Advanced Media Literacy Education to counter online hate-speech Erasmus Project

Project Title

Advanced Media Literacy Education to counter online hate-speech

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The AMeLiE project involves innovative practices in the digital age and works on the theme of social inclusion: these are two aspects of fundamental importance, strongly correlated, and which permeate our life. Social inclusion is a priority that goes beyond national and European borders, becoming a central node to be addressed in all fields and at all levels, from the institutional one to that of the various communities. The virtual world, the internet, social media, are also communities, and should therefore not be excluded from this common effort for a more tolerant, fairer and respectful society. This is why AMeLiE addresses the issue of online hate-speech, which has become particularly evident thanks to its current diffusion and popularity on social media, that is, where young people have more easily access. The project addresses this theme starting from providing innovative tools for education, in order to have a widespread and participatory methodology as well as new generations of teachers trained to actively involve young people in this common goal.
In fact, the aim of the project is to train teachers and representatives of school communities (school managers, digital facilitators, but also representatives of families) on the specific methodology proposed, which goes in the direction of getting a step forward also in the field of “digital citizenship”, in line with the next Digital Europe program, thus going beyond basic computer skills and focusing on the formation of advanced media literacy skills for those in educational roles. AMeLiE’s methodology is based on the use and further development of already existing and tested good practices and is based on the principle of co-construction of the training path by learners at all levels, from trainers to teachers, from parents to students. The positive effect will be to have created a community that will not have passively learned techniques and tools but will be an active engine for grassroots proposals and solutions, in a constant process of exchange and sharing.

The project foresees the creation of three Intellectual Outputs that are closely related and complementary to each other:
– a blended training course, which will be able to use al the materials and possibilities offered by the interactive platform;
– a Virtual Network of schools for active countering online hate-speech;
– a manual of Policy Recommendations for policy makers and educational institutions.
AMeLiE is structured on a three-level training phases (first addressed to the Consortium organizations, then addressed to the teachers and / or representatives of the schools involved, then enlarged through a peer-learning path, guided by facilitators), and phases of experimentation, study and analysis of the results, consequently obtaining a methodology that will be easily applicable in various educational contexts, and at different levels. This also makes the project sustainable on a temporal scale, providing for a continuous and long-term exploitation of the results produced.

In particular:
– in the first phase, 10 trainers (with different backgrounds, but above all experts in media literacy) of the partner organizations will be trained on the specific methodology of AMeLiE and on innovative techniques for training and teaching;
– in the second phase, a group of 25 teachers and representatives of the school communities (chosen from the schools participating in the project as associated partners) will test the methodology thanks to the blended course and the use of the interactive platform of the project;
– in the third phase, each trained teacher will have to involve at least 5 colleagues or people belonging to the school community, thus reaching a core of 150 people who will have experienced the methodology and tools offered, hence creating the first nucleus of what will be the “Virtual Network” of schools against online hate-speech.
At the end of the project we estimate that the proposed activities will involve at least 3000 students from the partnership countries (Italy, Belgium, Greece, Romania, Germany), subsequently including other countries and other communities thanks to the Virtual Network and the central role of the “pilot” schools.
The project, offering innovative pedagogical paths and approaches, intervenes at transnational level in the professional development of teachers, creating the conditions for a virtual community that will be increasingly fair and respectful of diversity. Furthermore, also involving other representatives of the educating community, we also intervene in the context of the community in a broad sense, promoting correct, aware and responsible behaviour in the virtual world. Because: “Virtual is real” (from the Manifesto of Parole Ostili).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 280582 Eur

Project Coordinator

EUROPEAN GRANTS INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY SRL & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Fundatia EOS – Educating for an Open Society Romania
• HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY
• STIFTUNG DIGITALE CHANCEN
• ALL DIGITAL AISBL
• Parole Ostili