School: ZSEI (Zespol Szkol Ekonomiczno-Informatycznych)
    Swietochlowice, upper-silesia, Poland

2 students, ages 17 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project on March 23, 2009. They have participated in Doors to Diplomacy in the following year(s): none

Classes and Teachers: Joanna Mika-Hadelka, Dariusz Zerdzinski, Jakub and Daniel

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.zsei.info

1. Description of Our Team

Our team consists of four members: two teachers Joanna Mika-Hadelka and Dariusz Zerdzinski and two students - Jakub (17) and Daniel (17) who are the webmasters and data collectors. They are both at ICT curriculum in our school and intend to continue their education at university. They work as volunteers for our local community and train adults how to use different computer software or Internet applications. Jakub also works part-time for one of our Internet providers. The coaches were responsible for supervising work of the European Club organizing excursions, introducing new applications and software needed for presenting online collected information. The European Club meetings always combine the use of ICT and English language skill that students must put in practise.

2. Summary of Our Project

‘Our Little Doors to Diplomacy’ project was designed to summarise cross-cultural activity of the EUROPEAN CLUB of ZSEI Swietochlowice.

The main aim of the project is to know cultures of other nations and let them know about ours. It makes us aware of the influence they have on all the people of the world. For this reason all students gathered in the European Club at ZSEI Swietochlowice working collaboratively in different international projects and taking part in culture sharing can be called ‘Young Diplomats of Their Country’s Heritage’.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

The data that students had to collected was really immense and was published on many diffrent webpages on the Internet and in different formats.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

'Our little Doors to Diplomacy' - is a project which encompasses a great desire of young people to learn about international policy, culture and strenghtens relationship among young citizens of different countries of the world.

6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The activities and research in which students were involved fit perfectly the standards and requirements of our school curriculum. By using the newest ICT techniques, they developed new ICT skills and practised English. The whole process of learning intensified significantly.

Students found out that by sharing culture with their colleagues from other countries they suddenly became ambassadors of our country's heritage.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Doors to Diplomacy project?

While working on 'Our little Doors to Diplomacy' we were using the following software: GNU Image ManiPulator (GIMP) text editor: Notepad++, Gnome Edit Gallery: JAlbum, FotoPlayer, ning, slide com OS: Ubuntu, Windows Vista,

Some of them were installed as OS or applications on our computers at home, wheras some, in our computer lab at school. Ning and slidecome are applications free to use which you can find on the Interent.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.

Students pepared lots of visual material about our country e.g. about places of historical intrest like Cracow - the old capital of Poland, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, example of Polish cusine etc. They also presented culture of other countries to their schoolmates and the local community.

They aslo designed a blog on NING.com to encourage more visitors to our Web and enable them to contact us personally, ask questions and upload their own photos, presentations and articles presenting their own culture. By using this application they will aslo be able to compare different customs and traditions by using chat application.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

We think that our project made a big difference to how young people in our local community see the world. Not only the young but also the grown-ups praize us for the good influence such activity has on their perception of the World. People around the world could learn new things about our community by reading articles in which we try to tell others about our town - Swietochlowice and show different local events and happenings which take place here.

Our international activity was praised by different people from both Poland and other countries from both Asia and Europe.reading articles in which we try to tell others about our town Swietochlowice and describe different local events and happenings. Our international activity was praised by different people from both Poland and other countries from both Asia and Europe.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

About 20 students of our school aged 16-19 gathered in the European Club of ZSEI Swietochlowice were involed in collecting and preparing materials for online publishing within different activities of our Club. If we were lucky to be the finalist, the prize would be just for all of them.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

'Our Little Doors to Diplomacy' learned us collaboration within a team work. It was a very good experience for all of us. We learned that we can rely on each other. It is good to know that we made up a good team.

In the near future we're going to get publicity of the local media, other schools and students and encourage them to join us in promoting our national culture.