View source for Effective media literacy for the end-user – WS 05 2009

14 September 2009 | 16:15-17:45 <br />
[[Programme overview 2009|'''Programme overview 2009''']]<br />

== Keywords and questions ==
Citizenship; competences; consumerism; media coaching; user aggregation; serious games; identity construction; human rights respect and implementation; online resources; open educational resources; cross-cultural education and communication; cultural diversity; towards a European media literacy model; governance of media education; mapping of media education policies; dynamic coalition on media governance.

== Session focus ==
Workshop focus: Citizenship; competences; consumerism; media coaching; user aggregation; serious games; identity construction; human rights respect and implementation; online resources; open educational resources; cross-cultural education and communication; cultural diversity; towards a European media literacy model; governance of media education; mapping of media education policies; dynamic coalition on media governance.

== Messages == 
There was considerable focus on identifying media education initiatives in Europe and considering whether they are efficient and how they are evaluated. There was also reflection on what can be done next to render these and future initiatives more effective. 

Discussions revealed gaps in media education, namely gaps in participation, transparency, socialisation and ethics.

The need for new information e-skills was underlined, in particular the importance of play (for problem solving e.g. serious games), of performance as a way of constructing identity, of simulation, of multi-tasking, of transmedia navigation, of (social) networking, and of negotiation. These should be added to the more comprehensive competences around the Six C’s: Comprehension, Critical thinking, Creativity, Consumption, Citizenship and Cross-Cultural Communication.

In this connection, three main questions were raised:

* Are schools the most effective environments to teach and learn media education or are they obsolete?

The ''tour de table,'' which showed many examples of good practices, demonstrated that the early training of teachers is key. Such training still remains behind in many countries, especially as teachers continue being trained in traditional disciplines whereas media education competences tend to be transversal.

* What informal ways forward for media education, and are they effective?

Informal ways to promote media education were also supported by many examples, in the private sector, in the public media sector, etc. They tend to focus on lifelong training of professionals and to be carried on in a variety of ways, including long distance training and e-learning strategies. 

* Can standards for media education help and therefore what is media education for Europe?

The issue of standards that would work across Europe was also very fruitful as the participants all acknowledged the idea that media education could be a way to build citizenship across Europe. The participants gave examples of policy frameworks that could be adapted to national situations as well as examples of tools like the Council of Europe Internet handbook that have transnational and transborder empowering validity. 

Among the suggestions that participants were ready to take home with them, the most salient for efficiency were: 

* more focus on teacher training at all levels of the curriculum; more efforts to provide alternatives to silo disciplinary studies, and to mirror the training of teachers with the expected outcomes of students;
* more synergies between informal sector and formal sector to change scales and to facilitate access to highly developed tools; the divide between the two sectors should be bridged via multi-partner initiatives;
* move toward a European literacy model that would promote human rights for an open and public education ready to meet the challenges of the “Information Society”. Ensure that the e-competences develop cross-cultural communication and European Citizenship;

During the final tour de table, the participants summarised their feelings about media education using keywords that all emphasise a facet of the issues, namely:

* Life long learning  
* Digital competence  
* Flexibility 
* Engagement  
* Confidence  
* Involvement  
* in partnerships  
* Multistakeholderism 
* Empowerment  
* Equality of opportunities  
* Networking the literacies / transmedia / transliteracy 
* Social networks, social media 
* European literacy model  
* Open source  
* Media cultures  
* Professional standards  
* Standard settings 

[[Category:2009]][[Category:Sessions 2009]][[Category:Sessions]]