schools to provide support locally, to observe activity and interview users (teachers, and maybe students and local citizens)

Evaluation activities: April-August 2006