Discover the best apps and tools for E-learning, Distance learning and Web Design

COURSE OVERVIEW
Nowadays there is a growing trend towards enabling distance learning and integrating Information and Communications Technology into teaching and training. There a number of apps, web design and e-learning tools that offer educators great opportunities but not without challenges. Platforms like Moodle, Edmodo, Weebly, ect., can be a muddy environment and approaching them without a proper guidance can be a time-consuming task.
Taking part in this course teachers, trainers and education managers will learn how to create engaging multimedia content, web sites, blogs and e-learning spaces to support distance and blended learning. Through an hands-on approach and learning-by-doing methodology participants will create their first e-learning course and website during the one week course.

TARGET GROUP
This course is addressed to teachers, trainers, educational counsellors, career counsellors, school psychologists, headmasters, school management and administrative staff working in primary schools, secondary schools, vocational schools, training centres, adult education schools, higher education and NGOs.
This course is recommended for people with basic computer skills. If you consider yourself an intermediate ICT user we recommend you to enroll in our course “Integrating ICT and new technologies into teaching and education”.

MAIN OBJECTIVES
This structured course allows participants to improve their ICT and digital skills in a practical and concrete way together with other participants and trainers throughout all Europe thus gaining as well a broader understanding of education in Europe and exchanging best practices and experiences. The general aim of this course is to foster excellence in education by empowering teachers, trainers, headmasters and other education staff to integrate web platforms into teaching and education.
This course will guide participants through the basic steps of using web platforms and apps to allow distance learning, developing a web site and integrating e-learning and distance learning in their educational pathways. During the week the participants will explore tools and platform to support blended learning that is combining short-term face-to-face education with virtual learning. By the end of the training each participants will create his/her own website and an e-learning space.
The course has a flexible approach in order to adapt the learning outcomes to the particular needs and digital competencies of the participants.
Thanks to this course the participants will:
- Get an overview of the most important new technologies and web platforms to enable e-learning and distance learning;
- Learn how teachers and students can easily create and edit multimedia content;
- Learn how to create an engaging website or blog;
- Learn how to set up and manage an e-learning platform and involve students (and parents) in the learning process;
- Learn how to give to education an extra dimension and how to boost learners motivation through using new technologies;
- Learn how to deliver blended courses and combine face-to-face education with virtual learning;
- Improve their ICT skills and their knowledge about e-learning and blended learning;
- Exchange best practices and share experiences with participants and staff coming throughout Europe;
- Make contacts with individuals and organizations working in the education field in Europe through everyday cooperation and networking activities.

DAILY PROGRAMME
Please find below the standard indicative daily programme that will be personalized on participants needs and professional profiles.
Our standard program comprises 7 days of course, of which the first one is dedicated to networking, preparation and cultural immersion and the last one to follow up, specific needs and cultural activities. Please note that we always do our best to accommodate the specific needs of our participants in a flexible way, including but not limited to budget restrictions and travel arrangement. Participants can choose to arrive 1 day before the start of the course and/or leave one day after the end of it in order to enjoy a deeper cultural immersion. Upon specific request we can organize longer or shorter versions of this course.
Day 1
- Participants arrival
- Individual orientation and information about the venue and the city
- Networking activities
- Guided visit in Puerto de la Cruz (optional)
- Welcome dinner
Day 2
- Course introduction
- Competences ex-ante evaluation
- The growing trends towards integrating new technologies and web platforms into education
- How to easily create outstanding multimedia content and video lessons
- Practical work: using web solutions and apps to edit and create multimedia content
- Practical work: creating a video-lessons to be embedded in a website or e-learning platform
Day 3
- The basic principles and elements in web design
- The most common online website builders to easily create a website
- Introducing Weebly, a powerful and easy to use web hosting and design service
- Practical work: creating the website and the first page
- Getting to know more the Weebly drag-and-drop website builder
- Practical work: adding a page to you website or a post to your blog
- Practical work: giving a structure to your website
- Practical work: adding a photo gallery to your website
- Practical work: embedding a video in your website
- Practical work: adding a survey or a test
- Cultural activities (optional)
Day 4
- Practical work: creating a project work website
- Practical work: planning and building your website or blog
- Introduction to collaborative web tools and Google apps
- Practical work: creating a Google form and embed it in your site/blog
- Cultural activities (optional)
Day 5
- Introduction to e-learning, blended learning and flipped classroom
- Focus on Edmodo as a social learning community
- Practical work: creating and e-learning space
- Practical work: adding student to the e-learning classroom
- Practical work: creating and administering a quiz and an assignment
- Practical work: awarding a learning badge and entering a grade
- Practical work: creating a subgroup to tailor student learning and enable project work
- Practical work: adding tracking tools to your course
Day 6
- Changing perspectives: the point of view of students and parents on an e-learning platform
- Practical work: simulating how students and parents can use an e-learning platform by taking quizzes, submitting assignments, downloading documents …
- Review on additional useful web platforms, apps and e-learning tools to enable distance and blended learning
- Tailored practical work based on the participants learning needs and expectations
- Dinner in traditional restaurant
Day 7
- Space for discussion of future cooperation and planning follow up activities
- Course roundup and final evaluation
- Validation of learning outcomes and certification ceremony
- Additional training session tailored to specific needs (optional)
- Cultural activities (optional)
- Participants departure

METHODOLOGY
We tailor the working methods based upon participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.
The standard methodology is highly practical and participative with hands-on approach that comprises real-job examples, case studies examination and simulations. We embrace collaboratively working methods that foster mutual learning and cooperation among participants. Our focus is on learning in an interactive and international environment knowledge applicable to the real contexts and/or in the classroom. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, group and peer activities, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange. They include visits with local schools and institutions allowing the participants to better understand the local education system as well as exchange ideas and contacts.
Morning Wrap-up and brief daily evaluations are foreseen to ensure quality of education and to adapt the learning programme to participants' needs better tailoring the education.
We organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation and links.
The training and staff team is multinational thus giving a full European dimension to the course.

SESSIONS PLANNED
You can find below the sessions planned. If none of these dates suits you please mind that we may add additional sessions (and cities) if there are at least 6 participants interested so feel welcome to contact us at staff@ifom.info to inform us about your needs.
Bologna, Italy
14/07/2019 - 20/07/2019
10/11/2019 - 16/11/2019
16/02/2020 - 22/02/2020
01/11/2020 - 07/11/2020
Palermo, Italy
18/08/2019 - 24/08/2019
26/07/2020 - 01/08/2020
Tenerife, Spain
13/10/2019 - 19/10/2019

COSTS AND ERASMUS+ FUNDING
Course fee: EUR 490 per participant
Support fee: EUR 200 per participant covering personal and cultural support, dissemination activities and production of a sum-up video, support in the validation and certification process, all coffee breaks and organization of two walk tour in the city where course is taking place
Accommodation and meals fee: depending on the participants’ requests
Course fee and support fee are both mandatory

Teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant covering all the costs including travel, board and lodging, cultural activities and all fees. Our training courses are tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus+ and are available in different options to ensure that the Erasmus+ grant will be sufficient.

The most common option that we offer to schools and organizations costs EUR 1220 and includes course fee, support fee, accommodation in single room, all coffee breaks, 3 meals per day, walking tour in the venue’s city and local transport during the course. Based on your preferences and budget you can request different services, a less inclusive/cheaper option or you can choose to organize the board and lodging by yourself and opt to just attend the training course.

CERTIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance, together - if requested - with the Europass Mobility Certificate.
We support the participants in every step of certification an d validation of learning outcomes with specific focus on European instruments and Erasmus plus requirements such as staff mobility/learning agreement, quality commitment and Europass mobility certificate.
We experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon detailed request we can provide those documents as well as we provide photos of the training course and a sum-up video that can be used for visibility and dissemination purposes.

WHO WE ARE
TeacherTrainings.eu is a joint partnership of the Institute for Training, Employability and Mobile learning (IFOM) and YouNet that joined forces to achieve their common goal of fostering excellence in education and training. TeacherTrainings.eu offers a range of innovative and practice-driven courses tailored for educators, especially teachers. Our focus is on learning outside the classroom in a cooperative and international environment. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange.
We offer courses on: European project management and EU programmes, soft skills, public speaking and presentation skills, conflict management, stress management, NLP, work-based learning and dual education, non-formal education, entrepreneurship and leadership, managing a team, CLIL and didactics of teaching languages, ICT integration into teaching, e-learning and web design, business management, creative teaching, peer coaching, career and Job Guidance, preventing early school leaving.
You can find more information about us and our courses at www.teachertrainings.eu

More about IFOM and YouNet
IFOM and YouNet are a vocational education and training centre and a non-profit organization that holds extensive experience in designing and implementing learning mobility projects for educators and students with the support of European programmes.
IFOM and YouNet use training and mobility as tools to support education and ease the transition from school to labour market. We regularly organize international training courses for teachers, trainers, headmasters and other educational staff as well as teaching assignments and job-shadowing in schools and companies especially with the support of the Erasmus+ programme.
At the same time we provide national and transnational work-based experiences for students, graduates, apprentices and unemployed people (you can read more at www.vocationalplacement.com).
We work as a network in the Italian territory where we cooperate with public institutions, VET centres, schools, SMEs and large companies, universities and other formal and non-formal education institutions. We’re the founders and coordinators of an international network of teacher training providers and schools aiming at Increasing the Quality and Accessibility of In-Service Trainings for teachers (IQAIST). With fellow schools we have established consortiums that aim to provide higher quality and accessibility to apprenticeships and work-based learning schemes both at national and European level.
We support and participate in the European Alliance for Apprenticeships that brings together public authorities, businesses, social partners, vocational education and training providers, youth representatives, and other key actors to promote apprenticeship schemes and initiatives across Europe. We’re active in the field of entrepreneurship education and social business that we believe is crucial to face today’s challenges. We cooperate with the EURES network and we’ve participated in the pilot action Your First EURES Job and in the scheme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs.

OUR QUALITY STANDARDS
We comply to the 10 principles set in the European Quality Charter for Mobility:
- Information and guidance: we provide every participant with access to clear and reliable sources of information and guidance on mobility and the conditions in which it can be taken up, including details of the Charter and the roles of sending and hosting organisations
- Learning plan: we draw up a learning plan describing the objectives and expected outcomes, the means of achieving them and the evaluation measures, taking account of reintegration issues
- Personalisation: we tailor the mobility based on participants’ needs and we ensure that the training course fits in with personal learning pathways, skills and motivation of participants and develops or supplements them
- General preparation: before departure, we can provide participants with general preparation tailored to their specific needs and covering linguistic, pedagogical, legal, cultural and financial aspects
- Linguistic aspects: we support the participants both before, during and after the course, we speak 10 languages do we can fully support the participants form the linguistic point of view
- Logistical support: our venues are easily accessible and based on our vast experience in mobility projects we provide detailed information and assistance concerning travel arrangements, insurance, the portability of government grants and loans, residence or work permits, social security and any other practical aspects
- Mentoring: we provide continuous mentoring to advise and help participants before, throughout and after their stay
- Recognition: we’ve vast experience in recognition of learning outcomes and we assist participants and sending organizations in the recognition and certification process including the issuing of the Europass mobility certificate
- Reintegration and evaluation: during the training we run daily evaluations as well as a final evaluation to monitor and assess all aspects of the training courses and ensure its quality, when appropriate we run an ex-ante and ex-post evaluation to assess the learning outcomes and the competences acquired, after the training we support participants in order to enhance their reintegration
- Commitments and responsibilities: we draw up and sign with the participant a learning agreement and quality commitment and we monitor that the training course comply with these standards

In addition we follow the best practices identified by the IQAIST network:
- Innovative, modern and practice-driven content
- Practical, participative and hands-on methodology
- Tailored programme based on actual professional needs
- Knowledge applicable to the real contexts and/or in the classroom
- Collaborative learning and best practices’ exchange
- European added value and exchange of best practices between countries
- Attention to personal growth and development
- Needs assessment before the training
- Distance learning support before and after the training
- Continuous monitoring and evaluation after the training
- Validation and certification of competences
- Clear communication, practical information and guidance
- Full support, commitment and responsibility
- Easy accessibility
- Flexibility
- Cultural immersion and social activities

CERTIFICATION
At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance including a description of training content and as well as its starting and end date, together - if requested - with a Europass Mobility Certificate.
Moreover we experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon request we can provide additional certification and reporting documents.

LANGUAGE OF THE COURSE
The course is held in English. For groups with at least 8 participants, we can organize an ad-hoc session in a different language.
Please write an email to staff@ifom.info to get more information about it.