SUMMARY OF TEACHERS` SURVEY

Survey for teachers was conducted from 20th June to 30th July 2015. The questionaire was

avaliable online on a project blog in English language version. Eleven teachers took a part in a

survey – three from Iceland and Spain, two from Poland and Slovenia and one teacher from

France.

PART 1. MY ROLE AT SCHOOL

Teachers were asked about the country they live and teach in, their role at school and an experience

in teaching.

Most of respondents are teachers (91%). There is also one principal among people involved in a project. For the purpose of this summary they are to be called “teachers”.

This project team consists of teachers with diversified educational experience. Two teachers are at the beginning of teaching profession. Next two work as teachers from 6 to 10 years so far. Four of eleven teachers work in this profession from 11 up to 20 years. Three teachers work more than 20 years for education.

PART 2. MY ROLE IN A PROJECT

Teachers were asked about their experience within eTwinning programme and general participation

in project topics.

“Read the World” teachers team show various experience in eTwinning collaboration. For four teachers it was the first eTwinning project, as they have never heard about eTwinning before, or knew the programme but didn`t participate in any projects till then. For next four teachers “Read the world” was second or third project they have participated in. Three teachers have experience in coordinating five or more eTwinning projects. Some teachers attended professional development workshops or other training opportunities within eTwinning.

There were three coordinators and one sub-coordinator in the project. Five supportive teachers have registered in eTwinning and officially joined the project. Other two teachers despite giving their support for project activities remained as not registered in a platform.

Teachers` participation in a project was shown through different forms, which are presented on a diagram below. It shows taking various responsibilities for project tasks by its teachers, according to their abilities, dividing tasks among team members, and on the basis of their individual decision.

Participation of teachers in “Read the World”` topics was permanent. The topics that every teacher participated in was “Creatures around”. Almost all teachers (10 out of 11) worked for such topics as: “Meet Gruffalo”, “Gruffalo in our landscapes” and “Gruffalo story”. Nine teachers (nine out of eleven) were participating in “Gruffalo game”.

In opinion of two teachers time for organizing activities within each topic was too short. For one teacher time limit was too long for some activities. 73% of respondents (eight teachers) conceded the time limit as “moderate and reasonable”.

Teachers tried to rate their involvement and time they have spent for the project work. Two teachers rated their work as sufficient. Six teachers admitted that they worked on the project also in their spare time. Other two teachers said that they would like to do more than they did for the project. Another teacher admitted that he/she didn’t want to spend more time on project tasks. No one felt overworked while “Read the World” collaboration.

Teachers rated their professional improvement and opinion about the tools used while project work.

Teachers were asked what is their opinion about the tools being used in this project? They rated their satisfaction from using tools and utility of tools for future work in eTwinning.

Windows Movie Maker, Paint, Jigsaw Planet puzzle, Padlet, VoiceThread, Wordpress blog, matchthememory, blabberize, Smilebox, Learning Apps, v.calameo and Smart Board were rated in this question. Some of these tools were used only by single teachers, what could also be noticed below:

Diagrams above show several effects on using tools in the project. Some tools weren`t used by all teachers - Windows Movie Maker (2 teachers didn’t use this tool), Padlet(3), VoiceThread (2), Wordpress blog (1), blabberize (4), Smilebox (5), Learning Apps (4), v.calameo (5) and Smart Board (5). Even though teachers didn’t use the tool by their own, they saw its use by partners, and at least one teacher see the utility of the application for his/her classroom. No will to use the tool seen in partner`s work show one teacher for three tools: Paint, Wordpress and matchthememory. Only Wordpress Blog tool was rated as “useless” after using it. For one teacher such tools as: Jigsaw Planet puzzle, Padlet, Blabberize, Learning Apps, v.calameo and Interactive whiteboard are too difficult to use in the future.

Generally, if teacher tried the tool in practice, he/she sees the possibility of using that again in the future (“probably” or “for sure”). The most popular tools to be used again are: Paint (8 teachers), Jigsaw Planet puzzle (8), matchthememory (8), Windows Movie Maker (7 teachers), Padlet (6), Wordpress blog (6), VoiceThread (5), Smart Board (4), Smilebox (2), Learning Apps (2), v.calameo (1) and blabberize(1).

Teachers were questioned about the improvement of their knowledge and skills in the several areas due to their experience gained while working the project

As teachers team show different skills and knowledge for various pedagogical approaches it is difficult to measure both the quality and quantity of their professional improvement. It can be truly said that everyone learned something – at least “a bit”, “quite a lot” or “a lot”! Significant increase of knowledge or skills is seen in every questioned area (by at least 7 teachers): knowledge about methodology, sense of outdoor education, ICT tools for pre-school education, ICT tools for teachers` resources, ways and means of collaboration, foreign language skills, knowledge about other countries and cultures, and idea of Reggio Emilia approach of teaching. Details of teachers` rating are presented below.

PART 3. STUDENTS` BENEFITS

In this part of project evaluation teachers were rating students` benefits fron the project which consist of their improvement, involvement and fun from project tasks.

Teachers were asked to rate how instructive project tasks were for the children on a scale from 0 to 5?

In opinion of teachers, project activities were less or more instructive for students. The best rated tasks (with no less than 6 votes out of 11) were: creating Gruffalo and rebuilding our European Gruffalo, tracks and puzzles about animals in our countries, showing outdoor to our friends, creating and playing Gruffalo board game and playing in Gruffalo theatre. Little instructive rating was given by one or two teachers to such activities as: drawing contest and voting for the best characters of the story, making Gruffalo menu, creating and playing Gruffalo board game, collaborative story with silly items from our partners or drawing Gruffalo postcards from holidays. Meantime, for other teachers, the same tasks was rated as very instructive, so it is difficult to generalize about this matter of the project activities. Detailed answers are presented below:

Teachers were questioned how much children enjoyed the following activities on a scale from 0 to 5? This rating was done on the basis of teachers` experience (observation and personal opinion) according to what they noticed while “Read the World” project.

Generally, in opinion of teachers, children enjoyed taking part in project activities. The highest rated

tasks (with no less than 6 votes out of 11) were: memory games to introduce themselves, creating

Gruffalo and rebuilding our European Gruffalo, tracks and puzzles about animals in our countries,

creating and playing Gruffalo board game, collaborative story with silly items from our partners and

playing in Gruffalo theatre. Activities with one “0 rating” on a scale (not enjoyable) or one “1 rating” are:

playing in Gruffalo theatre and drawing Gruffalo postcards from holidays. Different notes (three or four

levels rating) for the project activities were given to: making Gruffalo menu, showing outdoor to our

friends, creating magic lands for Gruffalo (La la land), creating and playing Gruffalo board game,

collaborative story with silly items from our partners, playing in Gruffalo theatre and drawing Gruffalo

postcards from holidays.

Teachers were questioned to what extent children's skills/competencies improved while working in this project. Rating was proposed on 0-5 scale. The basis of rating was teachers` observation or diagnosis of competences (depending on the type of diagnosis teachers organize at school).

According to teachers` rating - significant increase of children competences or skills is seen in growth of their imaginativeness and creativity, as well as children`s ability of investigation and observation. Six or seven teachers out of eleven highlighted students improvement in this matter. Growth of skills is also noticed in such areas as: social skills (ability of working in pairs/team), technical skills (using ICT tools), verbal communication, knowledge about phenomenon of nature. Various improvement is noticed according to students` skills in using foreign languages. In some schools the growth is significant, in others – there is a little increase. For this fact we see the reason that foreign language skills were not the main aim in each partner school (for example – one of the main in Spain, the least important in Poland). Similarly, different point of view and less improvement was marked in are of knowledge about historical background. Indeed – project task didn’t keep so much emphasis on this matter.

Teachers tried to value suitability and facility of ICT tools which were proposed to students within the “Read the World” project. We took all tools used by students into consideration, but if students didn’t know the tool in some schools, teachers could mark “I don`t know” answer.

According to teachers` answers children found Paint, Jigsaw Planet, Voicethread and match the memory easy to use. There were nine or ten teachers who values these tools in this way. If only the tool/equipment was used by students or available in the classroom (it goes for Interactive Whiteboard, smartphone or tablet) there was no difficulty for students to use it for project tasks. Different grades (around 50% of easy and difficult to use) was given to such tools as: blabberize and Learning apps.

Finally, through the question “How do you find tools interesting for your students?” teachers rated the level of students` engagement while using project tools. Teachers were choosing between “engaging”, “average” and ”boring” options. Again, if students didn’t have the opportunity to use the tool/equipment in some schools, teachers could mark “I don`t know” answer.

With no doubt using Jigsaw Planet, match the memory, Paint and Voicethread were the most engaging tools for students. The only “boring” note was given to Paint, once. All other tools, if only they were used while project tasks, they were rated as “engaging” or “average” (around 50% for each grade).

FINAL SUMMARY

In this part of survey teachers made their comments about overall experience of the “Read the World” project. They also made their statements according to next eTwinning project collaboration.

Teachers describe their thoughts about the project

“It was my first eTwinning project and I started with some fear... But it exceeded my expectations, I really enjoyed in working in project. I get a lot of new knowledge and it was really great experience.”

“It has been a nice experience, rewarding.”

“Once again, working eTwinning with great partners makes it much more interesting and motivating. The Gruffalo is a great story and with the work we have done is even more fascinating. The kids loved it a lot!! and the teachers too!”

“Skemmtilegt verkefni, lærum bæði um okkar nærumhverfi þegar verkefnin eru utandyra og fá að sjá umhverfi ykkar, hversu ólíkt það getur verið. Menningin er ekki eins í öllum löndum og gaman fyrir börnin að sjá það.” (Enjoyable tasks, learning abour our environment working outdoors, as well as experiencing yours and how different it can be. The culture is different between countries and the children get a chance to see that).

“Ha sido un proyecto enriquecedor tanto para los alumnos como para los profesores. Ha englobado muchos conceptos interesantes: contenido, actitud, valores, competencias... y les ha sacado de la rutina diaria del aula.” (Its been an enriching projoect for both pupils and teachers. It has cover Many interesting things: contents, attitudes, values, competences... And it has taken us out of everyday routines.)

“I was very glad and happy about the project. It was very creative in the fall and worked fine. After Christmas and till spring it was not as good and communication was a little slow and projects not clear. But over all I enjoy it very much and the children learn a lot.”

“We like doing skype meetings when we were deciding on next steps and activities, so that everyone was taken into account. Despite that it was not easy for us to keep deadlines when there was so much work at school. “

“I really appreciated working with this team and especially enjoyed the Skype meetings! But I was a bit disappointed about the few amounts of comments on the blog. I would have liked more comments from the other children. My pupils would like the others to react to their productions... May be we could have skyped from time to time with the pupils... But that was a fantastic collaborative project ! Thanks again!”

Teachers` ideas for improving future collaboration

“We should keep notice on keeping deadlines. We sometimes didn’t respond to other`s work or questions.”

“More "contacts" between pupils (Skype for example).”

“The project was fine but maybe to many things to do and not so much time. To many small project.”

“More organization in time limits to finish the activities. “

“Spurning um að hafa ekki of mörg verkefni fyrir hvern mánuð. Hafa frekar færri svo hægt sé að vinna þau eins vel og maður getur”( Perhaps there should be fewer tasks each month. Fewer tasks to have time to do them as well as possible:-)

Final question: Would you like to work with eTwinning next year?

With no surprise we found that all teachers would like to work with eTwinning next year. Hurray!

CONCLUSIONS

Conclusions for teachers team and project collaboration

1. eTwinners on each level of experience are able to manage collaborative eTwinning project.

“Read the World” project joined teachers with different experience, both in teaching and in eTwinning

collaboration of schools. Even that, each participant of this teachers team was able to manage project

challenges and demands, starting from Skype meeting discussions (planning) through organizing project

activities to publishing results on the blog (dissemination). According to various teachers` skills and their

decisions on dividing tasks among the team members – teachers` participation in a project took

different forms, various amount of time and effort. Each school participation and impact, guidance of

more experienced eTwinners (if needed) and readiness for new experience has resulted in collaborative

project and interactive tasks.

2. Professional development within project collaboration.

On the basis of survey outcomes, it can be said that teachers build up their competences and improved

various components of their teaching within project work. As teachers were experienced in different

areas of education (some of them in Emilia Reggio or Montessori approach, Project Based Learning or

Multisensual Learning) there was constantly something that teachers could share and learn from each

other. Using ICT tools in a classroom, emphasis in outdoor education or children participation in learning

process, ways of building up international collaboration, or foreign languages skills – everyone could

improve their own professional way of teaching in particular school conditions.

3. Communication – strong points and weaknesses

Many teachers take notice of skype meeting importance for project planning and building creative tasks

for children. School time schedules and national safety rules were taken into consideration when

planning project activities and deadlines. Even that project tasks were planned in too short time, didn’t

meet the deadline (previously stated) or were given to much time than needed. Some teachers repay on

the lack of comments on the blog as responds to other`s work or questions. There could be also Skype

session organized for interaction between children within project.

Conclusions for students benefits

Teachers see beneficial effect of the project on students’ knowledge and skills. On the basis of teachers`

observation or individual diagnosis of competences it can be stated that:

1. Project activities were mostly instructive for students.

In opinion of teachers, project activities were more or less instructive for students. It is hard to

generalize on this matter, because the same tasks was individually rated by teachers as very instructive

or little instructive, depending on teacher`s main aims and efforts for the project work.

2. Students enjoyed learning their worlds through project tasks.

Generally, in opinion of teachers, children enjoyed learning activities and social work hidden in project

tasks. Some of activities were rated higher, while other gained different grades (depending again on

individual group aims). To sum them all up – students were learning their surroundings and gaining

social skills in funny, enjoyable way.

3. Suitability and facility of ICT tools among children is varied.

Because of the schools` freedom on using ICT tools and equipment for the project activities, suitability

and facility of tools is hard to measure. Common tools, likePaint, Jigsaw Planet, Voicethread or match

the memory were rated both as enjoyable and easy to use. If only another tool/equipment was used by

students or available in the classroom – it was mainly gaining the same good score. Only two tools –

blabberize and Learning Apps were marked by some teachers as difficult to use. (we see this reason in a

lack of computer manners by children or lack of opportunities for using them - given by teachers). It

means that if children have an opportunity to try something – it usually becomes easy and enjoyable.

4. Teachers see an improvement in students` skills and competencies in various areas of curriculum.

According to teachers` rating - significant increase of children competences or skills is seen in growth of

their imaginativeness and creativity, as well as children`s ability of investigation and observation.

Growth of skills is also noticed in such areas as: social skills (ability of working in pairs/team), technical

skills (using ICT tools), verbal communication, knowledge about phenomenon of nature. Various

improvement is noticed according to students` skills in using foreign languages. Less improvement was

marked in area of knowledge about historical background, which indeed had a little emphasis in the

project work.