Drobeta, RO

MEDIA LITERACY AND CRITICAL THINKING

IN THE DIGITAL AGE

FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS FROM GREECE, BULGARIA AND ROMANIA

Drobeta-Turnu-Severin, Romania (hybrid event)

June 9-10, 2022

About "Media Literacy and Critical Thinking in the Digital Age"

This hybrid two-day event addresses some key points:

The importance of being media literate in the rapidly changing world
How teachers and students can become more media literate

By attending this free professional development event, you will find the answers!

The event takes place online, on June 9 & 10, 2022.

Attendance is free, but participants need to register here.

The event aims to:

develop the participants' knowledge related to the importance of media literacy in the world today;
inspire teachers and students to learn more about the new reality of media literacy;
improve the participants' knowledge and skills so that they become more media literate;
create connections and opportunities for further collaboration among the participants.

Speakers

Iuliana DODE

EFL Teacher, George Calinescu High School, Constanta, Romania Fulbright TEA alumna (Media Literacy cohort)

Iuliana DODE teaches English as a Foreign Language at “George Călinescu” High School, Constanţa, Romania and holds a doctoral degree in New Historicism and Japanese American Literature from Ovidius University of Constanţa, Romania (2017).

She started her teaching career in 2012, being not only involved in teaching English, but also an active member of the Romanian Association for American Studies (a branch of EAAS), the Romanian Society for English and American Studies (a branch of ESSE) and MESEA – The Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and The Americas.

In 2016 she was one of the EAAS Transatlantic Grant recipients and conducted research in Santa Cruz, California under the supervision of Professor Karen Tei Yamashita. In 2020 she was a Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Scholar affiliated to Kent State University, Ohio, U.S.A., being part of the 21^st Century Classroom Media Literacy Program.

Her latest publications include her 2019 New Historicism and Contemporary Japanese American Literature? and the articles “Culture, Power and Society: A New Historicist Reading of I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita” (2020) and “Family History and (Bio)Power in Yoshiko Uchida’s Journey to Topaz and Journey Home” (2020).

Aurelia Mihaela NICOLAESCU

EFL Teacher, Mentor and Teacher Trainer

Stefan Odobleja National Pedagogical College, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania

Aurelia Mihaela NICOLAESCU is an English teacher, teacher trainer and mentor as well as councilor for personal development. Currently preparing students for Cambridge exams, she has accumulated significant experience in the field with a focus on building meaningful relationships with the students and offering them tools to simultaneously develop as individuals and independent users of English. She is a graduate of the e-teacher program “Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web" (Web Skills) course with the American English Institute in the Linguistics Department at the University of Oregon (UO AEI) and the school coordinator for projects Erasmus+, Global English .

Nikos PANAGIOTOU

Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Media Communication,

Aristotle University, Thessaloniki

Dr. Nikos S. PANAGIOTOU is Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University. He has been a DAAD Scholar at Deutsche Welle, Chevening Scholar of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK, RCAP Scholar from APU University Japan, Scholar to Beijing Foreign Studies University, Scholar at Sabanci University (Turkey), Scholar of the State of Luxembourg. He has an extensive research work which has been funded from Google (DNI Initiative fund). He is the initiator and organizer of Thessaloniki International Media Summer Academy. He is head of Digital Communication Network Global^. He is Director of Peace Journalism Lab, member of the advisory board for Networking Knowledge. His research interests are upon: International Journalism, Audience Studies, Mass Media Literacy, Disinformation, Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

Adelin Iustin SANDU

PR Advisor for the Romanian Parliament

Adelin Iustin SANDU is a former History teacher, now working as a PR advisor for the Romanian Parliament. As a teacher, he was interested in political propaganda and the mechanisms of transmitting it.

Nowadays, his main field of activity is social media communication, and so far, he has attended several professional development events in the area of fake news and fighting against this phenomenon. Another aspect of PR that he is attentive to in is the mechanism by which fake news spread or are disseminated.

Corina Eugenia MACAVEI

Journalist

Corina Eugenia MACAVEI is Head of Department of Institutional Coordination within the Prefecture of Mehedinti County, and she holds a degree in Law. From 1996 to 2020, she collaborated with numerous local publications from Drobeta Turnu Severin and Craiova, Romania, and she was a correspondent for the national newspaper “Adevărul” and for the press trust “Realitatea”. Her press articles revealed many irregularities in the local public administration and in the public order structures. She also published a series of reports about the most picturesque areas in Mehedinti County. She was a spokesperson of the Palace of Culture “Teodor Costestu” in Drobeta Turnu Severin and of the Prefecture of Mehedinti County.

Chrysoula LAZOU

Project coordinator, Greece

Chrysoula (Chryssa) LAZOU is an EFL educator and School Life Counselor in secondary education, Hellenic Ministry of Education. She holds a Bachelor Degree in English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Master’s of Education in Distance Education, AU, Canada. She is a PhD Candidate at International Hellenic University focusing on Technology Enhanced Learning for Digital and Media Literacy Enhancement in Education through an Interdisciplinary Approach. Chryssa is an IVLP alumna, the Secretary General of the International Association for Blended Learning (IABL) and past president of the English Language Educators Association of Kavala, Northern Greece. She is the Coordinator of the Media Literacy for TEENS.gr, DigiTEENS.gr, VerifyInfoED and CommuniTIES projects and the recipient of the Northern Lights Award, Education Leaders GOLD Award 2020/2021, English Language Teaching Excellence Awards 2020/2021, and Governor General’s GOLD Academic Award 2019/2020.

Nadina C. NICOLICI

Project partner, Romania

Nadina Carmen NICOLICI is an EFL teacher from Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania. She is the school coordinator for projects: Erasmus+, Let’s Speak Media Literacy!, Confident Teacher, Well-off Community, English Language Program for Youth, eTwinning, Teaching with Europeana.

She is a SUSI (Study of the US Institutes) and Fulbright TEA alumna (Media Literacy cohort), member of the advisory board for Fulbrighter, country trainer for British Council, National Geographic Certified Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator, T4 Education Country Ambassador.

Dessislava OGNIANOVA

Project partner, Bulgaria

Dessislava OGNIANOVA is Vice-Principal of Study at 128^th”Albert Einstein” High School in Sofia and EFL educator with a MA in Geography and English philology from Sofia University and specialization in Education Management, University of Veliko Tarnovo. She is the school coordinator for Erasmus+ and Cambridge Schools Association, and TSL International Essay Competition and Debate Teacher Champion. She participated in the TEA program 2013 and Alumni TIES Kyiv 2018 Seminar on Media Literacy and Critical Thinking. She participated in developing a Media Literacy toolkit for educators on the Get Your Facts Straight project funded by the European Commission.

Thursday, June 9

Hybrid event - Drobeta, Romania

15:00 – 15:05: Welcome and Introduction

Project partners

15:05 – 15:15 : Introductory Remarks

William J. O'CONNOR, Cultural Attaché, U.S. Embassy Bucharest, Romania

15:15 – 15:25: Introductory Remarks

Prof. Mircea DUMITRU, Executive Director, Fulbright Romania

15:25– 15:30: Introductory Remarks

Prof. Leontina NITOI, Principal, Lorin Salagean Technical High School

15:30 – 15:50 : The Social Dilemma. Analyzing Jeff Orlowski's Documentary in a 21st Century EFL classroom

Iuliana DODE, George Calinescu High School, Constanta, Romania

The presentation focuses on analyzing and interpreting the documentary titled The Social Dilemma (2020) directed by Jeff Orlowski from a social point of view in the Romanian contemporary typical EFL classroom. The analysis focuses on the impact social media has had on the general population and the consequences we have to face now that we are exposed. Hence, it will include not only theoretical parts, but also high school students’ opinions and solutions to the problems exposed in the documentary. The paper will also comment on similar productions such as Disconnect (2012 dir. by Henry-Alex Rubin) and Trust Me (2020 dir. by Roko Belic), in this way making a connection between what we actually see on screen and what aspects of our lives are reflected in our everyday choices as seen from the news feed on our social media posts.

Keywords: media literacy, social media, misinformation, disinformation, herd mentality

15:50 – 16:15: Creative Ways to Develop Critical Thinking and Integrate Media Literacy in the EFL Classroom

Aurelia Mihaela NICOLAESCU, Stefan Odobleja National Pedagogical College, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania

In a society where the rise of social media and rapid spread of information, sometimes misleading, there is a great need of changing the way we get, accept, handle and pass on the information. It is important for us, the teachers, to undertake the role of teaching our students how to consume media in order to stay well informed and safe in rapidly changing society, to be able to develop their abilities to critically evaluate content they usually only consume in passing on their phones, in print, or on television. By teaching media literacy, educators provide students with crucial skills to become knowledgeable and active participants in the media surrounding them. The matter should be looked into by routine integration which has already proven to be much more effective than simply treating media literacy as a special, isolated topic and which may better meet the needs of teachers who are already at their full capacity with the demands of the curriculum.

16:15 – 16:45: International News literacy: Social media and the war in Ukraine

Nikos PANAGIOTOU, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki

How can international news literacy be a critical and important step in order to a) understand news b) support audiences to make the most out of audiovisual technologies and contents in a continuously convergent landscape.

16:45 – 17:00: Break

17:00 – 17:30: Fake News - Bullets for a New Kind of Weapons

Adelin Iustin SANDU, PR Advisor for the Romanian Parliament

Nowadays, the danger of spreading fake news is huge, compared to other times. The new social media tycoons are in the center of the spots. They are managing lives and destinies all over the globe. Also, countries, such as Russia, China and Iran are using the power of social media to manipulate minds and attitudes. Our mindset is established by the power of social media.

17:30 – 18:00: What Makes Real News? What Makes Fake News?

Corina Eugenia MACAVEI, Head of Department, Prefecture of Mehedinti County

Real news is not to be found on obscure pages or in anonymous comments in social media, and during this presentation, the participants will learn what real news consists of. Credible news comes from reliable sources and they include plenty of facts, statistics, data, official statements. On the other hand, fake news appeals to our feelings and emotions.

18:00 – 18:10: Romanian students share experiences

18:10 – 18:15: Closing of first day of the event

Project partners

Friday, June 10

Hybrid event - Drobeta, Romania

15:00 – 16:00: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking in the new produsage ecosystem: Training youth for responsible citizenship in the digital age through technology-enhanced learning

Chrysoula LAZOU, Project coordinator, Greece

The workshop aims to familiarize educators with strategies as to enhance their students’ digital and media literacy skills with the intent to become responsible consumers and creators of information with the use of new technologies within a pedagogical framework. Critical thinking and cross-checking of sources should be an indispensable part of the digital era in order to promote social justice, human rights, and freedom of expression in a democratic, globally-connected society. Schools are no longer the only source of information and new knowledge as learners may have access to the “unknown” on the click of a button. The role of the 21^st educator is to facilitate youth’s competences and critical skills building through innovative and all inclusive pedagogical approaches to ensure a rich learning experience, sustainability and civic engagement.

16:00 – 17:00: CommuniTIER DigiLab for content development

Dessislava OGNIANOVA , Project partner, Bulgaria

Students love being content developers in the digital age and they have the best platform to share their imagination and creativity. Social media and video platforms like YouTube and Facebook offer endless opportunities to upload and share digital content with the world like never before. However, the recent shifts to remote education have revealed significant gaps in digital and information literacy among students. One of the most important objectives of the CommuniTIES project is to teach students how to be responsible consumers and creators of media content.

17:00 – 17:15 Break

17:15 – 18:15: Checking Facts like a Pro

Nadina C. NICOLICI, Project partner, Romania

Texts, pictures, videos - everything we find or create online can be altered, fabricated, misleading or fake. During this workshop, you will be introduced to methods, strategies and resources which make the difference and make you an expert while checking facts online. Like a Pro!

18:15 – 18.30: Closing of the Event

Project partners

Day 1

Plenary speakers from the U.S. Embassy Bucharest, Fulbright Romania, George Calinescu High School - Constanta, Stefan Odobleja National Pedagogical College - Drobeta Turnu Severin, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki - Greece, Lorin Salagean Technical College - Drobeta Turnu Severin.

Day 2

Workshops on Media Literacy and Critical Thinking in the Digital Age, delivered by the three project partners:

Crysoula Lazou, Greece: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking in the new produsage ecosystem: Training youth for responsible citizenship in the digital age through technology-enhanced learning

Dessislava Ognianova, Bulgaria: CommuniTIER DigiLab for content development

Nadina C. Nicolici, Romania: Checking Facts like a Pro

Closing Event

Register here

The project is funded and supported by U.S. Embassies in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS!

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