Wednesday, September 29, 2010

EFQUEL Innovation Forum Lisboa 2010




The 4th EFQUEL Innovation Forum took place in Lisbon, Portugal in collaboration with the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) and the National Institute for Public Administration of Portugal (INA).













The conference took place in the Instituto Nacional de Administração (INA), situated in the gardens of the old Palace de Marqueses de Pombal in Oeiras, close to Lisbon, in Portugal. 







Interesting opportunity to participate, listen and share the modern concepts about the current paradigms and evolution of the Open Educational Resources (OER) and Games Based Learning (GBL) in school in line with the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.  




"The annual assembly of eLearning and education professionals will debate how opening education can contribute to social inclusion agendas and promote economic wellfare through better equipping citizens with necessary skills"


The Forum started, on September 8th with a pre-conference day, "OPEN PROJECT LABORATORY", followed by the main conference September 9-10. 2010.

The conference theme : 

Open educational resources (OER) are high on the agenda of social inclusion policies and supported by many stakeholders of the educational sphere. User Generated Content is more relevant than ever, and co- and peer-production increasingly at the heart of content development.







At the same time assessment and quality assurance processes are put to test because well contributed experts' and teachers' led approaches to assess and certify quality seem to become less effective in view of user created content and freely available resources.
EFQUEL

On the 8th September during the "OPEN PROJECT LABORATORY" the ENGAGE workshop 3 "Games in school - a serious matter to consider for excellent classrooms...?!led by Mr. Sébastien Reinders, Mr. Rolf Reinhardt and me joined an interested group of teachers and stakeholders of the educational sphere.







My presentation and theme discussion was "Creative learning in the digital age" (OER, GBL, Mobile Learning at secondary school). And Sébastien Reinders' presentation "Serious Games on learning". Rolf Reinhardt was the ENGAGE moderator.



Workshop 3 - ENGAGE







We have been consistently impressed and surprised at how leading  educationalists  have been adapting off the shelf video games to engage their students in rich leaning experiences“.

David Yarnton, 2010, Nintendo UK







For three days, researchers, practionners, producers shared in open interesting debates between all participants ideas and experiences about "Open educational resources (OER) on the agenda of social inclusion policies".

The workshops and the parallel sessions took place in  the rooms of Palacete Marqueses de Pombal and the Plenary sessions in the Auditorium of Gulbenkian (Oeiras). 

Parallel Session 1: How can open educational practices contribute to better inclusion, innovation and excellence in education?

I have joined this parallel session where Mr. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers (EFQUEL, Belgium), Ms. Gráinne Conole (Open University, United Kingdom), Mr. Roberto Carneiro (Catholic University of Portugal, Portugal) were excellent facilitators.

An interactive session! All participants presented an overview about their own open educational practices, trying to contribute to better inclusion and excellent  innovation in education.

On the pannel, created by a student from Unesco University, the developed vision of the participants has been added as well as a common set of recommendations to promote innovation, inclusion and excellence through open educational practices. 

Between all sessions, cooffee-break in the gardens of Palacete where some important events took place too, such as  Get-Together (organised by the Gold Sponsor).


The Forum had as Moderator of the Conference  Prof. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, vice-president of EFQUELHe has been an excellent communicator as well Prof. Roberto Carneiro, professor at the Portuguese Catholic University, where he also chairs the Study Centre on Peoples and Cultures. He is dean of the Institute for Distance Learning. 
Both enriched completely the international community of practitioners who attended the Forum with their vision about innovation on learning and teaching for social inclusion.
Mr. Claudio Dondi, the President of EFQUEL was the principal speaker not only at Plenary Session hereHe also has been the Moderator of the Final Panel discussion: "Re-focusing on quality: How can quality approaches evolve and enhance inclusion, innovation and excellence" here.

The 9th September, a Conference Dinner at INA gardens joined a big group of the participants. After the dinner, the Awarding Ceremony " EFQUEL Award 2010".

The event was broadcast Live Stream in the internet and offered various possibilities to interact with participants such as Twitter and Facebook.

Now on Youtube and Slideshare. A contemporary vision about an even of this importance. My sincere congratulations to Mr. Rolf Reinhardt, the coordinator.

You can read, listen and share all the interesting open debates and messages about the purposes of quality education of the most important panellists of the "2010 Innovation Forum Lisboa" here






A fruitful and instructive conference! The "EFQUEL Innovation Forum" was an excellent opportunity for an active participation, sharing ideas, building and exchanging visions. 








G-Souto
27.09.2010
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

* Credits  at European Foundation for Quality in eLearning (EFQUEL)'s Photos - EFQUEL Innovation Forum 2010 (http://www.facebook.com/pages/European-Foundation-for-Quality-in-eLearning-EFQUEL

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

À faire penser...




Poster Miel /Semih Kaplanogiu

Puisqu'on parle tellement d'inclusion dans nos écoles, à propos aussi de l'Année européenne de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (2010), un film qui nous fait réflechir...

Récompensé d’un ours d’or à Berlin, « Miel » est un film d’apprentissage dont le personnage central est un garçon de 6 ans, Yusuf, dans un village reculé d’Anatolie.

Synopsis:


Yusuf a 6 ans, il vit avec ses parents dans un village isolé d’Anatolie. 

Pour le petit garçon, la forêt environnante est un lieu de mystère et d’aventure où il aime accompagner Yakup, son père apiculteur. Il le regarde avec admiration installer ses ruches et récolter le miel à la cime des arbres.

Les abeilles se faisant de plus en plus rares, Yakup est obligé de partir travailler plus loin dans la forêt. Mais il tarde à revenir, et le monde se retrouve soudain plein de son absence.




Miel /scène du film
http://www.miel-lefilm.com/

Construit en flash-back, « Miel » nous plonge dans son quotidien divisé en trois espaces : l’école, la maison et la forêt. 

En classe, Yusuf voudrait lire à haute voix, mais les sons sortent difficilement de sa bouche. 

A la maison, il refuse de boire le lait supposé le faire grandir. Il préfère courir dans la forêt, suivre son père apiculteur. 

Ce rapport à la nature, traité avec poésie et mystère, confère une puissance certaine au travail du réalisateur. 



Un film qui nous laisse deux importantes questions:


L'importance de la famille auprès de l'enfant et l'apprentissage pour la vie au milieu de la nature.


À une époque où les jeunes sont enfermés, presque tout le temps - maison, école, ville, réseaux sociaux - un film qui nous fait penser! 




Il faut sortir nos élèves, de plus en plus, dans la nature,  faire des cours en plein air, je l'ai déjà écrit ici. Le vrai 'savoir comprendre, savoir faire, savoir apprendre' se trouve dans des espaces nature.


Environmental education and outdoor play is important for our children’s personal and academic growth. With students now spending 90% of their time indoors, “nature deficit disorder” is on the rise.


A recent study found that children spend less than four minutes a day in “unstructured outdoor play.” This secluded lifestyle is causing emotional, educational, and physical consequences, including obesity. Getting kids outside teaches them about the world around them and gives them an appreciation for nature"[...]


earthday.net




«Miel» a obtenu l'Ours d'Or de meilleur film du Festival De Berlin 2010. Cette récompense lui a été décernée par le jury présidé par Werner Herzog.

"Limpide, élégiaque, radieux dans sa manière d'évoquer les épreuves de Yusuf, le cinéma de Kaplanoglu apaise, fascine, grandit."




G-Souto
23.09.10

Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

International Peace Day




To some it’s just a single day. But to us, 21 September is a 24 hour-long platform for life-saving activities around the world and an opportunity for individuals - particularly young people - to become involved in the peace process.  21 September is the UN International Day of Peace, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence: Peace Day.



As a teacher, you can register here and get the full resources for "PeaceoneDay" education. 

Tell your students to follow PeacioneDay on Twitter, Youtube or Facebook. 

Get involved. It is one day, but what a difference can do in our lives!


G-Souto
21.September. 2010
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 

References

PeaceoneDay

Twitter

Youtube

Facebook


Sunday, September 19, 2010

Greenpeace is not a friend of Facebook








An interesting and funny  green video ! Is Greenpeace right or wrong? Discuss it at school! 

Involve your students and debate the ideas!

G-Souto
18.09.10
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Celebrating Agatha Christie's 120th Anniversary at school




Google doodle Agatha Christie

Did you had noticed already? Google are featuring a special Agatha Christie Google Doodle, the "Queen of Crime", on their home page to celebrate Agatha Christie's 120th anniversary

It is appearing on the Google homepage in all these countries: UK, Ireland, Slovenia, Romania, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia, Hungary, Israel, all Arabic speaking countries, Korea, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Spain, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan, Finland, Suriname, Macedonia, Japan, & Lithuania.








 Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time.  She has sold over two billion books worldwide and has been translated into over 45 languages.  

In a writing career that spanned more than half a century, Agatha Christie wrote eighty novels and short story collections.  She also wrote over a dozen plays, including The Mousetrap, which is now the longest running play in theatrical history.

Are you a teacher at middle school? Why not motivate your students to participate at Christie Week 2010?



Students can organise an "Agatha Christie's Week" at your school, share with another students of the school or other schools in another city or country.
They can begin with a pedagogical research on the oficial site:

1. Stories and Detectives
2. The stories of Agatha Christie (using the filter to browse through her stories)
3. Christie's Detectives (M. Poirot, Miss Marple, others) 
4. Reading order (to a bibliography)
5. Sidekicks ( the role of the sidekick in crime fiction) 

But you have more! Let your students have funny moments by gaming learning!

1. Mystery figure game
2. Christie quizzes
3. Christie crosswords (vocabulary in English language)

And for the youngest, why not "Play 4.50 from Paddington" (free trial)?
All these activities are available here 

If you are a teacher in a high junior school, don't miss the BBC archive! 



To mark the 120th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth, BBC Archive is realising a small collection of radio and television items in tribute to the world's most famous crime writer. We can hear from the lady herself!

What a fantastic tool to introduce crime fiction at an English Literature classroom?! Don't you agree?


For example, don't miss the audio The Misterious Dame Agatha (1st broadcast 1975) or Agatha Christie Interview (recorded 1955) where the writer talks about her lack of formal education and how boredom during childhood led her to write "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", wich was completed when she was still in her twenties...

So as you see, even now we are talking about a formal learning as a non captivating method!

Well, there are a lot of funny and engaging activities about the "narrative text" that you can create and share with your students, on an informal learning in face-to-face teaching. 

Believe me! You will have a motivated classrooom that will learn literature, crime fiction, vocabulary, grammar... to you, "the attitude" of changing methods, and the creative mind to facilitate different learning activities at your young students!


"Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" 

Chomsky


G-Souto
15.09.2010
Copyright © 2010G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® 


References:

Agatha Christie

BBC Archive Agatha Chrisite