The EDUkIT Project becomes the partner of an Internet contest in Lugansk region

2011-12-16

During the whole of November, as part of the regional Internet contest for the Best School Sponsor Section, the schools of Lugansk have been developing their websites so that they could help attract additional funds. For that, they have created special sections dedicated to school’s sponsors, patrons and partners. The contest was initiated by the Eastern Ukrainian Centre of Public Initiatives (EUCPI). The EDUkIT Project became the partner of this noble cause and sponsored gifts for the winners. On 14 December 2011, in the Computer Academy "Shag" the contest results and the winners were announced.

In August 2011, the EUCPI together with its partners (The EDUkIT Project of the Stella Systems Company, Lugansk Regional Institute of Postgraduate Teacher Training, Lugansk Regional Centre of Children’s Movement Development Lugari) introduced the project Internet Window to Attract Resources for Schools.

In the first round of the project, a handbook was created which summarized the foreign experience of Internet use to attract resources for schools. Also, the project included a seminar for teachers, headteachers and coordinators of school websites, and a training session for school activists on students communication culture in the World Wide Web. All of these measures aimed at motivating the region’s schools to use their websites for attracting off-budget funds and other additional charitable contributions. The final activity of the project was the Contest.

Overall, 20 teams of secondary schools from 13 towns of the region’s districts participated in the contest. The contestants added to their school website a new section|subsection which informs the users of the already existing school’s partner relations with businesses and the local community and of the provided voluntary sponsorship aid and its use as well as an appeal to potential sponsors urging them to help the school solve its problems. The teachers who participated in the seminar pointed out that before the seminar they had not thought of the creation of such website sections and that the approach was efficient. The results of team work were unexpected for them themselves. As a result, the following winners were named:

In the category Section for School Sponsors:

• 1st prize – Rubizhne School №3 (Sections Help Our School and Social Organization);
• 2nd prize – Rovenky Gymnasium №1 (Section Help Our School);
• 3rd prize – Lysychansk Specialized School №8 (Section Charity).

In the category Page for School Sponsor:

• 1st prize – Severodonetsk Secondary School №18 (Section Charity);
• 2nd prize – Artemivsk Specialized School №8 (Section Community);
• 3rd prize – Alchevsk Gymnasium (Section Gymnasium is Looking for Sponsors)

The contest jury consisted of representatives of the project’s partner organizations: the EDUkIT Project of the Stella Systems Company, the Centre of Distance Learning at Lugansk Regional Institute of Postgraduate Teacher Training and Lugansk Regional Youth Organization Start. The project was implemented with the support of the Press, Education and Culture Department of the US Embassy in Ukraine.

Project manager Oksana Drepina commented the following on the candidates’ work:

"We didn’t set any strict structure and content requirements considering originality in self-introduction and presentation of their unique experience to be a step to success in attracting additional resources for schools. As for contest and project results in general, we are pleased with them and got even more than we had expected. I mean the number of new partners, of those wanting to participate in educational projects, of contest applications, of prizes donated by local computer companies and the interest to the project from different regions of Ukraine. While organizing the project, we managed to enter into cooperation with the EDUkIT Project of the Stella Systems Company. Thanks to EDUkIT participation, we increased the number of Internet representations of Lugansk schools and children’s social organizations and managed to award valuable prizes to the contest winners. This is our first partner cooperation, and, we hope, not the last."