cohesion - European Centre for Modern Languages

enable teachers to help their pupils develop language competences, competences in
technology as well as skills of learning to learn. The project will also identify training
needs of teachers and teacher trainers who already have basic knowledge of digital
technology. Twenty ten-minute, bite-size training activities with guidance for reflective
tasks will be designed to be completed either individually or in the course of
collaborative work. Moodle has been selected as an open-source, user-friendly website
platform in order to provide equal access to online training materials in a cost-effective
way. Collaborative tools will enable peer mentoring and reflection, while the product
will also help teacher trainers in the formal, institutional context to integrate training
and reflective activities with the existing teacher development curricula.
E-VOLLution – Exploring cutting-edge applications of networked
technologies in vocationally-oriented language learning
E-VOLLution, coordinated by Anthony Fitzpatrick, aims at updating the content of the
successful GRAZVOLL website which caters for continuity and quality in vocational
education. The project is designed to identify needs in the field of vocational education
as well as to present the current state of the art. An updated version of the website will
invite open participation (e.g. blogs, wikis, podcasts), include case studies illustrating
the use of modern media in VOLL and serve as a “market place” for training needs and
training efforts. In this way a network of qualified multipliers will be formed in order
to help document successful events and form smaller, well-focused networks to work
on specific aspects of ICT in VOLL.
The programme strand devoted to the issue of continuity also aims at further promotion
of the European Language Portfolio. The ELP has so far proved to be an excellent tool
for awareness-raising and motivating students to learn languages as well as for
encouraging them to reflect and self-assess. As reflection is an ongoing process and
self-assessment is closely linked to progress, the European Language Portfolio is
perceived as a powerful instrument in ensuring continuity in language education and
for that reason it has been selected as the focal point of the programme. The European
Language Portfolio has a considerable impact not only on students, but also on parents,
teachers, and head teachers. So far, this aspect has not been researched or supported
strongly enough and that is why it deserves the special attention of linguists and
educators in the process of the further promotion of the ELP. Two projects will look at
the role of the ELP in the field of continuity.
ELP_WSU – ELP in whole-school use
ELP_WSU, coordinated by David Little, is a project aiming at identifying various
stakeholders, such as students, parents, teachers, or head teachers, and preparing a
guide for developing, implementing and evaluating whole-school ELP projects which
will outline aims and objectives of the European Language Portfolio and inform
readers of the possibilities and ways of using the ELP in various educational contexts.
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