The European e-Skills Week campaign seeks to raise interest in ICT careers among young people. The initiative involves over 300,000 participants in more than 100 activities across 20 countries. Educational resources, programs, and competitions are provided to promote ICT skills development. The campaign aims to address digital literacy, skills shortages, and other issues to support the future ICT workforce in Europe.

1. The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 1

2. Teachers guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is e-Skills Week all about? ................................................... 3
Skills ...................
Why are e-skills important for teachers and students?................... 3
skills students?...................
e-Skills activities for students
Skills students......................................................... 4
.........................
Educational resources .............................................................. 4
..............................
Teachtoday ........................................................................ 4
........
Digital Games in Schools ................................................... 4
...................
Microsoft’s Tool for Math teachers ..................................... 4
.....
Teach Copyright Right ....................................................... 4
.......................
Alice ................................
................................................................................... 4
...................
Free books from InformIT ................................................... 5
...................
Games from CISCO ........................................................... 5
...........................
ECDL ................................
................................................................................. 5
.................
Programs and Campaigns ........................................................ 5
........................
Safer Internet Day .............................................................. 5
..............................
Microsoft Digigirlz program................................................. 6
.................
eTwinning ................................
.......................................................................... 6
..........
Competitions ................................
............................................................................. 6
.............
ThinkQuest competition ..................................................... 6
.....................
eLearning Awards .............................................................. 6
..............................
e-Skills Week competition .................................................. 7
Skills ..................
National Contact Points ................................................................ 7
.................................
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 2

3. What is e Skills Week all about?
at e-Skills
The European e-Skills Week campaign seeks to raise interest of young people in new technologies
and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) related jobs. And because young people are
very much influenced by their teachers, we prepared the e-Skills Week Teacher Guide you are just
Skills
reading. Our aim was to inform school teachers and their students about the campaign activities
s activities,
educational resources, projects and competitions. We expect the contents of this mini
his mini-guidebook to be
useful not only during the e-Skills Week but much longer. Let’s hope that more and more schools will
Skills
be joining in European ICT projects and competitions because new technologies have made even
jects
most distant places in Europe much easier accessible to school teachers and their students
students.
At present, public authorities, ICT companies, as well as schools and students are working together to
uthorities,
organize a range of exciting events, training sessions, school visits, competitions and more, to
underline the importance of ICT skills in today's society, and to demonstrate the wide range of job
e
opportunities in the field. The campaign ultimately aims to increase ICT skills among professionals and
to encourage more young people to take up ICT studies and careers. The e e-skills awareness
campaign will culminate in a dedicated European e-Skills Week from 1 to 5 March 2010 2010.
The European e-Skills week is expected to involve a
Skills around 300,000 participants in more than 100
activities. The events will take place across Europe with more than 20 participating countries. This
.
exciting collaboration ensures that the European e Skills Week 2010 will be one that is both
e-Skills
informative and memorable for a wide and diverse audience.
The coordinators of the action launched by the European Commission’s Directorate General
Enterprise and Industry are DIGITALEUROPE and European Schoolnet in conjunction with twenty
national partners.
Let’s hope that students will enjoy the campaign activities, take part and win valuable prizes in e
e-skills
competitions. You will find more information about the e Skills Week 2010 campaign at
e-Skills
http://eskills.eun.org.
Why are e-skills important for teachers and students?
skills
The answer to this question could be very simple: because we, teachers, are responsible for the well
well-
being of our students who will shape the future. Without e skills, chances of an individual young
ts e-skills,
person to get a good and attractive job are reduced to some extent. But individuals shape a wider
community, from local to European scale. Regarding e e-skills, the overall situation in Europe is much
ion
more complex and there are several issues, teachers should be aware of:
• digital illiteracy and digital divide of people
people,
• dangers coming out of the internet and related new technologies
technologies,
• shortages of young talented people with sufficient maths, science and technology skills who
sufficient
would go into tertiary IT education
education,
• professionals engaged by companies working on new technologies are lacking in certain ICT
skills, which is caused by incompatibility of school curricula and those companies’ needs.
The research has recently been made on the above problems, and you may see the results in A.
Gras-Velazquez, A. Joyce and M. Debry study “White Paper. Women and ICT. Why are girls still
Velazquez, Debry’s White
not attracted to ICT studies and careers? It is available online at http://blog.eun.org/insight
careers?”. http://blog.eun.org/insight-
blog/upload/Women_and_ICT_FINAL.pdf
The European Commission prepared a long range program to fix all the above problems. The e-
long-range
Skill Week campaign is one element of this program.
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 3

4. e-Skills activities for students
Skills
You may suggest your students to take part in activities proposed by the stakeholders of the e e-Skills
1
Week campaign . Numerous organizations and IT firms have prepared educational materials, projects
prepared
and competitions. All of them are available on the web but only a few are accessible in other
languages than English. But even the English language sites may be viewed by students who are not
2
fluent in foreign languages, in a very simple way e.g. by using the Google online translator .
way,
Below you will find some resources and activities that can be used in schools during the e
e-Skills
Week. They have been divided into three categories: educational resources programs and
resources,
campaigns, competitions.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Teachtoday
Teachtoday is a project developed by fourteen leading mobile operators, mobile content, social
networking companies and internet providers. It provides information and advice for teachers about
the positive, responsible and safe use of new technologies. Teachtoday offers guidance about how to
sitive,
protect your own privacy, safety and reputation, and deal with incidents of cyberbullying against school
staff. All the resources are available at the http://www.teachtoday.eu website.
Digital Games in Schools
'Games in schools' is a project led by European Schoolnet. It is undertaking a major study on the use
of games in schools in Europe: video games, computer games, online games that run on consoles,
computers or mobile phones. Among many resources, Patrick Felicia’s handbook on how to use
digital games in schools is worth recommendation. It is free to download as a pdf file from the
http://games.eun.org site. Games are very important in schools, and now they can be played not
only during breaks... We all know that c
children and teenagers love games!
Microsoft’s Tool for Math teachers
Microsoft Education Labs have prepared the Math Worksheet Generator, a tool for mathematics
,
teachers that creates printable math worksheets. This program works best with Microsoft Word 2007,
and can be downloaded from the http://www.educationlabs.com website.
Teach Copyright Right
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched Teaching Copyright curriculum and website to
help educators give students the real story about their digital rights and responsibilities on the Internet
and beyond. The curriculum is a detailed, customizable plan that connects students to contemporary
customizable
issues related to the Internet and technology. Teaching Copyright invites discussion about creative
usage of new technologies, digital rights and responsibilities, and the role of students as users of
technology. To see full contents of the project, go to http://www.teachingcopyright.org
http://www.teachingcopyright.org.
Alice
Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes programming easy and attractive.
Students can create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share
on the web. Alice is free available teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to object
object-
oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of
creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3 objects (e.g., people, animals, and
3-D
1
Main stakeholders of e-Skills Week are: Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco Systems, CompTIA, ECDL Foundation, CEPIS,
Skills
Econet, and European Schoolnet.
2
In your browser open the http://www.translator.google.com site, paste the link, choose the two languages,
and in the result the text in the chosen language is displayed Of course, the translation is not perfect but in m
displayed. f most
cases it helps understand the contents.
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 4

5. vehicles) populate a virtual world and students can create a program to animate the objects. The Alice
program was designed by Randy Pausch, professor of computer science in Carnegie Mellon
Pausch,
University’s School of Computer Scienc and is available free of charge at http://www.alice.org
Science, http://www.alice.org.
Free books from InformIT
Inform IT offers books on IT subjects ranging from Microsoft Office, Linux, Programming languages,
and Web programming. You can read them free online, or purchase print copies. InformIT is the
them
online presence of the family of IT publishers and brands of Pearson Education. The free books (all
are in English) are accessible at http://www.informit.com/library.
Games from CISCO
CISCO Learning Network offers games for students interested in networking and Computer science
in general. To access the games you have to go to https://learningnetwork.cis
work.cisco.com, and then
from the top menu choose Connections where you will find the chapter Games Arcade To access a
Arcade.
particular game you will be asked for the login name and password, so if you do not have an account,
you will have to register first. The learning games are all in English, and all of them but one are free
learning
and can be played online. The only game that must be downloaded is The Cisco Mind Share Game Game.
It contains entertaining exercises designed to help students practice networking skills in prepar
preparation
for CCENT and CCNA Cisco certification exams. The trial version of this game is free. Here are
several examples of free CISCO’s online games:
• The Binary Game – very popular all over the world, it is not only fun, but it is considered by
many to be the best way to learn the binary number system.
• The Cisco Subnet Game – helps understand subnetting, rather on a professional level.
• Subnet Troubleshooting Game – the follow-up of the popular Subnet game. It helps
diagnose and fix the subnet scheme for an operational network.
• Network Defenders – teaches students about the risks to the network security and how to
guard against them.
• Peter Packet - in this game, a superhero helps messages move across the Internet. The
game teaches students how the Internet works, how to overcome hackers and viruses to help
works,
kids in different places around the globe.
• The Realm: not actually a game, but a colo
: colourful comic-book-like experience. The science
like science-
fiction story will be surely loved by youngsters!
ECDL
European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) is the international standard in end
iving end-user computer
skills. The ECDL certification is recognized internationally. To achieve the ECDL certificate, you have
to pass a test for each of the 7 modules which define the skills and competencie necessary to be a
competencies
proficient user of a computer and common computer applications. There are national ECDL bureaus in
nearly all countries in Europe. You may find your local ECDL website address, as well as much more
.
(certificate types, sample examination tests) at http://www.ecdl.com.
PROGRAMS AND CAMPAIGNS
Safer Internet Day
On 9 February 2010, Safer Internet Day will focus on privacy with the slogan "Think B4 U post! and
Think post!"
the aim of helping people make informed choices regarding the disclosure of their private information.
choices
The campaign was launched by Insafe, a European network of Awareness Centres promoting safe,
,
responsible use of the Internet and mobile devices to young people. There is much more information
at http://www.saferinternet.org where you may select your country and find much more about
activities and resources prepared by the national Safer Internet Centers.
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 5

6. Microsoft Digigirlz program
Microsoft's DigiGirlz programs are addressed at high school girls and give them the opportunity to
learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands
hands-on
computer and technology workshops. You will find more information at
http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/programs/digigirlz.mspx.
http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/programs/digigirlz.mspx In the On-line Classes
section there is an interesting course about how to produce and publish a podcast. You will also le
learn
about the DigiGirlz Day, a one day event, held at multiple Microsoft locations worldwide. It is
, one-day
designed to provide high school girls with a better understanding of what a career in technology is all
about.
eTwinning
eTwinning is the Community for schools in Europe. Teachers can register at the http://www.etwin-
3
ning.net portal , find one or more partners and do an online based project together. As schools
online-based
communicate and collaborate via the Internet, there are no grants or administrative conditions
connected to the scheme. This year eTwinning celebrates the 5th birthday. The action became very
popular among schools and it turned out to be a great success.
Schools can work on any topic they wish. Projects should have a good balance of ICT use and
they
classroom activities, and preferably fit into the national curricula of the partner schools. Each year both
national and European agencies organize eTwinning Prizes competitions, in order to highl
, highlight best
practice in collaborative school projects using ICT. One of four special categories is Maths and
science. Representatives of the best projects are invited to the annual eTwinning conference. This
.
year’s conference will take place in Seville, Spai from 5-7 February.
Spain,
COMPETITIONS
ThinkQuest competition
ThinkQuest is a protected, online learning platform that enables teachers to integrate learning
projects into their classroom curriculum and students to develop new e skills. Students from schools
e-skills.
registered at http://www.thinkquest.org can do their learning project using a protected, versatile,
easy to use and free of charge environment. The project is funded by Oracle It contains a vast
Oracle.
database of student-developed learning projects, visited by millions of web learners each month.
developed
Every year a ThinkQuest competition for the best learning resource is organized The next 2011
organized.
edition will start in the second half of 2010.
eLearning Awards
eLearning Awards is a European competition for the best online e learning resources used by
e-learning
schools in their education process. The contest has been organized by the European Schoolnet
since 2001. Every year winners are invited to the prize giving ceremony and the best sc
prize-giving schools receive
valuable prizes. In 2009, the winners were announced in 7 categories: International cooperation,
Cultural expression, Mathematics, science and technology, Collaborative learning, eLiteracy, The ee-
mature school and Special category for outstan
outstanding teachers. Over 700 entries were submitted, and
50 best projects were announced in the jury verdict.
Nowadays, more and more teachers use the Internet in lessons and produce their online resources for
students. The eLearning Awards competition is a great opportunity for them to present their work (it
at
may be a website, an e-learning course, eTwinning project, etc.) and win valuable prizes. Entries can
learning
be submitted by teachers in their native language. More information is available at
http://elearningawards.eun.org.
http://elearningawards.eun.org
3
You can choose your language at the right right-top corner of the site. But there are also national eTwinning
orner
websites; to find an appropriate address you have to choose from the menu Help / Contact NSS
NSS.
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 6

7. e-Skills Week competition
The e-Skills Week Competition is addressed at young people and educators who have a high level
Skills
of digital skills and literacy, and are dedicated to ICT. If your students have been successful in other
ICT competitions or projects, you may submit their contribution by writing an email with a short
,
4
description of their achievements to your National Contact Point . Both individual and group projects
are accepted. The 5 winners and 5 runner ups will be awarded at the high profile closing event of
s runner-ups
th
March 5 . Prizes will include software, hardware, workshops, etc.
There will be five award categories in the competition: Bringing Innovation to Learning through e e-
Skills (for education professionals and young people), Young Entrepreneurship & e
ion e-Skills (for
young people), Pure e-Skills (two strands: for young people and for young women) and Digital
Expression (for young people who use ICT for artistic expression). All “young people” m must be
between 14 and 21 years of age.
We may regard the e-Skills Week Competition as “the competition of competitions”. These are only
Skills
several examples of international contests that may be mentioned in the application (national
competitions are also eligible):
• World Robot Olympiad (WRO) - http://www.wroscandinavia.org
• Imagine Cup - http://imaginecup.com
• NetRiders by CISCO - http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/ts_062209.html
• Les e-magiciens – http://
http://www.e-magiciens.net
There are for sure a lot of resources in your native language that can contribute to students’ e-skills
improvement. Let’s hope that the e-Skills Week campaign will result in growing number of high skilled
ICT users and professionals who will drive a competitive and innovative Europe!
4
You will find the list of National Contact Points at the next chapter.
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 7

8. National Contact Points
Austria
European Network of Innovative Schools (ENIS), http://www.enis.at
Reinhold Hawle, Reinhold.Hawle@bmukk.gv.at
Belgium
Agoria ICT, http://www.agoria.be
Dany Buyse, Dany.Buyse@agoria.be
Cyprus
Cyprus Information Enterprises Association (CITEA), http://www.citea.net
Michael Michalis, michalis.michael@citea.net
Czech Republic
Centre for International Services (DZS), http://www.naep.cz
Pavla Sabatkova, pavla.sabatkova@naep.cz
Petr Chalus, petr.chalus@naep.cz
Veronika Rehorova, veronika.rehorova@naep.cz
ka.rehorova@naep.cz
Denmark
DI ITEK, http://www.di.dk
Ulla Scherfig Gilberg, usg@di.dk
Henning Mortensen, hem@di.dk
France/ Portugal
European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT), http://www.womenandtechnology.eu
Eva Fabry, eva.fabry@womenandtechnology.eu
Germany
Bitkom, http://www.bitkom.org
Stephan Pfisterer, s.pfisterer@bitkom.org
Greece
Federation of Hellenic Information Technology & Communications Enterprises (SEPE),
http://www.sepe.gr
Pantelis Nikolaidis, pnikolai@otenet.gr
@otenet.gr
Hungary
IVSZ, http://www.ivsz.hu
Katai Szabolcs, katai.szabolcs@ivsz.hu
Italy
ANSAS-INDIRE, agency of the Ministry of Education
INDIRE,
Laura Franceschi, l.franceschi@indire.it
Lithuania
Centre of Information Technologies of Education (ITC) , http://www.itc.smm.lt
Asta Buineviciute, asta.buineviciute@itc.smm.lt
The Netherlands
ICT Office, http://ictoffice.nl
Wim Pluimers, wim.pluimers@ictoffice.nl
Norway
IKT Norge, http://ikt-norge.no
Liv Freihow, lf@ikt-norge.no
Fredrik Syversen, fredrik.syversen@ikt
rsen@ikt-norge.no
Poland
Polish Chamber of Commerce for Electronics and Telecommunications (KIGEiT), http://kigeit.org.pl
Jakub Ciepliński, jakub.cieplinski@kigeit.org.pl
ski,
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 8

9. Romania
Association of Producers and Distributors for Communications and Information Technology Equipment
(APDETIC) , http://www.asociatiait.ro
Valentin Negoita negoita.valentin@asociatiait.ro
Slovakia
IT Association Slovakia (ITAS), http://www.itas.sk
Renata Malecova, itas@itas.sk
Spain
Spanish Association of ICT (AETIC), htt
http://www.aetic.es
Aida Millán Hidalgo, amillan@aetic.es
Sweden
IT & Telekomföretagen, http://www.itotelekomforetagen.se
Ulrika Stromqvist, ulrika.stromqvist@almega.se
UK / Ireland
Intellect, http://www.intellectuk.org
Carrie Hartnell, carrie.hartnell@intellectuk.org
The e-Skills Week is an initiative
Skills
of the European Commission 9