LEARNING QUALITY ASSURANCE OF SCHOOLS' COLLABORATIVE ONLINE PROJECTS

The use of ICT for school education and transnational school partnerships continuously increased, supported by large-scale programs such as the European Commission Program for Education, Training and Youth - Erasmus+, through its eTwinning component. The eTwinning action is dedicated to educational cooperation and promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of ICT by providing support, tools and services to make it easy for schools and teachers to form short or long term partnerships in any subject area. The number of teachers involved in ICT-based school projects increased year by year and so the number of projects and students involved in (over 18000 Romanian teachers are now involved in the eTwinning Action and more than 6000 project were developed, while at European level, there are around 360000 teachers and 47000 partnerships since the launching of the Action). But is the quality increasing in the same rhythm? And how can quality be supported in such way to avoid its transformation into a heavy, stressing and consuming exercise? How prepared and how willing are teachers to look for quality? How training can empower them to internalize the quality assurance tools and process and routinely use them? This article explores the development of the eTwinning Action in Romania, with a view on the quality assurance needs and mechanisms, on the pedagogical support provided to teachers and school principals. The current state of quality assurance tools and practices is based on qualitative analysis of implemented projects and their self-assessment reports, combined with the external assessment done by the National Support Service. The article also advocates for responsible and adequate use of ICT in education, focused on relevant, creative and collaborative projects, with added value in terms of innovation of educational practices and making learning more interesting.