Feedback

Along the two years of partnership all the partner schools did many activities that were shared with all the teachers and students in the participating schools, as well as with anybody interested in the topic, using the project's social media (Facebook Metacognitive Strategies for Learning (Erasmus) -group), and the project blog ( https://mastererasmusplus.blogspot.com ). In addition, in Finland we also used our school's webpage ( https://peda.net/rauma/koulut/uotilanrinne/projektit/erasmus-master ). During or after mobilities the hosting country contacted the local mass media where interviews with participating teachers and students were broadcasted on TV or Radio, and printed on newspapers (Annexes, Raumalainen). At the end of the project the coordinators and some teachers created an ebook with metacognitive strategies and activities used by teachers and students during the project. The ebook is called "Metacognitive Strategies in Practice “THE MASTER PLAN" (Annexes). It was shared as printed booklet in the teachers' rooms of the project schools and digitally on the net and on social media, so that all the teachers interested in the topic can download it to read and to use the activities in their classrooms. Our book has also been shared on Erasmus+ Project result platform as a dissemination activity.

The impact of the project was measured by a quantitative questionnaire. The students answered the questionnaire when the project started and when it was about to end. Unfortunately, the results were quite thin. Instead, a qualitative questionnaire with open-ended questions and students presenting their ideas freely would have served much better. Luckily, however, we were able to monitor our project students from the very beginning till the end of the project. Thus, we know for sure that there was a huge personal growth concerning metacognitive knowledge, attitude towards learning and positive mindset. Moreover, we saw many of them also exceed themselves in many ways: by getting more active, starting to study harder, making new international friends, working together, improving their English, Swedish and Spanish - not to mention how the relationships between students and teachers became stronger! We surely were proud to be able to witness that growth. These students will have the advantage of this experience later in their lives no matter they did; they learned tools for studying and skills for the rest of their lives!

When it comes to us teachers, the impact of the project was also meaningful. Earlier we had not paid attention to teaching metacognition, goal setting, self-evaluation or growth mindset. The project made them visible and showed the importance of teaching them to the students; the students need to start becoming more responsible of their own learning. That is why we will certainly continue teaching and finding new metacognitive strategies with our students and we will also continue encouraging our students to always try and not to ever give in. As a conclusion we want to point out the fact that international contacts are extremely important also for teachers. It was inspiring and teaching for us to have long discussions with our foreign colleagues. After this project we are more aware of different European educational systems and ways of teaching. The truth is that knowledge is power and one can always learn more!

 

 

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Our book