In 2006 the EU recognised Digital Competence (DC) as one of the 8 key competences along with literacy and basic skills in science and maths. DC should not be confused with ICT skills rather the ability to apply ICT in a creative and/or critical way. This could be at home, in education, in social interaction, education and the world of work. There are 3 participating countries. Led by a local authority in each country, primary and secondary schools have been given the opportunity to participate. This project aims to upskill young people to prepare them for the world of work but also aims to offer targeted professional development opportunities for teachers and prepare them fully for the classroom and their own professional advancement. Coupled with this we aim to upskill parents and members of the wider community by actively involving them in the planned activities. We aim to meet the individual needs of participating countries whilst ensuring EU priorities are met.The European Commission Digital Competence in Practice document highlights that digital competence requires understanding in a number of fields. Digital Competence Frameworks around Europe have adopted these areas and through this project we will discover practical ways of implementation. The DC fields of focus are: Information management -Collaboration -Communication and sharing -Creation of content & knowledge -Ethics & Responsibility -Evaluation & Problem solving -Technical operations Each participating country has identified its own needs. Our digital frameworks offer guidance as to how one might develop a focused digital approach to education, this project will allow education authorities and schools the opportunity to unpick the theory and put it into practice, trialling methodology with young people at the fore.

"Objectives Our project's title is Social Media: Natural Lerning Environment, firstly because one of the most important objective was to prevent the excessive use of Social Media and other Internet tools, giving them the possibility to become aware of their habits and more responsible in using them in a more rational way, reducing addiction of Internet and technological tools. The project’s aim was to develop key competencies in order to face the modern world but with awareness and maturity because our students had to understand that personal and social well-being leads to a healthy lifestyle. Also, the personal, interpersonal and intercultural competences enabled them to participate more effectively in their social life in order to have a good base for their future career. As teachers, we understood that the enthusiastic use of social media can be beneficial for educational purposes. The applications that can be used in the educational field are part of Web 2.0 tools. For many students, they represent a more natural learning environment than real school, it is an environment where they feel comfortable and get motivated to explore, discover, create and perform tasks. Secondly, social networks allow teachers to share best practices and cooperate more effectively with their foreign colleagues. Participants The countries involved were Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Romania and Turkey. Every team choose 6 pupils and 2 teachers for mobilities C2, C3 and C4. The first mobility in Turkey was a staff meeting with three participating persons for each country, while mobility C5 was planned in virtual setting. Students involved were from 12 to 14 years. Students and teachers attended meetings in the partner countries and they worked in multinational teams, according to the previously planned activities. The partnership was a great chance for all to work, observe, compare, share experiences and learned in a multicultural environment getting to know a foreign country at the same time.Final products:One of the task of all the teams was to create a Digital Magazine titled ""Alternatives"", in 4 numbers, which dealt with the activities realized in every school for the ""Hobbies Clubs"", Clubs of different activities regarding Sport, dancing, reading, photo, cooking, theatre, drawing, in order to let students engaged with something to spend their free time in a different way. Along with this, students have been committed to accomplishing their Digital Portfolio about "" Me and Internet"", about different Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, Youtube), about the negative effects and dangers of Social Media and so many other digital products related to the tasks expected by every meeting.Methodology All partners took an active part in project meetings, working in multinational groups in planned activities, evaluating the project progress and impact, sharing experiences and good practices and plan the future activities. Students were the main actors of all the activities, as to the creation of materials, the cooperation and communication with other students, the realization of their Digital Portfolios and the application of the acquired strategies. The project’s coordinator monitored accomplishment of the tasks, collaborating with the responsible people from all the teams. Results and Impact Impact on students: -awareness and improvement of social media(SM)safe and rational use; -awareness of SM addictions, dangers and relevant consequences -social and civic skills, improving self-esteem, critical thinking and creativity -acquisition of healthy and accountable alternatives to SM -Hobbies exploitation for talent development Teachers: -professional portfolio improvement with extracurricular activities (competitions, shows, photo exhibitions, campaigns for healthy and responsible lifestyle) -digital skills ’improvement-Web 2.0 tools -developing native language and English skills School: -improvement of local, national and international school image -increase of attractiveness, students’ number and competitiveness, implementing innovative teaching strategies -introduction of new approaches to institutional development and resource management -gaining experience related to EU projects - diversification of extracurricular offer -European meaning consolidation in education and active European citizenship promotion Wider lifelong learning community: -enhancement of other schools with innovative teaching strategies -other schools’ benefits by using disseminated final products -promotion of lifelong learning and school application for EU projects in other schools Community: -improvement of parents’ awareness of SM dangers and need to rational use of these tools -promotion of local, national and international image -improvement of school-community relationship and increasing community’s confidence."

Gamification in an education setting allow us to blur the lines between work and play. Providing teachers with a set of games isn't enough but we are moving towards creating outlines for lessons - templates - where teachers can input their own curriculum content into an interactive individual or group-based game.Classroom games allow for engagement of students not found in traditional lecture formats and foster healthy competition, ultimately driving students to achieve more. Web2 tools are free digital programs that can be used for creating and sharing student-generated projects and products. They are interactive, multi-purpose, easy-to-use digital platforms that encourage students to collaborate with each other or create and share individualised response products.As educators, we want to provide engaging ways for learners to interact with, and primarily, learn from course material. They are particularly helpful when used in conjunction with lessons meant to increase student engagement that require learners to collate information, or to use Oracy to explain their conceptual understanding through means other than traditional writing exercises. Web2tools also provide students an opportunity to interact with others as they share their knowledge.By integrating gamification into the curriculum, learners can collaborate with classmates and share completed products/lesson outlines with peers in their class, learners in other sections, or other learners around the world. Through gamification, we can create opportunities for students to share what they are learning with a wider audience.

The countries involved in the project Let's be creative and learn with art are: Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Portugal and Greece, and the aim is to help develop, both in students and especially in teachers, content based learning strategies through a creative and active use of ART in all its forms. Our aim is based on the identification of similar problems and needs arising from the 5 schools involved, namely there is a growing discontent in schooling due to ineffective teaching methods and knowledge based solely on factual transmission of contents. As attested by questionnaires made by students and headmasters’ lesson observations, traditional teaching methods still prevail in the classroom: teachers present the content according to the curriculum and thus, students are mostly listeners not generally active in the learning process. The results of grading show that students know many facts, but have lower grades in tasks that require useful knowledge (connecting information, anticipation, analysis, synthesis). At this point only 10 % of teachers use teaching methods connected with ART and active teaching methods. Students described that an ideal day in school would be to use interactive technology, learn outside the classrooms and work on projects with emphasis on theatre, music and creative movement. We will try to make this a reality benefitting to students, teachers and the learning process. In order to overcome the shortcomings identified in the questionnaire, the project Let's be creative and learn with art will be focused on improving teaching methods and introducing teaching through ARTS. In our project, priority will be given to strengthening the profiles of the teaching professions which will increase the students’ motivation for learning and consequently their achievements in knowledge. We will raise the understanding of social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity by promoting inclusion and cooperation of people with different abilities and learning styles. Six international exchanges will be carried out in this project, one for teachers and the rest for students. We have already found areas in which we can cooperate (theatre, dance, singing, using ICT) and emphasized those that can be strengthen with the help of external institutions (experiments, teaching children with disabilities, art and music therapy). With cooperative activities, exchanging teaching practice, workshops and mobilities we will improve teaching competences in communicational, collaborative and ICT areas. Activities will include the use of effective teaching methods with art included, lesson observations, useful workshops, visits to learning institutions, the making of applications, public video guides, activities to encourage peer communication and creativity among teachers, headmasters and students. We will aim towards an encouraging environment for teachers and students with headmasters’ aid. We will achieve a higher quality by implementing new seminars for teachers, based on new teaching methods with art included, job shadowing, introducing project work into regular lessons in all classes, modernized extracurricular activities and an upgraded work plan for talented students and students with disabilities. With developing new art based teaching methods the teaching career will become more attractive and diverse which will increase motivation and satisfaction in the teachers’ daily work. Teachers will improve their annual teaching and lessons planning with at least 20 % of new methods involved. All prepared lesson plans and video material will be shared in an open eTwinning project and on public channel or on occasional international teachers’ conferences. At the end of each mobility we will prepare a public show, where we will show our best outcomes. We will also prepare a seminar for teachers from other schools in which we will present the best teaching methods based on art.With different teaching methods and other project activities we will influence on higher creativity in students, increase their learning motivation and enable success and higher knowledge. Students will make their own Portfolio that will help them change and improve their learning habbits and raise the responsibility for their actions.At the end of the project we will have a public platform with good teaching and learning examples for teachers and students, headmasters' guide for motivating and supportive school environment. A questionnaire at the end of the project, an improved school and teachers annual plan, results of national tests and the students' portfolio will show improvement at the end of the project. All partners of the project are highly motivated for cooperative work in this project. We are aware of the current school situation and prepared to make changes that will bring satisfaction and higher results into our daily work and for our students. Let's be creative, learn with art and make changes today.

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