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Contemporary Literacy in Contemporary Kids
Contemporary Literacy in Contemporary Kids
Start date: Sep 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
"Contemporary Literacy in Contemporary Kids" (C.L.I.C.K.) is a strategic partnership of six secondary and vocational schools from Estonia, Denmark, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Turkey, which intends to change the way how students learn, teachers teach and learning occurs. We seek to help our 16 to 18-year-olds grow effective 21st century learners, and their teachers become devoted advocates of innovative teaching. In order to achieve our goals within the project period from September 2015 to October 2017, we will be developing the digital, technology, information, media, political and intercultural literacy skills of 108 students and the innovative teaching skills of 24 teachers in close transnational cooperation.
The rationale behind our partnership lies in the understanding that the number of students showing negative attitudes towards school is growing, and the popularity of traditional teaching methods is declining. However, many young people who prefer to perceive the world via the filter of computing devices do not know how to analyze, synthesize, evaluate and create new knowledge. Therefore, teachers feel that it is time to bridge the digital gap between themselves and their students. These problems are also largely discussed in numerous papers of OECD, ET 2020 Working Group, the Eurydice Network and European Schoolnet, but to change anything for better, we need to take action.
At the core of our project are the three transnational learning and teaching activities that cover the six interrelated types of contemporary literacy in the innovative spirit of the "21st Century Learning Design" by Microsoft Educator Network. So every activity we do aims to foster knowledge construction and real-world problem-solving along with self-regulation and skilled communication via high technology. Through intensive intercultural interaction, we expect our students to develop their intercultural communication skills, as well as learn how to manage conflicts and how to make compromises. Not less importantly, we expect them to become much more flexible and adaptable, self-motivated and responsible – all highly appreciated qualities on the modern labor market.
C.L.I.C.K. will have multifaceted impact on all levels. By applying their newly acquired contemporary literacy skills, the students will considerably improve their learning outcomes and minimize their risk of dropping out. The teachers, on the other hand, will be able to support their students with ease and confidence as they will have adopted a wide array of innovative, technology-supported pedagogies. The partner schools will benefit from the partnership in that it will change the way how students think about school, how teachers think about teaching, and how innovative learning environments are created.
Locally, this partnership will help the partner schools become centers of modern education. Regionally, the schools will be able to act as role models to other schools. Nationally, the schools will have an opportunity to influence the modernization of educational systems in their home countries. Europe-wide, this partnership will promote such values as democracy, equality, solidarity, respect for other cultures and self-fulfillment, all these leading to more unity between Europeans and their neighbors.