1. Get inspired

If you have a very generic project idea in mind, but you are not sure what activities could be done, you may get inspiration by other projects already running in the European School Education Platform.

Search for a project in the “Networking” area, specifically in the “Projects” section. Check out the ones that relate to your subjects or topics and read the description provided.

If you know an eTwinner who is very active and has been running eTwinning projects, or a school with several eTwinning activities, check their profiles in the “Networking” area. All of their projects are listed, and you may find something inspiring.

If you need more help and inspiration, check out the project kits and the project gallery which showcase the best projects with all the information on how start a project and what to do.

 

2. Find a project partner

Only people who are already your contacts can be part of your eTwinning projects, either as founders or as members. Contacts are the colleagues registered in the platform you work more often with.

If you want to create a project and you are looking for a partner, you have two possibilities: look for someone you already know and add her/him as a contact or add an “eTwinning Project Idea” posting.

 

 

2a. Add a contact

The Networking area allows you to find people registered in the European School Education Platform. Visit the “People” tab and search by name and/or use the filters (e.g., member type, country and language and other criteria). When you find the person that you are looking for, click on their name and check his/her profile page.

To add them as a contact click on the blue box on the upper-right side “Add as contact”. The recipient would then need to accept your invitation to become contacts. If you click on “More options”, you can directly send a message to this person. It will be an internal message if you are contacts, or a message reaching the users’ private email if you are not contacts yet.

 

Please note: The search functionality will find all the instances where each of the words in your query is present in the text available. Therefore, when searching, please use very specific words. For instance, to search for the user John Smithenson, only type ‘Smithenson’ and avoid ‘John’, which would provide you with too many occurrences.

 

2b. Check or publish an “eTwinning Project Idea”

Are you looking for someone who could be interested in a specific project? Then visit the “Networking” area and use the “Partner finding” section where you can find project ideas posted by other teachers. In this section, you can:

     ● search for existing postings by subject or by type and see what other teachers are looking for.You can reply to the ones which match your needs by clicking on the post. Then, scroll down and write your message and click “Add Post comment”.

     ● create an eTwinning Project idea post by clicking on “Add your posting”. Choose “eTwinning project idea” and click on “Next”. Then complete the form by indicating if you want to run a National or a European project, your organisation, the title, the summary and a short description. Add the languages you will use, the subjects involved, the topics, the key competences and the age of your students. Finally, indicate the date until your post will be visible. Once you are ready, click on “Publish”.

 

Please note:

     ● The “People” section contains all the users in the European School Education Platform, but only eTwinners (“eTwinning validated”) can be added as contacts and set up an eTwinning project.

     ● The “Partner finding” section has hundreds of posts: before creating a new post, search for existing ones by using the “search” field and check whether other colleagues have already expressed their interest in finding a partner in an area of your interest.

     ● When you find a potential partner in the “Networking” area you can send them a message by clicking on “More options” and then on “Send a message”. If you are not connected with each other yet, the message will be delivered via private email and will include the text of your message, your name and your email address. This will allow you to further exchange via email. As soon as you become contacts, you will be able to exchange messages via the European School Education Platform Mailbox.

 

3. Create a project

If you want to create a project, you have two options:

     ● Go to the Networking area, select the “Projects” tab and click on the top right blue button “Create project”

     ● Go to the eTwinning area and either:

          ○ in the tab “Overview”, click the “Create a project” button on the left side of the "Quick links”

          ○ in the tab “My Projects”, click the “Create project” button.

 

You can now start creating your project by following these 4 steps:

 

     I. Select a school: If you added more than one school to your profile, you must choose the one you want to start the project with.

Remember: after the creation of the project, you cannot change the school that you have selected.

 

     II. Select a partner: You can select your project co-founder by using the dropdown menu which includes your list of contacts. If you have several contacts, you can also use the search field and filter the results. The user you will select is the co-founder. After the project has been created and approved by the NSO(s), you will be able to add more members to the project.

Remember: to appear in the list, the co-founder must be already one of your contacts and s/he must have selected “available for eTwinning project” in his/her profile settings.

 

     III. Project description:Here, write the title of the project and a short description that can help your colleagues better understand what the project is about. It is also important that you specify the language(s) that will be used in the project, the number of pupils and their ages. Do not forget to add at least one subject, or vocational subject, and the key competences addressed in the project. It is also important that you specify the aims, the work process and the expected results. If you want, you can also add a picture that will be used as thumbnail of the project and of the TwinSpace.

 

     IV. Review: Check all the information and edit them if needed. Once ready, click on “Create”. A notification will be sent to the co-founder.

Once your co-founder accepts your invitation, the National Support Organisation(s) will check and approve or reject the project. In case the project is approved, the TwinSpace will be automatically created, and you, along with your co-founder, will be able to access it. You will then be able to start working on your eTwinning project!

The mailbox is the easiest and safest way to communicate with other eTwinners. You can send a message using the Platform mailbox only if the recipient is a validated eTwinner and one of your contacts. You can access the mailbox by clicking on the “Mail” button at the top of your screen.

 

When you receive a new message, a notification will show-up and you will be able to see the number of your unread messages.

 

Once you open the mailbox, you can create a new message (1), read all the messages that you have received (2) and check the ones that you have sent (3).

 

In order to communicate with one of your contacts, there are two options:

      1. Visit the eTwinner’s profile, click on (1) and then on (2)

 

      2. Go to your mailbox and click on (1)

 

You can now create a new message by adding the recipients (1 and 2 for cc) if not already pre-filled in, the subject (3) and the message you want to send (4). Once ready to send your message, click on ‘Send message’ (5); if you want to delete the message and go back, click on ‘Cancel’.

eTwinning Groups are virtual places where you can meet eTwinners with the same interests. These groups are organised by specific subjects or areas of interest.

In the eTwinning Group’s page you can browse and search for the Groups created by other eTwinners. Groups can be joined by all the European School Education Platform registered users, only eTwinners or invited people only.

To create a new Group, click on the “Create group” button and fill in all the required information. Do not forget to check the Code of Conduct first!

Please note:

only your first four projects submissions will be taken into consideration and evaluated by your NSO. Make sure to carefully select projects that you think deserve a Quality Label.

the eTwinning projects in school education must have founder and co-founder from two different countries to be eligible for a National Quality Label, a European Quality Label or an eTwinning Prize. 

 

Remove or change a school from profiles	If you are no longer working in a school, please let eTwinning know by clicking on “My profile”, select the tab “Organisations” and click on the three dots next to the school you want to remove from the profile. You will see the option “Leave organisation”. Once clicked, your school will be removed from your profile. If you have changed schools, you can "leave” your school first as mentioned above, and then create a new school connection through “My profile” and “Add organisation”. Having the right school in your profile ensures that the projects you are involved in, as well as the Labels and Certificates that might be awarded, will include the right information.
How can I apply for a National Quality Label?	You should apply for a National Quality Label only when your project has finished or is in its last stages. Before applying, please make sure that you assess your work by using the checklist of the Quality Label criteria. To apply for the National Quality Label, you need to:      1. visit the eTwinning area and then click on the “My Projects” tab      2. select the project you want to be evaluated for the National Quality Label, by clicking on the “Apply for Label” button on the right      3. fill in all the required information and provide evidence of your work. You can repeat the same process for all projects that you would like to be evaluated for a National Quality Label.   Please note:      ● only your first four projects submissions will be taken into consideration and evaluated by your NSO. Make sure to carefully select projects that you think deserve a Quality Label.      ● the eTwinning projects in school education must have founder and co-founder from two different countries to be eligible for a National Quality Label, a European Quality Label or an eTwinning Prize.
How can I apply for a European Quality Label?	You do not need to apply for a European Quality Label. Your project needs to have received a National Quality Label from two different countries in order to be eligible for the European Quality Label. Then, the National Support Organisations (NSOs) will nominate the projects with the highest quality for the European Quality Label.
What it is the eTwinning School Label?	eTwinning Schools recognise the importance and values of eTwinning and embed them in their schools’ policies and practices with the support of school management. In order a school to be eligible for an eTwinning School Label:      ● the school should be registered in eTwinning for more than two years,      ● there are at least three active eTwinning teachers in this school,      ● the teachers have acquired at least one National Quality Label for a European project. All teachers working in a school eligible to receive the eTwinning School Label will receive an email encouraging them to apply for the eTwinning School Label. The application opens once a year, and the eTwinning School Label is valid for 2 years. For more information school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning-school-label-application-guidelines.

For any questions, clarifications or support related to eTwinning, please liaise with your National Support Organisation. You can consult their contact details from this page.