Rostelecom, the Academy of Innovative Education and Development, and the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ announce the opening of registration for the VI All-Russian Family IT Marathon. Family teams, consisting of 5-11 years students, their parents, relatives, or close friends, as well as members of the governing boards of educational organizations are invited to participate in the Marathon. The Marathon is going to be held on the “Study the Internet & Govern It” official website from March 2 to April 27, 2022. Registration will last through April 12. The results will be announced as part of the All-Russian Parent Forum, which is going to be held on May 13, on the eve of International Day of Families.
The Marathon is going to be held in two stages. The first stage will be a creative task. The participants will be expected to shoot and present to the jury a video clip on the “Digital Technologies of the Future” (Internet of the Future) topic, or “Culture and Information Security on the Internet”. The second stage will be an online tournament, which consists of 24 tasks of varying complexity, united by one theme: "Digital Technologies of the Future" (Virtual and Augmented reality - VR, AR, - Telemedicine, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, Industrial Internet of Things, Security).
The winners shall be provided with diplomas and valuable prizes from the organizers. Participants of the online tournament who don’t win prizes will receive personalized electronic certificates.
According to Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center, the Family IT Marathon will help families check their digital literacy level, improve their skills in working with modern technologies and learn more about the Internet. “In modern realities, it is very important to speak on digital literacy and teach it to users, especially children, and teenagers. The formation of the information culture of the family exactly becomes a necessary condition for the development of skills for conscious and safe behavior in the information space, including the Internet. Therefore, the Coordination Center, together with partners, traditionally holds a Family IT Marathon designed to help students and their parents understand the principles of the network and the rules of behavior in it.” he said.
“The family IT marathon is a unique opportunity not only to test knowledge in the field of digital security but also to learn a lot of new and useful things in this area. A distinctive feature of this year's marathon is the participation of family teams, which include members of the school's governing council,” added Olga Rubtsova, rector of the Academy of Innovative Education and Development, accredited expert of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).
“Rostelecom actively supports educational projects in the IT sector. Today it is very important to be able to safely use all the benefits of the Internet, to know the main IT trends, to understand the digital technologies of the future. And the IT marathon will help a lot with this. To prepare for family competitions, we suggest using Rostelecom's new book on cybersecurity, “A Beautiful, Dangerous, Cybersafe World.” This is a kind of guidebook that simply and understandably describes the principles of operation and use of technologies, that have deeply reached into our lives, teaches us not to be afraid of the Internet and competently use modern electronic devices, gives specific practical advice on how to avoid troubles in the digital world, recognize try to scam and choose the right way of action. I am sure that our book will help to take high places in competitions,” said Yuliana Sokolenko, Director of the Department of External Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility of Rostelecom.
About 480 family teams from all over the country took part in the Marathon over the last 5 years. These are several thousand children, their parents, and friends.
"Study the Internet & Govern It!" is a popular social and educational project with the purpose to increase the level of digital literacy of participants. Over 11 years of its existence, more than 200 thousand students from all regions of Russia took part in the project. Young users will be able to understand the intricacies of the Internet and digital technologies, become experienced Internet users, and learn how to surf the net safely with its help. The project is also designed to arouse the interest of students in professions related to digital technologies.
"Study the Internet & Govern It!" consists of:
- Educational portal "Knowledge": an interactive game consisting of 28 modules (their number is updated annually), which are devoted to topics related to information technology;
- Mobile app: contains a series of tests on the history and structure of the Internet, the operation of browsers and IT services, Internet culture, and digital security, allowing you to consolidate the knowledge gained on the portal anywhere and at a convenient time. The application is available on Google Play, App Store, and Microsoft Store;
- Quiz: more than 750 quick questions on Internet culture, security, history, and structure of the Internet and IT services;
- Internet dictionary: terms, words, abbreviations related to Internet advertising, SEO, game development, computer networks, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, distance education, and Internet security.
