Edufication - Using Social Media to combat Fake News

Summary

For several years, different interest groups have been trying to divide social groups across Europe with fake news. In doing so, the goals of the interest groups run counter to the objectives of a united Europe and social coexistence. Young people are equally targets or recipients of fake news (Grunddaten Jugend und Medien 2021), because almost all young people over the age of 13 own a smartphone and two-thirds are registered with social networks (JIM Study 2020). While the acquisition of social competences takes place in school and under the supervision of educators and parents, competence building in the digital world has remained under-represented throughout Europe until now. Young people often encounter the content of their networks independently without experience and without adequate concepts for action. On the other hand, the content of social media influences the behaviour of young people. Often unquestioningly but without malicious intent, young people transform critical digital content into the analogue world, the classroom, the schoolyard or the circle of friends, thus contributing to the normalisation of critical content.

To meet this challenge, social media popular with the target group, such as Instagram, TikTok and their counterparts, can be harnessed. In addition to self-promotion and product placement, these apps and their features such as photo stories, reels, etc. can also be used to disseminate educational content in a compact and target group-oriented manner to combat fake news.
This is where the project comes in. On a medium relevant to them the project fosters the critical reflection of news and information among young people and teaches them digital skills as well as digital media production within the framework of youth work (e.g., youth organizations or school). This is done in accordance with national and European strategies ("Bildung in der digitalen Welt", Germany; "Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027", EU) using the topic of "Fake News".

For this purpose, four Intellectual Outputs (IOs) will be produced within the framework of the project: (1) a concept for a workshop, (2) production of video and image material for a social media app, (3) a concept for a train of trainers and (4) the implementation of train of trainer workshops.

In the project period, a workshop will be designed to learn digital competences on the topic of fake news using a social media app. Competent use of social media also includes productive use of social media application. Therefore, youth learn how to independently create educational posts with free image and video editing software to debunk fake news in their own networks. In order to support the youth worker professionals in carrying out the workshop, appealing media contributions on the topic of fake news (videos, photos, stories) are produced on one of the social media applications.
For the optimal implementation of the lesson series, a concept for the implementation of a train of trainers will be developed, which will be carried out before the first implementation. The concept can then be reused for further training of youth worker professionals to implement the lesson series in other youth organizations.