Benefits and Dangers of Social Media Erasmus Project

Project Title

Benefits and Dangers of Social Media

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Pedagogy and didactics; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

This two-year project, develops a scheme of work and a set of teaching and training resources covering both the benefits and dangers of social media. The target age group is the Secondary sector, where there is usually an ICT curriculum which covers the technical and practical uses of ICT, but there is a shortfall in the coverage of social media. This is now a fundamental aspect of the lives of almost all teenagers, however its use can be both beneficial and destructive. There is a lack of education on the use of social media, which this project aims to address.

There is ample research to show that the negative elements of social media can have a serious impact on mental health, with access to technology a major contributor. The European Commission has made promoting safer use of the internet a priority for young people and called for improvements in critical thinking, media literacy and developing the skills necessary for ‘cyber hygiene’. Schools are unlikely to have the time or expertise to develop such a methodology by themselves and this proposal aims to exploit expertise from 5 countries to provide a model that can be readily adopted across the EU.

This project addresses the Horizontal Priorities of…
• supporting opportunities in acquiring and developing key competences in order to foster socio-educational and personal development– in particular critical thinking and digital literacy
• extending and developing the competence of educators and other personnel who support young people in school

This project addresses the Erasmus+ School Priority of…

• strengthening the profile of the teaching profession by enhancing professional development, facilitating teacher mobility and developing innovative teaching methods

The objectives of the project are to:

• analyse and share existing strategies and resources for dealing with social media
• identify common areas of strength and priorities for development
• develop a structure for the work schemes and a set of training materials and sample lesson plans, based on needs, covering:
⎫ types of social media and their use by young people
⎫ communication benefits including language learning
⎫ dangers of social media
⎫ social media as a news source
⎫ online safety and school policy
• pilot, test, evaluate and refine the schemes of work and training resources in schools in 5 countries
• produce a report on the outcomes, sets of case studies and recommendations for school policy including a model school policy
• disseminate the outcomes widely

The outputs of the project will be:

• A project website hosting downloadable resources and case studies
• A model scheme of work and associated resources for schools
• A set of training modules for teachers and trainers working with schools supported by an online handbook
• An impact report incorporating recommendations for policy
• A set of case studies demonstrating the programme in action in each of the 5 countries
• An impact report
• A set of dissemination materials and seminars in 5 countries
• An exploitation plan

Once the initial framework is in place, teachers and students will come together in a teaching and learning activity to develop the resources in more detail. These will then be tested and evaluated across five countries.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 184056 Eur

Project Coordinator

edEUcation ltd & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Arete Learning Trust
• EDUACT – DRASI GIA TIN EKPAIDEUSI
• Institut Escola Pi del Burgar
• VIESOJI ISTAIGA KITOKIE PROJEKTAI
• Liceo Scientifico Statale Augusto Righi