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AWedu is a
software that allows developing traditional schoolwork
into an absolutely new and amusing way of working;
- With
Awedu you can connect your students with students all over the world, in a
shielded environment, helping cultural sharing and mutual understanding.
- The
AWedu software fosters the elaboration of conceptual maps by students and
teachers and making plans, before realizing them.
- The AWedu
software connects
learning to fun, increasing the positive representation of the schoolwork
by students.
- The AWedu software makes easier
multidisciplinary activities, mixing practical activities with more
theoretical and analytical thoughts
- Running projects with the AWedu software in
international dimensions improves the learning of foreign language, in
meaningful interactions with foreign students.
With the Awedu
software you can build 3- dimensional objects and environments together
with your students. People connected are represented by Avatars.
Moreover, Awedu can
be easily integrated by all sort of online tools, like forum, webpages,
sounds, etc, so that teachers and students can have a complete
communication tool -both synchronous and asynchronous.
Examples
of educational activities already carried out
with the AWEDU software:
1) Building a “European house of food”,
endowed with a big kitchen; sharing recipes, students of different
nationalities can interact in a collaborative way, in order to foster
their reciprocal knowledge and sharing different cultures. Moreover, it is
possible to organise playful activities for students connected to the
educational ones : for example, you can create a
“recipe hunt” (something like a “treasure hunt”) hiding some links
to WebPages inside some virtual objects of furniture..
This kind of
experiences have been done in the Euroland world: the general planner of
the world was Beatrice Ligorio, senior research at the University of
Salerno (Italy): Italian students
with Mantastrega (teacher and responsible of Italian part of that project)
and Dutch students (12 years old)
built together it in the 1999/2000
different cultural-based virtual buildings: some
students realized a “house of European music”, some a “travel
agency”, others a “Venus exhibition”.
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2) Creating-inside a virtual city-a “Religious Zone area”:
an ideal place where you can build, one close to the other, a mosque, a
synagogue, a cathedral, an Hindu temple… then people walk, come in and
meditate on different religious ideas and beliefs, verifying the
enrichment coming from the variety. (The educational goal is: to think
about religious tolerance today)
This work has been
projected and realized from Mantastrega and her students (14 years old),
together with some other Italian students, on Euroland world,
October/May 2001/2002.
Finally, students
discussed this work during the session of examination at the end of the
year
3) Choosing a key word, e.g. “homesickness”. Then students look for music,
poetries, and paintings about this feeling. Finally, they prepare
a “ Homesickness exhibition” (in that case the goals concern the
awareness of emotions)
This work was in progress on IRRER world (IRRE
Emilia Romagna) during the
fall 2000/2001,under the supervision of Prof.Giovanni Barbi,at IRRE
Bologna.
The activity, projected from Mantastrega, was involving children of 12
years old: after a brainstorming they choose some songs (like “Georgia on
my mind” by R.Charles), poetries and paintings.
4) Rebuilding a
mythological environment (e.g. the
Olympus, Atlantis, Northern myths…)
The building of
Atlantis, following Plato’s source, is now in progress among Italian
students of Mantastrega and a Finnish class.
Other ECOLE members are joining the project.
5) Building a virtual exhibition, where students can hang their paintings
in 3D about a selected topic, after a brainstorming among partners class
(On Dutch world Degas you can see a similar experience, made from students
of Den Haag Montessori Lyceum)
6) Coming to a
preparatory agreement –among teachers-about a synchronous study of a
historical period (e.g. the Italian Renaissance); then build together,
e.g., a brightly Renaissance house.
7) rebuilding the environment of a book read by 2 or more
partners class (e.g. Novecento by Baricco: building the ship
where Novecento lived till his
death ..or “The
Lord of rings”..or a tale…
8)Reconstructing
some typical climatic areas studied in geography (Mediterranean,
Tropical…)
Getting Started !!!
If
you really want to see what you can do with the Awedu software the
best idea is to test it walking through it together with a teacher who
already used Awedu for educational goals.
- 4 free on line meetings
(an hour each) ,chatting
on line with Mantastrega, are enough to give a complete idea of the
environment and to visit the most interesting worlds of Awedu universe.
The
meetings are possible in English , Italian and French.
To join the
meetings you do not need any technical skills!
First
meeting: the toolbar, how to move around , the
avatars, the teleport…then whisper, chat, telegram… how to have a contact
list of friends
Second
meeting : tour of Euroland: the “house of
food”, the game of “recipe hunt”…visiting the “Religious Tolerance Area”
Third
meeting: basic
building : duplicating an object, changing its name. Visiting the
“Building” world : looking for a warehouse of objects
Forth
meeting : everybody
who attends the course builds something (a little garden ,a swimming
pool…)
Some short hints about the “triggers” : create, bump, activate objects and
how to include a url, sound, teleport, signal, color |
