1. Description of Our Team
Our team consists of 4 members: Rovshan, Begench, Svetlana and Ramiz. All of us are of 14 and 15 years of old. We live in the capital of Turkmenistan- Ashgabat and study at the same grade of Ashgabat secondary school N50. We are interested in modern computer technologies and that was the reason of our collaboration. We are the members of Global Connections and Exchange project in Turkmenistan, which offers us to participate in a variety range of online projects. We work there under the supervision of Elena- GCE Online Projects Specialist and Roman- Master of IT in Education. We encounter realistic challenges in designing, setting up, and carrying out experience through our participation in GCE online activities, such as online exchange forums with US and Uzbek partner schools, various competitions, which required revealing our skills in web design, graphic editor and Internet. We have conducted a number of ICT workshops which helped us develop our computer and Internet skills. Thus, Rovshan and Ramiz are good at working in Photoshop and Dreamweaver; Begench and Svetlana are skillful in online forums and Internet research. Doors to Diplomacy Project has appealed to us and it is the best way for us to take the initiative. We are planning to create our own website about our country to share our riches with the globe.
2. Summary of Our Project
Arousing interest to cultural heritage of our Motherland, we’ve chosen Doors to Diplomacy category 8- Arts and Culture. One of the main UNESCO goals is to provide all the nations with the opportunity to express their own culture, because culture is in blossom while crossing with other cultures. As culture is an integral and sustainable part of our country, which reflects people’s way of life, their achievements, customs and traditions, we would like to create our own website and devote it to this issue. We’ve entitled our site as Doorway to the Riches of Turkmenistan, because we want to tell the globe about Turkmenistan’s cultural heritage: precious architectural monuments, ancient historical sites, magnificent theatres and museums, cultural landscapes, traditional games, arts and music and others. Our website will serve as a cultural dialogue of supporting peace and world unity. Participating in Doors to Diplomacy project and using new technologies we are trying to build an intercultural dialogue among other nations.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:none
B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:none
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Our team does not have computers and an Internet access at school, we are working on Doors to Diplomacy Project with our coaches three times a week from computerized center with Internet connection of GCE project. Besides, we work offline, visiting our libraries, meeting professors, experienced in this field and then gather together at computer equipped center to compile the required material and post it online.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
Our team does not have computers and an Internet access at school, we are working on Doors to Diplomacy Project with our coaches three times a week from computerized center with Internet connection of GCE project. Besides, we work offline, visiting our libraries, meeting professors, experienced in this field and then gather together at computer equipped center to compile the required material and post it online.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
To pay profound respect and concern to cross cultural issues and contribute to the creation of propitious atmosphere of understanding, sharing and protecting our cultural heritage we have created our website which will be the doorway to the riches of Turkmenistan. Moreover, this website is our collaborative project, which combined and used all the previously gained computer and research skills in a new context. It is intrinsically interesting and fun for our team to participate in this project and communicate with students from other parts of the world to share our ideas and views. So all this stimulate our team to be active and creative and we can contribute and get recognition.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Doors to Diplomacy project is in conformity with our curriculum requirements- respecting and protecting cultural heritage. It has been the core concern of UNESCO since the organization came into being more than 60 years ago. The adoption of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity corroborated 'fruitful diversity of… cultures' in a spirit of dialogue and openness. We have conducted our research on cultural values of our country, visiting historical sites throughout Turkmenistan, national museums and libraries, communicating with our national scientists. Moreover, our team made online search to reveal websites on Turkmen culture and history. Thus, bringing all the found material together has educated in us about the fact that we are the ancestors of the great, rich and original culture being influenced on the culture of entire humankind. We also agree that online collaborative projects, like Doors to Diplomacy is one of the best ways to use exciting potential of IT for supporting coaches and their students in developing the most crucially important skill in culture teaching and learning. Promoting creativity and allowing it to flower in a spirit of freedom and intercultural dialogue is one of the best ways of maintaining cultural vitality. Access to the new technologies opens the way to original forms of expression. Since creativity concerns everyone, including us- teenagers, being developed within our coursework and revealed in writing our research at school and participating in joint projects, just show that art and culture education is a part of all school curricula.
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