"The big challenge will be the creation of an mobile application (due to the possibility of using simple freeware to the development of the app) that allows everyone to communicate and transmit basic information in foreign language. The project ""Technology from everyone to each one of us"" aims to create an augmentative communication tool, from which anyone, with learning difficulties or not, can communicate in countries other than their own, with the use of pictograms instead of written words. The group, through its vast experience, knows that it is much more difficult to make children or people with learning difficulties of different natures able to learn or to read, in opposition to learn a set of pictograms representing words, these pictograms are designed so that the user can intuitively select the desired word/expressions.The institutions participating in the project add different value and complement each others points of view. It was important to find institutions that present diversity, NGOs, Regular High Schools, Higher Education Schools and a Technological School. They will function as comparison elements, control groups at the time of evaluation of the developed outputs. Each give a different cultural perspective due to geographic disposition and social function. We intend to have the participation of different know-how, different approaches and ways to test the applicability of the application. One of the criteria to be accepted in the project was to designate a team of maximum 5 people, able people in the following functions (with experience or hyer degree formation in the case of communication responsible): local project coordinator, budget manager, graphic production manager, pedagogic responsible , responsible for the application development, responsible for communication between institutions (in english), and responsible for activities. The institutions in the project are: High Schools: Agrupamento de Escolas de Aljustrel – PT IES Juan del Enzina–SP NGOs: Bulgarian Development Agency – BG Associazione N.E.T Networking Education & Training – IT Association for Developing Voluntary Work Novo Mesto - SL Professional Schools: Escola de Tecnologias, Criação e Inovação do Algarve – PT Universities; Uiversity of Thessaly – GR Collegium Balticum - PL It is intended that this technological product created mainly for children, is also usable by the elderly, adults, people and children with special needs. The application can be used in any language of any country to communicate, it will use pictograms to translate feelings, emotions, questions, statements, etc. The partners, in collaboration, will develop technologies using pictograms that can activate the audio of the word represented in the native language intended by the users. The pictograms and layout will be common to all the partner projects. All the technology produced will be of free use to everyone interested in it. Any reader or non-reader can use the application. Methodology The meetings will happen monthly using distal communication with the development of the project in all the partner institutions. The learning acquired in the distal mode will be applied in the institutions and evaluated by the different groups of work. The assessment of the applicability of the developed technologies will occur in each partner institution collaborating in the project. Each partner will develop the technology in their own language, which will be used later on by the partners in monitorization activities in loco. Objectives of the project: • Improve the teaching and learning of languages and promote the broad linguistic diversity in the EU and sensibility to different cultures; • Promote improvement in terms of quality, innovation, excellence and internationalization in the educational institutions, namely through the promotion of transnational cooperation between the education and training institutions and other parts with interest in it; • Develop projects in the institutions to optimize the use of ICT as mechanisms that allow the intercultural mobility and share. • Promote the technologic inclusion as a facilitator. • Promote projects developed by the institutions that use technological resources. • Discover the words/expressions most needed to engage in communication. • Create the European Pictogram Communication Language (EPCL). • Create the EPCL Translator (Mobile Application). The application has the ability to continue to grow, to update and to add content, it will never be truly finished, as it can be adapted and customized by anyone with average ICT knowledge. It is expected to impact how we communicate and how young children and those with learning disabilities learn by the use of the application, starting the communication of each and every one in foreign language."

Context Saving Earth is the most important social awareness which everyone must know about to bring some positive changes on our planet. We want our students to become our future BEES, the sentinels of our planet. Climate is getting worse and worse. The contribution of mankind plays a great role in turning this nature event into a disaster. We are 6 schools around Europe which are very well aware of the negative effects of environmental problems and came together to create a partnership on the topic. Our schools have same problems about the awareness of our students on nature. BEE (Becoming European Ecoteens) aims at raising awareness on climate changes in young Europeans. We firmly think that like bees are a sign of a well functioning ecosystems, they act as indicators of the state of the environment, even our students will become eco-citizens able to tackle with problems caused by climate changes. . Objectives -To raise the awareness of at least 80% of the target group related to real measures to adopt in our private lives against climate changes -To make children the centre of climate change strategies and response plans -To elevate students' voice on climate change -To increase students’ intercultural awareness and communication skills -To develop students’ creativity and critical thinking -To develop the European dimension of our schools through international cooperation - To raise students' competences and school success-To promote of European citizenship and inclusion, tolerance, mutual respect and solidatory Participants The target group –100 students aged 10-14 in each school. Participants in exchanges – 150 students (25 students from each country) – attend topic-related workshops, cultural activities Parents will take part in workshops addressed to them during the exchanges and also after the exchanges, as each school will implement similar workshops with its parents, especially with the ECO CLUB events.-teachers and school staff Activities C1 – team building and planning activities C2 – recycling acitivites C3 – trees for future C4 – being organic and plastic free C5 – show off the importance of nature C6 - stop climate change and keep on healthy life Results As a result of our cooperation, we will produce the following outputs, which will be applied in our schools and shared free on dissemination platforms such as eTwinning and the school websites: - Project Logo - a BEE tree planted in each school partner - an ECO CLUB in each school partner - an online quizlet which consists of all quizzes during the project time - articles, videos on eTwinning, local media and school website - e-book about BEE topics discussed during mobilities and ECO CLUB meetings - posters,banners-project Tshirts and caps with project logo,fabric shopping bags-presentations about partner schools,cities,countries,environmental issues-leaflets Impact The project is meant to contribute to the European dimension of our schools. We will improve the openness and flexibility of our teachers and our students. The school will gain an advantage in the local community, as it will become more appealing to future students We will make students able to identify consequences of their behavior in nature and to rethink about their impact of their footprint in nature. We will also enable parents to become more active in their children’s life, monitoring and guiding them, providing them with support. Thus we will create a fruitful collaboration school-parents-students. Our school will become a resource locally, as we will share our results with schools in our areas. We will gain a valuable project management capacity which will help us develop qualitative future Erasmus+ initiatives.

"BackgroundThis ERASMUS+ Project arises, after unofficial visits during other ERASMUS+ projects to educational institutions in several countries, where informally, themes related to the success of schools in combating exclusion and dropping out of different types of students have been addressed . In these conversations it became clear that we will all have a lot to learn from the way each school and nation sees the inclusion of its students. The project appears as a bet that integrates the various knowledge of the institutions, with its strong areas of inclusive competence. ObjectiveThe “IN as in INclusion"" takes the challenges of the global world to training children and young people, bringing it as an object of improvement for the concepts at European level of what is school for all and for each and every one and what we can improve in institutions to have a truly Inclusive Education. In this sequence, we will present good practices of school inclusion, different types of students that serve as an example to most schools in the European Union and we will create an Inclusive Training Plan (ITP) and an Inclusive Booklet (IB) that will integrate the knowledge acquired by the partners in a document that can be used in a functional way within the scope training activities for educators, teachers and school leaders.Partners ProfileSix(6)schools-three(3) were VET schools- and an institution created a partnership in order to carry out the project objectives by developing and certifying the ITP and IB. The institutions were chosen among various candidates by their ability to present significant inclusive activities and methodologies.The three(3) VET schools differ from each other in the training they present and offer and all have guaranteed their acceptance to join the partnership, all for the awards they received in previous years in their certification areas, and for the diversity of methodology that each one proposes to present. Regular schools will also maintain the diversity of inclusion themes to be analyzed and compared.Ensuring a training plan that integrates all the knowledge analyzed will be developed, SIPE Training Center is part of the partnership. They ensure the creation of an applicable and disseminable ITP that takes into account the needs and concerns of school institutions, teachers and school leaders.Activities DescriptionAgrupamento de Escolas de Aljustrel(PT), will bring inclusion with students with special needs, SIPE(PT) has the main objective of coordinating the creation of the ITP and to assess the booklet elaboration;Balıkesir Adnan Menderes High School(TK), training about inclusion of girls and prevention of early school leaving; School of Economics Novo Mesto(SL), will address the inclusion of refugees and minorities in school activities; United Special Vocational Gymnasium and Lyceum of Patras(GR), school activity through inclusion of disabled students in technical courses; Istituto Professionale Statale “Frederico II”(IT), inclusion through the participation in international projects and the way to success of culinary courses in school, local community and worldwide; Tolosaldea Integrated VET School(SP), the success of methodology applied in the integration in school and in the acquisition of knowledge, how to select the right offer for each student. MethodologyThe methodology to use, briefly consists of distinct elements and characteristics as they are[1] a methodology for solving problems;[2] we will start from real questions and/or problems, felt as real problems for those who will treat them (that is, as situations for which there is not, at the outset, a total and unique answer to their resolution and/or clarification);[3] we will focus the research of pertinent and relevant problems for those who will be involved in the work (if only in terms of understanding and knowledge about these issues);[4] we will start looking for answers and/or solutions;[5] the planning and distribution of tasks for the collection of data and information, as a group/or collective task;[6] the information and data collected individually or in a small group will have to be processed and organized to return to the large group; all work should result in a sociable “final product” (ITP and IB) - a result that represents the enrichment of the broader group, in terms of knowledge/understanding/solution of the problems and questions initially posed.The best impact possible to aim for is that the inclusion barrier stops being an obstacle to integration and participation of each and every one of our students.The project impact will be incisive in three important aspects that we call the “PIE”: PLANNING-involving deciding beforehand which course of action to take in a given time to integrate or include a student in meaningful activities; INCLUSION-influence positively the quality of participation of each student, EVALUATION-guarantee that all the previos work done before, is going on track."

Nowadays the schools' main objective is to prepare the youth to pass difficult final and vocational exams. The schools also struggle for high ranking positions. Meanwhile, they have problems to meet the pedagogical needs and develop prosocial attitudes among students. Analyzing the current situation in schools - Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal came to conclusion that also their students who are in the age of 15-19, have different social problems.They do not cope with bullying, aggression, e-addictions which often result in bad eating habits and lack of physical movement. In relations with their peers they cannot be assertive, defend their rights and react to any discrimination. The youth often escape into the virtual world, which makes them insensitive to the problems around them or help for others. All the negative aspects disturb proper functioning of young people, which is reflected in their school performance, self-esteem, and being active at school. The intensity, range and attitudes to the problems in partner schools are different. Therefore we started the cooperation during which we want to exchange the expert knowledge about preventing and solving the problems. Following the words said by Stephen Hawking ‘The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge” the partners decided to verify their knowledge about social problems in schools and broaden it by different solutions existing in other parts of Europe. In the project ‘The Guardians of Europe’ five schools became five ‘Guardians’ of the European values and they will share their expert knowledge about equality, healthy eating habits, cyber safety, tolerance and physical activity. The social campaigns which will be conducted together will become a bridge for their activities and will encourage prosocial attitudes among the project participants. Thanks to them the participants will also develop creativity, team work, entrepreneurship.They will learn how to cooperate with the media and will develop new IT and language competences. The climax of the international cooperation will be the international social campaign divided into two parts and the event ‘You don’t know it – get to know it, if you know it – preserve it’. The mission of ‘the guardians’ will be to encourage young people to explore and preserve the European cultural heritage for the next generations. The challange and task for the teachers will be to learn how to teach about heritage and how to use the knowledge during the different lessons. The School Corners will be created in the schools. They will be the centres for students’ dialogue and social activity where young people will work on social campaigns and report their acitivities on eTwinning platform. To achieve the objectives we will use different methods like brainstorm, SWOT and SMART analyses, the Ghant’s Graph’, workshops. Teachers as mentors and tutors of the School Corner will develop lesson plans about social issues which will be included in the prevention programs in partner schools. To reach the local community we will organize The International Festival of Social Campaigns, School Days of European Heritage and the International Social Campaign about Heritage. We will create the five figures of guardians as patrons of our campaigns: ‘The guardian of healthy eating habits, the guardian of physical activity’, the guardian of equality’, the guardian of cyber safety’ and the guardian of tolerance’. We will create „Proclamation of Guardians” a public announcement about fighting with social problems. In order to achieve the objectives of the project we will organise five student project meetings to discover the European heritage on their own and one staff training meeting which will allow the teachers to receive training and mentoring from experts to implement the technical part of the campaigns properly.The project will refresh the quality of educational activities in schools by multicultural cooperation. It will introduce a new method of social campaigns which will activate students. It will positively influence prosocial attitudes and the European quality of life. It will encourage Europeans to care about healthy eating habits, physical activity, cyber safety, equality and tolerance. The project activities will raise awareness that we need to preserve European heritage for future generations.

The school closures all over Europe during the spread of COVID-19 triggered a shift towards digital learning. However, not all teachers and students were prepared for the sudden need of implementing digital learning. For instance, in Germany, a majority of teachers still relied on traditional forms of teaching during the school closures (e.g., Hillenbrand, Börnert-Ringleb, & Casale, in preparation). In previous research as well as research conducted during the school closings, several factors can be identified that might hinder digital learning processes. These factors can be classified as a) interventionist/teacher-related factors (e.g., willingness to implement the intervention), b) organizational/school-related factors (e.g., access to needed materials or equipment), and c) recipient/student-related factors (e.g., individual profiles of students) (see Börnert-Ringleb, Casale & Hillenbrand, under review). Whilst school-related and teacher-related variables are discussed in public and policy as target variables ensuring a wider implementation of digital learning, student-related variables remain a blind spot. However, especially student characteristics might impede successful learning in digital learning. In order to ensure successful digital learning, special attention must be paid to these student characteristics. There are at least three important core competencies that students need for digital learning: (1) Self-regulation skills, (2) motivation to learn, and (3) technical knowledge/technical equipment. First, digital learning requires high levels of self-regulation skills. Students need to be able to coordinate, initiate, maintain, and reflect the learning process in order to reach the individual learning goal. Whilst in traditional teaching and learning students can still rely on forms of external regulation and guidance by their teachers or fellow students, individuals with low self-regulation skills are at risk for failure in digital learning environments that do not provide external regulation. Second, digital learning requires high motivational skills of the students, since learning engagement and task completion are done asynchronously and thus autonomously. Third, technical knowledge about the use of technical equipment (i.e., hardware and software) is a basic prerequisite for digital learning.Previous research indicated that in particular some groups of students can be characterized by lacking the aforementioned competencies (e.g. students with learning difficulties). If the design of digital learning environments does not consider the specific profiles and characteristics of all students, the risk increases of widening the gap between students who had been struggling in learning before the school closures and their peers. Teachers need to be aware of students’ needs during the development of digital learning environments, but at the same time, the students need to be empowered by receiving specific support promoting self-regulation skills, motivation to learn, and technical knowledge in digital learning environments. Therefore, the goal of the project is to address the aforementioned student-related obstacles in the implementation of digital learning and by that means to ensure the learning and school success of all students. Students should be addressed within a digital learning environment that a) considers their individual characteristics (e.g. motivation and interests, knowledge, self-regulation), and b) empowers them for future digital learning processes by reinforcing and training key competencies of digital learning (e.g. self-regulation skills). In order to achieve this goal, six partners from the European educational context work together in the SLIDE project in a participative and co-constructive way. The aforementioned project results should tackle the systematic disadvantage of students with special educational needs in digital learning and thus promote the social inclusion of all students in digital learning environments even after the COVID-19 pandemic.