Our children live in a world of powerful 24/7 media. There has been a drastic increase in the amount of time children and youth are spending with media over the last decade. According to the searches ; children ages 8 to 18 now spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes per day with entertainment media outside of school.Used well, the media can entertain and inform our children in positive ways. However, since most children aren’t taught to use media thoughtfully, many media messages contribute to public health issues such as obesity, bullying and aggression, low self-esteem, depression, negative body image, risky sexual behavior, and substance abuse, among other problems.Some media authorities believe that such problems can be solved through limitation and censorship. However, censorship and limitation are not desirable responses to the concerns about the mass media and their effects on the children and adolescents .Partners from Bulgaria ,Latvia , Poland ,Turkey Romania and Czech Republic decided that one of the important ways to achieve this aim is training the children and adolescents on media literacy.By helping our teens become media literate, we can help protect them from pressures from advertising and other media forms to smoke, drink, use drugs, have sex, or eat unhealthy foods. We also can help them build communication skills, encourage them to consider multiple interpretations of media messages, put portrayals of themselves and others in perspective, and improve media use habits, such as changing ritualistic viewing behaviors. The aims and the activities listed in our project are in accordance with the recommendations offered in the Declaration of Brussels for Lifelong Media Education, related to education actions to be initiated, to the media competences of any citizen to be developed, to the access of citizens to media education, research and European policies. One of the key policy recommendations that this declaration takes in consideration is the necessity to integrate media education in the framework of lifelong education and training, as defined by the European reference frameworks -Lisbon Strategy and the “Education and Training 2020” strategic framework. The aim is to enable, persons, at every stage of their life, to participate in stimulating learning experiences and to contribute to the development of the of the education and training sector in Europe. In this context, the objectives of our project aim at being a part of the “Education and Training 2020” strategic framework. The project will promote tolerance, social cohesion and solidarity for the participating students 13-17 years old through involvement in various activities like film making , creation of e-newspaper,preparing broshures meeting experts , interviewing famous people, do a voluteer work.They will become searchers,writers,journalists ,debaters,...etc.Teachers will gain by strengthening communication between the students and themselves, exchanging ideas in the field of media literacy and the development of inter cultural dialogue with colleagues and students from partnering schools. All schools will benefit by creating better relations between teachers, students and the community, making school more dynamic and stimulating for all. This project will also broaden the horizons providing opportunity and awareness on a European level. Each partner will work towards implementation of results /activities media literacy project into the curriculum. Participants will be given the opportunity to develop intercultural dialogue and exchange experiences among all partnering schools.Besides the expected results are ;- an increased awareness of young citizens towards concepts such as European citizenship and democracy based on the development of critical thinking;- boost of collaborative work;-decreased internet addiction of youth /awarenesss of parents about the results of addiction.- an increased mastery of ICT tools which will be the vehicle of communication and dissemination of all the tasks and products throughout the project; -an increased ability to debate - photograpy-reading & writing- communicative skills- an improvement in the research skills and innovative solutions of those involved in the project;- sharing and improving teaching practices and methods.The results of the project will have a lasting impact on the target groups on local, national, European and international level. This international project and the festival in Bulgaria involving large numbers of students in collaboration together with the video clips and films that will be implemented will make both participants and others aware of media education. The students directly involved in the project will develop new skills such as responsibility, communication, problem solving, initiative, creativity, planning, team work, flexibility, tolerance and acceptance towards different cultures. The teachers involved in the exchanges with others.
Today, the young generation is under the influence of the media. Over the last decade, there has been a drastic increase in the amount of time children and young people spend on-line. This has positive aspects, but it can also be a serious problem. For this reason, young people should be aware and critical media user. Partners from Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Turkey, Romania and the Czech Republic (5 schools and 1 art association) recognized that one important way to achieve this is to train children and teens in media literacy, build communication skills, exchange ideas in the extent of media literacy and the development of intercultural dialogue. The aim of the project was also to promote in-depth cooperation, provide tools to develop ICT competences, take responsibility for completing tasks and find creative solutions. The project has divided tasks and created working groups composed of people of different nationalities. All countries have fulfilled their assigned tasks. During the entire duration of the project there were also local activities for its participants in each partner country (questionnaires on media addiction, media threats presentations, meetings and interviews with famous journalists, lectures on contemporary media, workshops on the use of ICT, classes preparing for LTTA ). There were also collected materials for the brochure "Hands on Media Literacy" (gathering from the partners information on "Media education at school" and creating a new informer about "Media education in Europe" - included in the brochure "HOML"). All partners have prepared min. 2 lesson plans / lesson plans on media education on the topic of the selected and project meeting, which were included in the Porfolio. The Polish partner as a coordinator was also responsible for the administrative and financial side of the project (partnership agreements, annexes, procedures / monitoring of good implementation of project activities). All activities were monitored on an ongoing basis, and the results of the work were presented and consulted during 4 project meetings. The project also included 2 activities related to learning / teaching / training. I)Turkey-photographic-ICT workshops and how to debate, exhibitions, create e-newspapers, theatrical performance, an international media evening (well-known journalists). II )Bulgaria - workshops on how to create films, attempts to create short films, blogs, vlogs. All project activities were documented on the FB profile https://www.facebook.com/HANDS-on-MEDIA-Literacy-Projekt-Erasmus-223433158084942/and on the project website www.handsonmedialiteracy.co, the eTweening, blog and project platform was created vlog (https://handsonmedialiteracy.blogspot.bg/ http: / Vlog https://handsonmedialiteracyvlog.blogspot.bg/ Etwinning "Hands on Media Literacy" Soft results: - raising the awareness of young people about such concepts as European citizenship and democracy based on the development of critical thinking; - intensification of cooperation; - reduced Internet addictions of the youth / parents' awareness of the effects of addiction. -technology (ICT, ability to debate, photographing, reading and writing, communication skills,) - introduction of innovative solutions for people involved in the project; - sharing and improving teaching practices and methods Hard results: - Brochure with national and international strategies against media addiction among students: "Hands on Media Literacy". This brochure describes legal regulations and strategies used in the countries involved in the project. The results of the media addiction survey among students in partner institutions and essays written by pupils from each country were also presented. - A portfolio of media education lesson plans: this output product is one of the main innovations of the project that combines the goal of disseminating project results with the need to guarantee follow-up, further stimulation of students and the creativity and knowledge of teachers even after the project activities have been completed. Lesson plans can be included in the program of media education lessons, they can be used in English lessons or educational lessons. - student presentations; мini-exhibitions, partner site; electronic newspaper, films, PowerPoint presentations; presentations showing the development of the project; short stories, a recorded course on how to debate, take pictures and use ICT in media literacy, a brochure with interviews with media experts. All project results are free of license and placed on the project website and on the Erasmus + Platform Our project developed, tested, adapted and implemented innovative practices through new forms of learning and training.