The European Commission named the ten winning projects at this year's annual eTwinning conference in Prague, held from 13-15 February. Tom Roche, principal of Knockaclarig School, was present to see his school’s project showcased along with those of the other finalists.

eTwinning is an EU initiative to encourage schools to network with each other over the internet. It is managed in Ireland by Léargas, on behalf of the Department of Education and Science.

It offers schools in Europe a means to communicate, share ideas and run online collaborative projects.

Through an online platform which makes use of web 2.0 tools, it has become a truly collaboration-based community where teachers demonstrate creative ways to strengthen their work in the classroom. 

More than 400 participants attended the Prague conference, including teachers from across Europe, representatives from eTwinning's central and national support services, and other stakeholders in education.

The conference focused on “Creativity and eTwinning” and speakers included Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, and Dr. Edward de Bono, a recognised world authority in the field of lateral thinking and Ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009.

Winning Knockaclarig School is twinned with a school in Sweden and their project is called ‘Make a film and share IT with friends 2.0!’

Principal Tom Roche said the eTwinning project was “a great example of social networking”.

There was “ease of communication, query and willingness to exchange and learn more about the other person’s point of view” and his pupils got a picture of Sweden “that could not be assimilated through an atlas or a text book”.

“While Science was the kernel of the project module and it was strictly adhered to, a myriad of topics surfaced and were treated in many different formats,” he said.