The initiative will cover 75 UNESCO Associated Schools in the Central and Volga Federal Districts, where the training course "Essentials of Information Technologies " from the Cisco Networking Academy Programme will be implemented
Cisco and UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) announced a joint initiative in Russia aimed at improving the quality of education in the UNESCO Associated Schools through the introduction of new educational and information technologies. Within the framework of the project, Cisco will gratuitously provide the course «Essentials of Information Technologies» (IT Essentials) from the Cisco Networking Academy programme for teaching in the 75 UNESCO Associated Schools in the Central and Volga Federal Districts.
The first phase will be the increasing of qualification of 150 school teachers. It is planned, that they will be trained for teaching the course «Essentials of Information Technologies» by September 2012. The first group, which will consist of 14 teachers and 3 representatives of IITE, will be taught by specialists of Cisco, others – by IITE instructors. Cisco will provide two routers Linksys for 20 schools, whose teachers will show the best results for the final test.
The course «Essentials of Information Technologies» will be included in the curriculum for 9-11 grades as an elective course. It not only gives deep theoretical knowledge, but also actively uses in the learning process such tools as internet resources, media content, simulations, games, making learning more fun and interactive. Upon completion of the course, students will have electronic testing for the right to receive an international certificate of completion Networking Academy Cisco.
At least 1,500 Russian schoolchildren will be trained every year within the framework of the joint initiative of Cisco and IITE.
"We are focused on improving the quality of education in the UNESCO Associated Schools through the introduction of new educational and information technologies within the framework of the concept «Smart School». UNESCO Associated Schools are constant familiarizing with best practices, new managerial and educational technologies. UNESCO actively contributes to the transformation of the schools into innovative learning centres, into the "schools of the future" – said in her speech the national coordinator of the project "UNESCO Associated Schools" in the Russian Federation, Prof. Nella Matveyevna Pruss.
Childrens’ Contest "Interneshka"
Author – Dasha Sumarokova (School "Kuznetsovskaya", the 3d grade, Kuznetsovo City).
Description: Internet provides various opportunities for people even with disabilities.
The most important characteristic of a knowledge society is the existence and realization of the principle of the primacy of human factor in the global penetration of information and communication technologies in all spheres of human activity – said in his message National Programme Officer/Capacity Development Team Leader of UNESCO IITE, Prof. Alexander Vladievich Khoroshilov. – Informatization is a key factor in structural changes of society. For this reason, the school of the future should be, first of all, computerized. Note the work of Dasha Sumarokova, a participant of a childrens' drawing competition. The Latin letter "e" is now the most popular prefix: E-book, e-bank, e-school."
"This programme provides access to innovative educational developments of Cisco and contributes to the promotion of innovative teaching methods – said Mr Alexander Turilin, the programme coordinator of the Cisco Networking Academy in Russia. – Cooperation of Cisco and IITE will be a continuation of announced long-term initiatives of Cisco aimed at the development and modernization of IT education in Russia. "
This is not the first joint project of Cisco and IITE in the sphere of education. Thus, the programme "Teacher of the Arctic” has been launched in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for training teachers and education workers (in cooperation with the Institute for Development of Education and Teacher Training, Yakutsk) and the introduction of the above mentioned course "Essentials of Information Technologies" in schools of the republic with the support of the republican Ministry of Education and Science.