MLF children as well as youngsters are in danger to miss out on obtaining necessary basic ICT skills, digital information- and critical thinking skills, which should enable them to follow proper education, to find a future place in the labor market and to participate as equal (digital) citizens. The lack of digital citizenship skills will make them more vulnerable to the negative elements of the digitization of society like grooming, sexting, bullying, radicalization and polarization. Teachers, youth workers, library professionals as well as MLF parents recognize that generally accepted (offline) citizenship rules are not always adapted by children and youngsters in their online environment, causing new conflicts and divisions in and between groups. Among educational- and library professionals as well as among MLF parents there is a growing awareness that children and youngsters are living in a digital world which overarches and surpasses their schools, street and family environments and that local actions and corporation is needed. At present here is little horizontal cooperation between them. Elementary and secondary schools have (1) little space in the school curriculum for basic digital skills and digital citizenship skills; (2) teachers have insufficient digital citizenship competences and pedagogical knowledge to deal with these issues (3) there is little time (and interest) for parent contacts, and involvement. Public libraries services are currently in the process of adapting their traditional roles to the requirements of the digital information society and digital citizenship as are schools and community centers. Current digital activities of libraries are mostly not connected to the school programs or in cooperation with schools. Librarians have still insufficient intercultural- and digital citizenship skills. However, public libraries are seen as a “trusted” environment by all generations, also in MLF groups. Youth workers and community centers work with MLF children and youngsters out of school but there is little cooperation between youth workers, schools and libraries. COLIBLITE is based on the need of educational- and library professionals as well as MLF parents to develop horizontal neighborhood approaches and actions involving schools, libraries, community centers and parents, to promote and teach basic digital - and citizenship skills with MLF children and youngsters. COLIBLITE is an innovative partnership based in local COLIBLITE partnerships in Utrecht, Bologna, Modena, Bucharest and London. Each local partnership consists of a transnational experienced “leading organization” and schools and libraries which are new to the Erasmus + program. There are 11 partners and 1 associate partner. This number will rise during the project period. Target groups are: (1) staff of libraries, schools and youth work and MLF parents – directly involved in project activities: 775; (2) MLF children (4-12) and MLF youngsters (12-16) – directly involved in project activities: 900; (3) municipalities and policy makers) – directly involved in project activities: 1000. COLIBLITE will, during a 3-year project period, do national research on digital citizenship developments and to develop a set of shared digital citizenship competences, develop and implement organizational and joint action plans, develop and execute training for professionals, develop with children and youngsters in pilot joint projects and activities and will upscale the results and methods to other neighborhoods in the cities and other cities in their countries. This will result in six Intellectual Outputs: 4 national research reports; 5 Local action plans, how to build a successful local partnership; Training package for professionals; Additional digital citizenship programs for children and youngsters in addition to the school programs and school curricula. These Intellectual output will be compiled in a transnational online toolkit with all developed strategy tools. The project will be evaluated by an external evaluator. The immaterial results will be local horizontal cooperation between schools, libraries, youth work, community centers and MLF parents; implementation digital citizenship and digital 21st century skills programs in school- and library programs; upscaling of pilot results to other neighborhoods and cities; and the implementation + dissemination of local action plans. COLIBLITE is based on a long-term vision, it develops and implements sustainable local horizontal cooperation platforms and methodologies. It is designed to give ownership of the project and the methodology to the neighborhood organizations. By involving libraries and school organizations and anticipating on the national development trends concerning 21st century skills and digital citizenship, there is more chance that results of COLIBLITE will be implemented in the regular programs. Municipalities will be urged to adopt the outcomes of COLI
If you want to participate as a fully-fledged citizen now and in the future, and also want to be successful in the (future) labor market, then digital skills are an absolute precondition, in addition to language and reading skills. The DESI Index 2020, provided by the European Commission, reports that only 58% of Europeans have at least basic digital skills (meaning 42% don’t even have basic skills), despite the fact that the job market demand for ICT and digital competences is growing. Therefore, children must acquire these skills from an early age. This applies not only to basic ICT skills, but also to competences referencing the conscious and critical use of digital technology. Unfortunately, also here a additional social divide is looming. Research shows that the skills indicators are strongly influenced by socio-demographic factors. Therefor COLIBLITE was aimed at multicultural- and low-income areas and families. Children from these families often have no personal and suitable digital devices, and their parents often have low education, insufficient digital skills and insufficient financial resources to support their children in their (educational) online environment. This causes problems not only concerning bullying and filter bubbles, but also regarding difficulties in their studies and in their future careers. This required combined educational efforts in- and outside school as well as at home. Of all the educators around children and youngsters: schools, libraries, community centers, sports clubs and parents groups. However, during year 1 of the project, COLIBLITE national and local research showed that not only parents, but also many educational professionals often do not have the basic digital skills and competences needed to support their children and students in their online world. In order to promote and teach the necessary digital citizenship skills to children and youngsters, COLIBLITE developed and coordinated neighborhood approaches, methodologies and actions. This involved schools, libraries, youth work, community centers and parents from an MLF background. They focused on building so called "educational triangles" consisting of a school, a library, a social organization or community center and, preferably, a parents’ group. Libraries had a central role in the project. In year 2 each participating educational partner was made ”digitally literate” in terms of policies, skills and competences of the staff. After this the cooperation between staff of the partners organizations was improved by organizing joined meetings, training and by the exchange of knowledge between educational professionals. In parallel learning materials were developed for inside and outside school lessons and activities. Also parent information events took place. Development of lesson plans and outside activities were based on co-creation by using existing free (online) materials and experiences from elsewhere. In addition teachers were supported in and outside school by media coaches. After the transnational evaluation in year 2, the local COLIBLITE activities were deepened and/or extended and disseminated by creating new educational triangles in other neighborhoods and with other schools. COLIBLITE partners also made efforts to make the COLIBLITE approach part of school-, library and municipal policies. Unfortunately COVID made it, because of the lock downs, almost impossible to organize final conferences and to evaluate certain activities with partners form the educational triangles. During the 3-year project period 3091 children, 500 educational professionals and 250 parents were involved in the COLIBLITE activities. National partners aimed at different age groups and had to work in quite different educational environments. However each national partner worked based on the transnationally agreed principles and competence- and skills schemes. Transnational discussion took place in annual conferences and regular webinars. Final COLIBLITE products (1) 4 national research reports on national digital literacy policies for schools, libraries and youth work. (2) 4 local action plans, based on findings during and conclusions of national research as base for the local educational triangles. (3) Several lesson plans on training of professionals, schoolprograms for children and training of cyber parents (4) Transnational online toolkit with tips, tricks and examples of good practice. IMPACT (1) All COLIBLITE partners created a digital literacy agenda in their organization. (2) The COLIBLITE methodologies have been implemented and disseminated. The teachers now work together and with other "external" collogues to find the best practices of introducing the digital approach in their learning methodologies. There is also more cooperation and mutual support in executing and connection activities for children and parents in and outside school(time). (3) During the COVID lockdowns many of the COLIBLITE objectives were put in practice and the lack of competences with educational professionals and the absence of digital devices in low income families became acutely apparent during the processes of distance learning. (4) COLIBLITE methodologies proved to be key to solve problems and to make educational professionals and organistions aware of the need of sustainable policies and cooperation. (5) The trainings with the parents and the teachers have improved their understanding of certain digital competencies that were only mentioned during the community building workshops.