A connected school is more inclusive and able to provide more opportunities for our children to grow. This is why the Macedonio Melloni Institute in Parma has decided to implement and make TIM's fibre network up to 1 GB available to its students, joining the 'Local, wired and wireless networks in schools' call for bids by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), financed with National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) funds.
The Macedonio Melloni in Parma is a technical economic institute with deep roots in the city's history and a tradition of commitment and innovation in student cultural and education as well as in terms of their orientation and introduction to the workforce. Long equipped with laboratories and interactive whiteboards in every classroom, it had a Wi-Fi network that was inadequate for the needs of its students. Thanks to TIM, it can now count on a flexible and secure Wi-Fi network capable of accommodating more than 2,000 simultaneous connections with optimal performance.
The school's IT equipment was also refreshed, and all classrooms were equipped with interactive touch monitors and touch boards for teachers with Google Suite for Education applications. It is now easier and more effective to participate in workshops, laboratories and webinars, events that many classes in the school generally connect to at the same time with their classroom PCs.
Telling us about the benefits for pupils and teachers is Antonietta Porfiria Napoleone, teacher, engineer, digital animator and National Operational Programme action planner at the school. Her passion for innovation and the potential in the school shine through in her words.
"We believe that schools have an obligation to reinvent their curriculum, including with digital technologies," states the professor. She also emphasises that, "by seizing the opportunities the NRRP offers, the School 4.0 Plan projects aimed at creating innovative learning environments (next-generation classrooms) and laboratories for the digital professions of the future (next-generation labs) are about to be launched at Melloni TEI."
This commitment aims to give students the most suitable tools to build their future because, according to the professor, "Some of the main professions in demand today relate precisely to the disciplines taught at Melloni TEI, so the school will increasingly focus on training for UX designer, SEO specialist, copywriter, social media manager etc."
This development relies on the contribution of the entire teaching staff, as the professor goes on to explain: "On the part of teachers, in addition to a willingness to change, there needs to be a great deal of attention to the emotional side, the development of cognitive processes, to motivation and labs, and, not least, an investment in building new skills."
The results are tangible and give rise to success stories. As part of the Storie di alternanza 2021 (Stories of Change) competition, sponsored by Unioncamere and the Italian Chambers of Commerce, a fifth class of the institute presented the Bellacoopia Start up - Smart Edition project to make cosmetics packaging more sustainable.
"With this proposal, Melloni TEI came first in the national competition,” as the teacher explains, “but the peculiar thing is that the entire project took place in the middle of the pandemic, so the students were only able to carry out their valuable work thanks to the availability of digital technology and the advanced use to which they were accustomed."