“Media and Information Literacy in Digital Spaces: A Collective Global Agenda” is the theme of the 12th edition of Global Media and Information Literacy Weekcommemorated from 24 to 31 October 2023. The Global MIL Week, proclaimed as official by 193 countries in 2019, is an annual event on the United Nation’s calendar and a major occasion for mobilizing worldwide stakeholders to raise awareness and celebrate the progress achieved towards “Media and Information Literacy for All“.
During the celebration of the Week, feature events such as the 13th International Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue Conference and the Youth Agenda Forum together with online/offline local events and activities around the world, promote Media and Information Literacy connections across disciplines, professions and borders.
Due to the situation in the region, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and UNESCO have decided to postpone the Global MIL Week 2023 Conference, planned for 23 – 25 October, to a later date that will be communicated at the earliest possible time. The Conference has been planned to take place in a hybrid format, and to include plenary sessions and side events organized by UNESCO and local/global partners; the Fifth Global Media and Information Literacy Youth Hackathon; a Youth Newsroom, that will bring together young people from around the world to participate as budding journalists during the event and produce news coverage; and the announcement of the winners of the annual Global Media and Information Literacy Awards 2023.
UNESCO strongly encourages national and regional activities and events to take place around the world! EKOME, as an active member of UNESCO’s MIL Alliance since 2018 and coordinator of its European Sub-Chapter Mediterranean Group, proudly participates, as it does every year, in the commemoration of UNESCO Global MIL Week 2023 promoting its initiatives and activities on digital and audiovisual literacy, as well as UNESCO’s related materials. EKOME is also campaigning in its social media to raise awareness on Media and Information Literacy, joining digitally the celebrations around the world!
“Are you in (the Media)?”: New interactive educational tool by EKOME
As part of the celebrations of the Global MIL Week, EKOME publishes its new interactive educational tool “Are you in (the Media)?”, which consists of an online quiz and an educational study guide, addressed to high school students. The online quiz covers a wide range of topics – from aesthetics and ideology to technology, language codes, production, distribution, reception and internet security. While the quiz provides a starting point for assessing media knowledge, the study guide provides a more comprehensive and analytical approach on MIL. With explanatory comments on the answers of the quiz, informative texts, suggested learning activities and online links to relevant content and to digital tools, it aims not only to disseminate basic knowledge, but also to develop competent digital and media skills.
Takorama 2023 results: Greece emerges again as the 2nd country worldwide in overall participation!
An impressive increase in the number of the Greek participants in Takorama International Film Festival was recorded in 2023. A total of 12.680 persons (compared to 2.678 in 2022), out of these 12.010 children aged 3 to 18, discovered the poetic and original visual universe of the Festival in Greece, which translates into a 373% increase compared to last year. Takorama Festival reached schools of all levels in dozens of cities, villages and islands across the country, while the increase in family screenings is also very high. See the overall report of Takorama 2023, the children’s awards and detailed data for Greece here.
Takorama, the online festival of animated short films for children, teachers and parents, organised by Films Pour Enfants, under the auspices of UNESCO, aims is to be a tool for education on images and education through images, enhancing the use of film in the teaching of different subjects. EKOME as Takorama’s exclusive partner in Greece, participated in the selection of the films, adapted the pedagogical material in the Greek language and promoted the Festival in the educational community and the general public.
In the framework of Global MIL Week 2023, EKOME has made public a file including Takorama’s pedagogical material, with the expectation that teachers, parents and children will discover the imaginative animations and make use of the educational activities that accompany them. See the material here!
4th International Student Competition for Board and Digital Games Design is on the way!
This innovative and highly popular among the school community competition is ready to be announced by EKOME for the 4th consecutive year! Students of primary and secondary schools in Greece, Cyprus, and the Greek Diaspora will be invited to create, with the support of their teachers, a board game prototype or a playable demo of a digital game drawing inspiration from a school subject of their choice. The aim of this competition is to promote game-based learning and collaborative creative activities in the school environment.
The 4th International Student Competition for Board and Digital Games Design is co-organized by EKOME, the General Secretariat of Digital Governance and Simplification of Procedures of the Ministry of Digital Governance and the Hellenic Union of Graphic Arts and Media Technology Engineers and is under the auspices of the Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy, as well as of the Region of Attica.
Educational activities of EKOME in the Chania Film Festival
EKOME coordinates three experiential workshops in this years’ 11th edition of Chania Film Festival, two for primary school students and one for primary and secondary school teachers in general and special education. The workshops are based on EKOME’s Study Guide “Cin(e)inclusion in the classroom” of the documentary One School, Two Worlds, which was created in the framework of Chania Festival’s educational programmes. Following EKOME’s initiative and support, the film was made accessible, with SDH and AD for the hearing and visually impaired. The workshops explore ways of approaching cinema in an inclusive way and aim to raise awareness on film experience of people with disabilities, to familiarise the participants with cinematic accessibility tools, to practice techniques and actions of inclusive film literacy for children with or without sensory problems.
Mainstreaming Media and Information Literacy at the University
In the context of 12th UNESCO Global MIL Week, EKOME collaborates with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Department of Primary Education, organizing two lectures: “Digital Reading as a Skill of the 21st Century: good practices and challenges in the internet era” (Monday, October 23, 2023) and “The E-Book in Education: the role of the teacher and the student in the modern digital environment” (Monday, October 30, 2023). The lectures will take place in the courses of Dr. Tzina Kalogirou, Professor of Modern Greek Literature and Literature Teaching.
EKOME at the 15th International Film Festival of Larissa with an educational workshop
EKOME participates for the first time actively in the International Film Festival of Larissa. The 15th edition (30 October – 11 November) includes an enriched educational programme with workshops, master classes and debates. “Cin(e)inclusion in the classroom” is the title of the experiential workshop organised by EKOME (November 2), targeted to teachers of primary and secondary education.
See the content of the workshop above (Educational activities of EKOME in the Chania Film Festival).
The News Bulletin of UNESCO MIL Alliance’s Mediterranean Group completed 10 issues!
The UNESCO MIL Alliance’s Mediterranean Group’s bi-monthly News Bulletin issued by EKOME since November 2021, counted this September 10 issues. This tool of communication among the members of UNESCO MIL Alliance – EU Sub Charter Mediterranean Group, coordinated by EKOME, compiles selected MIL global, regional and local news, events, initiatives, and projects of UNESCO and the Mediterranean Group, news and events from other organizations and institutions in the Mediterranean region, as well as publications and articles with global outreach. You can see all issues published until today here!
EKOME’s study guide “Cin(e)inclusion in the classroom” included in the ECFA’s database
The European Children’s Film Network is a database offered by ECFA (European Children’s Film Association) since 1999, including European high-quality films for children and young people, and their Study Guides. It consists of Feature Films and Short Films, a list of Children’s Film Festivals and the discussion What does Quality mean in Films for Children? EKOME’s study Guide is based on the short documentary “One school, two worlds”, which is accompanied by SDH for deaf people and AD for blind ones, thus is accessible to all children audiences. It is an easy-to-use, open and inclusive pedagogical tool which enhances the film’s inclusive function through a multifaceted and multimodal educational approach. Containing special activities for students with hearing and vision impairment, it concerns both children with or without sensory difficulties.
Third year of operation for the National Network for Media Literacy
The National Thematic Network “Media Literacy: Television, Internet, Cinema” enters its third consecutive year of operation in November 2023. Almost 200 schools of primary and secondary, general and special education, in Greece and Greek Diaspora, participate again this year in the pedagogical and training activities of the Network which aims to cultivate students’ audiovisual and digital education and promote Media Literacy in the Greek educational system. In 2021, 264 teachers registered in the Network while in 2022 392 teachers from 153 school units participated, carrying out activities in their classrooms and creating original and diverse media, digital and film materials. The Network is approved by the Ministry of Education and coordinated by EKOME, the Primary Education Directorate of Serres and the Department of Educational RadioTelevision and Digital Media of the Ministry of Education.