Context/background:Digital literacy and proficiency in English for international communication are essential requirements for graduates’ access to today’s European labour market. While the two are often held separate in higher education curricula, there is a strong need for designing courses that integrate abilities for the creation and critical interpretation of multimodal digital texts in English, such as weblogs, websites, CVs, corporate and user-generated videos, and video-based interactions. Objectives:The project aims to design, implement and test a transnational joint syllabus that integrates multimodal digital literacy and English for international communication. It will also produce data to develop a Common Framework of Reference for Digital Literacy (CFRDiL). Number and profile of participants6 higher education institutions: Università di Messina (Italy); University of Leeds (UK); Università di Firenze (Italy); Aarhus Universitet (Denmark); Università di Roma-Tor Vergata (Italy); LUH-Hannover (Germany). The 3 Italian participants have experience of an analogous pilot project within the Italian context; Aarhus and Leeds will trasfer the results of the pilot into an international context. LUH will contribute through the development of the EU-MADE4LL online learning platform. Roma-TOV will be in charge of dissemination. 1 job partner, ROCCA CTL, will offer an on-site workshop and hands-on training.Description of activities(1) Creation of an open access online environment for e-learning and for storing and sharing the learning materials and students’ anonymised assignments;(2) development and implementation of a joint syllabus that includes (a) a common set of core notions, readings and activities, (b) a series of workshops, each focused on a specific digital text type and carried out through teachers’ mobility among the participant organizations, (c) assignments that enable the assessment and peer-assessment of students’ learning outcomes, and (4) evaluation of the course effectiveness;(3) evaluation of the outcomes of the joint courses and refinement of the joint syllabus;(4) students’ mobility within the dissemination of the project’s results and at the job partner professionalising workshop;(5) development of a Common Framework of Reference for Digital Literacy (CFRDiL).Methodology:The online platform will be designed by LUH by drawing on the results from the pilot project. The joint syllabus will be implemented through courses in Messina, Aarhus, Florence, Leeds and Rome-Tor Vergata by combining home teacher’s core session and guest teachers’ workshops plus the participation of the web agency ROCCA CTL. Students’ assignments will consist in (1) the production of one digital text type, (2) the analysis of their design choices applying the notions of multimodal digital literacy, and (3) students’ peer-assessment. Criticalities in current peer-assessment methods (i.e. skewed results because students know their peers) will be overcome thanks to students’ anonymous peer-assessment. Assessment of the students’ assignments will involve all teaching scholars and the results of the peer-assessment. CFRDiL will be drawn through the combination of data and descriptors will be tested and validated empirically. Results:- students’ increased confidence and competence in international communication by means of digital technologies;- students’ experience of international teaching practices;- students’ enhanced motivation for language learning and digital literacy;- teachers’ increased experience in international and teaching and coordination of joint courses;- a tool for teaching, learning and assessing digital literacy (CFRDiL). Outcomes- An online platform for replication of the course by other higher education institutions;- A validated syllabus that fulfills contemporary requirements of the labour market in multimodal digital literacy and English for international communication, made available online and applicable internationally; - Reliable assessment and peer-assessment methods and tools;- An established European network of teaching staff working in standardized digital literacy by means of CFRDiL.Impact and longer term benefitsThe joint syllabus, together with CFRDiL, will be made available as open educational resource to EU and non-EU higher educational institutions. Its adoption at a broader European level will update students’ digital literacy for international communication, and consequently enhance their employability and will enrich their Youthpass and Europass. The dissemination of the project’s results will promote education and modernization by offering feasible methods for introducing transversal competences that combine digital literacy and language learning in HE curricula; it will prompt changes in the current European language education policies, to update them to the contemporary media for international communication.
The EU-MADE4ll project was designed and implemented to develop multimodal digital literacies in educational and professional contexts using English as the language of international communication. Multimodal digital literacies include a wide range of skills and abilities that are needed to improve teaching, learning and professional activities. These incorporate the ability to design, read, navigate and understand the combination of different resources (such as language, visuals, layout, music, etc.) in digital texts in English. The project has developed a flexible model to improve these skills in students and European citizens. The goals have been 1) to develop a customised digital platform to collect data, allow students’ assignments and anonymous peer-assessment procedures; 2) to test an international joint syllabus that can be used in other educational and professional contexts and 3) to design a framework of reference for intercultural digital literacies. The framework has been derived from data produced by students during the joint syllabus, i.e. their own digital productions (i.e. video interviews, websites, blogs, fanvids and promotional videos) and from surveys submitted to students before, during and after classes via the customised EU-MADE4LL platform. Participants Six higher education institutions: Università di Messina (Italy, main applicant); University of Leeds (UK); Università di Firenze (Italy); Aarhus Universitet (Denmark); Università di Roma-Tor Vergata (Italy); LUH-Hannover (Germany) and a digital agency, Rocca Creative Thinking (Sheffield, UK). Description of activities (1) Creation of an open access online environment for e-learning and for storing and sharing the learning materials and students’ anonymised assignments; (2) development and implementation of a joint syllabus that includes (a) a common set of core notions, readings and activities developed by researchers in each home university, (b) workshops organised and delivered through “Invited teachers at higher education Intensive Study Programmes” by involved researchers, each focused on a specific digital text type, (c) assignments to develop skills for the production of digital texts, metapragmatic awareness, and intercultural peer-assessment, (4) evaluation of the course by the students ; (3) evaluation and refinement of the joint syllabus; (4) students’ mobility in Aarhus, at the Department of Management and Communication for a one-week “Intensive programmes for higher education learners” to promote social media awareness and for a hands-on workshop delivered by Rocca; (5) development of a Common Framework of Reference Intercultural Digital Literacy (CFRIDiL) drawing on data produced during the joint syllabus and the intensive study and professional training mobility. Results The online platform has been customised to meet the project’s needs by LUH and provides access to all materials, data and statistics produced during the project. The joint syllabus was implemented in five university classes (Messina, Aarhus, Florence, Leeds and Rome-Tor Vergata) involving 214 students, who produced three assignments each (digital text, academic paper, transcription or mock up) for a total of 642 items. Additionally, each student filled baseline and evaluation surveys, plus a peer-assessment form, for a total of 642 items. Each researcher compiled an evaluation form for each student and for students that chose their taught text type. The grand total of data amounts to 2568 materials, including assignments, students’ and teachers’ surveys and peer assessment.The CFRIDiL was created by the combination of data and descriptors have been validated empirically. Surveys confirm that most students: (1) enjoyed the course and improved their multimodal digital skills; (2) improved their experience of international learning and cooperation; (3) enhanced communicative skills for intercultural digital literacy. All students participating in the project received the EU-MADE4LL pass and those participating in the mobilities received a Europass. Longer-term benefits The joint syllabus and CFRIDiL are available as open educational resources to EU and non-EU higher educational institutions, private organisations and SMEs. The CFRDiL can be adopted to gauge students’, teachers’ and citizens’ proficiency and awareness in intercultural digital literacy. It can be adapted to any level, including in primary schools and in STEM contexts to boost students’ digital literacy for international communication and enhance their employability. The project’s output promote tolerance, active citizenship and intercultural awareness by fostering transversal skills that are included in the framework and deal with coping with pressure, managing anxiety and developing emotional intelligence. The long-term impact deal with changes in the current European education policies accounting for contemporary digital textuality in English and the pressures and needs of global markets.