Today, an open public debate is as important as ever. As one of the most important elements of a healthy democracy, a public debate allows citizens to be introduced to the ideas and values of others while simultaneously sharpening their own. This public debate is gradually shifting from the physical to the digital domain. Online, however, things work differently. Many people, organizations and governments are concerned about the prevalence of fake news, hate speech, and self-enforcing echo chambers on the main online platforms. Therefore stimulating and facilitating meaningful dialogues between students on societal and moral issues is believed to be a key element of civic education, both as a form and goal. However, teachers across the European continent indicate they find it difficult to teach civic education online, and guiding discussions in particular. Moreover, several Dutch evaluations amongst students in vocational education have shown that the methods currently used in civic education are often not geared toward the experiences and interests of students, and therefore not motivating enough. That is why this project aims to develop and validate a new, evidence based digital discussion platform for civic education on a European scale that allows students from different schools across the continent to discuss important, thought-provoking European topics in a unique way: anonymous, one-on-one, and without distractions! The target group of this project are students in vocational education (MBO, or their respective equivalent) from the Netherlands, Romania, Italy, and Portugal. Studies on citizenship competences in vocational education have shown substantial lower levels amongst students in vocational tracks than amongst students in academic tracks, and less experience with discussions.
The project had one main objective and two secondary objectives: Main objective: 1.To design, build, and test a tool for pan-European use where students from different countries and with different opinions can engage in meaningful discussions in a unique way. Secondary objectives: 2. Analysis of the results from the executed pilot projects bases on solid research. 3. A proposal for a sustainable and scalable continuation of the developed method and digital tool for the foreseeable future. These objectives have been achieved in a very challenging situation which on one hand made development involving students and teachers very hard and on the other hand enforced the importance of interaction between students of different countries with different views. The development of MixUp as a interactive tool to encourage interaction between young people with different views and from different countries in a controlled/ facilitated environment (as part of a learning process) had been achieved. The tool is accompanied by a handbook that gives the teachers all the information they need to facilitate the discussions and to make the tool part of citizenship education in their teaching and the curriculum.
Today after a pandemic and with several wars going on, an open public debate is more important than ever. With the public debate shifting from the physical to the digital domain especially for young people the rules of the game are changing. Online things work differently. Many people, organizations and governments are concerned about the prevalence of fake news, hate speech, and self-enforcing echo chambers on the main online platforms. Growing polarization with a public debate that becomes dominated by those with the most extreme opinions and the loudest voices. Citizenship education, and more specifically, dialogue and discussion in VET is a helpful instrument to support young people in understanding “the game” and in developing their thinking and argumentation. That is why Vox Pop Academy Europe developed MixUp. It is an online learning method for civic education that promotes active citizenship, social integration and democratic capabilities through anonymous one-on- one discussions between students from different schools/backgrounds and with contrasting opinions.This validated new and evidence based digital discussion platform for civic education on a European scale, allows students from different schools across the continent to discuss important, thought-provoking European topics in a unique way. Alongside the tool a practical and comprehensive handbook has been developed to support teachers in using the tool in their classrooms.