context/background of project
| Digital Competence (DC) is a key competence for our globalized society, involving the confident, safe and critical use of ICT and Information Society Technology (IST), including the use of digital devices to communicate, exchange information and participate in collaborative online networks.Our schools participated in a etwinning project & realised the importance of increasing DC & eSafety. New competences are needed to cope with social needs & new threats. GDPR, social networks, awareness about potential dangers, the right use of technology and attitude are some of the facts we need to focus on. A small scale research for our needs assessment validated the necessity of DCeS (annex). |
objectives of your project
| This project, aims towards the development of digital literacy and eSafety skills, achieving a high degree of DC, developing an e-safety policy, supporting innovative/open pedagogies in education (Virtual LC, ICT tools, Google Classroom, Wikis, Collaborative/Peer Learning).DCeS will focus on DC and eSafety, dealing with new matters such as eportfolios, rights/obligations regarding GDPR, EU Skills passport, Digital footprint and reputation, Sextortion, Fake news, Misleading advertisements, scams, Hate Speech, Online extremism/radicalization, as well as the common: Cloud services, Social network use, navigation, Security, Safety, Sexting, Cuberbullying, Grooming, Addiction. |
number and profile of participants | At least 30 students and 5 teachers from each school will be directly involved. Special training and dissemination activities will involve the school communities, even parents, thus increasing the impact. At least 2.000 members of all communities will be directly or indirectly influenced. |
description of activities | Teachers will be trained in two phases of the project. They will design and use learning activities and lesson plans for integrating DC and eSafety in the curriculum. The schools will focus on certain aspects of DC/eSafety. Six exchanges will be held, each dealing with different matters:Poland: Smart phones, Navigation, addiction (excessive use of social networks, online gaming and gambling), Security (viruses,malware, spam,phishing)Iceland: Cyberbullying, transactions, eCommerce, Digital footprint and reputationItaly: Kahoot, Prezi, Sexting, Sextortion, Personal Data Protection, Managing access to dangerous content Greece: Programming, EU Skills passport, eLC, Cloud services, Rights and Obligations regarding GDPR, GroomingSlovakia: Fake news and Misleading advertisements and scams, Hate Speech and Online extremism/radicalization, Typing, vlogsSweden: Image/Video processing, effects/influence of social media, Ethics |
methodology to be used in carrying out the project | The project will promote cross-curricular collaboration, creativity and innovative learning approaches. Before each meeting appropriate preparation will take place. Research data will be gathered (pre-test), with questionnaires, testing attitudes, previous knowledge and existing level of digital skills. Results will be taken into account and lesson plans prepared. Assignments (prior to the meeting) will be assigned to students.During each meeting students will participate in theme activities (courses presentations, students teaching peers increasing engagement) and lesson plans will be put into practice. After each meeting there will be follow up activities, such as further implementation of lesson plans, further training, dissemination and evaluation activities. Students will publicly share their own understanding, fostering an authentic dialogue about what they learned. All processes will be enhanced through reflection. Most importantly, a post-test activity will be conducted with the group that participated in the pre-test in order to examine the direct impact of the activities and the meeting to the participating students (using SPSS software and correlated t-tests).A Community of Practice among teachers will be formed, using web 2.0 tools. |
a short description of the results and impact envisaged
| Thus the following products will be delivered:Website for dissemination Lesson plans for integrating DC in the curriculum/good examplesResearch activities, questionnaires, t-test results, articles presenting the impact of the activities and DC changePresentations, training sessions, media and videos from activitiesIt is expected that the project will help students and teachers to:Increase their digital literacy/level of DCRecognize online risksProtect personal information and reputationLearn where and how to get helpDemonstrate and advocate for ethical and legal behaviors |
potential longer term benefits | For all 6 schools, an eSafety policy will be established; DC improvement will be integrated in the curriculum and beyond, making it an everyday practice. Lesson plans, articles, research conclusions, educational material can be used by other schools.The project will promote the professional development of teachers. MOOCs (for teachers/parents) can be designed or even put to practice, enhancing and increasing potential longer term benefits. |