During the last decades our society has been experiencing a period of great social, cultural and technological changes. This project will principally deal with many aspects of today’s digital media and the way they shape young people's identity, their culture, perceptions, lifestyle, and commodity consumption. In general, the aim of the project is to allow students to understand, interpret, critically evaluate and create media. Successful digital communication, knowledge and competence is paid special attention to. The project is part of a determined and consistent work on the European profile of the participating schools, which all intend to make a contribution to the understanding amongst Europe's youth. Our main project aims will be to allow our students to access, critically evaluate, and create digital media (digital media literacy). During the project the students will be sensitized to the influences and complex strategies of digital media they are being subjected to and that exert an enormous impact on their culture, social interactions, and psychological well-being. Furthermore, we will help our students to deconstruct the powerful and often misleading messages of media, especially on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. One of our main goals is to enable our students to become well-informed ethical consumers of digital (hardware) media and active citizens who will take a stand on important global issues such as fair work and sustainability. In order to reach our common goal, the students will be enabled to develop their basic, social and media skills (ICT, foreign language, problem-solving, effective communication, creativity and critical thinking). As teachers it will be our task to support the students in envisioning multiple solutions and turning ideas into action as well as helping our students to appreciate the value of education, training and lifelong learning. Therefore we will promote strategies that will improve internal collaboration, the inclusion of students from all backgrounds and prevent early drop-out rates. Considering the remarkable topical importance of the project and the wide choice of cross-curricular learning opportunities it will provide, all the student population and teaching staff of the four partner schools will be significantly and consistently involved in the project stages and activities. Several hundreds of participants will take an active part in the collaborative project, from its initial planning, realization, to its final stage, where results will be presented to the schools, students’ parents and the broad community. Students and teachers respectively will regularly discuss the quality of their work and give suggestions about improving the project contents, management and results. Self-assessment questionnaires and surveys on the students’ motivation, opinions, personal involvement and work progress will be carried out at different project stages. To ensure that all project activities deadlines are properly met, a project calendar will be produced which will record chronologically all activities. At each stage of the project, it will show what needs to be done and what has already been achieved. In this way the project participants will be reminded in time. The four learning/teaching/training activities will contribute to create a more interactive and engaging learning environment and to develop the students’ collaboration and responsibility for the project’s success. The activities will encourage the participating students to introduce a more personalised and creative approach to the project topic "digital media literacy", boost their problem-solving skills and improve their confidence. The effects on the partner schools as well as on the students are manifold. At the institutional level, the European profile of the schools will be sharpened in order to meet current and future challenges within Europe. The ability to appreciate other cultures, to practice tolerance and adaptability as well as to gain self-confidence are crucial aspects in order to have better job opportunities in professional life and to counteract emerging xenophobia. To measure the project impact, feedback questionnaires and surveys among students and some members of the target groups (teaching staff and students’ families), which reflect the long-term effectiveness as well as the changes and successes in everyday school life, will be conducted systematically. These impact measurement indicators will provide the important and objective information on the project’s progress, the level of student motivation and performance, and on changing perspectives, attitudes and behaviour. Other exemplary project impact indicators will be: the consistency and quality of our students’ research findings, presentations and material produced and uploaded; the size of the visual material shared (videos, posters, photos, brochures, booklets) etc.
The project "Be smart in today's European digital world" focused on the social, cultural and other changes resulting from the digitalization of the world of work and life. The students involved looked at various aspects of digital media and the Internet. Different emphases were placed in the various project phases. Overall, the aim of the project was to enable the learners to gain a comprehensive understanding of digital media and possibilities, while also promoting the ability to critically question and evaluate these media and to adequately use digital tools. The focus was also on the design of digital products, e.g. videos. The students involved were thus encouraged to find a way for themselves in the increasingly digital reality of life that makes use of the advantages of digital possibilities without losing their critical view of the boundless use of the Internet and software. They are now able to assess the influence and complex strategies, e.g. of social media, and to classify the consequences of these for culture, social interactions and physical health. Furthermore, the learners are able to use not only social media but also digital tools in a targeted and profitable way when a situation or problem requires or makes it possible. After a planning meeting of the supervising teachers from all four participating schools in Olpe, where the focus and goals were set, a digital workspace (Twinspace in eTwinning) served primarily as a meeting place and meeting space in the first phase of the project. As mobilities had to be postponed due to school closures and lockdowns, a lively exchange took place in this Twinspace. The project theme was deepened, examined, processed and recorded in various tasks. The project theme suited this type of collaboration, but the personal dimension, which was considered very important as an explicit counterbalance to the digital elements, would have come up short in the meantime. Nevertheless, the time of the Corona constraints could be used profitably. The targeted students participated actively in various assignments, online meetings and competitions. In addition, further project steps were planned during this time, and various aspects of the project topic were examined, e.g., in a forum discussion on the topic of "Fake News" and an online meeting on the topic of "Security on the Net." Despite all the positive experiences, it also became clear that no technology in the world can replace real meetings! Due to the restrictions of the Corona pandemic, no L/T/T meetings of the approved internships could be held at first. When it was finally possible to travel again, all four mobilities were included. The student groups met together with their supervising teachers in Romania, Portugal, Italy and Germany, where the project finally came to an end. In Romania, the project focus was "Exploring the web". Groups from Germany and Portugal were able to travel there, while the Italian group participated digitally on a selective basis. The program included workshops on digital devices, programming languages and robots, a visit to a TV station, working with digital maps and exploring the use of technology and the Internet in museums and other places in the city of Craiova. In Portugal, the focus was on learning with the Internet. Digitally-enabled city explorations were conducted, a photography exhibition and museum were visited, and related workshops were held. Learners from the Portuguese school also led a learning workshop on the learning possibilities of the game "Minecraft". The focus was also on multimedia learning. In Italy, the project focus was "Connecting on the web." The participants took part in workshops on digital tools (virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing). In various role plays, supported by digital tools, they also learned about concrete examples of so-called "fake news." The last meeting, in which delegations from all four countries participated for the first time, took place in Germany. The focus was "Creating for the web." In addition to an exploration of digitally supported production possibilities in industry, demonstrated and tried out at the Attendorn school site, and an exploration of the "world of Amazon" at a local company, there were two highlights in particular: The production of a dynamic dance video (after professional input) and the exhibition of the project in the local savings bank with a ceremonial opening by the district administrator.