Using Social Media Rationally, Efficiently and Safely

Background of Project This project was an answer for a common need to develop these competencies in our schools environment. The Internet is one of the most important additions to our lives and we take full advantage of it. Parents, struggling for existence& career, neglect their children, don’t have enough time to listen, share their joys and sorrows, guide them. Frequently young people seek refuge in the virtual world and feel the Internet makes their life easier, empowered. Being liked, acquiring skills in games, feeling equal& killing the time fills the void of adolescents with deficient social skills. This project approaches social& civic EU key competencies because our students need to understand how they can attain personal& social well-being through a healthy lifestyle. These include personal, interpersonal& intercultural competence and cover behaviors necessary to participate in an effective& constructive way in social& work life. Acquiring the civic competence will allow them to engage effectively with others in the public life, and display solidarity& interest in solving problems affecting local& wider community. This project looked at the EU's key social and civic competences so that young people understand how they can achieve personal and social well-being through a healthy lifestyle. They cover personal, interpersonal and intercultural competences and include the behaviors necessary for effective and constructive participation in social and working life. Acquiring civic competences will allow them to engage effectively in public life and demonstrate solidarity and interest in solving problems affecting the local and wider community. Objectives The aim of this partnership was, through European cooperation, to make students aware of the need for rational, efficient and safe use of social media, preventing school drop-outs. It promotes the key competence of "learning to learn" - the ability to organize one's own learning, including the effective management of time and information. This includes being aware of the learning processes and needs. In this way, our students can acquire, process and assimilate new knowledge and skills, seek and use guidance. Participants A total of 79 students took part in short-term student exchanges and they were accompanied by a total of 26 accompanying persons (teachers) - it concerns three physical mobilities. One short-term exchanges of students, realized in the form of virtual, was attended by 119 students and were accompanied by a total of 25 accompanying persons (teachers). 9 teachers from partner schools took part in the training for teachers organized in Turkey. Students and teachers will participate in meetings in partner countries and work in multicultural teams as planned. The partnership was an opportunity for everyone to participate, work, see, compare and learn in a multicultural environment in a foreign country. All partners actively participated in: project meetings, worked in multicultural teams in planned activities, assessed the progress and impact of the project, shared experiences and good practices, planned further activities. The project coordinator monitored the implementation of the tasks in cooperation with the people responsible for the teams. Results and Impact Impact on students: -Awareness& improvement of Social Media (SM)safe and rational use -Knowledge of SM addiction danger& effects -Development of social& civic skills, self-esteem, critical thinking, creativity& synthesis -Enhancement of healthy& accountable alternatives to SM -Hobbies importance for talent development Impact of teachers: -Professional portfolio enrichment with extracurricular activities (competitions, shows, photo exhibitions, campaigns for healthy& responsible lifestyle) -Digital skills improvement (Web 2.0 tools) -English skills improvement School: -Local, national& international school image improvement -Increase of attractiveness, students’ number& competitiveness, implementing new teaching strategies -Introduction of new approaches to institutional development& resource management -EU projects experience gain -Extracurricular offer diversification -European dimension’s consolidation in education, active European citizenship promotion Wider learning community: -Providing other schools with new teaching strategies -Other schools’ benefits by using disseminated end products -Promotion of lifelong learning& school application for EU projects in other schools Community: -Parents’ awareness of SM dangers& rational use need -Local, national& international image promotion -Improvement of school-community relationship, community’s confidence