Digital Skills Patent: national project for secondary schools kicks off

Faced with an increasingly precocious and pervasive use of digital technology, the school confirms itself as a privileged place in which to build skills, awareness and critical sense. It is with this educational vision that NeoConnessi Young operates, the free national project aimed at secondary schools, designed to accompany students, teachers and families in the development of safe and responsible digital skills. The heart of the initiative is the Digital Skills Patent, the outcome of a learning path based on gamification, developed in accordance with the European reference framework DigComp 2.2 and validated by the NeoConnessi Scientific Committee, composed of authoritative experts in paediatrics, psychology and safety from the State Police, the Italian Society of Paediatrics and the National Council of the Order of Psychologists.

Schools that choose to join can have free access to Digital Camp, the platform that offers a 'training' area of quizzes, challenges and problem solving activities. Here, participants can train the 15 main skills of digital citizenship, transforming complex content into concrete, measurable and motivating learning experiences. The course is divided into five game modules, like the five areas of DigComp 2.2 - information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, content creation, security and problem solving. At the end of the experience, a final test leads to the Digital Competence Patent, making the educational work done in the classroom visible and measurable.

The Digital Skills Patent is one of the free and accessible tools made available by NeoConnessi (www.neoconnessi.it), Wind Tre's digital education project that for over eight years has been accompanying schools and parents towards a conscious and safe use of technology, reaching more than 2 million girls and boys. Since 2024, the project has expanded to include middle schools as well as elementary schools, thus involving pupils up to the age of 13. A single initiative that ensures continuity in the digital growth of students and offers teachers a progressive tool that follows the different stages of development. The project deals in a structured manner with topics that are central to the school system today, such as digital citizenship, online identity, fake news, artificial intelligence, cyberbullying and digital well-being, offering an educational tool to work on these areas in a continuous and integrated manner with teaching.

'Prevention in the digital sphere passes first of all through knowledge,' emphasises Roberta Mestichella, Deputy Commissioner of the State Police. Accompanying girls and boys in understanding online behaviour and the responsibilities linked to the use of technologies means providing concrete tools to move around the web in a safer way'. Alongside prevention, the project emphasises a pedagogical perspective that focuses on skills development. "The real educational challenge today is not to protect children from the digital, but to help them inhabit this space in a conscious manner," emphasises Vania Zadro, pedagogist of the La Fabbrica team, a partner in the project. "Educating means fostering the development of emotional, cognitive and relational skills that allow them to recognise the risks, but also the opportunities of the web".

Tommaso Vitali, Director B2C Marketing & New Business Wind Tre, General Manager Wind Tre Luce & Gas concludes: "As an operator, we feel the responsibility of being a real gateway to digital. With this mission in mind, we have conceived NeoConnessi: we do not limit ourselves to providing connections, but aim to accompany parents, children and schools with concrete tools and good practices that help them to experience the web in a safe and responsible manner. With this in mind, the Digital Patent is one of the free and easily accessible resources we make available to promote a conscious use of technology'.