The most relevant priority of this project is to support digital competences development in schools, by testing and implementing innovative practices in the field, using participatory approaches and ICT based technologies and through the development of guidelines that are usable and useful on a European scale. The partnership of the project - 8 consortia of media education organizations with secondary schools - makes possible that schools of 8 European countries work together on such important thematic. We want to create complex didactical situations that challenge teachers and students alike, in line with their individual needs and expectations, and that value the media literacy competences on both sides. The technological skills of the students and their “Media-Cultures” (cfr. Genevieve Jacquinot), can be channeled to imagine new public services for citizens and new ways of creating knowledge and culture, for instance designing projects to transform reality and new developments of their local communities. The project aims to transport extra school media practices of the students inside the school curricula, enabling so a transition of school extern solitary consumer relation with digital knowledge into collaborative productive processes that are capable of transforming learning actions inside the school, as well as the relation between school and society, through the design and implementation of projects for the community, supporting social development and innovation at the local level. The project aims to implement new transversal methodologies that open a dialogue among students, schools and societies, promoting a development of the school as place to imagine, think and “test the future”. The methodology we will spread around Europe is very appreciated in Italy for its educational attainment: to use the active methodologies of Alberto Manzi (Teacher with great experience in using television (and media: radio in Argentina) to promote literacy, in working with young detainees at the Aristide Gabelli in Rome or with disadvantaged students around Italy) and Bruno Munari (designer who invented a methodology for children’s atelier) are able to transform school teaching models offering new way to work both for students and teachers, more linked in the current technological opportunities and more close to the school success of students more disadvantaged. Alberto Manzi has built, in his teaching, technology as a powerful tool for creating meaningful experiences for students, always connecting the real presence (and objects) with more virtual and abstract aspects. Bruno Munari, with the typical curiosity of the designer, had already begun to design the workshops that would propose new uses for the technology. The most famous example concerns the use of the copier to create "original" and not to make "reproductions" of documents. His artistic practice explored the technology as unusual instrument of expression. We plan to design “digital atelier” as a “good place” to motivate students to use ICT for personal and community benefit, developing their creative potential. The “digital atelier” is a “laboratorio” in which teacher proposes ICT activities using the Alberto Manzi and Bruno Munari Methodologies. To design the new format of “digital atelier” we will organize, in Bologna (headquarters of the Alberto Manzi’s Archive and Centre), 2 Transnational, Teaching and Learning Activities, on 5 days, where teachers and partners will discover and work concretely with the “Alberto Manzi Method” and “Bruno Munari Method”. Teachers have an active role because they will link methodologies and contents with their school curriculum, supported by the national partners. We will realize 8 national training to spread the project and we will produce 8 national toolkit in 8 different languages with a focus on students' media competences, an evaluation of the best practices in national field and with the publication of 15 digital atelier (all 40 digital atelier will be published in the MIL/PEER platform). We realize a Manual with a focus on the methodological aspects and on the key elements to transfer skills through training. If with the 8 Toolkits we will spread “how to do” and example of “what to do” dedied to teachers, with the Manual we will implement new training activities for stakeholders: Universities, Centers of Research and Training, Educational Centers, Networks of schools, national and European organizations. Each partner will organize a multiplier seminar involving at least 80 people among stakeholders and teachers to present the national toolkit, the European Manual and some example of “digital atelier”. We will close the project with a great dissemination through an international conference in Bologna.
The most relevant priority of this project was to support digital competences development in schools, by testing and implementing innovative practices in the field, using participatory approaches and ICT based technologies and through the development of guidelines that are usable and useful on a European scale. The partnership of the project - 8 partners of which 6 were consortia of media education organizations with secondary schools - made possible that schools of 8 European countries worked together on such important topics and the development of the format of the digital atelier. With the digital atelier the project aimed to transport extra school media practices of the students inside the school curricula, enabling so a transition of school extern solitary consumer relation with digital knowledge into collaborative productive processes that are capable of transforming learning actions inside the school, as well as the relation between school and society, through the design and implementation of projects for the community, supporting social development and innovation at the local level. The project implemented through the digital atelier new transversal methodologies that open a dialogue among students, schools and societies, promoting a development of the school as place to imagine, think and “test the future”. The “digital atelier” is a “workshop” in which teacher proposes ICT activities using two methodologies, that were already very appreciated in Italy for its educational attainment: the active methodologies of Alberto Manzi and Bruno Munari - able to transform school teaching models offering new ways to work both for students and teachers and creating a link to current technological opportunities, promoting also different ways to approach teaching that are closer to students with bigger disadvantages. With the digital atelier the teacher is able to design an educational experience that starts from an ICT content (for example an app) to develop then a manual task, with tools and materials, in order to start a personal and collective research with students. We planned the “digital atelier” as a “good place” to motivate students to use ICT for personal and community benefit, developing their creative potential. To design the new format of “digital atelier” we organized, in Bologna (headquarters of the Alberto Manzi’s Archive and Centre), 2 Transnational, Teaching and Learning Activities, on 5 days each, where teachers and partners discovered and worked concretely with the “Alberto Manzi Method” and “Bruno Munari Method”, and trained themselves more then 258 teachers and educators in their own countries with 8 National Trainings. Teachers had a very active role in the planning of trainings, as well as in the design the digital ateliers that were experimented in 7 countries. Based on the trainings and experimentations we produced 8 national toolkits in 8 different languages and an European manual in English. The Toolkits focus on students' extracurricular media skills, active citizenship/ civic engagement and digital creativity, positioning the digital atelier in the national context and with detailed descriptions and materials of the digital Ateliers presented in each toolkit. They give an example of “how to do” and “what to do” in the 8 national languages, to support teachers and educators wishing to implement the approaches of the project in their own country. All digital ateliers are also published in English in the website of the project as well as in the MIL/PEER platform (Media and Information Literacy Platform for Exchanging Educational Resources), an online platform developed by the Evens Foundation and the Modern Poland Foundation (Polish partner of the project) dedicated to educational resource sharing in the field of Media and Information Literacy. The European manual is written in English from a group composed by partners (media education experts, researchers, teachers and school experts) and external experts and focuses on the methodological aspects of the App Your School Project and its main axes: how to insert technology in the curricula; how to create the link with media education and civic engagement; build connections with art, multimedia and pedagogical innovation; value extracurricular skills and student’s motivation/dispositions. Its target are teachers and institutions that play a role in the development of innovative uses of technology in the classroom: Universities, Centers of Research and Training, Educational Centers, Networks of schools, national and European organizations. For the dissemination of the Toolkits, the format of the Digital Ateliers and the European manual 7 multiplier events were organized in 7 different countries with a total of 684 participants. Further information on the projects activities and outputs can be found here: https://www.appyourschool.eu/.