knowledge share: encouraging positive online content creating behaviors

Project background

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 four main modules:

1) Video production and editing: participants 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. They will subsequently work in group 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: In this module we will introduce participants to the 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 production: In this module we will lead a debate/group reflection about how to transform youth's mundane online practices into something meaningful. Participants will be invited to provide successful examples of this phenomenon, an the facilitators from the coordinating organization will also analyze examples drawn from their own experience on this topic. For instance: youngsters can record viedos about their everyday life, about their home/ school environment, or about the geographical area they live/study/work in. This, in view not only of sharing it on their personal blog, facebook page, etc., but also with the purpose to create a personalized map embedding original content that will be available on the net.
To give another example: youth who prefer to handle data in a visual animated form rather than a static written one, may remix online videos for academic purpose, e.g. accomplish a school assignment. This requires them to know how to access content and adapt it to meet their own objectives.
At the end of the module, the group is expected to produce a short synthetic document containing guidelines to trigger informational content creating behaviors among youngsters.

4) Online video sharing platforms: in this module, participans will learn about online video sharing platforms (ex. YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.). Thus they will experiment "marketing" a video or other informational content online, and they will test different possible strategies and corresponding outcomes. They will find out about online communities for informational content sharing . They will debate about youth involvement in participative culture through online media. They will learn how to guide their target public in choosing the most appropraite vehicle for online content.

In this module, participants will also debate on and learn about video sharing platforms specfically gearded to the needs of educators, for exemple, Academic Earth, MIT open courseware, Ted-ed, TeacherTube, YouTube EDU. These are all websites which were founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education.
At the end of this module participants will produce collectively a table featuring all video sharing platforms that have been explored alongside with guidleines for their use in youth work.

Participating organizations requirements:

Any organizations based in one of Erasmus + programme countries can be a partner for this project.

Participants requirements:

For this training we are targeting youth workers who are already active in digital mediation or who are willing to work on such topics in the future. No prior knowledge abot the topics of the training is required.
Participants must be willing to innovate their professional practices and to disseminate the results of the project.

Practical details:

The training is scheduled for spring 2017. It will take place in one of the partner organizations countries. Participants' travel tickets (to and from the venue of the training) will be refunded by the coordinating organization within the limits of the Erasmus + lump sums. Accomodation, meals, as well as any material support for the training will be entirely covered by the Erasmus + funding. There will be no participation fee.