Winners of the 2019 Best Practices in Education Award
This year we are proud to announce that there are two winners of the Informatics Europe 2019 Best Practices in Education Award.
Organised by Informatics Europe and sponsored by Microsoft, the Best Practices in Education Award was presented at a special ceremony held in Rome, Italy, during the 15th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2019).
One of the two ex-aequo honoured projects is Welcome.TU.code, which was submitted by Doctor Nysret Musliu and Professor Reinhard Pichler on behalf of the Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien, Austria.
“In summer 2015, when the refugee crisis dominated media reporting, a group of faculty members, led by Hannes Werthner, of the Faculty of Informatics of TU Wien decided that ‘we have to do something’ and thus set up the Welcome.TU.Code initiative”, explains Professor Reinhard Pichler. “The initial goal was to quickly help young unaccompanied refugees, who had arrived in Austria and could do nothing but wait in their detention centres. The idea was to organize computer courses where our students serve as tutors who give lessons in the basics of Computer Science to the young refugees. Encouraged by the positive feedback from all sides, including refugees, students and NGOs taking care of the refugees, we turned these computer courses for refugees taught by our students into a regular course at TU Wien. Meanwhile, more than 400 refugees have attended our courses and over 200 students have served as tutors. Apart from the progress made in handling computers, the refugees had the opportunity to get in contact with local students, to learn about Austria and simply feel welcome. Also, the students have greatly profited from these courses by learning more about different cultures and being exposed to heterogeneity in terms of language, education level and country of origin, which they do otherwise not experience in everyday life.” Professor Pichler adds: “Finally, we believe that activities like Welcome.TU.code have a positive impact on society in general: In times of controversial debates, universities with their influence and reputation can help to strengthen the position of open-mindedness and tolerance.”
The other ex-aequo honoured project is the Erasmus+ InventEUrs project - Inventors4Change (I4C), as a joint venture of Eduard Muntaner-Perich, Mireia Frigola-Fortià and Jordi Freixenet from University of Girona as well as Safia Barikzai from London South Bank University and Valentina Poggioni and Alfredo Milani from University of Perugia.
"With the InventEUrs project we foster social inclusion and equity in multicultural schools, with a particular emphasis on newly arrived migrant children, through highly innovative and engaging connected learning experiences”, says Professor Eduard Muntaner Perich. “The project promotes Global Citizenship Education by using Collaborative Digital Storytelling and Creative Computing. Thanks to InventEUrs, and through its GlobalChangemakers platform, thousands of children from different schools, first in Europe and now around the world, have connected with each other, discussed Sustainable Development Goals, learned to code, and co-created digital stories and animations about the topics they researched. We are very happy about the award. It is a recognition of the work of six partners from four countries, who for two years have devoted much effort to the initiative”. Professor Muntaner Perich concludes: “We hope that the visibility given to us by the award will encourage more schools and teachers to explore connected learning experiences, giving children a voice so that they can connect with children from other countries, investigate social issues and co-create projects while further developing their digital skills".
Professor Letizia Jaccheri (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Chair of this year`s Award Committee declares: “This year we have two winners in order to honour two outstanding educational initiatives and it is safe to say that both projects were a perfect match for this year's call. Welcome.TU.Code has evolved over the past four years from a very small project to a project of significant size, in which a very large number of computer science students volunteered. All in all, the project has greatly succeeded in raising awareness regarding inclusion and may assist in enhancing the exposure of the newcomers to computing and contribute to extending their opportunities for future informatics-related employment. The InventEUrs Project, on the other hand, is also an ambitious project, which has as well succeeded in providing convincing results. With more than 1500 students in 30 schools from 7 countries and the work of roughly 300 teachers from all over the world, the project offers an innovative approach to include many young disadvantaged children in cooperating with other students across countries and schools through innovative technologies for creative learning and digital media. Thereby, they also profited from a genuine informatics education at a basic level, suitable for the children's young age.”
The Best Practices in Education Award is sponsored by Microsoft and carries a prize of 5,000 Euros. The grant is to be used for further work on the selected project.
“Microsoft is delighted with the strong nominations received for the Informatics Europe 2019 Best Practices in Education Award and hopes that the winners’ proposals will inspire other organizations and institutions to initiate similar projects in order to encourage the inclusion and development of diverse student groups worldwide”, explains Dr Evelyne Viegas, Senior Director of Research Engagement at Microsoft Research. For more information, visit https://www.microsoft.com/research.
About the Best Practices in Education Award
In line with its mission to foster and promote teaching quality in Informatics, Informatics Europe annually presents the "Best Practices in Education Award". The 2019 edition was devoted to outstanding European Informatics educational initiatives that promote the inclusion and development of different student groups such as the elderly, immigrants or people with functional diversity.
Visit www.informatics-europe.org/awards/education-award.html to learn more.
About Informatics Europe
Informatics Europe represents the academic and research community in Informatics (or Computer Science) in Europe. Bringing together university departments and research laboratories, it creates a strong voice to safeguard and shape quality research and education in Informatics. With around 140 member institutions across 31 countries, Informatics Europe promotes common positions and acts on common priorities.
Visit www.informatics-europe.org to learn more.