Informatyka+: the interregional programme for the development of secondary school students' qualifications in Information Communication Technology

Project Coordinator and Partners

Informatyka+ is a cross-regional educational project in the field of computer science and information and communication technology initiated by The Academy of Informatics in Warsaw. The partners of this project are nearly 1,000 teachers from secondary schools.

The project is supervised by Programme Board, consisting of representatives of:

• University of Warsaw
• Warsaw University of Technology
• University of Wroclaw
• Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun

Background

The Informatyka+ project is part of the Human Capital Operational Programme, whose main objectives include:

• raising the level of economic activity and employability of the unemployed and economically inactive;
• reducing areas of social exclusion;
• improving the adaptability of workers and enterprises to changes in the economy;
• promoting public education at every stage of education while increasing the quality of educational services and their link with the needs of the knowledge economy;
• increasing the capacity of public administration in developing policies and providing high quality services and strengthening partnership mechanisms;
• increasing territorial cohesion. 

Core Objectives

The main aim of that project is to increase the ICT competences of high school students by providing them with access to educational resources, lectures and workshops.

The goals of the project Informatics + are as follows:

• elaborate and implement innovative methods of teaching and learning key competencies in informatics and its applications;
• improve and extend off school students’ activities in developing key competencies in informatics and its applications;
• extend students’ interests about job market expectations and better preparation for their future choices of professional development;
• extend opportunity talented and gifted students have to improve their informatics interests and competences, in particular those students who are interested in taking part in numerous informatics competitions;
• improve students’ school achievements (measured by school grades) in informatics and in other related subjects;
• provide schools with open education content in informatics and its applications;
• introduce school students to an academic type of instruction which differs significantly from school lessons;
• develop teachers’ competences in working with students talented in informatics.

Details

Informatics+ is one of the largest outreach projects in Poland. It is run by the Warsaw School of Computer Science, a private university established in 2000, one of the few private schools which offer a master degree in computer science. It is addressed to high school students in five regions in Central and Eastern Poland and it is expected that more than 1000 schools, about 15.000 students, and 180 teachers will participate in this project in 2008-2012.

The project provides a wide range of extracurricular activities for students in the form of lectures, workshops, courses and competitions. All activities will be implemented on the basis of an educational program developed for the project objectives. In total, the various forms of teaching in the period from September 2009 to September 2012 will be attended by 15 780 students (including 20% of students gifted in science or interested in studying in technical fields) and 180 teachers of computer science and information technology.

In this project students may participate in:

• lectures (2 hours);
• lectures (2 hours) followed by computer workshops (3 hours);
• extensive workshops (24 hours);
• competitions, such as: the Informatics Olympiad, Beaver, “Our school in Internet”, on 3D graphics, and web contest;
• summer computing camps in an attractive spa – a combination of vacation activities with plenary lectures and discussions, workshops, and on-line competitions.

Moreover, in-service courses are also offered for teachers to improve and develop their competencies in working with students talented, gifted, and particularly interested in advanced informatics topics. Lectures and computer workshops are delivered in WWSI, in one of the five Regional Centers of the Project, and in schools.

The project consists of a number of initiatives: As part of Visitors Morning and Afternoon, the Visitors will be invited for lectures and workshops at the Warsaw School of Informatics, including 6500 students. As part of the Visitors on Wheels reach academics to give lectures to village schools away from Warsaw. This form of participation in the project will be covered by more than 6800 students. Provision is also the 6th edition of specialized computer courses undertaken at the premises of the university and the Regional Centres Project. These courses will be implemented within a module of the program of advanced IT +. During holidays, the students will be invited to participate in summer camps. All participants receive teaching materials in electronic form and educational brochures. All the teaching resources developed by the project are available through the educational platform – Mila College Junior (www.webfronter.com/iplus/milacollegejunior ).

People who did not participate in the classes, and want to use the teaching materials for self-study can log in as a guest. In the course of the project also envisages the organization of conferences and the Knowledge Fair, which will be attended by a total of more than 600 participants (teachers, lecturers and students). Progress of the project will be documented.

The courses are offered on two levels:

• basic – addressed to all students, supposed to extend the curriculum knowledge in various informatics topics;
• extended – these are mainly extensive workshops (24 hours), addressed to students interested mainly in deepening their informatics skills.

The Educational platform Fronter is used in the project as a communication medium, as an element of cloud computing (the platform is hosted in Oslo). It contains all course materials (lecture notes, presentations, education software, programming codes, etc) prepared by teachers and students use the platform to save their works done during workshops. Then students may use all these materials anytime and anywhere when they return home or to school and want to continue their work in class. The platform is also used to build and run tests and to collect students’ opinions about the course they attend.

Informatyka+ contributes also to the Polish Open Computer Science Platform (Polska Wszechnica Informatyczna) which is a collection of more than 60 lectures delivered by well known specialists in various areas of informatics and its applications (WWSI got a prize for this project) http://www.pwi.edu.pl/ .

The project Informatyka+ consists of five thematic modules (we list also titles of some courses within modules):

1. Algorithmics and Programming: Searching and sorting – the power of order, Simple computer calculations – can all be computed, Algorithmic techniques, Shortest paths and trees, Data structures and their use (advanced), Advanced algorithms, Matura (final examination) in informatics.
2. Data Base: Data base – fundamentals, SQL language (basic and advanced level), XML documents in data base, Technology ADO.Net, Data mining, T-SQL language.
3. Graphics, Multimedia, Internet techniques: Graphics editor – GIMP, Working with multimedia, Searching for multimedia in the Internet, Creating dynamic Internet services, Making movies.
4. Computer Networks: Computer networks – basic principles of construction and operating, Networks as communication media, Network security, Wireless networks, LAN and WAN.
5. New Tendencies in Informatics and its Applications: Algorithms of the Internet, Can computers make business, Concurrency in informatics and in our life, Data exploration, JavaScript, Is P = NP or how to win million dollars in Sudoku, Enigma and contemporary cryptography, Past and the future of informatics – elements of history of informatics, Logic and computers, Introduction to neural networks, Medical informatics.

The courses are prepared and run by teachers from WWSI and from other universities in Warsaw and in Poland. There are more than 60 courses offered. For each course its authors prepare handouts (from 15 pages for a lecture to 50 pages for a 24 hour workshop), Power Point presentation (used during a lecture part of the course), tests and some other materials for students. Two books will be published: “How to work with students talented in informatics –a guide for teachers” and “Homo informaticus – introduction to contemporary informatics” – it will consist of elementary introductions to various branches of informatics.

Results

The main results of the project are expected to be:

• creation of a special educational program;
• creation of an educational web-based platform;
• completion of lectures and workshops for over 6,500 students;
• conduct lectures for more than 6800 students from small towns;
• performing specific computer courses for gifted students;
• organizing academic summer camps;
• organization of conferences and the Knowledge Fairs;
• evidence of good practice in the form of scientific notebooks, publishers of a popular science.
• a collective work of prominent representatives from the fields of science and methodological guide for teachers.