IdS - "Internet for Schools" Programme of the Warsaw University

Physics Faculty - the birthplace of Polish Internet

In 1988 a group of high energy physicists from the Physics Faculty of the Warsaw University realized that their research at DESY (Hamburg) and CERN (Geneva) cannot be successfully continued without the computer network connectivity with Western Europe. In 1998 they wrote a formal request to the EARN/BITNET network, which due to the COCOM restrictions have been rejected. The political changes in Poland in 1989, the tedious lobbying in Washington and the petition sent to president Bush caused that in 1990 Poland, as a first CEE country, has been accepted to EARN and connected to world's computer network. The Physics Faculty, where students and scientists from all the Warsaw scientific community have always been welcomed, created a very friendly atmosphere for all who wanted to access the information world-wide. The first IP-based Local Area (campus) network (1990), the first international Internet link to Copenhagen (1991) and the first Polish WWW server (1993) have been constructed at Physics Faculty. Physicists from Warsaw University played a major role in Polish Research and Academic Network, which starting from 1991, in a short time connected nearly all Polish universities and research institutes.

"Internet for Schools" Programme of the Warsaw University

In 1994 for many scientists it became clear that Internet in general and WWW in particular will revolutionize the way the people communicate and share the knowledge. The vision of Global Information Society, which will soon change many aspects of our lives, is very real. On the other hand giving people as many access possibilities as possible and teaching them how to use the network is an essential condition for the development of the country, both in economical and social aspects. In the course of intensive discussions, hold in the physics community, several options have been studied how the awareness of the network possibilities and the basic knowledge of network usage should spread into the widest circles of society. It was decided that in the Polish conditions the most effective way is to concentrate on the secondary schools (grades 9-12).

In the autumn of 1994 the group of 6 scientists from the Faculty of Physics have designed and implemented a simple and inexpensive technical solution allowing to connect the school with the Internet using a standard telephone line. In the beginning of 1995 the Rector of the University formally created the Prgramme "Internet for Schools" (IdS). The "Internet for Schools" Programme, apart from allowing the physical connectivity of schools with the Internet, assumed universal basic training in network usage, creation and availability of Internet's didactic content as well as the participation in network in school to school [mainly international] cooperation projects.

The "Internet for Schools" Programme have been officially started on March 9th, 1995 when 17 schools have been connected in 4 cities. In the end of 1998 there were approximately 1400 Internet connected schools in more than 300 localities. Additionally 250 county offices and 150 educational, medical and artistic NGO's have been connected. Special courses and textbooks have been created, which allowed to train 1500 teachers, who in turn trained approximately 150 000 students. A methodological conference and seminar have been organized and young Internauts had a possibility to attend 3 vacation camps. More than 100 international cooperation projects are running, mainly in frame of I*EARN, ThinkQuest, ESP and NASA K12 Programmes.

Initially IdS gave schools free of charge: the modem, the training of two teachers, a set of 5 textbooks and the disquiets with the Internet related software. Additionally, by using a call-back system each week the first 10 hours of Internet connectivity have been free of charge. The "Internet for Schools" Programme have been enthusiastically accepted by the youth, the main obstacle was the lack of know-how and poor command of English of teachers. To overcome this barrier a massive teacher training courses have been organized during the summer of 1998.

"Internet for Schools" Programme have been financed mainly by the Stefan Batory Foundation (Polish branch of the Soros Foundation). Some equipment for the regional access nodes have been sponsored by telecommunication and computer industry. Governmental subsidy was only 6% of the total funding.

In 1996 the international jury of the EC Global Inventory G7 Project awarded the "Internet for Schools" Programme as the second best European project in practical implementation of the Global Information Society.


Department "Internet for Schools"

In 1998 the rate of newly connected schools started to grow rapidly. Parallely the Ministry of Education started their own project, which within 1-2 years should create an Internet connected computer class in each of the Polish 2500 counties. In this situation The Batory Foundation took a right decision that its role as a sponsor of introducing the Internet to Polish schools has been successfully completed and consequently stopped further funding of the "Internet for Schools" Programme. As a result of this decision in the beginning of 1999 the "Internet for Schools" Programme have been splitted into its merithoric and technical part.

The merithoric part of the IdS Programme is continued by the Deapartment "Internet for Schools" within University Center for Technology Transfer. This Department organizes methodical conferences and seminars, all non-standard (eg. Distance Learning) teacher trainings, youth vacation camps and contests as well as continues the logistical and financial support for the international school cooperation projects.

Latest news:
See our presentation on IST99 in Helsinki