#NarcissusMeetsPandora is an INNOVATIVE ARTS-BASED PRACTICE THAT TAKES UP DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AS TOOLS FOR YOUTH TO CRITICALLY AND SOCIALLY ENGAGE IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENTS PRODUCTION. #NarcissusMeetsPandora addresses crucial concerns of today's society related to digital competences, social inclusion and education. It faces young people's lack of capacity to produce and analyse visual media content and lack of training on digital skills by teachers and school education plans. In a changing society, social sustainability calls for the involvement of young people in creative and dynamic learning processes, taking advantage of intercultural dialogue to value diversity and positive attitude. The project aims to develop digital skills and social engagement in an innovative way, by providing high-quality skills for stimulating the reflection and creative expression, working directly with young people’s digital portraits, starting from an intrinsic habit to develop a critical and efficient pedagogical experience. FIRST RESULT expected is that young people are capable of producing images that represent themselves and others through digital technologies with confidence and responsibility. SECOND RESULT expected is that young people use social media to address social, ethnic and cultural diversity, to make a positive change for communities across Europe. THIRD RESULT expected is that teachers and youth workers feel empowered to use digital skills as a transformation tool that provides social inclusion. WHO IS IT ADDRESSED TO Students/young people aged between 12 and 19 years old, an age range that embraces passage from children to youth, as well as from the beginning of using social media and mobile devices to its daily and common use. Young people with less opportunities and at risk of social exclusion will be particularly targeted. Teachers/youth workers, as they perform a privileged role in youth education and need to develop competences to work digital and visual references in social media. Policy makers and the general public to raise awareness to the projects work, contributing to a more inclusive Europe. RESULTS ACHIEVEMENT: ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY The project aims to create integrated activities to accomplish its objectives. They’ll be developed and performed by all partners according to expertise areas. A FRAMEWORK for any EU institution in developing youth work related to social inclusion, the use of social media or portrait photography. A transversal tool that puts in relation different expertise areas and assesses the impact of this project through its activities. ARTS-BASED WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES, a set of empathic and creative approaches to media and visual literacy incorporating intercultural dialogue, that will be developed and performed with students/young people and their teachers/youth workers. An ONLINE EXHIBITION and a PHYSICAL EXHIBITION to disseminate workshop’s artistic results, both to policy makers and the general public. A DIGITAL TOOLKIT, for training and learning the arts-based activities set as digital tools to accompany students/young people and their teachers/youth workers. This toolkit promotes empowerment of youth’s means of representation and enhances the critical quality and social impact of youth work online. An EDUCATOR'S GUIDE, presenting the toolkit and assisting teachers/youth educators with extensive knowledge regarding the areas that the toolkit explores: digital competences in social media, visual literacy and individual and social identities in youth. It will allow the digital toolkit to be used and spread in schools and other non-formal education youth institutions. To develop an impact evaluation system that can be tested during the project’s pilot implementation, the project produces an EVALUATION KIT and a FORMATIVE EVALUATION of the project’s pilot implementation. It also accomplishes an adequate process of dissemination by creating evidence of the approach used in the project. Its expected impact is therefore increasing the capability of disseminating the project with quality, towards maximizing its social value creation. DISSEMINATION & SUSTAINABILITY Each project partner will work with at least 50 students/young people and teachers/youth workers in the pilot implementation phase. In national multiplier events at least 350 persons will participate, from teachers/ youth workers to national policy makers and, in physical exhibitions, around 500 visitors from the general public. Considering the high digital dissemination capacity of the partnership, the online exhibition reaches a much greater audience. #NarcissusMeetsPandora will provide schools, educational, cultural and governmental institutions the project’s tools and establish partnerships and activities that will guarantee the project’s continuity beyond its completion.
With #NMP we intended to produce, experiment and evaluate a set of results oriented towards specific planned OBJECTIVES; Theory of Change activity helped partners to align the outcomes, clarifying the objectives to achieve: For young people: - to improve social inclusion - to increase visibility of represented groups in social networks - to foster conscient use of social media on active participation/make positive change in communities across Europe - to foster digital citizenship - to foster co-creation and collaboration For teachers/youth workers: - to foster capacity to use digital technologies on school education - to increase understanding of process of adolescent identity construction, reflected in social media use For key actors and policy makers in education/youth/social inclusion: increase education quality at youth level - to foster more inclusive schools - to increase visibility for under represented groups in social media, particularly young people at risk of social exclusion - to foster the use of pedagogical tools using art based activities, collaboration and co-creation processes. Using non-formal learning arts-based workshops and a digital toolkit, supported by an educators guide and an evaluation kit, taking active part in pedagogical tools of educators.
Digital literacy is fundamental but learning digital skills is not mainstream in formal education plans.Today’s young people are digital natives placing most educators in a knowledge gap; educators need to get more involved in digital technology. The project answers these needs to develop visual, legal and digital skills. Digital skills are technical but enable youth to access, use and produce content, critically reflecting and analysing media content, as pointed out by European Commission (EC) Study on the Impact of the Internet and Social Media on Youth Participation and Youth Work. EC “Engaging, Connecting and Empowering young people” 2019-2027 sustains that youngsters will benefit of EU actions if they can follow their aspirations, creativity and talents; young people from diverse backgrounds need to be involved, including those with fewer opportunities, at risk of social exclusion and socially underrepresented. Is crucial to involve young people in actions valuing attention to diversity, communication, acceptance, openness and positive attitude. “Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe CiCe, 2017” sustains intercultural dialogue in educational practice as basic to social sustainability in a culturally changing society.