5th Project Meeting

Short-term students exchange and accompanying staff in Elche

The 3rd Short-term students exchange, part of BLEND-IT, Erasmus+ project was held in Elche, Spain, from 25 to 29 April 2016. This event brought together representative participants: students, teachers and staff from all partner institutions involved in this strategic partnership.

The meeting, took place over five days working, with most of the Days consisting on working sessions inside the school and the Second Day and the Forth Day consisting in a Historical field trip.

Lessons using the Blended methods followed the entire week, with all participating teachers having to teach to the classroom formed of Italian students and guest students. Lessons were taught in English, using the Moodle platform materials and lessons prepared in advance.

The working sessions included the official opening and closing of the meeting, learning sessions using blended learning methods and roundtables for teachers, focusing on discussing all priorities and agendas. We have used this meeting for organizing a workshop about Cooperative Learning.

1st Day

The official opening of the Meeting of Blend IT, Erasmus+ project was held in the library of IES Severo Ochoa: Mrs. Rosa Jurado, Spanish coordinator has welcomed all partners. Following that, the main items in the agenda were covered:

1. Meeting students and forming groups

2. Social Media lesson by Dutch teachers

3. Lesson about databases by Austrian teachers

4. Spanish lesson by Spanish teachers

5. Workshop for teachers on cooperative learning

After the lessons, the students went home, while teachers stayed at school and attended a workshop facilitated by an expert in the field.

There was a presentation about various methods used for cooperative learning, such as Think-pair-share etc, we have also had the opportunity to try some of these methods, we have learnt about the benefits of using these strategies instead of the traditional ones.

6. Discussions for teachers about the progress on project activities

After the classes for this day finished all teachers and project coordinator have met in the school library to discuss about the project’s progress. Each national coordinator reported the achievement of different activities. We have also discussed about the planned activities for the Radio show planned for Friday.

2nd Day

The second day started early in the morning with a short trip. Different activities were planned, following these objectives: To disseminate the Spanish culture and learn about their origins. To improve understanding about Mediterranean culture. To promote the awareness of the importance of learning about our cultural heritage.To produce the insight that ancient cultures are about life, emotions, humanity, To encourage students to create their own interpretations about ancient cultures.To strengthen the students’ skills in listening and understanding in a multidisciplinary approach. To develop in students English communication skills.

1. Study Visit at the Lucentum

It is located just 3 km from the city centre, in the area known as Tossal de Manises, are the major archaeological remains of the Roman city of Lucentum, or ancient Alicante. This is an important reference point for the Ibero-Roman period. The site covers 5ha, of which 2.5 correspond to the ancient city itself. This is one of the largest archaeological sites in the Region of Valencia.

2. Study Visit at Santa Barbara Castle

The Santa Barbara Castle is located on the top of Benacantil Mountain, 166 metres above sea level; it gives to the city a great strategic value. From there, you can see almost the entire bay of Alicante.

On its slopes have been found archaeological remains of the Bronze Age, Iberian and Roman, but the origin of the fortress is in the late ninth century with the Muslim rule.

3rd Day

The entire day was spent in the school, and by rotation, teachers from partner countries have had the chance to teach the mixed class of students, using Blended Learning:

1. Lesson about Linear regression by Luciano Zazzetti

2. Lesson about Coding by Jose Cruz

3. Lesson about Mathematical Induction by Iohana Udrescu

4th Day

The morning was spent with the students in Elche, trying to achieve the following objectives:

To promote socio-cultural activities for European students
To promote and disseminate the influence of Greek and Roman culture in the culture of Elche by means of the visit of “La Alcudia”, archaeological site in Elche
To help students to gain a deeper understanding of The culture of Elche, customs and origins.
To disseminate our culture and learn about Spanish origins.
To improve understanding about Mediterranean culture.
To learn about the two Elche`s World Heritage.
To strengthen the students’ skills in listening and understanding in a multidisciplinary approach.
To develop in students English communication skills.

2. Guided Tour in Elche

The tour started at the Tourist Information Office and continued along Elche landmarks, such as the Municipal Park, Santa María Basilica, the old town, the town centre shopping precinct and the Glorieta.

3. Elche by bike

Today, over 200,000 officially protected palm trees in the city lend it a somewhat exotic air. These palms are evident on every street corner and can be especially enjoyed in the well-tended city park and just a short walk away. We have gone through this area by bike in a guided tour organized by Bici-Elx and the ”Policía Municipal”

5th Day

The morning was spent with the students in class, and the afternoon in the school, where the teachers started discussions.

1. RADIO SHOW PROGRAMME

For two hours students from the six groups, guided by their teachers had prepared their involvement in the radio show – each ones part and activity. Each group had prepared either a vine, a song with wrong lyrics, a quiz etc. Around noon the radio show started with some of the students playing the role of the presenters, introducing the project and its activities. Later, the Spanish headmistress, the project coordinator and the teachers from each country have had short speeches.

2. Evaluation for the guest and host students on Moodle

A survey was created on the Moodle platform in order to gather feedback from all guest students.

3. Certification for students

At the end of the meeting all students and teachers received their certificates of attendance and the students their Europass certificates.

4. Teachers meeting

The afternoon was spent in the school, where the teachers started discussions about some managerial issues, about the progress done so far, about the technical problems of the Moodle platform and the solutions found to solve them. We have discussed about the next activities and a to do list was created.

They have discussed about the symposium that will be organized during the meeting in Romania, its structure, partners’ contribution, etc.