DO IT YOURSELF - Technical applications 2.0

Open source electronics with Arduino and visual programming with Scratch have arrived on the desks of 20 schools in Turin thanks to the Do it yourself - Technical applications 2.0 initiative. The meeting was held simultaneously in 20 lower secondary schools in Turin and streamed live. Organised by Telecom Italia, the event involved an introductory lesson to teach 1,000 students basic electronics/making/DIY skills, encouraging them to use the new technologies through a problem-solving and technological creativity experience.

The lesson was split into four parts, which allowed students and teachers to experiment with an example of a simple lesson in electronics.

The schools were supplied with hardware kits and the young people were guided during a practical lesson by a team of specialised teachers, with whom they followed a practical training process and completed the final mini-project.

A few figures relating to the project 

• 20 lower secondary schools 
• 4 themes dealt in the lessons
• 3 mini-projects carried out in class 

Programme the future 

The way in which digital natives approach new technologies involves a change in learning processes and educational paths. New media are increasingly becoming an unavoidable dimension for young people from their early years of life. However, ease of access, product and publication of content are not always accompanied by cultural growth, a capacity to reflect and critical skills.

Educating young users, responsible and aware of the new technologies, but also reinventing the way they study thanks to the web, experimenting a new way of being at school that combines studying and playing, it is essential for today’s children and teenagers.

Italian schools have prioritised the teaching of IT as a purely technological discipline, necessary for the development of specific professional skills. Other European Countries have acted differently, and particularly the United States, with its enormously successful Code.org initiative, which set up the site of the same name.

Furthermore, as the reference partner for the project, to mark the European and world coding days, the Group organised two special project promotion initiatives, involving over 230 schools across Italy, in over 30 cities, amounting to 750 classes and 19,000 pupils in total, all of them simultaneously involved in the hour of coding.

A few figures relating to the project

• 370 schools involved as of 31/12/2015
• 1,871 classes planned 
• 47,000 students involved
• 282 colleagues involved 

YouTeach

YouTeach is a creative competition run by the Group with the Italian Ministry of Education, which resulted in the production of a video in which students gave lessons to their teachers on the use of social networks.

The classes involved had to prepare and film a lesson, using a smartphone, lasting no longer than five minutes, on the responsible use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.

The Contest rewarded the films received which best conveyed the learning process of the social tool and its value as regards the digital culture to be disseminated at school.

A few benefits of the project

• highlight the benefits and advantages of using social networks and the internet in general; 
• facilitate and contribute to disseminating positive opinions of the internet, as a good practice driver and accelerator; 
• build awareness of a more informed use of the internet, involving students and teachers; 
• encourage and offer young people creative and virtuous opportunities in using the internet; A few figures relating to the project 
• 100 video presented 
• at least 2,000 students involved
• 100 teachers interested 

TIMWebRULEZ

TIMWebRulez: is a digital education campaign starring ten webstars who will be the ambassadors of the booklet developed in collaboration with the National Police to disseminate the responsible use of the Internet among teenagers. The TIMWebRulez website also offers a section dedicated to scientific reflection on Internet safety topics: ten real cases, news events, each linked to one of the ten rules, commentated by experts from the Postal and Communication Police and the Minotauro Institute of Milan.

Research presented last September at the international “Global Trends in Online Safety” conference run by FOSI, showed that in only 55% of cases do parents advise their children on how to manage their privacy online, while at school on 33% of teachers discuss Internet security with their pupils. Another research project entitled La bruttezza immaginaria [Imaginary ugliness], supported by the Telecom Italia Foundation and carried out by Professor Gustavo Pietropolli Charmet, also highlights a problem among teenagers that pushes them to isolate themselves, therefore staying away from the places normally frequented by their friends, and to immerse themselves in a virtual dimension characterised by the excessive use of new technologies.

This leads to the growth of phenomena like cyber-bullying, the creation of violent contents, messages of hate and racism, as well as aggressions, which increased from 39% in 2010 to 55% in 2014.

It is therefore fundamentally important to promote awareness-building campaigns that contribute to promoting good practice and virtuous behaviour on the Internet.

A few figures relating to the project

• reach of over 14 million 
• 11,000 shares 
• 178,000 likes 
• 77,000 pages visited 
• 4,000 young people registered to take part in the competition

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