Welcome

House of knowledge Log-um is a non-governmental organisation for the development of study skills and encouragement of creativity. It is the first institution of this type in Slovenia that provides expert learning and motivation assistance for unemployed citizens and primary, secondary and university students with learning problems. At the same time it provides young people with new possibilities for creative usage of their spare time. One of Log-um’s projects intended for youth is the Exchange project which started as an upgrade of the Embassy Adoption Program (EAP) that has been affective in the USA for the past thirty-two years. Slovenia joined this program at the end of year 2007. The EAP focuses on American students; by establishing communication between them and a chosen country’s embassy it provides them with the opportunity to learn about the culture, habits and language of that country. However our project focuses on Slovenian students or rather on the relationship established between students from various countries. We wish for both to gain and exchange as much new and interesting information as possible and form friendships that may extend beyond this framework.Therefore the main ambition of our project is to join students from different countries of this world and provide them with the opportunity to discover new countries and cultures.

who?

Students from different countries of this world, who attend primary and secondary schools.

The project is not designed merely for connecting educational institutions but for establishing relationships between individual classes and students.

how?

With the help of the World Wide Web. Students exchange their knowledge, experience and ideas over a website that provides them with the opportunity to publish their materials and view the materials that others have published. Our organisation establishes the connection between two elementary or secondary school classes (the connection between a Slovenian and foreign school), provides a webpage which helps them to maintain their communication and sets guidelines for their cooperation.

Students participating in the project prepare the materials, questions and tasks for their partner class while the teacher (in a role of an administrator with the password to change or add contents of the page) coordinates the course of the project and attends to the publication of the materials.

why?

We wish to connect students from different environments and provide them with a place for virtual socializing, knowledge exchange and learning about new cultures and languages. We wish to motivate and stimulate them to be creative and cooperative.

Students develop mutual understanding and tolerance and learn intercultural dialogue through an interesting, interactive and fun approach. In addition they gain practical knowledge such as computer and computer programmes usage and webpage design.

how did it all start …

We started the project in cooperation with the Slovenian embassy in Washington in December 2007 by connecting Slovenian elementary school (OŠ Poljane) with an American elementary school (P. R. Harris). We created a webpage for them and by that provided them with a place to publish their materials.

… and how will it develop?

We will upgrade the project in stages. The first stage - the establishment of a connection between the two mentioned schools and creation of a webpage - is completed. The internet friendship is already developing. The next stage is connecting Slovenian schools with schools from different parts of Europe, followed by the whole world. The cyberspace is unlimited and therefore the possibilities of participation and cooperation in the Exchange project are unlimited.

eXchange town, exchange music!