Project Reconnect Erasmus Project

Project Title

Project Reconnect

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Project Reconnect is a project coordinated by San Gorg Preca Middle School in Malta together with ULUÇINAR ORTAOKULU secondary school in Turkey, Prisms NGO from Malta and STICHTING DUTCH FOUNDATION OF INNOVATION WELFARE 2 WORK NGO from The Netherlands.

Social Media and young people are intrinsically linked to each other. As innovators, young people are the ones who get absorbed into new technological trends which makes them also heavyweight users of social media. Young people from an early age are being exposed to social media and online tools for leisure, socialization and education. This makes the young generation, also referred to as Millennials, very savvy and skillful when it comes to using online tools and social media. On the other hand, this generation is criticized for the lack of social skills when it comes to face-to-face communication. This generation is perceived as disconnected from the ‘offline’ aspect of life, due to their immersion into the online aspect. There is this generational gap, struggle and tension between generations.

The primary challenge for educators and students is to find common ground which will benefit both generations. The educators need to learn how to use the characteristics of the Internet and use them to be relevant to the young generations. The students need to learn more about how to socialise offline and be equipped with the skills to navigate safely and efficiently in the online world.

This project is linked to EU’s Digital Education Action Plan which speaks about three main objectives:
1. Making better use of digital technology for teaching and learning
2. Developing relevant digital competencies and skills for the digital transformation
3. Increase students’ media literacy

This project will have the following phases and methodologies to reach its objectives:

Phase 1 – Focus Groups and Questionnaires to Students and Teachers
Phase 2 – Analysis of the data and Mapping of contextual needs
Phase 3 – Training to Teachers and Learners
Phase 4 – Development of the new Pedagogy approach
Phase 5 – Implementation of the pedagogy in the classroom environment and the implementation of the project in schools by the students.
Phase 6 – Focus Groups and Questionnaires to Students and Teachers (to measure the impact)
Phase 7 – Creation of online tools and dissemination of Results within the schools and networks on a local and European Level

The project will target 30 teachers and 40 students in a direct way due to their participation in the training/exchange. These will act as multipliers to the rest of the school, therefore the project will reach 150 teachers and 1200 Students. In an indirect way through the dissemination process planned for this project, all the results will be freely accessible for all to download and implement the pedagogy/activity themselves.

The impact on the organizations would be that the schools will have a new pedagogical approach to utilise. The teachers who will participate in the training course will act as multipliers to the other teachers in the school. The teachers will also carry out presentations of the learning outcomes which took place at the training with the other teachers in the schools (150 teachers). The schools will be in a better position to respond to a crisis (as identified by educators) in which students seem not interested in the way the traditional way of teaching is implemented. The schools will have guides which will give all the instructions needed for all the teachers to implement this Reconnect method of teaching in their lessons. The schools will also have a programme which they can implement every year to increase the media literacy of the students which is very important in this digital age through the initiative of the students. Ultimately the teachers will offer a learning experience to students which is relevant, engaging and interactive to students. This will result in more students being active in their own learning.

Project Website

http://reconnectplatform.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 131510 Eur

Project Coordinator

San Gorg Preca College, Blata l-Bajda Middle School & Country: MT

Project Partners

• PRISMS
• STICHTING DUTCH FOUNDATION OF INNOVATION WELFARE 2 WORK
• Arsuz Ilce Milli Egitim Mudurlugu
• ULUÇINAR ORTAOKULU