On October 25, the second webinar of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ took place on the VK platform of the “Safe Information Environment for Children” project. The guests of the event – practicing media educators – told what “media” is, what media literacy consists of, how to obtain a set of necessary competencies and make the first step into the media industry, why create school media centers and, finally, how, having unlimited access to information, protect yourself from its negative influence.
The meeting opened with the piece of news that the competition for beginning online journalists and bloggers “DOT-Journalism. Juniors" was prolonged: until November 15, students no older than 18 years old can submit to the competition. The essays can be presented both in the classical journalistic form (for example, an article or report) and in the modern one (longread, podcast, infographics). It should also be devoted to one of the four topics of the year: IT teacher, Technologies in Education, Russian language on the Internet, as well as “.RU .vs .РФ: Which of These Domains Will I Choose for My Project on the Internet?”
“The authors of the best works will receive not only diplomas and a set of souvenirs from the competition partners, but also valuable prizes - a VK smart speaker, Philips wireless headphones or virtual reality glasses,” noted Victoria Bunchuk, Head of Social Projects at the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ. – "The work of our juniors will be assessed by IT industry experts and professional journalists who have previously won the DOT Journalism competition. We plan to award the winners in December as part of the Runet Prize".
The second report of the webinar was devoted to media theory. Tatyana Lomakina, computer science teacher, media educator and curator of media classes at Moscow school No. 2120, identified three main components of media literacy:
- Searching and processing of information, as the ability to use information search tools, as well as classify and systematize it
- Analysis and assessment of channels of receipt and quality of information; this component, in particular, includes the skill of controlling one’s own media behavior, as well as the ability to understand how and why the media transform the transmitted information and why
- Safe use and production of information, as well as the ability to predict the consequences of one’s own media behavior
And when asked how different types of literacy are related, Tatyana answered that “digital literacy is, rather, the basic ability to use digital tools, and media literacy is the ability to work with information, that is, the ability to find it, convey it [to the audience], and accumulate or preserve it, for example, for the younger generation, the ability to work with media as a means of transmitting information; Media literacy is needed so as not to get lost in the flow of information.”
Svetlana Dorosh, media educator and Head of the children’s and youth media studio “Yeshcho” in the city of Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky, Irkutsk Region, spoke about what projects help develop media and information literacy. The largest number of projects in this area are being implemented on the portal of the National School Press Agency “NASHpress”; they cover hundreds of school press centers and children’s and youth journalistic studios throughout the country. Among them are mediathons, photocrosses, press parks, the School Media Marathon, the All-Russian competition of school publications, Moscow interactive holidays, as well as the Big Games, which include modeling the professional life of the media.
“Media information technology provides opportunities for everyone. The skills that guys learn in media studios are transferable; searching, checking and creating your own content is useful for any person and will be a plus for any profession or field of activity,” Svetlana shared her opinion.
At the finale of the webinar, Tatyana Lomakina and Svetlana Dorosh spoke about a joint study of media literacy, which was conducted as part of the master's program at Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPGU). The respondents were more than 1,000 students and 200 teachers from Moscow, as well as Irkutsk and several other regions of the Russian Federation, actively working on the NASHpress portal. The results of the study were alarming: for example, only about 4% of respondents successfully completed fact-checking.
» Playlist “Webinars at BIS”
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The next webinar of the Coordination Center on the “Safe Information Environment for Children” platform will take place in a month - on November 22. The meeting will be dedicated to the .ДЕТИ domain and electronic projects of the Russian State Children's Library implemented in this domain zone.
A Safe Information Environment for Childhood is a comprehensive project of the Academy of Innovative Education and Development for parents, teachers and young professionals of various profiles working with children and youth, as well as participating in the process of digitalization of education, examination of children's information products and increasing the overall level of digital literacy of the younger generation.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ plans to hold a series of thematic meetings on the project’s VK platform, where, together with guests - practitioners, colleagues, partners and friends - it will present its educational, research and competitive projects for students, teachers, parents and professional community, and will also discuss issues and problems that in one way or another relate to these projects.
All webinars are conducted with the information support of the Smart Internet Foundation (domain .ДЕТИ).
