Workshops Summaries

 

Cloud Applications – Implementations

(conducted in parallel for 90 min. 12:00-13:30)

 

“Planet School”: blended learning for inclusive classrooms

“Planet School” is the most important blended learning platform for schools in Germany. But it is still not accessible and usable for everyone. The evaluation and further advancement of “Planet School” for inclusive education is the main focus of the study. The goal is to offer variable content. The revised version of “Planet School” addresses different types of learners with accessible and usable materials, including movies, television broadcasts, interactive learning content, etc. I expect enormous enhancement in the European and the international discourse on the participation of persons with disabilities at ICT and a big step towards anchoring in practice.

 

Ingo K. Bosse is a professor at the Technical University of Dortmund (Germany) in the Special Education program. He leads the department for Motor and Developmental Disabilities. His research interests lie in the field of special and inclusive education with the main focus on inclusive media education, the use of information and communication technologies for learning and assistive technologies. He is also interested in researching educational aspects for students with special needs in augmentative and alternative communication. Currently he is finalizing a project that investigated the potential of the blended learning platform “planet school”. Ingo Bosse takes part in the research cluster Technology for Inclusion and Participation (TIP) at the Technical University of Dortmund that initiates, supports, and coordinates interdisciplinary research projects that investigate new ways to improve the inclusion, participation and wellbeing of individuals with disabilities, impairments or disadvantages. 

Prof. Dr. Ingo Bosse, Dortmund University of Technologies 

“Putting away the umbrella”: What will you do when the Cloud comes?

 

Alan will talk about his use of Cloud based tools to support his work in a range of contexts from classrooms, to teacher support and training. Alan has presented hundreds of workshops in many European countries, and tries to provide ideas which can be used immediately, but also others which can be developed further over a longer period of time.

Alan will talk about his use of mobile devices, work with the Open University and ESRI and refer to opportunities for work outside the classroom. Alan is a Geographer, but ideas arerelevant for other subjects too.

 

Alan Parkinson is an experienced and award-winning teacher and author. He has worked across the UK and EU with the Geographical Association and as a freelance geography consultant. He is a Chartered Geographer and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is Education Director of Explorer HQ, creators of Mission: Explore. He teaches Geography at King’s Ely School. He blogs at livinggeography.blogspot.com 

 

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Le-MATH: Learning Mathematics through new communication factors

In the workshop we will discuss the preliminary guidelines for the two methods developed by the Le‐MATH project that is the MATHFactor and the MATHeatre. The guidelines are developed based on the collection and study of good practices in more than 10 European countries. We will see on-line video of actual implementation and discuss and analyze the video samples. This will give a clear overview and hands‐on to the participants and will help them understand the two methods and how these could improve the learning of mathematics as well as the change of attitudes towards mathematics. Participants are expected to teach mathematics to pupils in the age group 9‐18. The method can be used by other disciplines, so participants could be from different fields. Some participants will have the opportunity to play the role of pupils for few minutes and others will become evaluators.

 

Gregory Makrides holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the IIT, USA. Since 1986, he has taught at Roosevelt University of Chicago, at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), USA, at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus, at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus. Since 2006 is the Director of Research and International Relations Service at the University of Cyprus and in parallel, he is also the Executive Director of the European Office of Cyprus, since 2007. He has publications in refereed journals, conference proceedings and in public press. He is an editor of the Mediterranean Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and the Editor of the Mathematics Magazine of the Cyprus Mathematical Society. He is the coordinator of several European funded projects and he has been a partner in several other EU funded projects as well as an external evaluator. He has chaired the organizing committee of more than 40 conferences since 1997 and has organized more than 100 National and Multinational competitions since 1995. He is the President and he has important posts in several organizations (CMS EAEC EACG MASSEE THALES etc). 

 

 

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English Attack! Platform: A Web 2.0 Platform for English language learners 

English Attack! platform (www.english-attack.com), is an English-language learning service specifically designed for the digital generation that uses short-session online entertainment to encourage frequent digital immersion in real everyday English. English Attack! is an innovative learning method that combines interactive exercises based on hundreds of videos. The platform also offers a number of online games, thematic visual dictionaries, a number of Web 2.0 social features for the global community of English language learners, all in the context of a system of rewards and motivational games.

 

Ionela Lungu is a Project Manager professional specialized in the IT&C industry. She is holding a Bachelor of Computer Engineering and Automatic Control Degree from the Gheorghe Asachi University of Iasi. Currently she is coordinating the development team of ASSIST Software, a software development and outsourcing company from Suceava, Romania. She brings value to the company by constantly supporting the team members to update their knowledge, conquer new areas of expertise, and adhere to the quality management system of the company. She was also actively involved in the management team within European projects – FP7 and Eurostars.

 

 

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ESRI’s Cloud in Education

GIS technology provides the education community with tools to develop a greater understanding of our world through geospatial data analysis. With GIS, students and faculty can integrate and evaluate data from many sources to develop new theories and knowledge. This helps prepare students to meet the demands of the twenty-first-century workforce, whether they are involved in science, government, or business. Libraries, museums, schools, and universities are also increasingly using GIS for resource management, facilities management, and advanced research. ArcGIS Online, ESRI’s Cloud platform, allows you to easily create maps, visualize your fieldwork data and share this content with anyone you choose. It is a great way to start using GIS and introduce key spatial concepts to your students (www.marathondata.gr)

 

Iro Giannakou, GIS Analyst at Marathon Data Systems (ESRI’s official distributor in Greece and Cyprus)Adonis Kontos, President at Marathon Data Systems (ESRI’s official distributor in Greece and Cyprus)

 

 

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Cloud Applications by ICT Companies (Apple and Microsoft)

Increasing collaboration and communication in the classroom and the institution with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Partners in Learning Program.

 

Microsoft has a global strategy in education and with programs such as the Microsoft Partners in Learning Program, we aim to help educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create, and share so that students can realize their greatest potential. In this workshop, we will be presenting the Microsoft global strategy in education and the different programs and resources that we provide to the educator community for free as well as the local programs of Greek Partners in Learning. In this context, we will showcase the Microsoft Office 365 Education, an online platform that can provide staff, faculty, and students at a school with free email, sites, online document editing and storage, IM, and web conferencing. Microsoft Office 365 platform that offers a holistic group of collaboration and communication tools is offered free for academic and education institutions. Our local partners will then present a complete Learning Management System based in Office365 that provides students, teachers, and staff with the enterprise-grade communication and productivity services they need with the power and flexibility each individual institution requires.

  

 

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Workshops: “Hands-On the Cloud”

(conducted in parallel for 90 min. 14:30-16:00)

Collaboration Snacks: Learn how to implement web 2.0 tools to organize communication and collaboration activities.  In this workshop the participants explore Web 2.0 tools that can be used in the teaching practice. The tools will support different types of classroom activities. They can be implemented in different types of educational interaction like frontal teaching, group work or independent learning. The majority of the tools are web based and free to use. They can be used on a wide range of devices and support the idea of Bring Your Own Device. Participants are kindly requested to bring their own device for their successful participation in the workshop.

 

Bart Verswijvel, European Schoolnet is a Flemish (Belgian) educator who was a Dutch teacher (mother tongue) in a secondary school for about 30 years. Since 2011 he has a part time job at the Flemish National Support Service for eTwinning in Brussels. Since March 2012 Bart Verswijvel has worked for European Schoolnet as a Pedagogical Adviser, and he is involved in several projects like the Future Classroom Lab, iTEC, eTwinning and Living Schools Lab. He is especially interested in the integration of ICT in education and in project work. He is a freelance speaker, leader of workshops, prize winner in several competitions like eTwinning Awards and Microsoft Innovative Teachers, and a Microsoft Expert Educator. In 2010 Bart was awarded the Queen Paola Prize for Education.​ 

 

 

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Tablets use in School Classroom

“1:1 educational computing” describes the educational practice where each student has their own computing device. These devices are mobile and are equipped with a wireless connection. They also come in various forms (Smartphones, iPads, tablets, etc.) and have varying possibilities. This 1:1 practice, primarily as a methodology, offers many benefits. Some of them are as follows:

- The student becomes an active participant in his own learning and educational activities;

- The teacher becomes a partner and mentor. He or she organizes, inspires and creates experiential activities, releases the potential in the classroom, fosters initiative and critical thinking;

- computer technology makes numerous diverse tools available to the student. Technology enables teaching to become individualized, reinforces the role of multiple representations and promotes research and the quest for information.

Smart and mobile devices, with their user-friendly educational software, contribute effectively to learning. They create appropriate learning environments with opportunities for interdisciplinary instruction. Mainly, they cultivate 21st century competences, by combining skills, knowledge, attitudes and values. In this workshop, by working with tablets, we highlight the importance of the Cloud environment for the pedagogical framework we are presenting.

 

Vassilis Economu is IT Manager at Doukas School since 1994. From 2004, he is head of the Doukas School “1:1 Computing Team”, which aims to introduce and develop the Student Personal Computer into the educational procedure. From 2006, he is member of Doukas School “Quality Research Team”. He is a certified Validator specialized in the evaluation of companies according to the standards of the European Foundation for Quality Management – “Commitment to Excellence”. He has participated as researcher and analyst-programmer in more than 20 projects concerning ICT in Education and in Special Education as well. He has participated in the development of ICT software (more than 50 software titles). He continues to train hundreds of teachers to develop ICT in educational practice. He has developed various Management Information Systems in several programming environments. He has published articles and studies in educational magazines and has presented several papers in scientific conferences related to the “introduction of ICT in educational procedure” and “quality in education”. 

 

 

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Collaboration in the Cloud with Linoit

Do you want to collaborate in a colorful cloud-environment? Than follow our sticky note-workshop about Lino. Lino is an online sticky notes service. Here, you can freely post, see and peel off sticky notes, memos, pictures and videos you make with your device, and even annex files on a canvas. Sticky notes posted while you’re offline will appear once you log on. You can organize your memos and ideas by changing the colors of your sticky notes, moving them and adding an icon on them. Lino is an ideal tool to share your ideas. You can create your own group to collaborate. Lino is also available as an app on your Smartphone or tablet.

 

Nicole Vandeborne, Basisschool Zavelberg 

 

 

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Cloud computing and mobile devices for teachers

The computer is a useful utility inside and outside the classroom. This course aims to address a range of services available on Internet, considered of interest, usefulness and applicability for the teacher. The mentioned services are oriented to the organization of tasks and application in classroom context. The contents includes information management and e-mail, scheduling and events, storage and files synchronization, sharing data and settings between electronic devices. The adopted methodology wants to create skills and methodologies that helps to learn, search for, select and adopt the best options to increase efficiency and quality to the teacher’s work. Participants are kindly requested to bring their own device for their successful participation in the workshop.

 

Telmo Costa, 41 years old, graduated in 1995. Master in e-Learning Management and Production at the Carlos III University, Madrid. Teacher at Horácio Bento Gouveia School. School Coordinator of European Projects and coordinator of two Comenius Multilateral Partnerships. Trainer in ICT and Educational Technologies. 2008-2011: Teaching associate professional, coordinating ICT projects streamlined in the Madeira Region Education System. Training Portfolio: Cloud computing and mobile devices, School in the Cloud – Web 2.0 in the personal and professional Organization, Interactive Whiteboards, E-Portfolios, Evaluation of learning in ICT, School 2.0 – Web 2.0 in the Classroom Organization, Illustration of Contents, Multimedia presentation on education, Publications: Interactive Whiteboards, Training Support Book. 

 

 

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Digital Media in the EFL Classroom

Enhancing all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) has always been a challenging task for most EFL teachers. The main purpose of this workshop is to provide some tips that can be useful to teachers of English as a foreign language in the information age. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how tools and services on the cloud can help them achieve the educational objectives of activities that enhance all four language skills. Also, they will examine possible ways of improving their own teaching through the use of cloud technology.

 

Bessie Mitsikopoulou is Associate Professor at the Department of Language and Linguistics, Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Athens. She holds a PhD in Critical Discourse Analysis (University of Athens), an MA in Applied Linguistics (University of Reading), a Postgraduate Specialist Diploma in Computers in Education (Institute of Education, University of London) and a BA in English Language and Literature (University of Athens). Her research interests are in the areas of critical discourse analysis, educational linguistics, new media and applications of new technologies in education, critical and academic literacies. Since January 2004, she has been Thematic Consultant of English Literacy for the Second Chance Schools in Greece, and a member of the Scientific Committee for Second Chance Schools. She has also been the Coordinator of the English Group for the Digital Platform Project of the Greek Ministry of Education. She has participated in several research and EU-funded projects in the areas of language education, curriculum reform, genre analysis and ICTs. Her recent book Rethinking Online Education: Media, ideologies, and Identities is published by Paradigm Publishers (2013). 

 

Smaragda Papadopoulou holds a ΒΑ degree in Greek Language and Literature from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and an MSc in Technology Education and Digital Systems from the University of Piraeus. Her scientific interests lie primarily in the fields of technology-enhanced learning, e-learning and online training. So far she has worked as a language editor and proofreader of study guides for primary and secondary education students. She has also participated as an instructional material designer in e-learning projects concerning adult training in Information Communication Technologies (ICT). Since September 2011 she has been working as en eLearning specialist at the Research Centre for Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment and has developed the e-training programme for Primary EFL teachers. 

 

Georgia Gyftoula, Centre of Self-Access Learning & Materials Development, University of Athens, has been a state Primary School English teacher since 1993. She holds a MEd in ELT by the Hellenic Open University and a MEd in Education Management and Administration by the University of Thessaly. She has been interested in implementing projects of Environmental Education, e-twinning and other European programmes as well as integrating ICT in her teaching. She is currently teaching at the 3rd Primary School of Zografou.   

 

Ms. Chryssanthe Sotiriou has obtained a BA in English Literature from the English Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a postgraduate diploma with distinction in Translation from the University of Mons-Hainaut in Belgium, being a scholar of the ‘Alexander Onassis’ Foundation. She has been involved in the Leonardo da Vinci Sectoral Programme: “Mobile and Wireless Technologies for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (ΜW-TELL)” and in “Digital School”: Greek Ministry of Education. Her research interests include Project Based Learning (PBL), Game Based Learning (GBL) and the use of social media in Education. She has given lectures in seminars and conferences for teaching and the use of technology to teachers of primary and secondary education. She has many years of teaching experience, working as an EFL teacher at Doukas School in Athens, since September 1995; recently holding the position of Language Coordinator in High School.  

Elinda Gjondedaj, Centre of Self-Access Learning & Materials Development, University of Athens 

  

 

Organized by Doukas School - Website: www.schoolonthecloud.eu