GOAL
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
OUR MEETINGS
IISS “Marco Polo” in Bari, Italy had a pleasure to host teachers and students from 5 different countries: Poland, Northern Ireland, Martinique, Turkey and Slovakia to work together on the implementation of the project “Goal” during the fourth mobility of the Erasmus+ Programme.
On the first day the hosts welcomed everyone at the Marco Polo and a group of Italian students organized a tour around the school. All partners had a marvelous experience to listen to some songs, sing and play instruments in the music workshop of the school. A magical moment was created as different people from various backgrounds, cultures and traditions felt united and European.
After a coffee break, each country presented a movie in the competition for the best promotion of the project. All movies presented were great and the choice to select a winner was very difficult. Eventually, Slovakia won the first place, Martinique the second and Polish team took the third position.
On Tuesday the 24th, thanks to the collaboration with the Municipality of Bari, the participants of the Erasmus+ project were invited to visit the Town Hall. After being welcomed by the Mayor, the history of Bari and its regional and political systems were presented by the Councilor for culture. An interesting fact is that the flag of Bari resembles Polish flag with colours. We found out that Princess Bari Bona Sforza d’Aragona was also the queen of Poland. It was a live history lesson for us. Then we headed for “Fiera del Levante” with a short stop at the Bari seafront to admire a lighthouse and magnificent rough sea. We visited The Hub startup where Google apps are used and we could learn how useful it is to use these applications. In the evening there was a guided tour in English language where the Marco Polo students showed everyone around the old town and we could taste traditional Italian delights.
Next day all students and teachers went to Locorotondo, Alberobello and Putignano - three villages about fifty kilometres from Bari. The purpose of this trip was to understand how local companies and schools use Google devices for their activities. The first stop was at school in Locorotondo where we had a presentation of Google apps for education after which we visited vineyards and wine cellars and learnt about wine making process. Lunch was held at the school in Alberobello. Later, in Putignano, there was a chance to visit a location where the manufacture of the local carnival floats takes place. The carnival in Putignano is the oldest one in Italy. There, we learnt how the papier mache masters use google devices.
On Thursday 26th everybody took part in a demonstration lesson of Geography with Google Expeditions at school. We installed that app on mobile devices and after a short introduction by Italian students, we tried how the application worked. With the assistance of our hosts we were led through a virtual tour with the use of Expeditions. After lunch, there was a joint workshop for teachers and students where we were taught the application in education.
Later in the afternoon all the partners had the opportunity to admire beautiful landscapes of Polignano and Monopoli - two villages on the seafront where it was possible to watch the different shapes of Apulian coasts.
On Friday 27th, we had a staff meeting in order to review the ongoing and plan the next mobilities. After that there was a farewell party where all the students presented their traditional dances and songs from their own country. Italian families who hosted the students prepared some traditional cakes for the event. All the participants: teachers, students and parents gathered to share their Italian experience, try homemade cakes and dance.
This mobility was rich with culture, history and traditions, apart from learning we could taste local products, see picturesque landscapes and experience Italian hospitality.
During this meeting
- we presented a presentation of the project website that has been established and maintained,
- provided technical facilities and conducted training on Google Maps and Google Cardboard tools and their use in school education,
- conducted a maths demonstration lesson using Google Maps and Google Cardboard tools based on the developed outline by project participants,
- organized a didactic trip to a computer industry workplace to familiarize with the specificity of work at the plant
Google tools
- were presented in the activities of the project group.
There was also a presentation of the results of activities developed between mobility (lesson plans, group activity reports design).
Achived results:
- acquiring the ability to use Google Maps and Google Cardboard tools,
- implementation of innovative methods and forms of teaching,
- raising the results of teaching in science subjects,
- increasing the awareness of the need to learn mathematics,
- developing skills to overcome difficulties encountered,
- developing organizational skills.
All of the above-mentioned activities:
- we increased the involvement of all students and teachers, including those who do not spend mobility,
- improved the quality of teaching at school,
- we contributed to the use of acquired knowledge and skills in everyday learning and work,
- increased the attractiveness of the facility on the local education market,
- increased competitiveness and interest in the school, and thus contributed to increased recruitment.
The partners from Martinique, Poland, Slovakia and Italy arrived over 9th and 10th March 2019, with the Martinique colleagues having the most arduous journey, travelling for approximately 24 hours. Unfortunately, our Turkish partners, were unable to travel.
Following the welcome to North West Regional College (NWRC) in Londonderry (Derry) project representative Martin Peoples gave an overview of the College and the city and region. Part of the ”getting to know you” exercise involved the students getting into pairs with a student from a different country, finding out some information about that student and providing this information to the whole group. This was a good way to break the ice and let everybody find out some details about each other. The end of the introduction to Derry and NWRC included an online quiz about the city/region, delivered using Kahoot, with all teams demonstrating that they did indeed remember some facts about the place where they were about to spend the next week.
The morning continued with the students doing the completed presentations developed using the Google Arts and Culture app. Each of the teams from Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Martinique made presentations that were well-received by all those present.
On Monday afternoon, the group received a presentation from Dr Fergal Tuffy, Manager of the College’s Business Support Centre (BSC). Fergal described the work that the BSC does in supporting local companies, in particular:
• Research and development of new products and markets
• Staff training
• Advice on use of new technologies.
Fergal was able to tell the group that in the region the most dominant software for general users was Microsoft Office and that Google Apps were generally not used.
Following the BSC presentation, the group visit the City Mayor, Mr John Boyle, in the City Hall (better known as the Guildhall). The Mayor had a fulsome welcome for the group and provided many opportunities for photographs.
In the evening, visiting pupils and staff were able to attend the NWRC annual Hairdressing and Beauty Show, in the City Hotel. This show is a high profile annual extravaganza of innovative hairdressing and beauty activities, where the College’s students work with students from the Performing Arts courses to put on a show for the people of the city and region, showcasing avant garde hairdressing and makeup displays, accompanied by music and performance, provided by students.
NWRC teacher Thomas Moore (Computing) brought along a group of his Level 3 Computing students to work in partnership with the GOAL students. Each NWRC student partnered one of the visiting students, working through exercise the used QR Code Reader, via iPads, to answer questions, created by Classtools.et and QR Treasure Hunt Generator. The questions were on the subject of Information Technology security. This sample lesson was an excellent way for the pupils to test their knowledge of cyber security and learn new details of that subject. It also presented an opportunity to use the iPads and QR Code apps and for the students to work together.
In the afternoon Liz January and Amanda Cavanagh, Hairdressing Lecturers, brought the group to the practice salon, where Liz demonstrated the technology she uses and the NWRC students gave the GOAL visitors hairdressing services.
The NWRC students collected the customer information using Microsoft Forms app, from their phones, allowing them to have a record of the client/visitor name and hairdressing request.
Liz’s demonstration was an excellent overview of her “paperless class”, where learning materials (notes etc.) were exchanged with students from iPad to smartphone and student’s assessment materials were exchanged back to Liz using the same technology (AirDrop).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.