Sofia, BG

MEDIA LITERACY AND CRITICAL THINKING

IN THE DIGITAL AGE

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

American Corner Sofia, City Library - Sofia, Bulgaria

April 29-30, 2022

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

This two-day event addresses some key questions:

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

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

The event takes place on April 29 & 30, 2022, in-person meetings, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

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

Justine Toms

Department of Mass Communication, New Bulgarian University

Justine Toms is among the pioneers of the Bulgarian Internet and expert in online media and marketing. She is the founder of digital agency ABC Design & Communication since 1998 and creator of a number of niche online websites. Justine works in the field of digital communications and media literacy and has also been the idea leader of the competition for best Bulgarian online projects - BG Site since 1999. She is the author of 15 books in the area of online presence, digital media, CSR and communication, and entrepreneurship. She is a lecturer at New Bulgarian University and SoftUni Digital.

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.

Angela Rodel

Executive director of the Bulgarian-American Fulbright Commission

Angela Rodel holds a BA from Yale University in linguistics and two MAs from UCLA in linguistics and ethnomusicology. She is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, who first came to Bulgaria in 1996 to study linguistics and folk music at Sofia University. Since moving permanently to Bulgaria in 2005, Angela worked in business consulting and founded her own translation business. She is the leading literary translator from Bulgarian to English, with seven novels published in the US and UK. Since 2014, she has taught a master’s course in translation at Sofia University. In 2015, Angela became the executive director of the Bulgarian-American Fulbright Commission.

Martin Dimitrov

Association of European Journalists, Bulgaria

Martin Dimitrov is a Bulgarian journalist, editor and media literacy facilitator. He is political editor of the English-language website Kapital Insights, part of Economedia group and editor for the student-led online portal sCOOL Media, powered by the Association of European Journalists. He also leads media literacy training for high school-aged students. Previously, he has worked for Capital Weekly, a premium Bulgarian politics and business media, as well as for Balkan Insights - a regional Balkan online publication. His work has also appeared in The Guardian, Financial Times and Los Angeles Times, among other internationally renowned publications. He graduated Politics at the University of Glasgow in the UK.

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 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.

Friday, April 29

American Corner Sofia, City Library - Sofia, Bulgaria

14:00 – 14:30: Registration

14:30 – 14:40 : The mystery of Bulgarian folklore

Students choir performance

14:40 – 14:55: Welcome and Introduction

Project staff

14:55 – 15:00 : Introductory remarks

Mr. Brent LaRosa, Cultural and Educational Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria

15:00 – 15:30: Disinformation, Social media and the new reality of media literacy

Justine Toms, Department of Mass Communication, New Bulgarian University

The rise of social media and the rapid spread of disinformation online has changed the way we perceive and handle information. Nowadays, people are challenged to navigate a much more complex media landscape with a wide range of platforms. In this new reality, the importance of media literacy is essential for citizens to stay well-informed and safe.

15:30 – 16:00: 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.

16:00 – 16:30: Coffee Break - Networking event

16:30 – 17:00: Educating the Digital Citizens of Tomorrow: Fulbright Programs to Support Media Literacy Training

Angela Rodel, Executive Director of Fulbright Bulgaria

This talk will present information about Fulbright programs, activities and opportunities related to media literacy. Since 2018, when media literacy became a leading priority of the US State Department, the Bulgarian Fulbright Commission has worked together with partners such as the America for Bulgaria Foundation, the US Embassy in Bulgaria, and the Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria to develop a number of media literacy programs and resources to benefit support educators and students. I will talk about best practices and lessons learned, and look forward to input from the CommuniTIES participants about the most successful strategies they have found for their classrooms.

17:00 – 17:30: Keeping it real in a fake (news) world: The growing importance of media literacy in an increasingly uncertain world

Martin Dimitrov, Association of European Journalists, Bulgaria

It all started with fake news winning elections. Then the pandemic made things even more difficult and now, on top of it all we have a war. It is in times like these that even journalists could not keep up with the flow of information that media literacy becomes essential to each and everyone. Teaching basic critical thinking skills, differentiating between opinions and facts, knowing the basics of information warfare and how not to fall prey to it is something that teachers have to integrate in their teaching, regardless what they specialize in. But before that they first have to do some soul-searching, come to terms with their own biases and learn how not to impose them on their students.

17:30 – 17:45: Students share experiences

Saturday, April 30

American Corner Sofia, City Library - Sofia, Bulgaria

10:00 – 11:00: 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

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 – 12:15: What’s in a Fact? What’s in an Opinion?

Nadina Nicolici, Project partner, Romania

The workshop aims to provide the participants with ideas, practical activities and strategies which can turn into the first step they can take to develop their students’ critical thinking skills so that they can analyze the messages they receive and become aware of the meanings they may hide. Thus, the workshop will enable the attendees to distinguish between Facts and Opinions, which leads to a better understanding of mass-media in general, and to a critical and reflexive analysis of the media content: how to distinguish between different types of messages and forms of communication, how to compare sources, interpret situations, check validity, credibility and quality of media content, as well as detect messages containing stereotypes, bias, discrimination and misconceptions. The activities are given a green twist, as the examples analyzed deal with one of the most burning issues of the 21^st century: environmental protection.

12:15 – 13:15: 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.

13:15 – 14.00: Closing Event

Light lunch

Certificates of participation

Register here

Day 1

Plenary speakers from the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, Bulgarian-American Fulbright Commission, New Bulgarian University, Aristotle University -Thessaloniki and Association of European Journalists, Bulgaria.

Day 2

Workshops on Media Literacy and Critical Thinking in the Digital Age, delivered by the three project partners, teachers in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

Closing Event

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

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS!

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