Web 2.0 community building for teachers

Other

Learner

Any

Networking (acquaintance, contact and exchange of experiences and advice) is one of the main tools to support and promote the professional career. It is important to remember that networking is a means of aid effectiveness at work and career growth. It requires time, thought, action ability, but the long term rewards can be huge .

Additionally, networking is considered as an important incentive for participation in adult education activities. in recent years the literature on non-obvious but important participation incentives to lifelong learning actions to enhance the knowledge and skills of an adult, has shown a significant those associated with the relations (achievement need for positive relationships with others, social acceptance, increase the existing social networks, knowledge and contacts through social networking). In this context, the current social networking applications (web 2.0) are a key tool to support lifelong learning and professional development, providing continuous and immediate opportunity to exchange experiences and gain new knowledge without cost in time and money. The opportunities offered by specific applications in recent years even bigger through the massive expansion of mobile systems and integration of social networking tools in them.

2015-02-25 13:15:00 - 2015-02-25 13:15:00

Easy

- Improved knowledge through exchange of experiences and educational material - Better skills on collaboration with other teachers and on supporting learners/students

N/A

• Need to have access on a PC and Internet
• Need to an initial training on how to use such a platform for collaboration 

The specific best case is related with the OPEN DISCOVERY SPACE Portal (ODS).

ODS is a pioneering effort to establish a pan-European collection of online learning resources and tools. ODS connects teachers to a wide range of resources and training available online, as well a variety of online communities where they can establish private or public groups for formal or informal communication, and for the sharing of experiences. 

 The ODS Web 2.0 environment offers users (mainly teachers) the ability to communicate in a safe (and private,) form through the use of a variety of tools. These are Private or Public Groups, Discussions, Blogs, Polls, Activities and Events.

Teachers have the option to create their own communities inside this flagship community. They may also create their own private Groups, Discussions and Blogs to address issues relevant to their localised contexts. School (private) Groups and Communities may be established to exchange information and material related to pupils and their progress. Discussions and Blogs offer the opportunity to teachers to engage in meaningful debates with comments on specific issues. They also have the ability to attract attention through the uploading of material such as photographs and videos of specific school events.  The Activities function may be used to supplement home studying. Events within communities may be used to circulate information on specific school happenings, school contests, festivals, celebrations, meetings, etc. In addition, communities include three important functions dedicated to the circulation of schools material. These are the Educational Content, the Lesson Plans and Learning Scenarios. Apart from the Activities, these functions are also designed to accommodate specific learning and supplementary teaching material.

See point 'Resources used to realise the practice'