This document discusses eTwinning and its relationship to democracy and citizenship. It provides background on democracy, noting that 117 of 195 countries are electoral democracies. eTwinning is an EU initiative launched in 2005 to connect schools using technology. It has grown from 7,000 teachers in 2005 to over 213,000 members in 2013. eTwinning promotes democratic values like equal access and universal freedoms. It helps develop digital citizenship and provides tools for international collaboration, understanding between cultures, and continuous professional development for teachers.

1. eTwinning for Democracy &
Citizenship
Claire Morvan
Central Support Service
PDW Stockholm, Sweden, October 2013

2. Introduction
1. Democracy
2. eTwinning
3. The Internet phenomenon
4. eTwinning & Democracy

3. What is Democracy?
It is derived from the Greek δημοκρατία
([dimokratia), "popular government” 5th
- 4th Century BC
Do you know how many countries are in the world?
195 countries in the world
Do you know how many are democracies?
117 Electoral Democracies

4. A History lesson!

5. Who is this man?
Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Address 1863
‘that all men are created equal.’
‘and that government of the
people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the
earth’.

6. The Consitution of the 5th Republic
France
States that the principle of the Republic of
France is
"gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et
pour le peuple"
a literal translation of Lincoln's words.

7. Wikipedia:definition of democracy
Even though there is no universally accepted
definition of 'democracy', there are two
principles that any definition of democracy
includes.
The first principle is that all members of the
society have equal access to power
and
the second that all members enjoy universally
recognized freedoms and liberties

8. Another History lesson!
Now an accompanying measure to the Comenius programme

9. What is ?
?

10. eTwinning
2005 - Officially launched in January
2007 - Officially Integrated into the Life
Long Learning Programme
2013 - Due to run until this date

11. eTwinning is
An initiative of the European Commission
to give an opportunity to as many EU
children as possible to communicate
with other children in other EU countries
using Information and Communication
Technologies at school.

12. National Support Service
(1 in each country)
Central Support Service.
Run by the European
Schoolnet on behalf of the
European Commission

13. Official Definition
eTwinning is a portal :
• Which takes advantage of the possibilities offered by
the Internet and digital media
• to promote European school cooperation, collaborative
learning and project based pedagogy.
• eTwinning does not finance single projects but
supports them by offering tools and support.

14. Re-examine this sentence
To promote:
European school cooperation
Collaborative learning
Project based pedagogy.

15. What has happened since 2005?
The Internet phenomenon

16. 1. The Internet has changed
Pre 2004 Web 1.x
– Passive
– Read the news
– Retrieve information
Essentially an online encyclopedia

18. Interactive & Creative Web 2.0
- make the news
- publish ideas
- create archives
- comment on events
- communicate

19. Since 2005
February 2004
April 2006
January 2005
February 2004.
October 2006
February 2005
1999
2006

20. Http://election.twitter.com/

21. The Internet is democratic
Democracy and the Web
Editorial New York Times - Published: May 19, 2008
‘Users of the Internet take for granted their ability to access all
Web sites on an equal basis. That could change, however, if
Internet service providers started discriminating among
content, to make more money or to suppress ideas they do not
like.

22. What has happened in eTwinning since 2005?
September 2005 7000 teachers registered
Oct. 2013: 213096 members
3045 Active projects

24. Networked World
eTwinning is not just about projects.
Projects are the outcome of a much larger
process
The process of community
Social Networking

25. Digital citizenship
To benefit from a media you must
understand the media

26. Digital citizenship
A digital citizen commonly refers to a person
utilizing information technology (IT) in order to
engage in society, politics, and government
participation. K. Mossberger, define digital
citizens as "those who use the Internet
regularly and effectively.“

27. eTwinning for Digital citizenship
eTwinning can easily be seen as the
perfect entry to become a great Digital
Citizen via project based learning and
CPD opportunities

28. Being Digital Citizen in etwinning
Teachers connected in groups
To collaborate and create together
within and outside formal projects
Netiquette

29. Continuous Professional
development & Recognition
Online learning
– eTwinning learning events
– Communities of practice based on pedagogical
resources
– Webinars
Conference on Citizenship
Winning project last year: rainbow village
http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/discover/people_say/projects.htm

30. eTwinning also continues
To empower the teachers and pupils of
Europe to work together engaging and
creating ideas.
To provide the tools to promote
understanding between schools of
different cultures

31. And
It still costs nothing!

32. To conclude
eTwinning is a
democratic tool to
become a digital
citizen

33. Over to You!
Thank you for your attention
claire.morvan@eun.org
http://www.etwinning.net