What is eTwinning ?

We will start our course with the very  first question that comes to our mind, ‘What is eTwinning?’

In this section,we will also have a look at the purposes of eTwinning and the brief history of it. We will also learn about the support services and ambassadors.

eTwinning offers a platform for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe. eTwinning is co-funded by the Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport.

eTwinning is a collaborative platform that enables 2 or more schools from the European Union and / or member countries to jointly develop and run a project on an issue agreed by the partners via the internet. Since 2014, 2 or more schools from the same country can also run online projects in eTwinning. All countries from Europe and all included countries can register and use eTwinning online tools to meet each other, share ideas, see practices, learn together in Learning Events and participate in online projects.

Here are the numbers of the teachers, schools and projects registered to eTwinning portal.(2021)

eTwinning Plus:

eTwinning  plus provides a safe, online environment to engage with partner schools, work on projects and communicate with like-minded educational professionals in the existing eTwinning network, plus a selected number of schools from eTwinning’s neighbouring countries.

eTwinning Plus offers a platform for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the neighbouring countries involved (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tunisia, Ukraine, Jordan and Lebanon), to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community.

eTwinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing support, tools and services for schools. eTwinning also offers opportunities for free and continuing online Professional Development for educators.

eTwinning Portal:

The eTwinning portal is the entry point to the eTwinning world. Available in 28 languages, eTwinning.net offers news from the eTwinning countries, professional development opportunities, information about recognition as well as examples of successful projects.

By joining eTwinning, teachers can access:

eTwinning Live:

Where teachers experience eTwinning community to its full potential. Teachers can search for other registered eTwinners and schools, connect with them and follow their activities. Teachers can access all the online and on-site events created by eTwinners, and can also create their own.

Through eTwinning Live teachers can create their own projects in which they can set off activities on different topics and key competences by collaborating with two or more teachers and their students.

Launched in 2005 as the main action of the European Commission’s eLearning Programme, eTwinning is co-funded by the Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, since 2014. Its Central Support Service is operated by European Schoolnet, an international partnership of 34 European Ministries of Education developing learning for schools, teachers and pupils across Europe. eTwinning is further supported at national level by 38 National Support Services and 8 Partner Support Agencies in 44 countries . There are 36 in eTwinning and 8 in eTwinning Plus

eTwinning is organized at European level by the Central Support Service (CSS) with its central offices in Brussels (www.etwinning.net). The Central Support Service is responsible for centrally coordinating eTwinning activities in Europe. For support, you can send an e-mail to helpdesk@etwinning.net.

The National Support Service (NSS) is the organization that represents and promotes eTwinning at national level in each country. Each National Support Service provides training and support at the regional and national level, organizes events, runs media and communication campaigns. Turkey eTwinning National Support Service, attached to the Ministry of Education Innovation and Educational Technologies serves all provinces in coordination with the General Directorate of Finance.

Counting more than 1500 of experienced members, it comes as no surprise that the eTwinning Ambassadors are an active community that works closely together to make eTwinning stronger. In collaboration with the National Support Services (NSS), and the Partner Support Agencies (PSA), they share good practices, learn from each other and develop their skills so that they are always ready to provide support and guidance to all eTwinners.

ETWINNING TURKEY:

Turkey became a member of eTwinning platform in 2009. From this year on, Turkish NSS and teachers have worked very hard and Turkey has now become the leader of this platform. It has 40382 projects, 226597 teachers and 50736 schools (2021).

Turkey is the leader in terms of both quantity and quality. In 2021, Turkey has won European prizes in 9 different categories with 31 teachers.