MODERATORS HANDBOOK 2020 by d g

eTWINNING MODERATORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; GROUP HANDBOOK

Version June 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 3 How to create an eTwinning group .......................................................................................................... 4 Before creating a Group.....................................................................................................................................4 Create a Group ...................................................................................................................................................5 Making changes to your Group .........................................................................................................................7

Planning groups ........................................................................................................................................ 14 Tools of eTwinning Groups ....................................................................................................................... 16 Homepage and feed........................................................................................................................................ 16 Pages and content ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Forums ................................................................................................................................................................. 17 Online meetings ................................................................................................................................................. 17 Members and TwinMail ..................................................................................................................................... 17

Activity ideas and examples................................................................................................................... 18 Top ten tips ......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Activity examples............................................................................................................................................... 19

Running an online seminar in eTwinning ................................................................................................ 21 How to organize the online seminars ............................................................................................................... 21 A good host is a well-prepared host................................................................................................................ 22 If you are the Presenter ..................................................................................................................................... 23

How to invite quest speakers................................................................................................................... 25 Useful web tools ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Tools for posters and images ............................................................................................................................ 27 Tools for videos ................................................................................................................................................... 29 Tools for content, collaboration, and curation ............................................................................................... 30 Tools for surveys and polls ................................................................................................................................. 32 Tools for social media ........................................................................................................................................ 33 Tools for newsletters ........................................................................................................................................... 34

Advertising and disseminating your group............................................................................................ 35 Netiquette .................................................................................................................................................. 37 What is netiquette? ........................................................................................................................................... 37 Netiquette in an online Group ......................................................................................................................... 37

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INTRODUCTION eTwinning Groups are virtual communities of collaborative learning where teachers registered in eTwinning can debate, present their ideas and needs and share materials and experiences around a specific topic. Featured Groups are run by an experienced eTwinner or by an expert. You can find them in the Groups’ homepage on eTwinning Live. The topics vary from language teaching and Entrepreneurship in education to STEM or Inclusive Education. eTwinning Featured Groups are open to anyone who is interested in the topic. Groups have considerable potential, considering that there are over 800,000 teachers registered on the platform (as of May 2020) from 44 different countries. The Featured Groups available are related to for example inclusion, e-Safety, coding, creativity, foreign languages, science, entrepreneurship, gamification, leadership, migrants, gender, and sustainability, but there are thousands of others small and important groups which cover all the needs eTwinners have. This handbook was created by the Moderators of the Featured Groups. This document aims to be a useful guide for all eTwinners who want to create, or have already created, a Group. Inside you will find everything necessary to create and develop your own successful Group.

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Etienne Wenger

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HOW TO CREATE AN ETWINNING GROUP Authors: Laura Maffei, Elena Pezzi, Paola Arduini

Before creating a Group Have you got a wonderful idea about a topic to discuss with other eTwinners? Would you like to meet other eTwinners with the same interest, but there is no online space for it yet on eTwinning Live? Why not create an eTwinning Group? Before creating a Group, you should check if there are no other Groups dealing with the same topic. How do I find out? Easy: search if there is such a Group! You can check it either by group name or a keyword, subject, topic, and language.

Are there no other similar groups? Great! Next question: are you sure that your Group is of interest for most eTwinners? If the answer is “YES”, a couple of questions more: • •

Are you aware that after you create the Group you'll also have to manage it? Do you have the time to work on it?

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Not all Group have to be open and public. You can also open private Groups for specific members. For instance: •

Teachers and other colleagues in your school or in your local area

•

Ambassadors or eTwinning Schools in your country or local area

•

To privately work on your Erasmus+ partnership with your partners

•

To network and follow-up with participants from workshops and other events

All clear? Ok, let’s go then! First of all, let’s go to the “Groups” section and read the FAQ!

Create a Group First steps to create your own Group: 1. Complete the form with the necessary information: title, description and the objectives and the main goals of your Group. 2. Choose who can join; You can decide either everyone in eTwinning can join your group or it is only for specific eTwinners: it is up to you!

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If the group deals with topics of common interest, you can leave it “open”. If you think that the group has to discuss topics of interest of just a determined group of eTwinners, you can decide to keep it “closed” and invite yourself the members. After that, you can simply add some more information (language of communication in your group, topics, subject) and submit your request! Wait until your application has been examined and validated by the Central Support Service (CSS). If the group is considered interesting and useful for the eTwinning community, you will receive an email confirming the opening of the group and you can start working on it!

Making changes to your Group As an Administrator you can make changes to your Group by clicking the “Settings” button on the home page.

From the settings of your Group, you can easily change: • • • • •

The title of your Group The description of your Group Who can join the Group; you can make your Group either private or public Change the thumbnail of your Group Close your Group, and re-open it

At any moment the Administrator can go back to the Group’s settings and change them. Even if you close the Group, it will be available to you on the main Group menu where you can open it again. To learn more about Groups’ settings, visit the support pages.

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PLANNING GROUPS Author: Agustin Bastida Rodriguez

So now we have our group. Great! Congratulations on taking the initiative. We have gone through all the previous steps in order to obtain this space, and the eTwinning CSS has given us the go ahead to set up the requested Group. Now we face the challenge of structuring the content of the group and keeping a user-friendly structure.

- ideas that may have been the spark of the group's creation need Some further development. For instance: •

A topic related to the academic curriculum: science, art, languages…

•

A cross-curricula area such as emotional education, inclusion…

•

An awareness campaign related to the theme of the year (climate change, cultural heritage, etc.).

The best Group and the best moderator For sure we would like our group to be the best and the most comprehensive in its theme; to be inviting for teachers to dig into and find what they need or to make contributions, and for it to become the space for meeting and reflection we intend it to be.

So, we need to consider: •

The content it will offer

•

The general structure and its sections

•

Participatory proposals in a secure environment

•

Diffusion of content to maintain steady growth

The engine of the group is formed by the moderator(s). Any group can have one or more people who helps boost activity and share tasks. These people are essential for everything to flow conveniently. They have a motivating challenge of collective construction, providing content and identity to the eTwinning Group and encouraging and achieving participation.

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The moderator as a leader should embody certain qualities which are important, such as: •

Capability of adapting to new circumstances

•

Being ready to form part of a team

•

Willingness to take risks to be innovative

•

Open-mindedness to foresee new opportunities and suggest improvements

•

Demonstrating responsibility and respect for all

•

Having a realistic awareness of resources available and the possibility of their exploitation

Providing content and identity to the group

Encouraging and achieving participation

Humanitarian qualities & knowledge of networks and IT

eTwinning Group Moderator Humanitarian qualities, such as patience, altruism and comprehension, are just as important as those related to the knowledge of social networks, technological tools, computing and organisation of groups. Everything counts; an encouraging pat on the back can be more effective than any tool or application.

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The essential and the concrete Here are some guidelines to pave the way for the creation and definition of our eTwinning Group. As already mentioned, it is essential that we deal with a theme of interest for its relevance and demand.

This may be related to: •

The EU and our Ministry of Education, taking into account the priority lines related to eTwinning and Erasmus+. Examples of previous campaigns are inclusion, and democratic participation, or the current theme which is related to carbon emission neutrality.

•

A curricular or transversal area.

•

International organisations and institutions, such as the UN, UNESCO

As we have already decided on the subject during the application phase, we now need to fix the content. Both content and structure must be effective and realistic and provide a medium/long term perspective if our group has unlimited duration. Whilst the content should be dynamic and up-to-date, frequent changes in the format can lead to confusion with the consequent drop-out of members. In addition, it is important that the main sections be reduced in number, and that their title helps to locate the desired content. A simple and generic proposal will guarantee the survival of the contents and strengthen the security of participation of the members

As an example, we add a proposal contents: •

Welcome - In it, we can give information about our identity, the characteristics of the group, and its objectives. And of course, what they can expect to find in the group.

Depending on our group proposal, we may choose some of these sections or all of them: •

Participation - We can give guidelines on how to participate through simple instructions about the external applications used and the visual guidelines of the Group, so that members can upload their experiences, quality label projects etc. related to our theme.

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•

Collaboration - This section (its name depends on what you are planning) is very useful for launching collaborative initiatives about specific aspects, and they can be punctual or periodic, using the eTwinning tools, or external ones that can be inserted.

•

Training - Sometimes, needs arise in the teaching staff, and the Group may suggest training proposals related to courses, seminars or educational meetings. The offer is wide in eTwinningErasmus+, European Schoolnet Academy and the Gateway Academy. Learning can take place among peers, and the most qualified members can take the initiative by developing libraries and media libraries.

The sections we have just looked at are suggestions that may vary according to each group in their appearance and development, depending on the needs of the moment and its objectives. Other elements, however, are not optional.

The essential points that every eTwinning Group should take into consideration are, in addition to the Welcome, those related to: •

Netiquette and FAQ

•

Rights of protection of minors

An eTwinning group is characterised by the communication between its members, and in order to achieve this, we must generate content in Forums which allows for interaction, using opinion polls and questionnaires to guarantee that the content is of general interest. Some useful tools for creating a sense of belonging to the group are those related to Events and Chat, whilst videoconferences for awareness campaigns or organisational and training tasks are highly valued both for the immediacy of the interaction and for being conducted in a medium restricted only to teachers.

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Essential

Optional

Welcome

Participation

Netiquette and FAQ

Sensitisation

Training

Ethics and aesthetics: some useful clues We have briefly touched upon security, communication, interaction, content and its structure, but we should not forget to offer a visually attractive product that invites participants to visit the group time and time again. At the same time, before publishing any content on the Group, we need to check that it is compliant with the eTwinning Code of Conduct. Our continent is plural and diverse and being respectful and inclusive are the first rules for harmonious coexistence, empathy and for generating links in the eTwinning Group.

Image: Microsoft

Other elements to keep in mind when developing the Group: -

Routine updates will make our group more attractive and relevant. It is always highly recommended to give news in the group agenda, which can publicise campaigns, courses, tasks. Accompanying them with images or videos, as well as the URL of the section where they will find more information. In this way, we will create the need to visit other pages and “sub-pages”. A concise contents page, both in content and structure, is more inviting. On the contrary, if the contents page is too long, it may be scare out people. Presenting short articles, accompanied by images, videos and URL to expand on the information is a very useful factor that will generate loyalty to our group. It is also essential that members themselves can upload material, so we should remind them how to do it, always following the Code of Conduct above.

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The life of the group is often based around campaigns or training opportunities, organisation of events and seminars. It is vital that all the details are well defined to avoid doubts and unnecessary complications which may result in a loss of interest in participating in these proposals. Tutorials are always good tools to include for people less accustomed to digital technologies. They encourage less confident members to have a go and inspire an up-lifting sense of achievement. Respect is of vital importance, and the formulation of collaborations should be made through suggestions, invitations, proposals. This will avoid our petition of collaboration being perceived as a mandatory task, something which very few people are willing to accept. The number of members is important, but more important still is that they feel treated with respect, and can comfortably participate in the different proposals, thus making the experience both profitable and satisfying.

Finally, we should not forget that our eTwinning Group is a service to teachers, advisors, and other members of the educational community. Therefore we need to make it useful and practical to their interests so that eTwinners can always find information, content, and digital tools related to their teaching needs.

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PLANNING GROUPS Author: Theodora Gkeniou

When launching and moderating an eTwinning Group, the moderator’s role is essential in maintaining the focus of the group and achieving the goals which have been set. It is essential to keep in mind the following:

1. Identify and state the Group’s goals Once you make the decision to run a Group, you should have a clear idea of the reasons why you have made this decision. This idea is translated into concrete objectives which you must communicate to Group members. So, set up a page describing the general goal and the specific objectives. Plan a meeting to discuss them.

2. Create a safe environment Respect and safety come first, offline and online. Offensive comments are ruled out, and, at the same time, we make sure that all members can be equally heard and that no one dominates the floor. The best way to foster a safe environment, is to involve your group members by asking them to define a set of rules which they will follow (of course, in compliance with the eTwinning Code of Conduct). You can also consult the Netiquette chapter of this handbook for further inspiration and guides.

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3. Set the right atmosphere You, the moderator, set the tone and become the living example of the kind of relations which will be developed within your group. The group dynamics can be poor or strong and it is up to you as a leader of the group to set the right atmosphere! So: •

Know your team

•

Tackle problems quickly and give feedback

•

Define roles and responsibilities

•

Break down barriers

•

Focus on communication

•

Pay attention

Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/improving-group-dynamics.htm

4. Act as the conductor of an orchestra All in all, you should create an open and safe environment for people to feel encouraged and free to speak up and be actively involved in the forum discussions or the chats or the online meetings. You, the moderator, can be imagined as the conductor of an orchestra. Try to get the best out of each participant so that you meet your objectives!

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TOOLS OF ETWINNING GROUPS The Groups platform offers a variety of tools that you can use to manage your Group, add content, and engage with members. You can also find an overview of all the tool from the Groups’ support pages.

Homepage and feed The latest updates and news from the Group can be posted on the feed on the homepage. These posts can be liked, commented and pinned to the top. The feed of the Group is also publicly available for users that are not in the Group. From the homepage you can, as an Administrator, change any settings of your Group.

Pages and content You can add pages and sub-pages to your Group to keep your content organised. With the editor tool, you can easily add and edit the text. It is possible to add images, documents and videos using the editor. For instance, you can: • • • •

Upload images directly, or choose one from your materials folder Upload files, such as PDF’s and PowerPoint documents, from the “files” button Embed a video from YouTube or Vimeo using the iFrame tool With the iFrame tool you can also embed another external tool, such as a Padlet on your page.

On the pages it is also possible to add other content blocks too: polls and TwinBoards. The poll is a quick an easy tool which you can customise to ask questions, gather feedback and to engage with your audience. Each poll also can lead to a new thread in the forum to continue the discussion. TwinBoard allows you to add an interactive board to your page. On the TwinBoard you and your Group members can add pictures, text and short videos.

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The pages you create are automatically in draft mode, and only visible to the Administrators and Moderators of the Group. From the page’s settings you can publish the page and make it available for either all the Group members, or public for anyone that has a link to the page. If you decide to make your pages public, make sure first that you have the rights to publish the content, and that it does not violate any copyrights.

Forums The forums are used for the discussions among the members of the Group. As an Administrator, you can create the new discussions, and sort how they are placed on the Forum. All the members of the Group can create new threads within the discussions and post their comments.

Online meetings From the online meetings section, the Administrator can create online events using Adobe Connect. Simply click on the icon to organise a meeting, fill in the details, and share the link with your Group members. You can create events up to 100 people for up to 90 minutes. Read more about online seminars and their best practices from the chapter Running an online seminar on eTwinning. All the members of the Group can also enter the chatroom by simply clicking on the chatroom icon on the ‘Online meetings’ tab. When more members have joined, you can all participate in online activities or discuss and share ideas. You can download the chat log afterwards.

Members and TwinMail From the Members tab you can see and search all the members in your Group. From here you can also invite people to join your Group. If you want to send a message to all the members of your Group, simply click on “contact” and you will be able to draft your message. IMPORTANT! Make sure that you do not spam the members of your Group with too many messages. Read more about how to use TwinMail to disseminate your Group from the chapter Advertising and disseminating your group.

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ACTIVITY IDEAS AND EXAMPLES Authors: Pauline Stirling and Kornelia Lohynova When teachers become part of the eTwinning community, they sometimes join one or more Featured Groups. Then when a new group has been created that they are interested in, they might also join that. We want teachers to actively participate in these groups: to share their ideas and resources and to take full advantage of being a member. Active participants revisit the group regularly to join in its activities making the group more successful. The success of a group depends a lot on how involved its participants are. How do we keep encouraging teachers to get involved in the group’s activities? How do we keep their interest in the group?

Top ten tips: 1. Set up an introductory activity that encourages teachers to introduce themselves: saying where they are from and what they want to get out of the group. This can be attached to the welcome page. 2. Create an activity that will get teachers navigating the group pages so that they can find information and documents easily. This can also be attached to the welcome page or it can be part of another activity, for example, ‘read the information on…’ and ‘then upload a resource to…’. 3. Use activities that encourage participants to share resources. If teachers know where to find the resources that they can use (as in 2.) they can download them. This might hopefully inspire them to upload resources that they have created too. 4. Link online events to activities. Ask an expert to deliver a webinar on a topic and then set up an activity around that topic. 5. Have a theme or topic ‘of the month’. Let participants know in advance what that topic is going to be. Ask for activity suggestions around the topic: some teachers will have an original idea that you have not thought of. 6. Reward active participants with certificates and badges. Ask for contributors to an ‘idea of the month’ and choose the best ones to reward. 7. Keep participants informed: send out a monthly newsletter which promotes the activities and use TwinMail to share information too. 8. Regularly consult the group to find out what activities they prefer and are more likely to participate in. Mentimeter (www.menti.com) is good for this. 9. Set a realistic deadline on activities as teachers might not visit the group often. However, when they do visit, they want to see that it is ‘live’ and regularly updated. 10. Get involved in activities yourself. Make sure that you upload resources and enjoy the collaboration!

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Activity examples 1. The theme of the month for this group was Saint Valentine. Teachers were invited to create a Valentines card in French (“Cartes de Saint-Valentin”) from their class, adding details like where their school is situated, the name of the class, age of pupils etc as well as images and a Valentine message and then to add the card to the folder entitled ‘cartes de Saint-Valentin’. Certificates and badges were awarded.

The activity highlights the theme of the month, creates some friendly competition, shares ideas and resources and may encourage some further eTwinning links (and then projects!). It also means that teachers need to visit the ‘documents’ pages which helps them to navigate the group pages and gives them the opportunity to look at the resources available.

2. There are similar benefits with the theme of the year. During the European Year of Cultural Heritage, members of this group were asked to create four videos with their students on different topics connected with the main theme of the year. All participants received certificates of participation and their work was also highlighted on eTwinning platform.

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3. Members of this group were asked to share resources of self-awareness and selfmanagement activities they use at school after a webinar about Social and Emotional Learning. They were motivated by the opportunity to have their activities in an eBook and learn from each other.

4. A Twitter chat is a discussion, usually over a set time. Twitter chats on different topics are popular among teachers because they can share their ideas, experiences and examples of best practice. It is possible to collect all tweets in the end and post it for other members of the group like here https://chirpstory.com/li/429556

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RUNNING AN ONLINE SEMINAR IN ETWINNING Author: Glykeria Gkouvatsou Online Seminars are a great way to disseminate and share the best practice, exchange ideas and tips, give presentations and collaborate and communicate with other people registered in your Group. If you organise an online seminar which is not only informative but also memorable, the results achieved will be awesome. In this chapter, there are guidelines which will provide you with the most important tips to engage with your audience.

Source: presentation “Story of TeacherGaming LLC and MinecraftEDU” by Mikael Uusi- Mäkelä

How to organize the online seminars There are two types of events you can create in eTwinning; private events within your Group or public events on eTwinning Live. Below, you have guidelines outlining how to create an online event. 1. Internal and Private Group Meeting •

Go to the “Online Meetings” section of your Group

•

Click on “Create live event” and complete the form. Make sure you choose the right time slot and identify the number of participants you expect. Click on save.

•

Promote the online event within your Group so that members are aware.

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•

On the day of the event click on " join the event" and start the online meeting. A videoconferencing app (Adobe Connect) will open (don’t forget to record it!).

•

You can upload and share PowerPoint presentations, files and images.

•

Use interactive tools to engage with your audience

•

After the event, you can download the recording from “Past events” section of your online meetings

Further guidelines on the usage of the video-conferencing tool can be found here. 2. Public Events on eTwinning Live •

Check the eTwinning Live calendar to find a suitable date. There might be other webinars on the same day.

•

Book the event on eTwinning Live using the events tool. You will also need to complete the fields and remember to add a catchy title and description.

•

On the day of the event: ■

You can enter the online meeting room (Adobe Connect) 24 hours before the event takes place to get familiar with the tools and prepare for the webinar.

■

Participants can join the event 15 minutes before it starts. It would be worth uploading a slide to the screen with details on the webinar and any basic rules you would like to incorporate.

■

If you have invited a speaker or an external expert, remember to upgrade them so they are a “presenter”. They can then share their screen and control their presentation slides.

■

Recording: Start the recording in case you want to download it later. You will have the link for the recording within 48 hours.

A good host is a well-prepared host

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If you are the Presenter Follow the KISS rule: Keep It Short and Simple. •

An online presentation should last no more than 30-40 minutes, plus 10-15 minutes for participants’ questions.

•

If you have a smaller audience, you could start with an ice breaking activity lasting 5 minutes. For example, participants can introduce themselves with the microphone and camera.

•

Include an overview of the aims of the session.

•

Interact with the participants.

•

Use a variety of tools if you can for each of the different activities.

•

Be consistent, precise and upbeat to keep participants engaged.

•

Be ready to handle an unexpected situation.

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•

Try to encourage participants to interact with each other so they are engaged with the presentation and discussions.

•

Ask for feedback at the end

•

If you run out of time, see if you can skip some of the content rather than speaking too fast and uncontrolled.

TIPS •

Have a pen and paper handy. You might need it!

•

Have a glass of water nearby.

•

Be prepared for the unexpected.

•

Take deep breaths occasionally

•

Incorporate the webinar in a larger plan, combining synchronous and asynchronous interactions

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HOW TO INVITE GUEST SPEAKERS Author: Marie Louise Petersen

If you have an interesting speaker in mind you can send them a short email introducing yourself, your group and eTwinning and a suggestion of what you would like the speaker to cover during the session. If the speaker accepts your invitation, you can reply suggesting to meet so that you can discuss the content and logistics for the session. Many people have access to other video-conferencing tools, such as Skype, but you can use the online meeting room within your group so that yourself and the guest speaker are familiar with Adobe Connect and the meeting room before the actual session takes place. When you meet with your guest speaker, you can choose to send a copy of a previous online seminar to your guest speaker so that they have an idea on how an expert-talk is done in the Online meeting-room. You need to invite the guest speaker to your group, so they can enter eTwinning and the meetingroom in your Group with a username and password by following the steps below:

Invite your guest speaker from the “Members” section of your Group. Only the Administrator or a Moderator of the Group can invite new members and guests.

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If your guest speaker or expert does not have an existing eTwinning account, you will need to select “invite guests” to add them. From this page, you can create a username and a password for your guest.

When you invite a guest, they are only able to enter the Group. These guests do not have access to other parts of eTwinning Live, and they do not have access to any other Group or TwinSpace. In this example above, your guest, Alice Wonderland, will need: •

username: alice.wonderland

•

password (that you provide): xxxxxxx.

Your guest now has access to your Group, and you can invite them to join online events, chats and activities.

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USEFUL WEB TOOLS Authors: Marijana Smolcec, Kornelia Lohynova

When we talk about web tools, we mainly refer to those that are not part of eTwinning but those which are still tools used for communication and content creation to help moderate your eTwinning group. The tools within the eTwinning groups are mentioned in another chapter. It is important to remember that some web 2.0 tools can be popular at different times and have high demands from users. Therefore, due to the changing needs of people and web tools, some of these tools could shut down or no longer offer a free version so you should always have a backup plan. The tools discussed here are mainly free or on a budget plan which will be mentioned as well. It is important to ensure the apps or tools are always up to date. The webtools can be divided into several groups: 1. Poster/Image Tools 2. Video Tools 3. Content, Collaboration and Curation Tools 4. Survey and Poll Making Tools 5. Social Media Tools 6. Newsletter Tools

Tools for posters and images Canva is a user-friendly graphic-design platform where you can create nice designs and graphics easily and quickly with the possibility to use various templates. Webiste: https://www.canva.com/

Image: canva.com

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Postermywall is a similar tool for creating graphics and videos with lots of templates to use. Webiste: https://www.postermywall.com/

Image: Kornelia Lohynova

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Tools for videos Create impressive videos in minutes with Animoto’s drag-and-drop video maker. No video editing experience necessary, just add photos, up to 10 seconds videos, text etc. Choose from some free templates where videos last for 30 seconds or create an Animoto for Education account which can allow you to make longer videos. Website: www.animoto.com

Powtoon is another great video tool which you can use to engage with group members. You can create great video animations by adding text, music, images from scratch or choose from different readily available templates. Website: www.powtoon.com

Flipgrid is a very popular video discussion platform. It allows moderators to create “grids”. Each grid is like a message board. The moderator creates a topic and members of the group record their short video responses. Website: www.flipgrid.com

Image: Thomas William, Unsplash

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Tools for content, collaboration, and curation Padlet allows you to create interactive boards where your Group members can easily contribute. You can create various layouts and personalise your boards. With the basic account you can create up to 3. Webiste: www.padlet.com

Image: Example of Padlet board activity in Inclusive Education group

Wakelet is another popular and free tool for creating virtual boards. It also allows you to collaborate and curate various materials in a single page. Website: www.wakelet.com

Image: Example of Wakelet page from Inclusive Education group

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You can always use Google apps (slides, sheets, forms) where you can collect various content made by the members in your Group. The collected and curated content can be published as an eBook using digital publishing tools such as Issuu. Websites: https://www.google.com/docs/about/; www.issuu.com

Image: Issuu publication by members of Inclusive Education group

Content curation is very important. There are a lot of free tools to curate resources that can be used for group work. Pinterest is a visual bookmarking tool, with Pearltrees you can add web pages, files, articles, photos and also notes. Websites: www.pinterest.com; www.pearltrees.com/education

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Tools for surveys and polls If you want to create a short poll for your group members you can do that within the pages of the eTwinning Group. There are also some useful tools that can help you collate feedback from the members in your Group.

With EasyPolls tool, you can ask one question with multiple different answers quickly and easily and you can also user various different poll styles without having to registerWebiste: www.easypolls.net

If you want to create a longer survey with more questions, you can use tools such as: •

Google Forms: www.google.com/forms/about/

•

Microsoft Forms: www.forms.office.com

•

SurveyMonkey : www.surveymonkey.com

Image: example of a Google Form evaluation form for Inclusive Education webinar

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Tools for social media Twitter is a microblogging tool as it allows you to post shorter messages and upload images and also use a certain hashtag to promote your group’s activities. That is one of the reasons why many eTwinners are on Twitter. You can also have LIVE Twitter chats activities once you create your group’s #hashtag. Website: www.twitter.com

If you have a private Facebook account, you can create a Facebook page for your eTwinning group where you can post updates, share useful materials, images and advertise some future events etc. Website: www.facebook.com

Instagram is mainly a mobile app and very popular nowadays. If you want to post your images, and share your videos, you should download the app to your mobile phone and create and official profile for your group. All the Instagram posts can be shared via Instagram on the desktop version. Website: www.instagram.com

For longer videos, for example your online seminars, you can use YouTube or Vimeo to upload them. You can then embed these videos from YouTube or Vimeo within your Group’s pages. Websites: www.youtube.com; www.vimeo.com

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Tools for newsletters Communication with the Group is very important, and you will mainly do that through the Group’s Forum or contacting all members via TwinMail.

IMPORTANT! Before creating your mailing list and your own newsletter, make sure that you have the permission from the members to be added to the list, and their consent to be contacted by e-mail!

Some members are not as active on social media, but they do check their emails. You can invite your members to subscribe to your Group’s newsletter. Below are some examples of newsletter tools that you can use to create your very own mailing list. One of the good newsletter tools is TinyLetter. It is a free newsletter service that can have up to 5,000 subscribers. You can create your subscribers’ list and send newsletters via emails. You can share a link to your newsletter's group page or embed a signup form as it offers embed code. Website: www.tinyletter.com

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ADVERTISING AND DISSEMINATING YOUR GROUP Author: Marijana Smolcec

If you want to attract eTwinners to join your eTwinning Group, you should consider advertising it within the eTwinning and also on other social media platforms. When your eTwinning Group is approved by the CSS and once you are satisfied with the materials you have uploaded, you should then consider attracting new members. Some of the things you should consider toattract members to join your Group:

CREATE •

the logo of your Group - you can also share it in your videos or poster about the Group’s activities. Make sure to always add the eTwinning logo as well.

•

the poster which you will share later on various different social networks

•

Intro video of the Group. Example of the Intro video.

•

Group’s Facebook page

•

Group’s Twitter profile or Twitter hashtag (e.g. #etwinedu1, #etwiam2) it will help you to easily advertise and publish activities under the same hashtag and it will allow eTwinners to find information under the same topic hashtag.

•

Group’s Youtube channel - to post videos or maybe future recordings of some webinars you might organise

•

You can also create an Instagram profile for the Group

•

A newsletter - have your members subscribe to it. One of the free newsletter web 2.0 tools is TinyLetter. Newsletter enables you to keep in contact with the members who don’t check eTwinning every day, but who do check their emails and this is how you can stay in touch with them and attract them to join your various activities.

eTwinning Featured Group Inclusive Education

eTwinning Ambassadors

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ADVERTISE •

Advertise your group amongst your eTwinning contacts

•

Invite members to join via some social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

•

Mention your eTwinning group if you present at an online seminar.

DISSEMINATE When you start being active it is suggested to disseminate your activities: •

Use the Group’s internal TwinMail option to contact all the Group members

•

Post on your eTwinning profile and the Group itself

•

Group’s social media channels

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NETIQUETTE Author: Aneta Wilk

What is netiquette? The meaning of the word “netiquette” derives from two words, i.e. “the Net” (a global computer network) and “etiquette” (a set of social behaviour). It can be defined as a code of online behaviour, which includes some aspects of Internet life as well as online interactions between people, such as: comments of people’s posts, online bullying and harassment, copyright, spam, online chatting. Netiquette regulates norms of interactions between people collaborating in an online environment, which are similar to those applying when dealing with others in a face-to-face communication. Most online societies have their own code of conduct. For example eTwinning code of conduct is available under the link: https://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/code-of-conduct.htm It is recommended to become acquainted with the netiquette before starting using the eTwinning Portal.

Netiquette in an online Group Online groups are usually close to the public societies that can communicate and exchange information through the use of electronic devices connected to the Internet. The code of conduct is essential for the proper and effective functioning of each Internet group. It specifies the behaviour acceptable by other members, for example: appropriate language of communication, publishing and commenting on the other members’ posts, ways of exchanging information between participants, etc. The example code of conduct of an eTwinning group is available under the link: https://prezi.com/q1ni-zurmtdj/rules-of-netiquette-in-an-online-group/

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www.etwinning.net

@eTwinningEurope @eTwinningEurope eTwinning Europe @etwinning_europe

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