How to organize a TwinSpace: tips, ideas, examples and compatible tools.

1. Organizing your TwinSpace
PDW eTwinning Ambassadors
Rhodes 29th September – 1st October 2016
Elizabeth Sauser-Monnig, FR NSS
Alexandra Tosi, IT NSS

2. Workshop Goals
For both of your roles
1.As eTwinners: to help you get the most out of your
TwinSpace during the project and after
(dissimenation, Quality Labels, …)
2.As ambassadors: to identify good practices to
dissimenate among other eTwinners

3. Organizing the Twinspace to make
the most of it!
Why take the time?
•For project participants and administrators: easier
to coordinate and contribute to the project if clear
organization
•For people outside the project: parents,
headmasters, press, evaluators (prizes and Quality
Labels)
A well organized Twinspace provides a better
reflection of the work done during the projet

4. The nitty-gritty of
organizing...
• When to plan the TwinSpace ?
• What and how many
pages/subpages, forums, folders?
• What structure?
Prevent Chaos! It may all look simple and clear to you
but…Think of an external viewer and final users, like
your pupils, other teachers who may join, your
headmaster, parents or an evaluator for QL!

5. Different criteria for organization
• One page for each type of activity (for example:
group work, video production,
collaborative writing, webquest etc.)
• One page for each project phase (for example: icebreaking,
self-presentation, Country/town/school presentation,
project evaluation…)
• One page per group of pupils (if you create mixed groups)
• One page per theme (for example: Autumn, Winter, Spring,
Summer)
• Or something else that fits your project !

6. A few examples…
•Upper secondary school:
• European Immigration: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/12904/home
• Migranti del 21esimo Secolo / Migrants du 21ème Siècle:
https://twinspace.etwinning.net/13204/home
•Lower secondary school:
• ALIMENT@CTION: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/13158
•Primary school:
• Arts & Maths https://twinspace.etwinning.net/14135
•Kindergarden:
• Fairy Yoga https://twinspace.etwinning.net/2114/home
•Teacher Training, peer learning:
• Euroteachers team up https://twinspace.etwinning.net/1284/home

7. • Structure the TS while planning the project :
• Agree on the draft structure with your partners before
activities start (pages, forums, folders…)
• Set up the main TS structure before you invite your
pupils or other non-administrator teachers
• Limit the number of pages and give clear page titles
• Use subpages and links to other parts of the Twinspace
Of course things may change and flexibility is key, but time
spent at this stage is an important investment!
Plan the TS with the project

8. Think carefully about which pages to make public.
•Public? Project documentation, project outcomes, evidence for parents,
colleagues, local press…
•Private? Pupil’s images, videos, messages, private info
Consider in particular:
• Your pupils’ safety
• Your school policy (liability waiver, parents authorization)
• Your partner’s expectations and school policy
• The project’s communication plan & dissemination needs
•External evaluation
Public or private?
Unauthorized close-up pictures of underage
pupils and sensitive data should always be
private!

10. • Remember!
The project journal in the TS home is always public and it’s
meant for external communication! How are you going to use
it? Who is going to updated it?
• For communication among teachers, you can use the
teachers’ bulletin – it’s only visible to teachers!
• If you spice up your project with eTwinning Live meetings,
remember to document with pictures, videos, report…
• Even if you use external platforms, leave a trace of what you
are doing in the TS, this is the only way the community can
know what you are doing!
A few reminders...

11. • Are you going to invite all your pupils in the TS?
• Are you going to make any of them administrators?
• Are you going to invite visitors (experts, parents, Headmaster…)?
• Will other partners have administrator rights?
Remember! You can choose who can edit each page!
You are responsible for the security of the TS, only people invited by
administrators can access. (NSS do not have access to your
TwinSpace).
Make sure you agree with your partner on who should be invited
and with what roles!
Actors and roles

12. In small groups of 2-3, each ambassador shows one of
her/his TwinSpaces and receives feedback - 30 min:
•How has the TS been organized? What was the main
criteria used for structuring pages?
•What pages are public and what private?
•Have all tools been properly used?
•Was it easy to understand in a short time the project’s
goals, activities and outcomes?
•Any suggestions for improvement?
Now it’s your turn!

13. To do/not to do
http://bit.ly/2dqljWE

14. Bonus! A few cool tools
compatible with eTwinning
(embed i-frame code)
• Padlet (padlet.com) and Learningapp (learningapp.org)
• Thinklink: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/12904/pages/page/75329
(presenting schools)
• Zeemap: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/12904/pages/page/79253 -
locating students on a map
• Pictochart: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/12904/pages/page/97187
(organizing, presenting information - final production)
• Tricider: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/12904/pages/page/77713
(social voting - voting, arguing for a position)
• Tiki-Toki: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/12904/pages/page/87932
(interactive timeline)
• https://www.genial.ly: interactive images, posters, infographies

15. Other examples of TS
• eTwin News
https://twinspace.etwinning.net/10895/pages/page/106532
• Es war einmal…
https://twinspace.etwinning.net/11080/pages/page/128631
• Dairy of you and me https://twinspace.etwinning.net/14436/home
• France/Italie
https://twinspace.etwinning.net/8406/pages/page/129796
• Dalla terra al mare https://twinspace.etwinning.net/11171/home
• A year together (time) https://twinspace.etwinning.net/10624/home
• My World of Math https://twinspace.etwinning.net/10394/home
• Mirrow Mirrow https://twinspace.etwinning.net/2658/home

16. Elizabeth and Alexandra