We propose an innovative media and information literacy pedagogy program integrated with debate methodologies that focus on teaching young people to engage with everyday content critically and analyze the ideological background and its social function rather than merely evaluating its validity. We propose integrating it in the digital environment and equipping educators to use this approach in digital and real-life settings. A consortium of 5 organizations experts in debate education, media education, and digital learning and 36 schools are behind the proposal to innovate media education. Existing media literacy education practices are, by and large, focused on fact-checkers, combating hate speech, and recognizing unreliable news sources. Reports demonstrate disinformation spread is much more complicated than previously thought. Traditional literacy education strategies have not been able to keep up with the nuanced and complex nature of disinformation and the way it is shared. Dissemination networks used to spread such information are flexible, increasingly using new approaches, such as utilizing private messaging apps, indicating that current approaches to teaching media literacy lag behind actual trends in fake news propagation. Finally, the issue of politically biased journalism in mainstream media is becoming increasingly more pronounced, underlying the need for teaching strategies that enable in-depth critical analysis of all news content. This project represents an innovative approach to media and information literacy education in the school sector. We will produce a new methodological framework and a toolkit for MILE's practical implementation with debate methodology principles. MeLitA will strengthen teachers and other educators' capacity to carry out media and information literacy education in a digital environment, blend non-formal teaching styles with formal education for real-life education and facilitate cross-sectoral cooperation between the school education and youth sector. Students today are at high risk from entering echo-chambers and interacting only with those peers they share opinions with, preventing dialogue with others, understanding and respecting differences, and providing fertile ground for radicalization. Our project's key feature is the use of MIL adapted debate methodology, resulting in an environment where students can express different opinions and explore different perspectives, develop critical thinking and understand how to interpret all media content. The project outputs are: 1. A pedagogical strategy focused on outlining both the contemporary needs and solutions in the field of media literacy education 2. A Methodological Manual OER focused on teaching media and information literacy through the use of collaborative debate methodology 3. An Implementation Toolkit OER delivering practical solutions for teaching media and information literacy in a range of different environments 4. An interactive, easy to use e-learning platform providing for online teaching and learning opportunities The sector currently lacks such frameworks that would specifically correspond to new trends in media and information consumption. Educators face a broad set of circumstances when teaching in different Programme countries, urban and rural areas, cultural or social exclusion areas, different socio-economic contexts, and more. All of this represents obstacles to conducting education that can have a real, lasting effect on how young people understand and process information gained from the media. We firmly believe that a transnational project with partners from diverse contexts such as this one has significant potential to develop truly flexible outputs, available and applicable even in environments where media and information literacy education is ignored or actively discouraged. Project activities ensure outputs based on feedback from educators and students involved as project participants, resulting in truly applicable outputs and answer users' needs. Importantly, project participants include young people as education recipients. They are the stakeholder most often left out of or underrepresented in crafting teaching materials and developing methodological frameworks. We recognize young people as pivotal to creating truly effective and innovative educational approaches and will incorporate their feedback in finalizing the project outputs. In other words, the outputs for young people and educators will be shaped by young people and educators. Finally, all project outputs will be available freely, with our Methodological Manual and Implementation Toolkit made available in five languages as designed as interactive OERs, allowing for modular use in an appealing, easy-to-use digital format through a developed dedicated e-learning platform, circumventing geographical and financial obstacles to use. They will also be open-sourced and available for further adaptation and implementation.
Melita’s objectives were: 1. To increase the capacities of teachers and other educators to deliver high-quality locally applicable media and information literacy education (MILE) based on debate methodology and critical pedagogy 2. For these teacher capacities to be increased regardless of the economic, political, and geographical contexts through professionalization and increasing the quality of their work 3. To provide media and information literacy skill development opportunities for students to help them navigate the challenges of the present-day news and information market, encourage civic participation and appreciation of democratic values 4. In more concrete terms, to develop open-source, multilingual, and digital teaching materials to increase the reach and remove financial, geographical, or political obstacles to high-quality MILE 5. To ensure the developed digital tools are engaging and simple to use to maximize the range of teachers and educators that can seamlessly integrate them into their teaching
We applied because we realized, through contact with schools, teachers, and youth workers, as well as research, that the existing media literacy education practices are mostly focused on fact-checkers, combating hate speech, and recognizing unreliable news sources. At the same time, reports demonstrate disinformation spread is much more complicated than previously thought. Traditional literacy education strategies have been unable to keep up with the nuanced and complex nature of disinformation and how it is shared. Importantly, moving away from the issue of blatant propaganda and completely fake news, the issue of politically biased journalism in mainstream media is becoming increasingly more pronounced, underlying the need for teaching strategies that enable in-depth critical analysis of all news content. This project represents an innovative approach to media and information literacy education. It relies on debate-based methods to increase students’ critical thinking and reading skills, allowing them to engage in an informed and critical manner with any information. This project set out to strengthen teachers’ and other educators' capacity to carry out media and information literacy education in a digital environment, blend non-formal teaching styles with formal education for real-life education, and facilitate cross-sectoral cooperation between the school education and youth sector.