ATU hosts event for primary school educationalists on new ‘Minding Media’ resources funded by EU Erasmus+
Staff from Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Donegal Letterkenny are hosting an event for primary school educationalists and parents on Tuesday 24 October (from 9.45am) about an important new educational resource called “Minding Media”, a set of digitised, interactive media literacy educational resources that have been created to help children aged between 8 and 12 to learn more about media, advertising, fake news and social media.
The event is for parents and guardians of primary school children, teachers, boards of management and parents’ associations of primary schools, and providers of youth services and after-school care. ATU staff will share details of these new educational resources which are funded by the European Union Erasmus+.
The “Minding Media” educational tools are designed to develop children’s critical media literacy competences (www.mindingmedia.eu). They comprise of interactive online videos and quizzes, four Minecraft Education Worlds, and a Teaching Toolkit which contains eight step by step lesson plans. There are a limited number of spaces still available. Please register here.
Attendees will hear from a variety of speakers discussing children’s media literacy, the techniques social media use to keep children engaged, and how media literacy can be addressed in primary school education.
Dr Vicky O’Rourke, Senior Lecturer in Research Development at the Faculty of Business, ATU Donegal, explains: “Between the ages of 8 and 12 children’s knowledge of the persuasive tactics used in the media is growing. The challenge is that as children become more expert and adept at consuming digital technologies, the nature and form of the commercial messages they see also becomes more sophisticated, stealthy and covert. Children remain vulnerable to the harms and unintended effects of digital media consumption. In response, the Minding Media Educational Resources have been carefully designed to complement the media literacy learning outcomes of the Wellbeing Curriculum in Primary School.”
During the month of October, the Minding Media educational resources are being launched in four European countries: Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland and Serbia. Funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme, the Minding Media project has been developed as part of ATU’s strategy of engaging with stakeholders through the university’s Research and Innovation function. The project consortium comprises educational experts, gamification experts, and media literacy experts from across Europe.
ATU is the lead partner on this project, for more information, please contact Dr. Vicky O’Rourke, principal investigator at: vicky.orourke@atu.ie.
