Both partner schools conducted evaluation of the project in October 2021. The evaluation was addressed to students, their parents and teachers. The aim of the evaluation is to see whether early stayed goals have been achieved, what impact the project has had both, on the direct and indirect beneficiaries.
The answers given in the evaluation survey and the targeted interview clearly indicate that student exchange and joint activities have the greatest impact on the development of skills, a high level of motivation for self-development and, consequently the broadly understood development of social competences.
The participants of the mobility, and at the same time the students most involved in the preceding activities, indicate that during the implementation of the project they had the opportunity to enrich their knowledge of the geographical location of the Netherlands and Poland, their culture and they also had the opportunity to learn and put into practice some basic phrases in Dutch and Polish. The evaluation showed that this effect was much higher for those students that participated in the (real life) mobilities.
While all participants of the project have excellent cycling skills, the activities carried out using a bicycle as a means of transport and a way to relax during days off from school, allowed them to take a more conscious look at the bike infrastructure in their area and the surrounding nature as a high-class asset of the region in which they live. A new aspect to all students was that our biking behaviour can be influenced by biking policy on a community level. And also that they, as active citizens/pupils can influence this policy by getting informed about the subject, developing their educated opinion and letting themselves hear to the relevant authorities.
The development of digital competences took place in the context of virtual and augmented reality. The students' activity was observed in gathering information and photo material using 360° cameras, learning about programmes for creating VR tours (poly, thinglink) and preparing designs for 3D printing in tinkercad programme. A visit to Anne Frank Museum via Oculus VR goggles allowed them to experience VR in the didactic process. 80% of respondents marked their large increase in knowledge in the field of new technologies and the development of digital competences.
The greatest increase of knowledge is visible in the ecological aspect of the project, i.e. in the area of ecological debt and carbon footprint. Awareness of the rapid, year-on-year consumption of the Earth's resources, the relationship between daily life decisions and the carbon footprint from zero level, shown in the ex-ante evaluation, has increased to a high level – 85% of the respondents can within 1 minute list several examples of activities affecting the reduction of their carbon footprint.
Other important issues that the participants have been enriched by during the implementation of the project are:
- how to be safe on the road,
- group work with peers from a partner school,
- new friendships,
- use of English,
- self-reliance
- knowledge of another culture (school, food, language, transport, daily life, economy, history)
- openness to meeting new people, their culture and language.
100% of respondents consider friendship and the opportunity to cooperate with peers from abroad to be particularly valuable.
The teachers who joined the evaluation all were aware of a school-based eTwinning and Erasmus+ project. They knew its priorities. All respondents recognise the importance of the project and state that there should be room in the standard curriculum for these kind of projects (eTwinning/exchange projects). 90% of respondents express their willingness to take part in another project aimed at both, the development of students and teachers. The answers showed that the most preferred option was participating in a real life mobility; participating in a new eTwinning project was the least chosen option. However, we (the coordinating teachers) learned that the succes of our real life mobilities was due to the elaborate and parallel eTwinning project. The teachers emphasize that "the project teaches creativity, cooperation in a group, motivates to act, students become more open, try overcoming individual barriers and learn to value other cultures". "Creative tasks were a great challenge both, for students and teachers". "School subjects come to life during the project, this way students really incorporate what they learned. And apart from that they learned so much that they would never learn in regular school time." "The project largely contributes to developing the students' personal indentities and hence ensures a life long learning attitude". For the Dutch colleagues, the project really came to live when the real mobilities took place. When our guests were actually in our building and participated in our classes, that was the moment in which most dissemination took place.
Parents because of their children involvement deepened their knowledge of ecological debt, virtual and augmented reality and also geography and culture of the Netherlands and Poland, including the culture of cycling. According to the parents particularly valuable result of the project is the social development of their children, the opportunity to get to know their peers from another country, their customs, culture and language. They see an increase in motivation to act and desire to sel-development of their children. 100% of the respondents recommend participating in an exchange project to new students.