eTwinning & the professional
development of teachers
Anne Gilleran – pedagogical manager
eTwinning Central Support Service
Anne who?
I come from Dublin, Ireland
worked in Brussels for the
European Schoolnet since
2001
Pedagogical
manager for
eTwinning since
2005
Career:
university lecturer
school counsellor
head teacher
researcher
expert in ICT for education
I have been involved in many
projects involving schools,
teachers and school leaders
Topics
Some concepts regarding professional
development
Short introduction to eTwinning
Evolution of professional development in
eTwinning
Questions?
3 questions
What is the relationship between
eTwinning and Professional
Development?
How do they influence each other?
How can eTwinning contribute to
professional development and visa
versa?
This presentation will include ideas…….
Based on the report:
Teachers Professional Development:
an overview of current practice
Published March 2011 European
Schoolnet
Will be available at:
http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/news/publications.htm
Background
Let’s start by looking at the OECD Talis
report 2009
Informal dialogue to improve teaching
Professional Development Network
What is eTwinning?
Launched January 2005
A Lifelong Learning
Programme initiative
- within the Comenius action
2005-2008 Phase 1
2008-2013 Phase 2
What happened in 2005 or….
The Internet context
Within two years………..
February 2004
April 2006
January 2005
October 2006
February 2004.
February 2005
2006
2005/06
Web 2.0: Interactive & creative internet
Provided us with the possibility to:
- interact
- publish
- create
- comment
- communicate
Between 2005/08
eTwinning had also
evolved
eTwinning
Projects
Critical Mass
Communications and
networking beyond Projects
Informal
collaboration
Comenius
Partnerships
Peer learning
Sharing and exchanging
Sharing of resources and ideas
Time for eTwinning 2.0
Community
building
eTwinning 2.0
2 main elements
– Informal social network
– Continuing professional development
To understand eTwinning
You must know the following facts
• 33 countries participate
• Each of those countries has a National
Support Service NSS
• Coordination by the Central suport
Service
• Its heart is the eTwinning Portal
www.eTwinning.net
Lets take a look….
at the evolution of professional
development in eTwinning
Multimodality of professional development offerings
Teachers Rooms,
Profiles
Learning
Events, Groups
National training courses
European-wide professional development
workshops
eTwinning school collaboration projects
Jan 2005
Dec 2005
Sept 2006
Jan 2008 Dec 2008 Sept 2010
…Projects & beyond….
European Professional Development
Workshops - PDWs
Normally 7 per year
Approximately 100 participants per
workshop 25/75 ratio
Aimed either at specific audience or them
Evolved to include
Bilateral and multilateral workshops
with the aim of providing face to face
meetings with a partner finding focus
National Training programmes
Many countries run extensive training
programmes both face – face and on line.
Part of the national in-service programme most
notably in
•Spain
•Poland
•Estonia
•Czech Republic
Learning Events
A Learning Event is a short
intense course that offers:
•an introduction to a topic
• stimulates ideas
•helps develop skills
•does not require a longterm commitment in terms
of time.
It is designed to be an
enjoyable learning experience.
eTwinning Groups
34 Groups
The eTwinning Groups are a place for teachers
to exchange about various interests
Teachers rooms
•A Teachers Room is a place
where teachers can discuss
specific topics over a short
period of time and are created
directly by eTwinners.
•Public Teachers Rooms are open
to all eTwinners to view and
contribute.
•Restricted Teachers Rooms can
be viewed by all eTwinners;
however, to contribute to them,
one must be invited.
The Journal
a digital
portfolio
An opportunity
to share
An instrument
for social
networking
Some statistics
At this moment:
128 000 teachers
registered
10 000 participate in a
project
20 000+ log in each day
to the Desktop
Back to the 3
1. What is the relationship between
eTwinning and Professional
Development?
2. How do they influence each other?
eTwinning is seen as something that
allows up-skilling in areas such as the
use of ICT to support teaching, language
learning, project management skills and
other areas of personal development that
can also be recognised as key
competences for lifelong learning
3. How can eTwinning contribute to
professional development and visa versa?
The kind of professional development a teacher
participates in is more important than the amount of
time invested. The net effects of days of professional
development are small and only significant in a few
countries, whereas indicators of participation in
networks and mentoring (and in some countries also
in workshops and/ or courses) have significant and
stronger net associations with teaching practices in a
majority of countries (TALIS, 2009: 117).
Final points
eTwinning is the fastest growing
community for teachers in Europe
It contains both communication &
collaboration activities
And
Formal & informal professional
development opportunities
Questions?
Thank you for your attention 
My contacts
anne.gilleran@eun.org