“Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten” B.F.Skinner, American behaviourist
1. OUR EMB EXPERIENCE
During most of the short term training sessions of our EMB project the hosting schools tried to put an ‘academic’ part into the program by inviting experts on the matter to give a lecture related to our project.
Lectures can be a great teaching method in many circumstances and for many students and teachers. They help to raise awareness and enhance knowledge. We also chose to incorporate the form of lectures in EMB short-term training sessions because they make learning easier and more effective when combined with electronic and literacy-based media.
2. AIMS
By organising the lectures we tried to cover specific areas of the subject, and to involve new research and knowledge, or to involve ‘repackaging’ knowledge already covered or further exploration of the topic by looking at different perspectives.
3. ACTIONS
“Peer Mediation” in Athens, Greece
“Kiva” in Helsinki, Finland
Psicowork’s presentation on “Legal aspects of bullying in the Basque country”
A conference in the Basque Government by an Inspector of the Department of culture, titled “ Bullying and Cyber bullying Protocol in the Basque Educational System, administrative approach”
An Open Conference under the title “From bullying to Cyber bullying” in Vitoria, Spain
“Risks for young users on social network sites and the legal framework: match or mismatch” in Opwijk, Belgium
“No Blame Approach” in Bad-Ems, Germany
“Appropriate use of new technologies: Tips and advices to students by a policeman” in the Basque country
All the above contributed to the planning, designing and development of objectives and material for our project. The teachers enhanced their skills on organising such activities and deepened their understanding on the issue.
Some presentations also provided the opportunity for practice and rehearsal. During, for example the Peer Mediation lecture, the audience, both teachers and pupils, had to demonstrate their communication skills in a role play to practise, demonstrate and eventually enhance the level of their skills and techniques, so they could perform better in real life situations.
Exposing people to new and different ideas in their lectures, the experts were often highly evaluated and their lectures were described as one of the best items in the program of our training sessions.
4. RESULTS
The combination of relevant factual content delivered in a convincing and confident style by the lecturers, and the inclusion of power point presentations broadened the audience’s understanding of the topic. Some lectures also gave a progress report on some research or development.
5. CONCLUSION
We believe that carefully chosen lectures with consideration of an audience’s needs and interests and given with passion can be an effective tool for the school and they can be enlightening for the school community as well as the general public.
