EUROPEAN SCHOOLNET STAKEHOLDERS AND PARTNERS MEET IN ROME AT EMINENT CONFERENCE
European Schoolnet's annual conference took place in Rome on 4-5 December, offering two days of debates, plenaries and workshops.

The event was attended by 240 participants from all over Europe and beyond representing ministries of education, industry partners, teachers and experts.

The conference was opened by Giovanni Biondi, Chair of the Steering Committee and Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet.
» Read more...

DATA PROTECTION VIDEO COMPETITION
European Schoolnet has launched a video competition, targeting young people from 15 to 19 years old, to encourage reflection on privacy and data protection. Participants are invited to create 30-90 seconds video on the theme "Surf the internet - think Privacy" and to upload it before the 15 January 2009. Representatives from winning teams will be invited in Brussels to attend the Data Protection Ceremony on 28 January 2009 at the European Parliament.
» Read more...

eTWINNING TOOLKIT ON TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EURO
Eurocompetition, a poster competition to celebrate the first decade of the euro, has published an eTwinning toolkit to help teachers to bring the euro to the classrooms. The toolkit is available on the eTwinning portal.

The Eurocompetition is aimed at 10-14 year old pupils and is closing on 31 December 2008. The toolkit can still be used after the competition has closed.
» Read more...

SPRING DAY 2009 AT A GLANCE
The seventh edition of Spring Day for Europe has just been launched. In 2009, Spring Day for Europe joins the European Year of Creativity and Innovation to encourage as many schools as possible to demonstrate their creativity and innovation on a European scale.
» Read more...

BUILDING A EUROPEAN LEARNING RESOURCE EXCHANGE: MELT PRESENTATIONS AT EMINENT 2008
The work of the MELT project was presented in two workshops at the EMINENT 2008 conference to a combined audience of nearly 70 delegates. The workshops demonstrated how Associate Partners in the Learning Resource Exchange could benefit from MELT social tagging tools and the project's work on automatic metadata generation/translation.
» Read more...

INSIGHT NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS POLICY PEER LEARNING IN FRANCE AND GAMES IN LEARNING
The fifth issue of the Insight newsletter is now available. The newsletter, covers ICT policy and practice topics, providing an overview of the latest articles and blog posts published on Insight, European Schoolnet's observatory for new technologies and education. In this newsletter, the latest stages of the P2V project are brought into focus as top story, while the use of computer games in schools is the topic of the latest Thematic Dossier.
» Read the newsletter

LAST CHANCE TO TAKE PART IN EUROPEAN SCHOOLNET'S GAMES IN SCHOOL SURVEY
European Schoolnet is undertaking a major study on the use of games in schools in Europe, financed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE). The aim of the study is to investigate to what extent games are used in schools across Europe, generate awareness and produce recommendations, practical examples and guidance for teachers, policy makers and the games industry.
» Read more...

FUTURENERGIA CHAT WITH THOMAS SCHMIDT, FORMER OLYMPICS CHAMPION
On 2 December 2008, Thomas Schmidt, a former Olympics slalom canoe champion met ten schools in an online chat with the topic "Plastics, the performance materials". The participating schools got answers to their questions on the contribution of materials to performances in sport and why plastics are considered the great opportunity as materials of the future.
» Read more...

XPERIMANIA CHAT TO ADDRESS USE OF PETROCHEMICALS
Are you able to live a week or even a day without using or coming into contact with petrochemicals? British science journalist Andy Brice took up the challenge and will share his experience with students on the next Xperimania chat "(Petro)chemicals - who needs them?" on 20 January 2009 at 11.00 CET.
» Read more...

YOUTH ON STAGE: CREATIVITY FACES AFRICA'S CHALLENGES
On 17 November 2008 in Strasbourg, France, the European Development Village hosted the prize-giving ceremony of the Development Youth Prize 2007. Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, awarded 54 finalists.
» Read more...

INSAFE QUIZ FOR SAFER INTERNET DAY 2009 LAUNCHED
On 2 December 2008, the Insafe network launched its first global activity for Safer Internet Day 2009 which will take place on 10 February 2009. The activity consists of a quiz available in 22 languages for young people between 10 and 15 years old.
» Read more...

NEW TOOLS TO SHARE BEST PRACTICES ON THE STELLA WEB PORTAL
STELLA, a European project to improve science education in Europe by sharing ideas on teaching methods and best practices, had its third meeting on 24-25 November 2008 on the Portuguese Island of Madeira.

The meeting focused on the new developments of the STELLA web portal, which now includes forums for teachers. A new section with various multimedia tools to support the work of teachers and school classes in science education projects was also launched on 10 December 2008.
» Read more...