Professors reflect on the “Fully Enjoy the Internet” experience.
The first national STEM week and two other events for minors on-line – Safer Internet Day (Feb. 6) and the Day Against Bullying and Cyberbullying (Feb 7) – provide an important opportunity to raise the awareness of educational communities on the importance of correct training for life on the Internet even more. We do so by sharing the stories of the schools involved in projects such as Fully Enjoy the Internet, the programme on full digital citizenship created by Google and promoted in Italy by Fondazione Mondo Digitale, in collaboration with the State Police, Altroconsumo, and Anteas.
Today, we are in Volpago del Montello, a municipality of ten thousand inhabitants in the province of Treviso. Meris Gatto teaches at the “A. Gobbato” School of the Comprehensive Institute directed by Nella Varanese.
“In the 2021-22 school year, a professor at the Institute proposed Project “Fully Enjoy the Internet,” which had been recommended by a colleague from the Molise region. The project was presented and approved unanimously, given the relevance of the topics addressed and the fact that it was free of charge," explains the teacher.
“Since the first year, all primary school classes (starting from year three) and lower secondary school participated in at least two webinars amongst those proposed, including them in the civic education course. The topics addressed included digital well-being, privacy policy, fact-checking, cyberbullying, on-line hatred, and storytelling.”
In addition to the webinars, the project also features on-site sessions. “Coach Marianna Martini addressed the issue of digital citizenship with professionalism, providing many ideas to the teachers who then continued the course in the classroom,” added the teacher. On the topics of digital awareness and well-being, meetings were also organized for parents "to provide support to their children, in an increasingly effective way, in digital education.”
The training allowed me to learn about specific aspects of the Internet that I didn't know about and which I was then able to share with my students,” the teacher concluded.
