2022 - OFF TO A FLYING START!!!

 GOING BACK-TO-BACK

WITH ALL OF THE DISRUPTIONS AND TURMOIL OF THE LAST 24 MONTHS DISRAILING THE DRIL STUDENT EXCHANGE PLANNING PROCESS, THE TEAM 'MET' TODAY TO SEE HOW THINGS LOOKED FOR FINISHING THE PROJECT BEFORE THE SUMMER VACATIONS.

AND.. THE NOVEL IDEA OF DOING 2 TRIPS ONE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE OTHER, WHICH WAS SUGGESTED WHEN WE WERE FLOATING ON A HIGH IN TALLINN AFTER A MARVELOUS 3 FULL ON DAYS WITH TKVG, WAS GIVEN THE GREEN LIGHT!!!!!.

NOW... THAT IDEA IS GOING TO BE A REALITY AS THE STUDENTS FROM TKVG MEET UP WITH THE VENTSPILS STUDENTS TO JOINTLY FLY TO MTR IN ICELAND AT THE END OF APRIL AND THEN ALL THREE SCHOOLS FLY BACK TO RIGA, AFTER A FREE DAY IN REYKJAVIK, TO TRAVEL DOWN TO VENTSPILS FOR THE CLOSING WEEK OF THE PRJOECT!!! 

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE THAT WILL BE!

TKVG TALLINN STUDENT VIDEO FEATURES DRIL

 THE STUDENT VIDEO PRODUCTION TEAM @TKVG HAVE FEATURED  DRIL IN ITS APRIL 'EDITION' - LET'S WATCH.....

AS SOON AS THERE IS SOME 'SPARE' 😂 TIME WE SHALL PRODUCE AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION!!

DAY 02

 DAY 2

THINGS HAVE SETTLED DOWN A BIT. STUDENTS ARE LEARNING HOW TO WORK WITH EACH OTHER / HOW TO USE MOODLE / HOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME AND DEADLINES - MOODLE EXPERIENCE IS GREAT FOR THEM AT THIS TIME OF THEIR LIVES AS UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES IN LATVIA USE MOODLE - AND SELF MANAGEMENT IS A KEY PART OF BEING 'FUNCTIONAL' AT THIS LEVEL.

HERE WE SEE TEACHERS LEARNING AS WELL!!!!!

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS' DAY

AND DRIL LAUNCHES!!!!!!

HERE WE HAVE A WELCOME MESSAGE FROM SERGEI TEPLOV, DIREKTOR OF TKVG RUSSIAN GYMNASIUM IN TALLINN ESTONIA

ORDER OF EVENTS ON LAUNCH DAY [ALL TIMES HELSINKI]

DIRECTORS MEETING AT 12.00 IN ICELAND USING TELEPRESENCE ROBOTS.

12.15 - DIRECTORS JOINTLY LAUNCH THE DRIL PROJECT 

OFFICIALLY DECLARING IT 'OPEN'

12.30 - TEACHERS' BRIEFING FOR THE STUDENT TEAMS

13.00 - STUDENTS' TEAMS FORM AND HOLD FIRST MEETING TO BEGIN THE PROJECT

15.00/15.30 - WORKING DAY ENDS

NOTE :

SUPPORTING TEACHERS WILL BE ON HAND FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATIONS / ADVICE ETC BETWEEN 12-15.00 FOR EACH OF THE DAYS THIS WEEK - TIMETABLES WILL BE PUBLISHED

THIS PART OF THE PROJECT ENDS ON FRIDAY 12 MARCH.

HERE WE SEE DIREKTOR INARA [V2.VSK] LINKING VIA TELEPRESENCE ROBOT TO ICELAND......

CLICK THE PHOTO TO VIEW / DOWNLOAD VIDEO CLIP

[OTHER CLIPS ARE AVAILABLE]

OPPORTUNITIES TO GET INVOLVED

 NORPLUS JUNIOR HAVE FUNDED A PROJECT CALLED

DRIL – Digital Routes for Intelligent Learning

DRIL is seeking to look at collaborative distance working from the students’ perspective and to engage them in the process of identifying and evaluating software tools and systems that enable them to pariticipate effectively and efficiently in a disperse collaborative group.

And

DRIL is looking to see what support and guidance the students call upon to help them manage to work effectively in a team that is multi-cultural / lingual and in different time zones. Dealing with time management, multitasking, people skills, coping with conflict and how to negotiate.

And

DRIL would like to teach some basic language skills to the students – within a masterclass format using a WORKING vocabulary sufficient to complete / understand the tasks – in Estonian Icelandic and Latvian.

So

DRIL is mixing life and work skills with Business English competences and learning about student preferences in the tools used / offered.

There’s more . .

To reflect the cultural diversity and similarity of the region, DRIL is offering content that is drawn from Art [of the sea], Music and Food that highlights the region’s diversity but that also illustrates common heritage. Drawing strength from our similarities and inspiration from our differences.

TELEPRESENCE-ING FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! TRULY IMMERSIVE....

[YOU TOO COULD GET INVOLVED DIGITALLY]

WHAT THE DRIL TEAM IS LOOKING FOR

·         PEOPLE WHO KNOW FOLK DANCE

·         PEOPLE WHO KNOW TRADITIONAL FOLK SONGS [ESPECIALLY FROM THE SEAFARERS]

·         PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO DEMONSTRATE THE COOKING OF TRADITIONAL FOODS [in a kitchen – or as the hunters do]

and who could give a demonstration / teach-in to a group of 18 students aged 16 – live [ideal] or if it must be via ZOOM / GOOGLE or MICROSOFT meeting tool as a webinar. Ideally we would like them to learn a song, learn a dance and learn how to cook a traditional meal. The session would need to be planned and delivered so the time commitment would be that.

It may be you who could join us in delivering this project or maybe you know someone who would be interested – if so please get in touch

Tatjana Biktaševa - tatjana.biktaseva@ventspils.lv Ventspils 2. Vidusskola [Latvian / Russian]

Don Kuklis – don.kuklis@ventspils.lv Ventspils 2. Vidusskola [English]

 

22 jan 2021

TODAY THE ICELAND AND ESTONIAN PARTNERS MET WITH vENTSPILS2. VIDUSSKOLA TO GET DRIL UNDERWAY. THE TEAM AGREED -

TO CREATE A 'PROMOTIONAL' ITEM TO SHOW STUDENTS WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS EXCITING PROJECT AND TO INTRODUCE EACH OF THE SCHOOLS TO EACH OTHER.

TO CREATE AN OFF-TIMETABLE WEEK [TARGET IS] 08 MARCH!!! HERE WE SHALL TRY TO SET UP MULTINATIONAL VIDEO MEETINGS FOR STUDENTS IN THE 10TH GRADE.

THERE IS WORK TO DO!! :-)

2021 DRIL STARTS TO MOVE

 AFTER THE UPHEAVAL CAUSED ACROSS THE WHOLE WORLD BY THE CoVID VIRUS, WE SEE SOME RELIEF AND THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING ABLE TO CONDUCT THE STUDENT EXCHANGES AND TEST OUT STUDENT TEAM SELF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES. 

IT IS HOPED THAT THE TEACHER TEAMS WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO MEET [IN THE SAME ROOM] TO AGREE LEARNING GOALS AND TIMETABLES.

CONTACTS ARE NOW BEING MADE WITH VARIOUS SPECIALISTS TO LEND SUPPORT TO THE WORKSHOPS THAT ARE BEING PLANNED.

POSTPONEMENTS

 Coronovirus-19 has disrupted the planned schedule for DRIL. Meetings to initiate the project were originally set for late-August / Early September. These have now been moved back to end of 2020 / early 2021. More news will follow . . . . 

2021 - and DRIL looks like getting under way. ZOOM meetings will continue and will include students up until MAY - thereafter it is expected that real-world meetings will happen and the excitement of travel will be realised!!!

FOR MORE NEWS AS IT BREAKS PLEASE CLICK HERE

OPENING STORY - UPDATED

NORD PLUS AWARDS 33,000 Euro to education project

The project is being administered by Ventspils 2. Vidusskola with Tallinna Kesklinna Vene Gūmnaasiumi [TKVG] and IS-Tröllaskagi Upper-Secondary School [MTR] making up the team. The project is known as DRIL [Digital Routes for Intelligent Learning] and seeks to combine many of the OECD Skola 2030 Standards with the use of modern mobile digital technologies, both in-classroom and in distance learning environments. Running through the project is the development of life-skills [in particular in the context of the modern workplace].

The principal learning themes will be – Be Daring Be Creative Be Entrepreneurial and these are married to the core values of – Be Honest, Be Responsible, Be Wise and Be Tolerant. Our hope for the project is that the students will gain strength from developing an awareness of our similarities and acceptance of our differences in order to creatively achieve goals.This is what the world of work expects and it is a fundamental life skill.

Students will have an opportunity to visit Iceland, Estonia and Latvia for one week each visit and to experience working closely with fellow students in multinational teams, therefore working in a second language. The students will be expected to develop skills in inter-personal relationship building to help make the team a success. How to deal with conflict and disagreement, time management, dealing with deadlines [set within the team], how to work in meetings AND how to do this working remotely over extended periods in different time-zones. DRIL is indeed an ambitious education project and it is a ‘big ask’ of the students.

The teachers in the team will also be looking to the future – Skola 2030, Project based learning, Distance learning, Team teaching [bringing in specialist teachers as the need arises] and trialing communication tools and technology solutions. The whole process will be documented and the reflection of the teaching team written up as a paper to contribute towards a view of best practice.

It is intended that the work produced by the students will be publicly displayed in each of the three towns, although this will be subject to negotiations as you might expect, as well as online - here and the partner schools'websites.

MESSAGE FROM DON KUKLIS - CoORDINATOR OF DRIL PROJECT

Latest News 19 Dec 2020

as of today, the COVID situation across Europe that has caused disruption to travle and closed borders means that the Teacher Team has not met other than on ZOOM and the students who might participate in the programme have yet to see each other.

We all hope that during 2021 we shall be able to get moving on this project that offers so much potential.

We wish you all a Happy Festive Season and look foward to a Happier New Year!!!