A dialogue on educational activities between schools and cities. A partnership among nine cities in six countries (Socrates Program Minerva, 2007-2008) to create a “Virtual Manager” of educational resources
The European Resources Manager of School Cities project (website no longer available), coordinated by the City of Barcelona and its Department of Education in particular has been funded by the European Commission in the context of the Socrates Program Minerva Action.
This project was developed in collaboration with the following institutions: Ayuntamiento de Sabadell (Sabadell, ES), Ayuntamiento de Gijón, Fundación Municipal de Cultura, Educación y Universidad Popular (Gijón, ES), Youth, Education and Society (Rotterdam, NL), Center for Informatik (Copenhague, DK), Fondazione Mondo Digitale (Rome, IT), Servizio Rapporti Comunitari e Sviluppo Locale Provincia Autonoma di Trento (Trento, IT), Câmara Municipal de São João da Madeira (São João da Madeira, PO) and European Information Centre (Veliko Turnovo, BG).
The prime objective of the project is the development of a “Virtual Manager” for the transformation of the network of existing resources into an authentic transnational virtual administration that promotes a dialogue on educational activities between schools and the city.
The project’s innovative element lies in the implementation of an online Best Practices platform divided into three specific areas: Heritage, Environment, and Inter-cultural exchange on which the nine partner cities will present the most relevant educational projects in each of these areas. The online platform will also host a specific area tailored to the project identity of each partner: Fondazione Mondo Digitale, for example, offers its ICT for teaching area, and more specifically, its Settimane Tematiche project.
The project is developed in different phases:
- Identification of the Best Practices applied in each of the project’s 9 partner cities;
- Classification of such Best Practices;
- Dissemination andexperimentation of the online platform in each of the project’s 9 partner cities.
The European Resources Manager project began operating in October 2006 and reached completion in September, 2008.
Fondazione Mondo Digitale conducted the following activities for the purpose in 2007:
- Identification of the educational Best Practices in the City of Rome in the Heritage, Environment, and Inter-cultural exchange areas;
- Classification in descriptive data sheets of 12 Best Practices identified in the city of Rome to be implemented in the online platform for the successful exchange of experiences;
- Organization of the international meeting entitled “European Resources Manager of School Cities” (UNICEF Convention Center, November 22-23, 2007).