SparkDigiGirls

About


Empower Girls Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies (SparkDigiGirls) project aims to encourage girls to explore digital technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of things) and come up with new and exciting ideas by utilizing their newly acquired digital knowledge to chart the waters of the male-dominated STEM industry with fresh, different, and creative viewpoints.   

Two years duration project is implemented in Lithuania, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal and funded by the Erasmus+ strategic partnership in the youth field. 

Over the course of the project the consortium of partners aimed to tackle stereotypes and societal beliefs on gender and technology, strengthen girls’ digital literacy skills, open up new opportunities for creativity, and encourage girls to pursue IT or STEM studies. An online training program tailored to girls' needs were developed. Finally, the project run a campaign of success stories of women in technology, and invited girls and youth workers to join the project activities.  

Results


The main target groups that will be impacted by the project:

  • 200 girls age from 15 – 18 who wish to develop their creativity by using digital technologies (including girls with lower opportunities like living in remote areas, migrant girls, from families at risk).
  • 30 youth workers from formal and non - formal youth education institutions (schools, youth NGOs, libraries, training centers, etc.)

Concrete project results:

IO1 - A twofold analysis of ways how innovative and new technologies may develop creativity of girls.

The prepared Report presents key findings of completed two-fold analysis: round table discussions and case studies. The Report specifically focuses on what technologies may impact 13 to 18 years old girls’ creativity and suggests ways of how to increase girls' interest in computer science and technology. Moreover, the report clearly sets the learning scenarios and crucially provides a way to help girls build better, more interesting learning experiences through exploring digital technologies and finding creative solutions to given real life situations. 

Link to the Report SparkDigiGirls Report

IO2 - A curriculum development.

As a result of this activity, it is expected that the curriculum will attract more attention of girls set to engage in the online course and will serve as a support document on how they could navigate independently through online training materials. The programme topics will be chosen based on real life problems/situations of interest to the girls. It is also believed that youth workers from formal and non-formal education organisations could use the curriculum to attract girls to the online course.

Link to the Curriculum of the programme Unleash Creativity Through Technology.

Link to the Methodological Guidelines of the programme Unleash Creativity Through Technology.

IO3 - An online course Unleash Creativity Through Technology development.

Set of online training materials will be developed during the course. The training programme focus on innovative learning and thus differ from prior courses. This includes: i) use practical experimental learning model and real-life tasks for promoting creativity and improving digital skills; ii) innovative means choosing new and interesting digital applications and tools for youth, specifically for girls; iii) exploration of technologies in a way to allow girls to come up with new and exciting ideas and solutions for given problems. The online course will be focused mostly on practical tasks with the focus on mastering basic knowledge and skills in innovative technologies.

Link to online training programme Unleash Creativity Through Technology on Moodle platform.

IO4 - Female Role Model Campaign.

The project partners decided to develop a digital Female Role Model Campaign addressed at countering negative stereotypes on computer science and technology among girls. The campaign will address participant girls and then youth workers.

12 inspirational videos were created. Videos can be seen in SparkDigiGirls youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SparkDigiGirls1

Link to different professionals' views about IT sector. Quotes can be found here.

IO5 - E-Guidebook: Empowerment of youth workers to act as mentors to pursue girls’ creativity through the use of digital applications.

The guidebook will provide information on how to activate and support youth workers as mentors to pursue girls’ creativity through the use of digital applications. Guidelines will include best practices, toolkits and other useful information for youth workers from formal and non-formal education institutions like schools, youth NGOs, public libraries, community centres, various education providers and other stakeholders.

Link to the E-Guidebook.


Access to online programme


Unleash your creativITy with technology


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News


Read more news here!

Multiplier events happening in 4 partner countries

July 21, 2023

Multiplier events happening in 4 partner countries

End of June and begginning of July was dedicated to Multiplier events happening in 4 partner countries: Lithuania, Slovenia, Greece and Portugal. The main objective of these events was to share the results of the interna [...]


The three most prominent messages of the event

July 05, 2023

The three most prominent messages of the event

✅ IT is one of the most open fields for both girls and guys.✅ Underneath the IT sector there are many different and creative jobs.✅ It is worthwhile for non-formal education providers to make efforts to find and develop new [...]



June 09, 2023

"Spark IT up!" training in Slovenia

From 24-28 April this year, 16
girls and 8 youth workers from Lithuania, Slovenia, Portugal and Greece took
part in the five-day "Spark IT up!" Ljubljana, Slovenia. This
international learning training activit [...]


How can we increase girls' interest in the world of technology at school?

June 07, 2023

How can we increase girls' interest in the world of technology at school?

How can we increase girls' interest in the world of
technology already at school? The European Year of Skills officially
started on 9 May 2023. To contribute to skills development  the Digital Skills and Jo [...]


Visit to Kelme

February 22, 2023

Visit to Kelme

The RIAP Association team was delighted to meet the girls taking part in the challenge of the remote programme Empower Girls Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies (SparkDigiGirls). This time we met the girls in Kelme [...]


Don't fall for online scams!

February 15, 2023

Don't fall for online scams!

Safer Internet Week continues this week in Lithuania and across Europe. On 8 February, the RIAP Association together with its partner the Institute of Information Technology organised an international remote hackathon. It invited [...]


Partners


Information Technologies Institute
http://www.ecdl.lt
The Computer Technology Institute and Press "Diophantus" (CTI) in Greece was established in 1985 as a non-profit Research Organization, directly supervised by the Ministry of Education and closely affiliated to academia. It is a research and technology organization focusing on research and development in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). CTI provides an integrated environment that supports basic and applied research, as well as the design and development of systems, products and solutions. Currently it employs around 200 scientists, researchers, engineers and administrative personnel.


Instituto Politecnico de Tomar
http://www.ipt.pt


Simbioza Genesis
http://www.simbioza.eu
Simbioza Genesis, social enterprise, was founded in May 2014 as a consequence of an organic growth from a 2011 project ‘Simbioz@ e-literate Slovenia’. The principle activities are based on empowering people with digital literacy through inter-generational cooperation. The organization combines the energy of the young volunteers with the experiences of the seniors to prepare both target groups for a digital future. The activities include workshops and youth trainings nationwide by providing unique mutual learning opportunities.


Rural Internet Access Points
https://vipt.lt
Rural Internet Access Points Association Association "Viesieji interneto prieigos taskai" (eng.- Rural Internet Access Points) has been operating in Lithuania since 2006. Non-governmental non-profit organization was founded by professionals who have been working in the field of ICT, adults/youth education for more than 17 years. The goal of the Association is to enable local individuals and institutions to build key elements of modern and vibrant society through promotion of new information and communication technologies (further - ICT), expansion of access to the Internet resources and improvement of quality of education.


Hellenic Open University
https://www.eap.gr/
Hellenic Open University (HOU) is the only Greek State University that offers formal and non-formal lifelong distance education. HOU participates in this project through the DAISSy Research Group of the School of Science and Technology. The group realizes society-centred educational and technological research, develops online learning platforms and digital and citizenship skills, promotes inclusion and multiculturalism, and adopts standards. For more information, contact us at info@daissy.eap.gr and visit us at www.eap.gr and daissy.eap.gr.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Agreement number: Project No. 2020-1-LT02-KA227-YOU-007294

Multiplier events happening in 4 partner countries

End of June and begginning of July was dedicated to Multiplier events happening in 4 partner countries: Lithuania, Slovenia, Greece and Portugal. The main objective of these events was to share the results of the international project SparkDigiGirls and present created new program Unleash your creativity with IT.

Events were a great success as more than 100 participants have attended. Participants ranged from teachers, school staff to representatives of various IT organizations, youth workers and girls. Partners from Portugal had a full day of activities, where first part of the day was dedicated to presented technologies: AR, robotics and etc. While afterwards round table discussion and various presentations followed. Lithuanians, Slovenians and Greeks also had presentation dedicated to the project SparkDigiGirls and other similar initiatives for girls to encourage their interest in technologies and choose their path in STEM after graduating high school. All countries had fruitful discussions which continued after the event as well.

Unleash your creativity with IT program is available for girls, youth workers and anyone interested. It can be found at:  https://moodle.digigirls.eu/

Multiplier events happening in 4 partner countries

The three most prominent messages of the event

✅ IT is one of the most open fields for both girls and guys.
✅ Underneath the IT sector there are many different and creative jobs.
✅ It is worthwhile for non-formal education providers to make efforts to find and develop new teaching tools that show the younger generation how technology works and what it can be used for.

29 June The RIAP Association invited representatives from various fields to an event on "How to use technology to develop a creative young generation of girls". The two-year international project "Unleash your creativity with technology (SparkDigiGirls)" and its results were presented to the gathering of IT teachers, representatives of municipalities, IT companies, universities and other non-governmental organisations.

The project team sought to answer the question of why girls are losing interest in technology and came up with a range of solutions, from research to the development of a new non-formal education curriculum, "Unleash your creativity with technology". This distance learning programme is one of the key results of the SparkDigiGirls project. It offers a unique approach, combining several different technologies to find solutions to relevant life situations that young people often face.
The distance learning programme is designed for non-formal education, but can also be used in formal education settings. The aim of the programme is to help girls aged 14 years and older ('learners') to creatively and innovatively address different situations in their daily lives through technology and to make them more attractive to girls.

The distance learning programme consists of 16 distinct learning strands called Challenges. Each challenge covers a specific topic or area of interest to girls aged 14+. For example, fashion, design, the environment, cooking, art, etc. Each challenge has two main interlinked components: technology (artificial intelligence, augmented reality, internet of things, coding, 3D modelling and printing, cloud computing, blockchain) and real-life situations/problems that young girls face in their daily lives. For example, how to make a birthday present in 3D, how to design clothes using coding, how to create a CO2 footprint, how to create a culinary website, how to create your own NFT and many other interesting challenges. 
The event also showcased initiatives and projects that engage and teach girls to use technology in a meaningful way.

Link to the distance learning programme: https://moodle.digigirls.eu/.
Project Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SparkDigiGirls1
Project Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/sparkdigigirls/
#SparkDigiGirls; #Erasmus

The three most prominent messages of the event

"Spark IT up!" training in Slovenia

From 24-28 April this year, 16 girls and 8 youth workers from Lithuania, Slovenia, Portugal and Greece took part in the five-day "Spark IT up!" Ljubljana, Slovenia. This international learning training activity is one of the last planned activities of the project SparkDigiGirls www.digigirls.eu.

 The main objective of this learning activity was to empower girls and youth workers on how to become ambassadors and flag-bearers of the newly developed distance learning programme Unleash Your CreativITy with Technology in their own communities, and how to get as many girls as possible interested in the world of technology.

 All five days of the training went by in a flash. It was of utmost importance to the organisers to create a friendly and open environment for all members of the group from the very first minute of the training. Therefore, the first day of the training was dedicated to getting to know the participants and creating a safe space for learning. Using different youth work methods, the girls and youth workers introduced themselves and got to know each other. The second day of the training included a presentation of different digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing, augmented reality and other technologies. Participants also visited the Jožef Stefan Institute, one of the most renowned research institutes in Slovenia. There, they heard a lecture on artificial intelligence, how it is changing our world and were invited to try out chemistry experiments. On the third and fourth days of the training, the participants, divided into different teams, focused on creative tasks. The aim of the tasks was to come up with creative solutions for each of the partner countries on a given topic and the proposed technologies, such as AR, AI, cloud computing, etc. The girls came up with some great stuff. For example, they created a modern prototype of an ancient Greek shoe using artificial intelligence applications and uploaded a text and image using an augmented reality application. Using the Scratch programming environment, they created an interactive recipe for the Lithuanian dish "Šaltibarščiai". During the training, the girls were also invited to learn about Arduino microcomputers, how they work and what they can be used for. This activity was presented by the representatives of the "Girls do code" academy in Slovenia. The last day of the training was dedicated to the creation of digital content, the evaluation of the training, the awarding of certificates to the participants and a farewell party.

 At the end of the training activities, the girls and youth workers were asked to fill in a training evaluation form. The evaluations show that the training was successfully implemented. In their evaluations, the participants stressed the usefulness of technology in finding solutions in real-life situations. "Through this project, I realised that the IT world is very diverse. I learnt a lot of new things: augmented reality, 3D modelling and printing, graphics, video editing and even programming. And what surprised me the most was that everything is not as complicated as it seemed. You just need do not afraid, try and it will all work out. It was fun!" (Lithuania).

 Participants also made meaningful connections and had great moments during the training and met their peers from different European countries. "It was so exciting when we found out that our team had won the competition and would be going to Slovenia! It was my first trip abroad and I had such a great time interacting and collaborating with girls from Portugal, Greece and Slovenia." (Lithuania). "The SparkDigiGirls project will remain in my memory and in my heart. It gave me a lot of useful knowledge, helped me improve my teamwork skills and introduced me to other cultures. I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn and discover so many useful things" (Greece).

How can we increase girls' interest in the world of technology at school?

How can we increase girls' interest in the world of technology already at school?

 The European Year of Skills officially started on 9 May 2023. To contribute to skills development  the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform team, together with the European Commission (EC), organised an award competition and selected the project Empower Girls’ Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies (SparkDigiGirls, www.digigirls.eu) as a finalist for the European Digital Skills Awards 2023 in the category Youth in the digital world. This is one of the five categories announced, with a total of 330 applications for this competition.

"Our project is unique because it combines three different elements: technology, creativity and girls. We are very proud of the EC assessment. We are the only one from Lithuania to make it to the finals," says Laura Grinevičiūtė, director of the Rural Internet Access Points Association.

This award confirms the relevance of the chosen project theme - the under-representation of girls in IT. According to Eurostat 2021 data, women represent only 19% of all IT students in the EU. In Lithuania, the proportion of women studying IT is around 23%, in Greece 21%, in Portugal 20% and in Slovenia 17%.

 

The main reasons influencing low interest of girls in technologies

Research has shown that in primary education, boys and girls are almost equally likely want to work in technology-related fields. However, girls' attitudes and opinions change later in life and they are more likely to choose careers in the social sciences, humanities and medicine than in IT, engineering or mathematics.

There are many reasons for the lack of interest in IT. Negative beliefs and stereotypes about technology, such as "IT is a man's job", "IT is just coding", influence girls' choices.

The lack of examples of successful women in IT also contributes to girls' low interest in IT. In addition, girls do not understand the opportunities offered by the IT sector and therefore do not take advantage of them. "Girls think that people who work in IT sit in front of a computer screen from morning until late at night and code. But this is a myth. There are many different and creative jobs in the IT sector, such as graphic designer, data analyst, engineer, IT project manager, etc.," says Renata Danielienė, a lecturer at the Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius University.


Technology can help unleash creativity

In response to the need to increase girls' interest in the world of IT, partners from Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia and Greece have launched a two-year international project funded by the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Programme for Youth.

The project aims to engage girls aged 14 and over in the latest technologies (such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, Internet of Things, programming) by integrating a creative approach and demonstrating how technology can be used in everyday activities.

 

Programme Unleash Your CreativITy with technology

The project developed online learning programme Unleash Your CreativITy with Technology. The aim of the programme is to engage girls aged 14-18 in a hands-on, experiential learning model to solve various life situations and problems through the practical use of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, programming, blockchain and cloud computing.

"Today, we are witnessing an evolution from complex programming languages to intuitive systems that do not require deep and prior knowledge. This is the model we have chosen for this project. Online tools, apps and mobile applications help to increase girls' motivation to learn, creativity, interest in technology and understanding of its practical benefits," says Renata Danieliene.

Between January and March this year, 279 girls from Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia and Greece took part in the pilot training of the app. The distance learning programme consists of 16 separate learning paths, called challenges. Each challenge covers a specific topic or area of interest to girls aged 14 and over. For example, fashion, design, environment, cooking, art, etc. Each challenge has two key interwoven components: technology (artificial intelligence, augmented reality, internet of things, coding, 3D modelling and printing, cloud computing, blockchain) and real-life situations/problems that girls face in their everyday lives. For example, how to make a birthday present in 3D, how to design clothes using programming, how to learn about carbon footprint, how to create a culinary website, how to create your own NFT and many other interesting challenges.

Each challenge is implemented with specific steps. The girls are introduced to almost 30 different online tools, apps and mobile applications. By following the steps and interactive tasks, they will know exactly where to start and how to complete the challenge. The programme is available free of charge to all registered users via the Moodle platform in up to five languages.

 

 What does it take to change girls' attitude?

In addition to online learning programme, the project partners organised a number of engaging activities. "During the project, it was very important for us to show girls that there are women working in IT. We made videos, organised different discussions in schools, organised online events, international learning activities, managed an Instagram account so that girls could get to know the women, their stories, interesting jobs, specialities in IT, etc." - Says Laura Grinevičiūtė, director of the association.

We hope that the results of the project will help to break down prejudices and stereotypes and increase girls' interest in the world of technology.

 

How can we increase girls' interest in the world of technology at school?

Visit to Kelme

The RIAP Association team was delighted to meet the girls taking part in the challenge of the remote programme Empower Girls Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies (SparkDigiGirls). This time we met the girls in Kelme, at the J. Graičiūno gymnasium. We also invited the other participants from Kražantė pprogymnasium to this school.

We talked about how the girls are doing with the challenges, which technologies are the most interesting and which are the most difficult. It turns out that the girls were interested in augmented reality tools such as ScatchAR, Artivive and the artificial intelligence applications Aiva and HitPaw. They learnt about these tools for the first time and tried them out in practice by completing different challenges. The 3D modelling and printing challenges proved to be among the most challenging. It's a fun idea to create a 3D gift for a friend on your own, but you need to work and "tame" the 3D modelling programmes and 3D printers.

We share the work from the challenges on our Instagram account SparkDigiGirls. Join in!
International project funded by #Erasmus

Visit to Kelme

Don't fall for online scams!

Safer Internet Week continues this week in Lithuania and across Europe. On 8 February, the RIAP Association together with its partner the Institute of Information Technology organised an international remote hackathon. It invited participants from Slovenia, Lithuania, Greece and Portugal to join the SparkDigiGirls project. More than 200 girls are currently trying out the newly developed "Technology Unleashes the Imagination" programme.
Between January and March, the girls take part in this programme, where they complete challenges that test technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, the Internet of Things, coding, 3D modelling and printing, cloud computing, blockchain. They learn how they work and, most importantly, how they can use them in their daily lives.
This time, in celebration of Safer Internet Week, the girls were invited to try out various interactive activities related to Internet safety. They rewrote situations with the help of Emogi, searched for answers to questions related to online fraud during a quiz, and tried a whole range of new tools such as slides, jumbo boards and others.
You can follow the girls' challenges and work in progress on the SparkDigiGirls Instagram account.

Don't fall for online scams!