FROM DIGITAL NA(T)IVE TO DIGITAL NAVIGATOR Erasmus Project

Project Title

FROM DIGITAL NA(T)IVE TO DIGITAL NAVIGATOR

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

The aim of our project was to help our students to turn from digital na(t)ives to digital navigators. Due to the Corona pandemic, that started to change our teaching and learning experience – maybe forever -, our project has become more immediate than actually planned and teachers, as well as students, were forced to navigate digital surfaces consciously more quickly than expected.

When we started this project, we saw that our students had been confronted with the digital world since their earliest childhood, so they know how to use a computer and handle the Internet even better than most of their teachers. Nevertheless, noticed that quite a large number of students were (and are) quite naive when it comes to navigating this vast jungle of digital information.

The main aim of this project has been to raise students‘ but also teachers‘ awareness of the opportunities and risks connected to the consumption of digital media. Besides, in a participatory media environment, we are no longer only consumers but also producers of media content, so we wanted to make our students understand how to deal with this virtual world in an appropriate and sensible way without harming oneself or others. Moreover, we wanted to help them to use it to their advantage.

Our target group were students at our schools, aged 14-16, who were invited to participate actively in the project. As a result of our work, our students and teachers at each school benefited from the toolbox, guidelines and activities we have worked out together.
The project was separated into five different areas of work and related activities:
a) The producer: Students learned to discover the traces they are leaving online by looking at the things they produce themselves, by getting an in-depth knowledge of social media and by developing guidelines for how they present themselves online.
b) The consumer: We explored the content teenagers consume and worked on the issues of manipulation and media algorithms. We developed guidelines on cyberbullying and how to spot Fake News. We had experts talking about Fake news and legislation related to what people post on social media.
c) Consumers of education: We compared ICT policies at our schools. Furthermore, we explored forms of online verification and validation to help our students avoid plagiarism.
d) The responsible user now: We examined the positive power of digital media by analysing empowerment movements and tools on the Internet. Besides, we had a closer look at our media consumption and how it impacts our mental and physical health. As a result, we developed guidelines on digital detoxing.
e) The responsible user in the future: We wanted to invite our students to discuss the future development of digital media in our professional and private lives. Practical activities regarding future skills like programming were planned but cancelled due to the Corona lockdown in March 2020. Fortunately, we had already started to build a digital tool-box for teachers on how to deal with the topic of digital media in the classroom with many tools and ideas on how to work with students using digital tools. This digital tool-box is still being updated.

We worked on several approaches to the different issues including talks given by experts, who provided us with input on various issues, as well as independent student research and the examination of the material provided. We also used the students‘ creative potential by giving them appropriate tasks and invited them to reflect on their own „media personality“ in different ways.

It was interesting to see how the issues mentioned above have an impact on the students and teachers in different European countries and to analyse the impact of the digital world on each of our school systems. It was interesting to learn from each other and to help each other to deal with the challenges of a digitalised world.

The aim of our project was not only to acquire a better understanding – related to both students and teachers – of how to navigate in a digital environment both on a personal as well as on a professional level, we also wanted to provide substantial teaching material, and make a lasting effect on our school communities. We have developed guidelines after each project week and organised a yearly media awareness day at our schools (which unfortunately could not take place in 2020 due to the Corona pandemic, but is intended to take place in the upcoming school year).

Besides, we wanted to share the output and insights of our project among students and teachers alike through our project website https://sites.google.com/sandnesskolen.no/digitalnativetodigitalnavigato.

The results of our work have partly been implemented in our schools‘ policies on media awareness and we also hope that they have been or will be reflected in media guidelines in our schools, some due to new school legislation in this area.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 118503,17 Eur

Project Coordinator

Skeiane Ungdomsskole & Country: NO

Project Partners

• BG/BRG/BORG Eisenstadt
• Lycée Jean Moulin
• Liceul Teoretic Onisifor Ghibu
• Gymnasium Penzberg