The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research and Fastweb are promoting the culture of innovation in schools, launching Fastweb4School. The aim of the initiative is to stimulate the creation of digital projects in secondary schools and contribute to the growth of digital skills at school. At each school that collects 50% of the budget for the initiative presented with crowdfunding, Fastweb will pay the remaining 50%, up to a maximum of EUR 10,000 per project. Financing of the project is by means of a grant and realisation of the idea shall remain the property of the school that proposed it.
Fastweb4School, which targets secondary schools of all levels in Italy (equivalent to years 7 to 13 in the UK system), kicked off officially with a initial public notice on the Miur "Online Protocols" Platform. The call for applications is dedicated to the world of the Makers, or digital artisans for the purpose of financing engineering projects, electronic equipment, robotic creations, 3D printing devices and numerical control machines, but also objects created with the use of digital tools, through metalworking, woodworking and traditional crafts.
To take part in Fastweb4School, schools must complete the online form, by 3.00 p.m. on 25 January 2018, available in the dedicated "Online Protocols" area on the Muir site at the link: https://miurjb4.pubblica.istruzione.it/protocolloIntesa/, indicating the title of the project that they wish to propose for crowdfunding, a description (maximum 2,000 letters), the url of a video presentation (optional), the requested budget and how it will be employed.
Selection of the ideas will take place in the thirty days following closure of the public notice and will be based on the criteria of: consistency with the requirements; teaching and learning content of digital methodologies; quality and originality of the design idea; number of parties involved (e.g. teachers, students in various classes and schools); repeatability or reusability over time in the same school or in other schools.
The selected projects will then be uploaded by the schools to the Fastweb4School.it site, which is supported on the "Produzioni dal Basso" crowdfunding platform. Fastweb will provide the schools with a customer care service that will offer support on how to upload the projects on the crowdfunding site, help the classes to transform the idea into an achievable project and best communicate them on the social networks and in the press and organise, free of charge, information days and webinars for the teachers dedicated to the sharing economy, implementation of on-line fund-raising campaigns and development of critical digital skills, independently or in partnership with institutions and universities.
At each school that collects 50% of the budget for the initiative presented with crowdfunding, Fastweb will pay the remaining 50%, up to a maximum of EUR 10,000 per project. Financing of the project is by means of a grant and realisation of the idea shall remain the property of the school that proposed it.
Fastweb4School aims to support the ideas and make them grow, feed a best practice mechanism in schools and convince young people to be active users and not passive users of digital tools and technology.
For further information: https://miurjb4.pubblica.istruzione.it/protocolloIntesa/,