EU Code Week Online Community Meeting: Driving Digital Literacy Forward
Publication date: June 20, 2024
On 18 June 2024, the EU Code Week Online Community Meeting brought together educators, school leaders, and digital literacy advocates for an engaging and productive session. Held virtually from 17:00 to 18:30 CET, the meeting provided a platform for the community to reflect on recent achievements, discuss ongoing initiatives, and plan for the future of EU Code Week.
The meeting kicked off with a warm welcome and icebreaker session led by Eirini Symeonidou and Arjana Blazic. This interactive start allowed participants to connect and share their enthusiasm for the EU Code Week initiative, setting a positive tone for the rest of the meeting.
Eirini Symeonidou then provided a comprehensive overview of the meeting’s agenda, highlighting the key topics to be discussed and setting the stage for a series of informative and collaborative sessions.
EU Code Week School Label Initiative
Eugenia Casariego introduced the EU Code Week School Label initiative – a programme designed to recognise and support schools that actively promote coding and digital literacy. Eugenia emphasised the label’s importance in celebrating schools’ efforts and encouraging more institutions to integrate digital skills into their curricula. Then followed one of the meeting’s highlights – a roundtable discussion featuring winners of the EU Code Week School Label 2024.
“The EU Code Week School Label was a community idea; it was something that came up during 2021 when some teachers told us that they would like a mechanism to acknowledge the contribution of their schools to the initiative. We thought that this was a brilliant idea because many of your schools have been making an excellent contribution to Code Week for a number of years,” said Eugenia Casariego.
Some EU Code Week teachers then spoke about what the School Label means for their schools. “We are in love with EU Code Week and with coding activities. The EU Code Week School Label represents the recognition of our school’s commitment to promoting coding and digital literacy. It signifies our participation in the EU Code Week initiative, highlighting our effort to integrate coding activities into the curriculum and to foster an environment where students can develop essential digital skills,” said Nicoletta Huştiuc, from Şcoala Gimnazială No. 3 in Cugir, Romania.
“Our school is quite new to coding – we started two years ago, and we have already achieved such an important award. We are very happy about this, because it highlights our dedication to advancing digital literacy and coding skills among our students,” said Maria Silvia Attianese, ICT coordinator at the Castaldi-Rodari primary and pre-primary school in Italy.
“The EU Code Week school label gives us the opportunity to be in a big family, a family with common goals, with common aims, common dreams to have an open school, a school that participates in different activities, and to motivate our students to be more active,” said Margarita Dakoronia, a teacher from Primary School 32 in Piraeus, Greece.
The Way Forward
Eirini and Arjana then led a mid-year reflection on the progress of EU Code Week 2024. This session provided an opportunity for participants to review achievements, discuss challenges, and brainstorm solutions to enhance the initiative’s impact.
Representatives from the European Commission presented their vision for the future of EU Code Week. They outlined strategic plans to expand participation, enhance resource availability, and foster greater collaboration among European countries. The EC team also noted that the contractor responsible for organising EU Code Week is changing. They thanked the outgoing contractor for their successful work in the past years and welcomed the new consortium – Code4Europe
Ioannis Gaviotis from DG CNECT acknowledged the change, adding: “EU Code Week as an initiative has continuity and persistence. Code Week has a past, a present, and most certainly has a future. So, your investment, your dedication, your efforts, which are appreciated, are going to continue and will receive support for the future”.
On behalf of Code4Europe, Diana Filip outlined the consortium’s mission to ensure the seamless implementation of EU Code Week activities while introducing new initiatives to enhance their reach and visibility. Vera Martinho presented some innovative elements among which the new planned approach for setting up national and regional hubs, which will launch across Europe in July 2024. These Hubs will serve as central points for promoting and sharing information about EU Code Week, offer crucial support to the community, ensuring that the valuable efforts and successes of previous years are not only preserved, but also amplified. Other new initiatives planned include a dedicated Coding with Minecraft educational programme available for schools, promoting digital careers, especially for girls and young women, through targeted campaigns and the creation of a robust network of female role models, and providing comprehensive support and resources to the community.
As the meeting drew to a close, Eirini passed the floor to Tommaso from the European Schoolnet team, who shared a few words of appreciation and encouragement. Eirini then thanked everyone for their participation, underscoring the importance of the community’s dedication to promoting digital literacy. The meeting concluded with a group picture, capturing the spirit of collaboration and shared commitment.
The EU Code Week Online Community Meeting was a testament to the passion and dedication of educators and digital advocates across Europe. As we move forward, the collective efforts of this vibrant community will continue to play a crucial role in shaping a digitally literate Europe.
Thank you to everyone who participated, and we encourage you to keep up the fantastic work in your communities. Together, we can make a lasting impact on digital education.
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