We invite you to read the study presenting the results of the first eTwinning* users’ survey, which was carried out at a specific time: the Covid-19 pandemic, just after the end of the 2019/2020 school year. Therefore, in addition to the results of the survey, the reader will find in this report the statements of teachers who act as eTwinning ambassadors within the Programme. They describe how they were coping with distance learning during this difficult time and explain how the implementation of eTwinning online projects influenced their digital competences and knowledge related to online tools.
The research shows that the vast majority of its participants evaluated the eTwinning offer addressed to Polish teachers very positively. According to the respondents, the platform offers both knowledge and tools that enable better use of new technologies in education, also within distance learning.
Although there was no significant increase in the number of new eTwinning users between March and June 2020, the activity data on the platform shows that teachers who constantly use its resources were readily reaching for the knowledge and tools available there.
The study also allowed for collecting recommendations on how to better adapt the eTwinning platform to the needs of Polish teachers. In this context, it was proposed, inter alia, to add applications that enable creation of educational materials and making them more attractive. An improvement of the Twinspace meeting platform was also suggested, including making its functionalities available for real-time lessons.
An important postulate raised by the participants of the study was also to create a common platform for remote education, which would allow to standardise the tools and systems used for assessing students’ progress. According to the surveyed teachers, it would definitely facilitate the work and avoid problems resulting from the use of different tools and systems by teachers from the same school.
* eTwinning is a European school cooperation network that enables schools to carry out joint activities and projects via the Internet and modern ICT tools. Over 820,000 teachers from all over Europe working in nearly 208,000 schools joined this community in the last 15 years. During this time, over 108,000 projects were implemented (data as at the end of March 2020).
