WEIWE(R)BE

School Libraries Networkand Wikis, Education & Research

The WEIWE(R)BE project aims to promote strategies to develop information literacy skills, within curricular and school libraries practices, by training both students and teachers in and with ICT, as well as sustainable digital contents (OER).

The WEIWE(R)BE programme, designed primarily for secondary education, is the result of a partnership between the WEIWER® International Academic Network and the School Libraries Network of the Portuguese Ministry of Education (RBE).

It arises from the need to promote, in schools, the systematic development of literacy skills, including digital literacy, through the collaboration between the school library and the classroom, using different sources and resources, such as Wikipedia. In fact, with the European Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu), among other references that guide educational action, not only educators are targeted, specifically teachers, in the case of the schools, but also learners, namely students.

Thus, among other proposals and in order to support the implementation of that programme, teacher training is provided to the teachers involved, teacher librarians and other teachers from different curriculum areas, after which they are expected to explore and promote learning scenarios leading to the integration of such skills in their pedagogical practices. So, while the teachers attend a continuous training course carrying out tasks to foster areas of the European Framework for the DigCompEdu, the students carry out research and use information critically and ethically.

Beneficiaries

School communities – school principals, teachers, librarian teachers, inter-municipal Coordinators of School Libraries, pupils/students and their families

The key benefits are improving ICT literacies and social skills through the use of digital tools; strengthening communication and other soft skills by participating in a learning, teaching and training community, in which typically our primary beneficiaries have come to become regularly involved in due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The participants have been having the chance to follow an innovative and unique training, at least in the Portuguese context, and in some cases are also benefiting from the use of certain technological services that are now generally provided by their educational organizations and/or the partner entities of the WEIWE(R)BE project.

Description

The WEIWE(R)BE project emerges to overcome the weaknesses witnessed in different educational levels, from basic to secondary school, in the information literacy and digital skills of the pupils/students.

Therefore, the project’s objectives are the following:

• to empower pupils/students for critical and reflective reading, when accessing various sources of information and in the analysis of Web content, namely Wikipedia articles, understood as Open Educational Resources;

• to assume information literacy as a key requirement and competence for learning, and an essential asset in the networked society;

• to trigger a change in the information behavior within learning and research processes.

Partnership

LE@D (UID 4372/FCT) – Laboratório de Educação a Distância e eLearning da Universidade Aberta (Portugal)

WEIWER® – International Academic Network “Wikis, Education & Research”

RBE – School Library Network of the Ministry of Education (Portugal)

WEIWE(R)BE 2020 SESSION

he WEIWER® Network co-organized the 1st WEIWE(R)BE Session, which took place on June 3, 2020, and was attended by the Deputy Secretary of State and Education, the Dean of the Open University Portugal, the Coordinator of the School Libraries Network and the Coordinator of LE@D, Laboratory of Distance Education and eLearning (UID4372 / FCT).

With an audience of 175 participants, the pupils from the participating schools made known the work they developed during this school year with their teachers, librarian teachers and Inter-Municipal Coordinators of the School Libraries. Considering the quality of the work presented and the level of involvement evidenced, the directors of the Schools/School Groups who attended the session said that the project should continue.

The WEIWE(R)BE project, which took place throughout the academic year 2019/2020, is coordinated by Teresa Cardoso, Filomena Pestana (International Academic Network WEIWER®, LE@D, UAb) and the team of the School Libraries Network Office, with the aim of promoting strategies to develop information literacy skills, among others, in secondary school pupils, considering different resources, including Wikipedia.

WEIWE(R)BE 2021 SESSION

A Rede WEIWER® congratula-se pela coorganização do 2º Encontro WEIWE(R)BE que ocorreu no passado dia 8 de junho, e contou com a presença do Sr. Secretário de Estado Adjunto e da Educação, da Sra. Pró-Reitora para a Inovação e Gestão Pedagógica da Universidade Aberta, da Sra. Diretora do Departamento de Educação e Ensino a Distância da Universidade Aberta, e da representante da Sra. Coordenadora da Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares.
Perante uma vasta audiência, os alunos das escolas participantes deram a conhecer o trabalho que desenvolveram durante este ano letivo com professores, professores bibliotecários e Coordenadores Interconcelhios das Bibliotecas Escolares. Face à qualidade dos trabalhos apresentados e do nível de envolvimento evidenciado, o Sr. Secretário de Estado Adjunto e da Educação considera que o projeto deve ter continuidade, sendo alargado a mais escolas e às suas comunidades educativas.
O segundo ano do projeto WEIWE(R)BE, que decorreu ao longo do ano letivo de 2020/2021, é coordenado por Teresa Cardoso, Filomena Pestana (Rede Académica Internacional WEIWER®) e Ana Paula Gonçalves (Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares); tem como objetivo promover estratégias de desenvolvimento das competências de literacia da informação e literacia digital, enquadrando-as nas práticas curriculares a partir das bibliotecas escolares junto de alunos do 3.º ciclo do ensino básico.