"<< Background >>“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.” (R. Buckminster Fuller, Author & Inventor)Erasmus + project FCL focuses on digitalization after the COVID-19 pandemic and new and innovative ways of learning and teaching in the age of Education 4.0. The activities to be carried out for the development of digital learning resources and contents, and the use of digital learning resources developed at all stages of education and training activities form the basis of our project.According to Digital Scoreboard 2017, more and more people are moving to digital, but only one of two Europeans have sufficient digital skills. To support this, the European Commission published in 2018 ""by the Digital Economy and Society Index, digitization degree ratios EU average is 53.51%. Italy 44%, Poland 45% . In Turkey and North Macedonia digitization rate is below the EU average (10%). Bulgaria 35%, Romania (39%) have the lowest scores after Turkey on the index.The educational needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic bring along the need for excellent computing and digital skills for both school administrators, teachers and students. The fact that our students stay at home continuously and spent their education at home away from school education is a situation that puts education authorities in a difficult situation and requires breakthroughs in this way. For this reason, our schools want to open the doors to a better digital education and help them act responsibly in this area, while also creating healthier communication ways among their students. Teachers need more schools and ideas when working with computers and digital materials.In this age which the teacher transforms from being a 'teacher' to being a 'guide', inspiration and practical experiences need to be designed for teachers. In particular, the chaos environment in education by the COVID-19 pandemic has laid a more indispensable ground for the digitalization of education. This is exactly why we decided to write the ""FCL"" project on ""Digitalization in Education"", regarding that we needed to share good practices with partnership.In April, we have decided to carry out an Erasmus + project on ""Digitalization in Education"" in line with the roadmap determined within the scope of EU 2021 targets, which is included in our institutions' strategic plan.The project, addressed to teachers of local schools, stakeholders, universities, families and students, involve nine Institutions: schools and Educational and training organizations.Needs for Target Group1- Students of High schoolsDue to inadequate supplementary supports, Ss have lack of social emotional needs, as it has been proved in the analytical report “Strengthening Social and Emotional Education as a core curricular area across the EU” (http://bit.ly/SocialEmLearning )Ss need a curriculum focused on ICT tools and which will require them to use FCL classrooms in following years at schools. It will also help them with the means to improve their opportunities for more success in the future.Needs for Target Group 2- Teachers of High schoolsTeachers at high schools always need extra international supports and trainings as well as in-service training to work effectively and to devote themselves for education in the increasingly digitalized labs and classrooms “Using digital resources for continuous professional development.” (as cited in DigCompEdu 1.4)As cited one of the most important action of Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027),teachers and educational staff must be equipped to foster digital literacy and tackle disinformation through education and training. This should be done in close cooperation with bringing together European organizations, European technology companies and stakeholders, national authorities, education and training institutions, associated partners, educators, parents and young people.<< Objectives >>The main objectives are to fill the digital competence gap of the participants, to provide them with digital tools and make it easier to develop or update their digital competences, to develop communication and cooperation skills with EU institutions. The practical knowledge gained through this project directly covers digital tools. The project recognizes the importance of promoting partners' 21st century skills, technological skills, critical thinking skills, teamwork skills, and international awareness of teachers and students. We want teachers and students to be more involved in digital education, make a more conscious and positive contribution to digitalization, and realize our objectives that contribute more use of technology in education at the end of the project.As objectives for teachers, we aim to demonstrate what the digital competence and digital competence framework, develop competencies in web tools, increase language skills in the target language, improve communication and collaboration skills in teachers, communicate with foreign teachers for cultural interaction and sharing, improvement of the information technology skills of our teachers and students by ensuring mutual discovery of digital educational materials, help teachers to address the risks, opportunities and consequences of digitization and improvement of the participant's ability to adapt to changes.As objectives for institutions, we aim to increase the capacity of partner institutions by improving their digital literacy levels, develop the democratic educational process and active citizenship at schools; empower institutions in digital education, the ability to use Web 2.0 tools in the distance education process, communicating with foreign teachers for cultural interaction and sharing, helping institutions to address the risks, opportunities and consequences of digitization.As objectives for students, we are planning to increase language skills in the target language, provide economical, easy and fast access to educational content for students with fewer opportunities, use the benefits of digitalization to improve students' learning outcomes ;During the project process, we aim to develop a Guideline for Future Classroom as an Intellectual Output and a Digital Education Needs Analysis , Digital Education Materials and applications and e-Learning Portal. As concrete results, we plan to produce educational interactive games produced with presentations, event / idea collections, feedback on activities, ""FCL DIGITAL"" e-magazine, evaluation documents, participation certificates and web tools.In addition, we aim to make a Green Travel Plan and make a contribution to the preservation of nature using things less. With green travel, we aim to increase awareness of respecting ecology and reduce the negative effects of human beings on nature through responsible behavior and regulations. We want to reduce, reuse and recycle while travelling.<< Implementation >>The methodology in the implementation of the activities will have a collaborative and participatory path based on communication and experience sharing through 21st century educational approaches.Our project will contain a total of 5 LTT's and 2 Transnational Project Meetings.L/T/T and TPM: They include activities abroad where the participants will receive training on digitalization and share the best practices of partner institutions. Kick-off TPM- Preparing for Documentation will be held in Poland in March 2022. Participants will receive a training on ICT Tools in Learning and Training Process in Italy in June 2022. Then, Bulgarian School will host LTTA on Innovative space and time concepts concerning Future Classroom in September 2022. In Romania-Targu Jiu we will organize a L/T/T on E-safety for Teachers in January 2023.In North Macedonia we will organize ""Use of E-learning Platforms and Open Source Multimedia Tools in Education and Digitalization"" in April 2023. The participants will join the LTTA on the Gamification in the Classroom which will be held in Poland in September 2023. In Turkey, Poland and Romania we will organize Multiplier Events on ""Teaching in the Future Classroom!"" in January 2024. The final TPM-The Documentation of the Whole Project and Sharing of the experiences and outcomes will be held in Turkey to discuss the achievements, results and sustainability of the project in January 2024. Final TPM and the Multiplier event will take place at the same time in Turkey. Final TPM will last two days and Multiplier Event will last one day, so representatives of partner institutions will stay for 3 days in Turkey, in order to take part in the ME as well, as guest speakers, along with Turkish experts. Participants will explore ICT tools in a practical way. Hands-on workshops and collaborative group work will allow participants to understand and assimilate the content actively. Intellectual Output: As an Intellectual Output, a guideline (the Guide for Future Classroom) will be created with the leadership of Romanian partner to serve as an inspiration to other schools and teachers. A clear guidelines may help them to have the correct image of the Future classroom for planning and creating the future classroom. Intellectual Output will be studied throughout the project with the collaboration of partners. The topics will be distributed among all partners.The areas where partners are responsible for the implementation of the activities are: All partners will design their own proposals for the project logo, Romania will hold a logo contest using Google Survey. An Erasmus + Corner will be created in partner institutions. On the eTwinning page, a video, questionnaire, photo album, games will be created with web tools related to each event. Information will be collected with mixed teams to create e-journals, project final product and project calendar. The website of the project will be created by Bulgaria (with a eu domain name). TMPİBFL will create the project's blog and follow the posts, create and update the Twinspace page.DISSEMINATION- The toolbox for teaching and assessment of skills- Dissemination of the project in local/regional/ national media, project website, school websites, school magazines ,Erasmus Days, Artsteps Virtual exhibition, preparing certificates using teacher or certificate program, Playing Kahoot Games, some materials(Tshirts, Pencils, Cups, magnets-our logos on it etc.- Dissemination activities at local, regional, national and European level.SUSTAINABILITY:-Our Project Partners have already a very specific potential network and users who the project results will be promoted to(especially schools, teachers, students, Universities, policy makers). In addition, the project results are planned to be included in the schools where the project partners are located and in the education programs and curricula of these schools.<< Results >>The most important result will for sure our intellectual output, the Guide for Future Classroom. This output aims to bring the methodology and tool developed in this project closer to all schools that can access the project languages, by step-by-step guide for the implementation and creation of the Future Classroom.Tangible results: e-magazine (FCL DIGITAL), an e-book, a website with all materials revealing the works of the project, project logo and posters, a virtual exhibition with artsteps, promotional poster, videos and brochures, presentations, teachers wakalette platform, feedback on activities (Zumpad,videos), Twinspace page, eTwinning and European QL's, learning diaries, hands-on activities, interactive lessons, seminars, start-up and evaluation surveys.Intangible results; In short term, the project will ensure the communication on digitalization, the necessary training for the digitalization division of the personnel working in partner institutions, the transfer of education and training techniques, the arrangement of the necessary knowledge of the educational organization arrangements to be made in order to increase digitalization in schools. In long term, the project will help the partner organizations to create awareness on digitalization, achieve a suitable interdisciplinary form that ensures the full integration of digitalization into the curriculum. The experience and good practices of EU institutions will be transferred, the professional competencies of participants will increase. The project will add prestige to the institutions involved in the partnership and become one of the exemplary institutions in the field of digitalization, and increase the quality of education and academic success.All the objectives and results concerning the activities of our project are directly related to the digital tools that are the topic of our project. Since the topic and objectives of the project overlap, the results of the project will be measurable towards these objectives. The project partners are aware of the importance of the lack of technological skills, critical thinking skills, teamwork skills and international awareness, which are the most important aspects of teachers and students that need to be developed in the 21st century, and the project idea created for this problem. Participants will gain knowledge and skills for the use of digital tools needed in the digital age and will develop their competencies in this field. We anticipate that teachers and students will be more involved in digital education and a more dedicated contribution to digitalization. Technology will be used more widely in education at the end of the project. All partners are willing and ready to develop these aspects of teachers and students.Participants will participate in group work activities and workshops with colleagues from different social and cultural backgrounds. In this way, we work not only on digital skills but also on soft skills such as communicating with new people in a new environment. Participants will learn how to use mobile applications and tools in the teaching process. Through competence, knowledge and the skills gained by trainers will benefit from a new set of tools and strategies to safely develop their digital citizenship. At the end of the project, the participants will be able to use digital tools in their work, establish effective digital communication between participating teams and target groups, and become more visible at national, regional and international levels. Within the scope of combating Covid-19, our schools will make a striking contribution primarily in terms of educational materials, digital applications and programs, different teaching and learning methods and techniques involving out-of-school students and teachers.The project results will be disseminated at local, regional and European level. These activities will start disseminating our project from the beginning to the end of it."

We are aware that we are living in a rapidly changing world and we need to adapt to those changes. This new reality is present in suburban areas, more than anywhere else, and of course in our schools. However we sometimes feel that we live in a society with many people from different countries, but that doesn’t mean that they mingle and learn with each other. On the contrary, there is a tendency to stay within the group, which doesn't help foreign students to feel part of the whole, to learn the national language of the country and has negative consequences on their academic performance, and on their self-fulfillment.The purpose of living in a society where everybody can live together, with collaboration and respect for diversity became more important than never before. This project emphasizes dialogue among partners and generations and the value of differences and similarities between the different countries, so that all participants learn to appreciate them. The priorities for this project are to develop international cooperation while enhancing social inclusion of our students. Our motivation relies on the education of students in the spirit of social inclusion and intercultural education in a modern democratic society, hence a partnership of six countries was built.We also want the participants to engage in thinking about the right to education, about the role of education and human rights education, how to educate aiming at intercultural competence, interculturalism, citizenship and the need for lifelong learning .We want to enable students with social skills, to get to know other people, other cultures and develop new relationships in an European context, so a transnational project can show that it's possible to live peacefully with different cultures. On the other hand we believe that students need to meet different cultures and experience that to be able to accept the other and live in a globalised world, because it's easier to accept what we know, and we hope they will find out that after all we are all very similar.We know that most of our students can't have these experiences if they don't integrate a project like this one, because their families can't afford travelling to other countries, so the project will also help dissipate social inequalities and by creating the sense of inclusion, of being part of a whole, which is school, then the country and ultimately Europe, we want them to feel motivated and eventually achieve success, both in their personal lives and as students and citizens and later professionals. Then they are going to spread the word and show their schoolmates, their friends and their families what they have learned, so that this will be enriching for a large group of people and hopefully will influence their future choices.Since the EU has 4 main aims: to establish European citizenship (This means protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms ), to ensure freedom, security and justice, we want to find out what the countries involved do to promote equal opportunities: tutorial lessons, extra classes, free books and other materials, school canteens, psychology at school, welcome activities (including lessons to learn the language of the country), smaller classes with fewer students, etc. and then communicate the conclusions to local and national educational authorities.The target group will be the students in our schools aged 12-16, some with economic and social difficulties, learning difficulties, weak academic success and in danger of dropping out from school for multiple reasons. We want to engage them in activities that will motivate them to stay at school, learn, study and continue their studies after the project. Thus we will monitor their school life and academic results from the beginning to the end of the project and also their expectations about the future and compare their academic results with the results of the same age group in the two years prior to the project and also with the academic results of the same students at the end of this school year (2018-2019). We hope we will reach the conclusion that the project has motivated students to stay at school, learn and study in order to achieve academic success and ultimately self-fulfillment and self-esteem.This project is also important for teachers, as they are going to work on their professional development in the context of interculturalism and European citizenship and develop their language and ICT skills, because besides real life mobilities, communication and intercultural exchanges are promoted using the e-Twinning platform and social media.By working on the project, both teachers and students will acquire knowledge and skills within the intercultural competence, including human rights, social and educational inclusion, interculturalism, citizenship and European citizenship.

Democratic Thinking in Education as a Medium to Overturn prejudices and Stereotypes is a KA229 School Exchange Partnership that involves 6 schools from Cyprus,Italy,Portugal,Spain,Belgium&Bulgaria.This idea will act as a vivid reaction to today’s challenges of great linguistic,cultural,educational,economic,technological&ethnic diversity in the school community at local&EU level.The study of the principles of Democracy linked to toleration,inclusion&empathy as agents for positive development&mutual understanding will give wider dimension to the EU concepts of active citizenship,civic engagement,social responsibility&respect for heterogeneity.The cultivation of democratic thinking in students as a learning living attitude by means of cooperative interaction&sharing of ideas is in accordance with the project’s strategic goal to raise a future generation with profound democratic values.Over the years,each participating school welcomed students of different origin&diverse socio-economical backgrounds thus all multiethnic schools try to embrace these differences&enhance all teaching practices,methodologies&ongoing strategies.The implementation of all short-term exchanges of students will stimulate all participants’ critical sense,encourage creativity&foster participation in activities evolved in the school community.Through commitment&creativity,school partnerships will generate strong community spirit,which makes a school more than just a building:it creates a learning environment where students feel the commitment of their fellow students,their headmaster,their teachers&their parents.This shared commitment will make the common goal a reality-better education.By implementing certain approaches to volunteerism,community involvement,team-building&collaborative learning,DEMOS will take a multicultural&transdisciplinary character,respecting different needs&points of view.Unfortunately,lack of motivation&participation sometimes arises so it’s upon the teachers’ ability&the programme’s sphere of engagement to inspire&empower students to become open-minded.Combining teaching with multimedia tools will motivate the majority of the digital born to take advantage of their digital skills&take targeted actions in the school community.The number of participants travelling abroad will be 4 students aged 13-17 with 2 accompanying persons.From the 1st transnational meeting,every partner school will have a clearer view of the partnership activities&the schedule of visits will be organized&further discussed amongst them.By recognising that «what we do not know,what we do not understand&what we fear» might change the mutual cultural perception,democratic collaborative participation will reduce isolation,increase tolerance&integrate the school community into the project’s idea of bringing EU citizens of different cultural backgrounds to work together under the same task.This project will raise its participants’ sense of responsibility&ability to work in a team of different people&it will also enrich their linguistic competence,using English as vehicular language for mutual understanding via online chats,e-mail conversations,videos&postcards.In terms of school’s long-term potential benefits,DEMOS project will improve all teachers’ daily teaching practice in launching different models of work in order to achieve better results&improve their IT skills in the learning process under the veil of multiculturalism.Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are expected to become more motivated,have more self-esteem,be able to live up to their capacity&have more faith in education,focusing on their talents&personal competences.The discovery of unique cultural assets&heritage in conjunction with the study of democratic culture at the school by networking with peers from different countries,can make teaching less bookish&more alive,giving actual meaning to learning too.All those involved in the project’s activities&multicultural events will act as multipliers of the new knowledge,skills&competences gained during the project,cultivating the notion that EU’s cultural diversity can be an advantage&not a disadvantage and, of course, can lead to a multicultural unity.As a conclusion,learning how to be an active EU citizen in a democratic multicultural community,while triggering a critical reflection on the meanings of social exclusion,marginalization,stereotypes&prejudices,is indeed a rigorous yet fruitful task.The students’ motivation to collaborate productively in conjunction with the usage of innovative pedagogical practices in the areas of e-learning&digital technologies will strengthen all participants’ self-confidence&it will reinforce aspects of cultural identity&tolerance building&brighten the schools’ international perspective.An education system elaborated in accordance with the founding principles of democracy&the human rights promotes the development of key competences&social practices that will foster togetherness&solidarity.

"Visions for our Europe: European design - EUROPIA 2020 Our project ""European DESIGN - EUROPIA 2020"" was carried out by 7 European countries from north (Lithuania) to south (Slovenia), from west (Portugal) to east (Bulgaria). The Austrian school was the coordinator.The association ART & DEVELOPMENT organized a collaboration with the partner school in B&H, which organized a milk packaging competition. At all project meetings, the city map and design for EUROPIA 2020 were always worked on and the resulting joint decisions were sketched and prepared on the large panorama picture (20 meters long, 2 meters high) in Austria, so that the round picture could be completed at the final meeting. Unfortunately, due to the Covit-19 situation, the final meeting was only held as a video conference.At the project meetings, we also discussed and analyzed visions for our new European capital.What is necessary for our European capital? Which buildings do we need, nature or not, what about mobility in our city, what about different cultures, what is the health system, the school etc. All of these discussions were prepared and carried out by student coordinators of the Austrian school. The results of these discussions and democratic votes were summarized in the constitution (see annex).The final video conference also discussed how to deal with a pandemic in Europia.The incomplete picture is exhibited in the Austrian school. The very positive experience with the student parliament will certainly be reused in other activities and projects. Likewise the constitution of Europia 2020.links:https://europia2020.wordpress.comhttps://www.akadgym.salzburg.at/?s=Erasmus%2B+Europiaquestionaires:https://forms.gle/MgdbGGD9osKw9Wu68https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoFpPezOBJ7AxGtWBIzgw0yfi0MEghuxhs61jxYpcsjHX45w/viewform"

"The aim of the project is to rethink the factors of room and time at schools in the age of digitalisation. Reconsidering these fields is necessary as the schools have to adapt to the demographic change. Innovative concepts for rooms and time enable new ways and perspectives for our pedagogical work. The participating schools offer a variety of innovative concepts in the abovementioned fields: alternative concepts of rooms, a whole day timetable etc.The main goal is to develop innovative ideas for renewing and progressing the school and its “lesson culture” and structure. Developing, evaluating and implementing are the main aspects to work on and to use for practice. Following the aim, we seek for a reciprocal exchange in terms of alternative concepts in the fields “room, time and digitalisation”. This exchange helps to reflect and to focus on possible alternatives. The focus should be set on the question of how our students would like to learn in consideration to the challenges of a digital world. The main instrument is a creative way in light of physical and cognitive dimensions in an era in which school and its way of learning is characterized more and more by digital educational offers.A long-term aim is the real usage of newly made experiences – internal and external communicated. Each school exchanges and overthinks ist possibilities of ideas and models for their individual system. It is not a project which focuses on papers or essays, the project’s results should be used in real life in order to improve the current concepts. About 50 students in the age of 12 to 18 from four European schools can participate. Offering an active part in this project, students can share their innovative ideas and wishes, that is why they can also organise the five meetings and their content with the help of the teachers or other. This leads to a possible following structure: digitalization as such, the current (real) room and time concept of each school, based on this different ideas (realistic as utopian) for an innovative concept concerning room and time structure. The different faculties as well as one mutual full concept will be considered to gain a wide horizon. Between the meetings, the school’s participants work on the project’s aspects (eTwinning or own platform, digital). The participants work should be characterized by cooperation and collaboration, the aspects should be divided into international groups from all participating schools. The project should result in presentations filled with utopian ideas about rooms/time at school, but also presentations which consist of realistic ideas, leaned on the needs and wishes of the students.The product can be presented in an individual way, e.g. “tinyclassroom models"" or other digital models, they should represent an alternative way of structuring room and time at schools nowadays. Alternative classroom-models, open spaces for learning, learning pedestals, gardens in which students can learn or “green classrooms” can arise out of the participating members’ thoughts. Focusing on time, it is planned to realize an innovative rhythm of learning/innovative timetable by getting to know each school’s special time concept. The aim is the visualisation of the results by using digital products (e.g. explanatory videos). As an evaluation method an app will be used. This app focuses on the process and the results of the projects. The app also includes feedback concerning the idea’s realization. It should work as a tool to exchange ideas. The differnt results will be published on a common website or on the school’s websites. The access to the public should be guaranteed. The results serve as part of each school’s development. Each participating school has its own needs of development in at least one of the aspects of the project. The results will be used as an essential input for the school’s development in reference to the aspects “room and time” in a digital word."