The EcoPodcasts Teachers Training Workshop in Frigole, Italy happened in the period of 20-22.06.2023. The Workshop counted with 32 participants including invited Teachers from all Consortium Partners' Countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Austria, Portugal and Malta). All invited Teachers were motivated and eager to learn more about the project’s results and to apply podcasts on environmental protection & climate change with their students.
On the Day 1, the workshop started with a "Welcome Message" from Lucia of the University of Salento, followed by an overview of what has been produced for the EcoPodcasts curriculum. Tatyana from the Bulgarian team gave us a brief introduction of the "Care for the Environment" manual and the "How to Create a Podcast" guide. Next, our host Lucia worked with the workshop group on a brainstorming session about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to get all participants in tune with one of the main focuses of the project: climate change awareness. Also on Day 1, we had a typical presentation of Italian dance at the Lunch-break, followed by a remote session about the modules "Applying design thinking & project-based learning in environmental education" and "Using radio and podcasts in class“ of the EcoPodcasts teachers toolkit were presented by Giota from the Greece team. The Ecopodcats partner from Greece, 1st Primary School of Alexandria presented in the sequel their first produced EcoPodcasts. It was very inspiring to hear about the success and also difficulties that appear during the process of producing the podcasts.
The 2nd. Workshop Day was focused on the developed EcoPodcasts Online Platform (https://go.ecopodcasts.eu/). The guest teachers were introduced to the platform by the Malta team (Anamaria & Bernard). They were informed about how to upload podcasts, use available resources, and about the online discussion groups. The morning sessions included presentations from the guest educators from Malta and ended with a very interesting presentation by Patrik Camilleri, from the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta, about online group discussions, which was very enriching for both teachers and the EcoPodcasts project team.
The afternoon's work continued with the presentation of another module of the Teacher Training Toolkit: the guide to community involvement. Anamaria from the Malta team spoke enthusiastically about the importance of community involvement and how much can be achieved through it. At the end of the 2nd workshop day. The teachers were presented to the Resource Hub by Luisa from the Portugal team, giving us an overview of the potential of the Resource Hub within the online platform (https://go.ecopodcasts.eu/resources/).
On the last Workshop Day, Lucia from the Italian Team focused on the EcoPodcasts Network; whereas Fatima and Sandra from the Austrian team worked on the Workshop Feedback using the module produced for the teacher toolkit "Reflection Guide". It was great to hear the teachers talk about their expectations and also about their concerns. The EcoPodcasts team is very thankful to get this feedback and will continue to work to refine the developed tools.
After the feedback session, an inter-schools activity took place. In groups, teachers from different countries were guided by the Austrian partner REACH to work on a draft-concept of a joint/inter-school podcast regarding one SDG. The interaction among the teachers was amazing and for sure new synergies will start.
It was a very productive event, which will help us start the podcasts implementation phase of our project, as well as enhance team spirit among project collaborators. All EcoPodcasts partners are very grateful to the efforts from Lucia from the Italian Team for making our LTTA workshop in Frigole an unforgettable experience!
We wish all Participants now a very exciting and successful phase of Podcasts production with the students of the Partners' Schools and of the Educational Institutions outside the EcoPodcasts Project Consortium (from Austria and Malta)! We are sure that the motivation for piloting the project with the students will be stronger than any challenge faced.
We are looking forward to listening to the resulting "EcoPodcasts"!
Stay tuned for the results to come!
We are delighted to announce that our practical guide on "How to create a podcast", edited by the team at the University of Macedonia in Greece with the participation of all the Ecopodcasts project partners, is now available on our website. The aim of the guide is to provide students with the necessary information on both the equipment needed to produce a podcast and aspects of the creative process.