Infusing media literacy: Empowering teachers to connect to the reality of their students
Year after year, we get told that students appear more and more disengaged from school, perceiving it as irrelevant to their needs for skills and knowledge for real life. What can we do about it? How can we reel them back in, while ensuring both the desired finality of the curriculum and equipping them with the necessary tools to make it in the world of tomorrow, which often feels so strange to ours?
Join us to find out about the benefits of media literacy infusion and how it can turn an outdated curriculum into the gateway towards critical thinking, bridging both the generational and technological gap between teachers and students. During this webinar, we will introduce you to our approach in media literacy integration within the formal schooling system and discuss challenges that come along, how they can be overcome and why you should consider infusing media literacy in your day-to-day classes.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23rd
TIME: 12PM EST | 5pm GMT | 10:30pm IST
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Speakers
Cristina Lupu
The Executive Director of the Center for Independent Journalism Romania, with more than 19 years experience in the media field, having worked as a journalist and as a media developer with CIJ. Involved in projects tackling both freedom of expression and media literacy, she aims to increase the resilience of the general public in the face of disinformation and to show and explain journalism's vital role in safeguarding democracy. She is involved since 2016 in a MIL strategic program that addresses teachers, in their initial training stage, and as part of the lifelong learning process, through training and post-training support.
Bianca Rus
Bianca Rus is a project manager and media literacy educational expert at the CIJ. She develops resources for teachers and students, is part of the MIL teacher training team at CIJ since 2021 and is involved in the research and impact evaluation activities that support CIJ’s media literacy program. She is part of the media literacy teacher trainer network within the EDMO hubs.
About the Center for Independent Journalism
The Center for Independent Journalism (Romania) is a non-governmental organization active for more than 30 years in protecting democracy and those who believe in its values. The CIJ is committed to freedom of expression and education. More than 15,000 media professionals, 10,000 teachers and 240,000 students have benefited from training with and working together with the CIJ team.
The Media Literacy Program is the most complex MIL program in Romania, developed and implemented by the Center for Independent Journalism since 2017, supported by the Romanian-American Foundation, as a strategic development partner. Within the program, the CIJ implements since 2021 the accredited course “Introduction to Media Literacy”, training Romanian language and literature and English language high school teachers to infuse media literacy elements in their regular subject, connecting to their curriculum seamlessly in order to also develop MIL competencies while teaching their usual classes. So far, the CIJ has trained a total of over 700 teachers, from 338 schools across the country, who have worked with over 120,000 students through MIL infusion.
The CIJ works within the program with multiple other stakeholders, organizing MIL workshops and small- or large-scale events for the general teacher community and youth, training local NGOs to foster MIL awareness in their communities and collaborating with universities across the country to promote and include MIL elements in the early professional development of future teachers.
Discover more about the CIJ here and about their most recent media literacy endeavors here. The Center for Independent Journalism has a dedicated website, educatiemedia.cji.ro, and their YouTube channel also has plenty of MIL resources and related media.