The live audio session on Friday September 28, 2007, was the biggest one I have ever moderated. There were about 50 participants from Tampere Finland, from Palma de Mallorca Spain and from Panchgani India. They all came together to take part in the opening seminar of the teacher-in-service course “Learn Internet Projects By Doing – LIP 6 Live Online”. My colleague Pentti Pirhonen in Palma de Mallorca Spain moderated the Flashmeeting video session that took place immediately after the audio session.
There have been preparatory live sessions of LIP 6 Live Online. The Indian colleagues have participated regularly, which has been a great help to prepare and organize cooperation. The audio platform of eJournals proved to be very reliable. Even if there were about 50 concurrent participants, the sound quality was fine. The quality of the Flashmeeting was not as good as usual, due to the big number of participants (20).
The next live online session is suggested to take place on Tuesday October 9 2007 at 15.00 p.m. Indian time. The date will be confirmed during the Indian visit of the Finnish teachers.
COMP@CT promotes eJournalism
Both the live session of the IPM Tools course in Palma September 24-29 and the first seminar of LIP 6 Live Online in Tampere September 27-28 represent e-journalistic activities of the Comenius 3 network COMP@CT. The network promotes eJournalism as an approach to project-based learning PBL. The approach of eJournalism has been developed by COMP@CT in cooperation with OPEKO, the National Center for Professional Development in Education in Tampere Finland since 2002.
Starting shot of LIP 6 LiOn
The first seminar of LIP 6 Live Online gave the starting shot to international projects that 25 teachers from all over Finland will carry out in the school year 2007-08. The seminar took place in the premises of Tampere University and of OPEKO, the National Center for Professional Development in Education in Tampere Finland September 27-28, 2007.
The participants will be responsible for the projects of their students in the Internet, and they will collaborate with their colleagues abroad. The basic idea is that students work together with their foreign peers, and the teachers concerned guide their work. The first seminar gave the teachers in Finland basic information and instructions how to do it. As the name says, live online tools will be used in virtual collaboration of teachers and of students.
Visitors to India
There were five teachers among the Finnish seminar participants in Tampere who will visit India in October 3-12 2007. They belong to the delegation of seven Finnish teachers representing the India network of Finnish schools, and their task is to prepare educational cooperation with colleagues in India. The visit is funded by the Educational Board of Finland, and the Comenius 3 network COMP@CT is going to implement partner projects of students which teachers are responsible for.
Partner projects of Indian and Finnish students will be part of the LIP 6 Live Online course. Colleagues from European countries are invited to join the projects of LIP 6 Live Online. If there is interest, projects of three teachers can be built up. The Indian students have better knowledge of English, so they can work as a kind of editorial staff who will check the English language, for example.
Dutch group
A group of teachers from the Netherlands will visit India later. Pentti Pirhonen, the leader of COMP@CT, and Ludo Mateusen, the Dutch COMP@CT coordinator, will be leading the group to visit Panchgani in November 2007. The visit of the Dutch is funded by the Dutch educational authorities.
