Once Upon A Blog

Project Outline

Participating Schools:Saint Attracta’s Senior National School, Meadowbrook, Dublin 16. Ireland
ICT Coordinator: Joseph Molloy
Class teachers: Marie Dolan, Evelyn Doyle and Patricia Rafter

Saint Joseph, Mater Boni Consilii School, Paola, Malta
ICT Coordinator: Jacqueline Vanhear

Age of students: 6 -8 years

Type of school: Primary School

Languages: English

Title: Once Upon a Blog
Duration: one school year

Short Description: An exchange of national myths and legends using Blog and Podcast technologies. Later on we hope to compare and contrast the lifestyles and attitudes of Maltese and Irish children using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). CT tools: Weblog, Podcasting, Skype, email, incidental use of image, video, sound processing. A BLOG site is easy to manage and lends itself to collaborative online writing suitable for eTwinning projects. “By taking part in the development of a blog, pupils and teachers alike, discover the cultural differences and similarities between their environment and that of their partner.” Podcasting on the other hand introduces the pupils to the spoken word. The multimedia experience lends flesh to the accompanying text. The co-administrators can independently moderate content and monitor the quality of the pupils’ contributions.

Concept Mapping shall be used to throughout the project

Subjects: English, Gaeilge, Maltese, history, geography, art, music and dance. Other subjects may also be drawn into the flexible cultural exchange.

Objectives:

To broaden the experiential and cultural horizons of the students and staff.
To promote language skills, using a Blog and Podcasting site.
To encourage and foster the European dimension in primary education.
To support the intercultural exchange of ideas and values.
To develop an enriched multicultural European identity.
To enrich and diversify teaching and learning through ICTs.
To establish ICTs as a creative method of communication and pedagogy.

_______________

Each school introduced themselves with a video from their school.
Jacqueline Vanhear used Microsoft’s PhotoStory and Joe Molloy used Microsoft’s Movie Maker – both free applications.