Impact

The project “Internet Club Ch@ve” involved 5 non-profit organizations with substantial experience in the field of education along with 14 elementary schools and one community centre. As a result of the initiative a network of Internet clubs has been created, providing children and teachers with digital skills, access to computers and an introduction to e-learning methodologies. Youths from disadvantages backgrounds were encouraged to use computers and the Internet to increase their learning. The lasting impacts of the programme will be: the educational benefits to the students and teachers in particular in their access to essential tools to facilitate lifelong learning; their discovery and use of interactive and multi-media learning tools and in their new found access to the information society – a benefit which enables them to access online services such as e-government (thus facilities active citizenship) as well as e-commerce and e-banking. An important part of the project was the trainers programme which was designed for the teachers and facilitators of the schools involved. This resulted in increased professional competences of the teaching staff and a greater knowledge of how learning can be supplemented through the use of computers and the internet. The project also created methodological manuals for primary school teachers, and a publication dedicated to promoting digital literacy among children in Prague. An anticipated long-term result of the project will be the creation of a general system implementing new entertaining forms of testing, as well as the diffusion of the ECDL in all educational institutions. Some additional benefits included: Participants from different backgrounds and cultures had the opportunity to work together. The team spirit on which the project focused, as well as the support provided to children with learning difficulties, showed that ICT can be an effective tool for social inclusion and also a valuable tool to support education and avoid learning disparities between students coming from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. The project had an 80% rate of regular participation; all of these beneficiaries were tested at the end of the project through a system inspired by the ECDL. Factors such as migration accounted for the 20% that could participate for a limited period of time. The final objective testing showed that 45% of beneficiaries displayed an increased level of computer literacy, 6% showed no change in their level of skills, while 29% of initial participants could not be evaluated at the end since they were not available at the time of the test. Most of the participants (both adults and children) intend to continue using and improving their IT skills. That is why we have submitted a new application for a follow-up project which would make it possible to continue the original activities.

Track record of sharing

The material produced during the training was collated in a training manual to be distributed to peer organisations that showed an interest in replicating the project. This material will be also available for a wider public and to any public or private sector actor that would like to implement similar initiatives in the future.

Lessons learnt

• Training and access to ICT can improve the social integration of youth at a strong risk of exclusion (i.e. Roma children, immigrants, and people coming from a disadvantaged background). Digital skills in fact provide them with much-needed resources to support their education and can help them to remove some barriers to the learning process. • A collaborative approach to the project (involving 5 organizations) brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the project that ensured its success – ultimately the students and teachers involved have benefited most from this. • The discovery and use of interactive and multi-media learning tools by participants provides lasting (and possibly long-life) educational benefits. In the long term, this will improve the participants’ access to the information society and facilitates active citizenship by promoting a regular use of online services, such as e-government, e-commerce and e-banking.