Me and the Media: Fostering Social Media Literacy Competences through Interactive Learning Sets for Adults with Disabilities Erasmus Project

Project Title

Me and the Media: Fostering Social Media Literacy Competences through Interactive Learning Sets for Adults with Disabilities

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

Many adult educators, professionals working with people with disabilities and parents feel the need to have more knowledge about the social media their students/adults are using and the short and long-term risks and opportunities related to it. As well they face the need to have competences to better support disabled young people in making appropriate use of social media. Policy makers and professionals in the media sector might be interested in the social media working methods and its impact on the way people think and live.
The project aimed to respond to the young adults with disability need to get engaged with the social media competence and the new digital instruments available nowadays.
Objectives:
– To enhance digital media skills of adults with disabilities using interactive learning settings enabling actively and constructively contribute to a fairer and more pluralistic representation of disability in social media.
– To fill the gaps in the professional adult educator’s preparation to better support young adults with disabilities in their engagement with social media.
The results in the project have been achieved by the implementation of a number of interrelated activities that were designed and coherent with the objectives and the methodology. Those activities constituted of:
– creation a sound knowledge base regarding the representation of disability and disabled persons as emerging from social media and the impact that social media have in people with disabilities’ life, especially regarding young adult with disability (18-30 years old). The consortium carried out a study that deeply focused on stereotypes, investigating how they are created and the way they are evolving due to the democratisation of digital media;
– involved young adults with disabilities in the co-design and implementation of Social Media Training Labs in Italy, Portugal and Austria – physical places where peers with disabilities met and discussed their social media consumption and participation;
– the MeMe Guidelines and Toolbox to facilitate access and presence in social media;
– the Learning Programme for adult educators, people with disabilities educators and assistants;
– the Serious Mobile game engaging targeted adults in interactive learning.
To ensure the correspondence with the target group needs, the project followed participatory design principles, where the target group people were involved in the process from the very beginning and participated in all project activities.
The project outcomes are relevant for many organisations and educational initiatives in different European Union (EU) countries and are in line with the implementation of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the Digital Agenda, the Disability Strategy, etc. The materials produced are translated and available at European union level ensuring a coherent action towards the partner countries.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 204610 Eur

Project Coordinator

VIESOJI ISTAIGA SVIETIMO IR KULTUROS MOBILIUJU TECHNOLOGIJU INSTITUTAS & Country: LT

Project Partners

• ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
• ASOCIACIJA LIETUVOS NEIGALIUJU FORUMAS
• ATEMPO BETRIEBSGESELLSCHAFT MBH
• Cooperativa para a Educação e Reabilitação de Crianças Inadaptadas, CRL.
• ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA PER L ASSISTENZA AGLI SPASTICI PROVINCIA DI BOLOGNA
• FENACERCI – FEDERACAO NACIONAL DE COOPERATIVAS DE SOLIDARIEDADE SOCIAL COOPERATIVA FCRL