A1 Internet for all

150,000 children and young people in 10 years

For 10 years, from 2011 to 2021, the Vienna University Children’s Office was a partner of the “A1 Internet for all” initiative.

Throughout these years the cooperative project reached about 200,000 people, including around 150,000 children and young people, who had the chance to take part in various educational events in a specifically designed place, the so called “A1 Internet für Alle” Campus” in Engerthstraße 169, 1020 Vienna.

Most of the students were reached in workshops for school classes from 1st to 8th grade. In daily afternoon sessions, individually visiting teenagers got supported by trainers to do educational research as well as explore the Internet, guided by experienced media pedagogues.

In addition to these activities in Vienna, the cooperation also included a national “tour” where a team of media pedagogues traveled through all nine federal states, visiting school classes across the country.

With the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the activities were moved towards the virtual spaces and online courses were developed for multiple situations: reaching children individually at home as a group in school or hybrid situations.

A woman speaks into a headset. One can guess technical devices around her.

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A young man shows something on a screen to a teenager. In the background many busy children.

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Children's hands hold the electric construction parts Little Bits.

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Four girls sit on the floor and bend over a robot.

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in Kind sitzt vor dem Laptop. Am Bildschirm sieht man die grafische Programmieroberfläche Scratch. Im Hintergrund sind verkabelte Lego-Konstuktionen.

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An artistic blurred image in which two children paint light sculptures.

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5 children from behind, dancing with arms raised. In the background the model: the video game "Just Dance".

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A child creates a comic strip on the computer.

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A diverse offering

The program ranged from first (safe) steps on the internet to data protection and self-expression on the web to creative design and crafts and even programming and robotics. In this way, participants learned a wide range of skills in the dazzling field of digital media education.

The Vienna University Children’s Office responded promptly to the elimination of classroom events in conjunction with school closures due to the Covid 19 pandemic by developing flexible online workshops. The technical and didactic possibilities of distance learning were to be used in the best possible way. The result was four innovative workshops on cutting-edge topics that allowed students to participate despite changes in regulations—individually from home, as group participation from school, and in hybrid formats.