Online activities at school level
“What do you think about our school?”
An online questionnaire can be created, using the DSN checklist, adjusted to every school’s aims and priorities. A small group of volunteer teachers and students will be assigned to design the questionnaire, and all students of the school will be asked to answer it online anonymously. The questions should be formulated in a student-friendly manner, corresponding to their age, and referring to particular issues and challenges faced by the school. A separate questionnaire could be addressed to parents. The results should be compiled and analysed by the group that has undertaken to form the questionnaire and shared in the whole school community.
“Can we do it?” or “How well are we doing it?”
This is a proposal for the organisation of online debates on crucial challenges faced by a school or a part of it. Every school can design their own way of organising the debate. The debate can take place with the participation either of students and teachers of particular classes or of the whole school, depending on its size. The debate may focus on challenges already faced by the school (so it will aim at the evaluation of existing efforts) or on new challenges (so it will aim at planning reactions and interventions).
The procedure includes:
- a) a preparation phase (following assigning responsibilities to a group of students and teachers who are going to design the content and methodology of the debate),
- b) an implementation phase, and
- c) an evaluation phase.
The implementation phase will include introduction of the debate by the coordinators, presentation of themes, division in small discussion groups, presentation of proposals from the groups and possible electronic voting procedures at the end. In secondary schools, it is suggested that organisational responsibilities are shared among students, including moderator, timekeeper and secretary.
“We have an idea!”
This is a proposal for preparation of ideas by groups of students on particular issues dealt with or faced by the school. The school authorities in collaboration with students’ representatives choose an issue (for example connected with teaching and learning methodologies, creative workshops, development of particular skills and competences, organisation of a celebration or solidarity activities, etc) and then groups of students are formed voluntarily to prepare and present their ideas in a small video or ppt presentation or any other way they choose. The length of the presentations (e.g. 3 minutes) will be defined as well as the time of possible questions asked and discussion on the proposed idea (for example 10 minutes). Then the ideas will be presented online and teachers and students from particular classes or from the whole school will be invited to attend and participate in the discussion. The coordinating committee of the activity (including also a number of students) will be responsible to summarise the proposals and reactions and disseminate their report in the whole school.