Social Media and Education: Threats and Opportunities. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Social Media and Education: Threats and Opportunities.

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

This is a strategic partnership of five European High Schools to achieve best practices in the usage of social media, especially within an educational context. Furthermore, it aims at avoiding a misuse of them.
Students will develop a critical view on social media and realize the effects which a misuse might provoke.
The project will offer help to not only the students but also to their families, creating the same awareness for them.
In the long term, it will strengthen the media literacy of our students enabling them to participate actively in a democratic society.
Besides this multilingual skills and intercultural awareness will be reinforced.
Social learning will be fostered through a positive use of social media at the same time that violence in schools is avoided.

Ninety-six high school students (aged 11-16, though the target group is 13-14) and more than 30 teachers will be taking part in short term exchanges, while more than 500 students and more than 75 teachers will be participating in the rest of activities .

The following are some of the more relevant activities:
A preliminary survey about using media at school and outside school was conducted to know about the differences and similarities between the five schools.
Different accounts in the best known social networks will be created.
A Logo Competition will be held at each school. The winning entry will be our project logo and thus give us a corporate identity.
There will be an International evening with the participation of families in every short term exchange.
Conferences with Police representatives to discuss the dangers of social media misuse, their experience, the way they work will be held in Jaén and Dreieich.
Students will make photo stories, find films about cyberbullying, provide subtitles and share them. They will also make their own films about the risks.
There will be workshops on positive use of mobile phones in the classroom.
Students will review the apps they use and create their own app with the help of experts while teachers will participate in a workshop on educational apps.
There will be a virtual exhibition of the materials produced, which will be available online sine die.
Students will create a booklet, which will be published at the final event, summarizing all the achievements and findings of the project.

General methodology used in in carrying out the project includes collaborative work, task centred activities, learning through discovery, hands on activities… using the possibilities that non-formal and informal education offer.
An initial survey was conducted on students to learn about their habits on the use of social media.
The students´ expertise in the field will be taken into account.
Fluent communication is the key to successful partnerships and collaborative working, thus, whenever it is needed video conferences with the rest of partners will be held. e-Twinning will be the main platform used in the project as well as those free tools and resources now available on the Internet i.e. instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Line or Telegram, social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, Hangouts or Skype, social learning platforms such as Edmodo or Moodle, and web services for publishing blogs or websites, such as Blogger or Jimdo.
Short term exchanges (every three months) are crucial for the success of the planned activities in the project. The more communication there is, the better the project outcomes will be.
We had two transnational meetings (January 2015 and April 2016) to control the quality of the project and to evaluate it.

The project has had a positive impact on the participants’ attitudes. It broadened their cultural awareness of others and provide important experiences, not least resulting from mobilities.
Moreover, it gave them the opportunity to use and improve their foreign language, ICT, research and presentation skills.
Students learnt to avoid leaving traces of their personal life on the Internet, which could be problem-causing when it comes for example to their future job search.
Good communication prior to, during and the feed back after the exchanges allowed us to stay on task and ensure the project objectives were continuously met. Teachers got opportunities to rethink the integration of media in their classrooms and learn from good practice examples of the partner schools.

There were also many longer term benefits such as helping students to prepare for the European job market, encouraging friendships and personal contacts via modern communication platforms and social networking beyond the project boundaries.

Not only students benefited from this project but also teachers, who acquired skills in the areas of international work experience and project management.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 154900 Eur

Project Coordinator

IES SANTA CATALINA DE ALEJANDRIA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Zakladni skola, Praha 13, Mladi 135
• Heinrich Heine-Europaschule
• de Vereniging Ons Middelbaar Onderwijs
• The Whitby High School