Digital Handbook

'Digital Handbook' is a programme run by Asociatia Techsoup that helps primary school teachers — mostly from rural Romania or small urban communities of up to 50,000 people — teach children, parents and local communities how to make use of mobile technology and freely-available online tools and services to learn, gain access, get ahead and come together as a community.

Primary school teachers play a vital role in children's earliest education, but in Romania they are often unprepared to teach about the digital and online environment, even as more children — including in rural, economically disadvantaged areas — start using internet-connected devices before starting primary school. The programme also stresses responsible online behaviour and critical thinking about the internet.

Using blended learning methods (an on-site, offline 'training caravan' plus an online programme), the initiative helps teachers build an active learning environment regardless of children's social and economic status, and works to improve school-community relations. Pedagogical resources are developed participatorily based on needs expressed by teachers during local trainings, supported by a gamification-based incentive system to sustain engagement.

Between March 2017 and October 2018, 468 primary school teachers attended on-site, offline trainings (with an estimated student reach of 9,500–10,000), delivered via a training caravan that visited 13 counties across southern, south-eastern, eastern and north-eastern Romania. The online programme reached further: 1,210 teachers had joined from 28 of Romania's 41 counties.