Description

The motivation for this project stems from the obsevation that educators and youth workers are oftentimes confronted with counterproductive behaviors of youngsters who engage in so called “banal use of new media”.

On the other hand, it is generally accepted that youth are also capable of engaging in online types of behaviors which are extremely positive and beneficial because they stimulate personal growth.

We believe the role of educators and youth workers is to turn negative and counterproductive online behaviors into positive and constructive ones, in other words, their role is to encourage youth to use media technologies in a sensible way, notably by promoting and encouraging online information creating behaviors.

Using proven pedagogical methods, participants are taken through the process of crafting a short film and subsequently uploading the media to an online platform.

The objectives of this project are:

– provide youth workers and educators with practical tools and techniques to transform youth online behaviors into meaningful learning processes

– provide youth workers from different backgrounds with the opportunity to exchange about their experiences regarding youngsters use of media technologies

– motivate youth workers and educators to develop activities involving media technologies

– provide youth workers with ideas and strategies to combating the digital divide

As a result of the training participants will be able to:

– initiate and supervise activities for youth on collaborative digital video production and editing

– guide youth in selecting the most appropriate online video sharing platform where to upload their creations to ensure that they feel a sense of self-worth and empowerment as a result of their work

– transform youth current practices involving media technologies into learning processes

– ensure that youth engage in online content creating behaviors responsibly, that is to say, in line with copyrights restrictions, intellectual rights, etc.

The activities:

The training will include three main modules:

1) Video production and editing: we will experiment different tools for video production and editing with the purpose of creating a short video. This will provide enough material to describe the difficulties encountered in the process and think of possible solutions. Participants will subsequently work in groups to debate the pros and cons of each of the techniques discovered in view of integrating them in activities targeting youth.

2) Online content production and ethics: via games and participative activities, we will introduce different forms of creative common licences. Some examples that will be covered are the following: attribution only, attribution shareAlike, attribution no derivatives, attribution non-commercial.

3) online content promotion: participants will work on methods to promote their digital videos online to reach the widest possible audience.
we will also delve into popular online video sharing platforms such as DailyMotion, YouTube, etc., as well as video sharing platforms specfically geared to the needs of educators, for example, Academic Earth, MIT open courseware, Ted-ed, TeacherTube, YouTube EDU.