Unibo structure involved: Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies - FILCOM
Scientific Manager: Claudio Paolucci
Unibo Team: Gabriele Giampieri, Paolo Martinelli, Francesco Mazzucchelli
Project Web page: https://site.unibo.it/fakespotting-project/en
Erasmus+ Action type: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices Strategic Partnerships for higher education
Project reference: 2020-1-IT02-KA203-079902
Start Date: 4 October 2020
End Date: 3 August 2023
Budget: Total € 420,153 UNIBO € 80.443,00
Coordinator: ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA (IT)
Partners:
SOUTH EAST EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY TETOVO (MK)
NOVOSADSKA NOVINARSKA SKOLA (RS)
THE FACT CHECKING FACTORY SOCIETÀ A RESPONSABILITÀ LIMITATA (IT)
UNIVERZITA MATEJA BELA V BANSKEJ BYSTRICI (SK)
UNIVERSITETI I TIRANES (AL)
FUNDACION UNIVERSIDAD LOYOLA ANDALUCIA (ES)
INTERNATIONAL CONSULTING AND MOBILITY AGENCY SOCIEDAD DE RESPONSABILIDAD LIMITADA (ES)
GLOBSEC (SK)
Summary:
Digital information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery and assessment of information, the understanding of information, the critical evaluation of sources. The relevance of the subject is confirmed by “key competence for life-long learning” (2006-2018) when the digital competence is outlined as “the ability to search, collect and process information and use it in a critical and systematic way, assessing relevance and distinguishing the real from the virtual while recognising the links.”
Information literacy is directly related to the individual’s employability, to get employed and to stay in employment or to move on in the workplace (Cedefop 2018). PIAAC indicates that 20 to 25 % of European adults aged 16 to 65 with low levels of proficiency in digital information literacy face higher risk of unemployment and social exclusion (2016/C 484/01).
A cross-cutting need in the digital labour market is to close the digital gender gap. In the EU fewer than one in five ICT professionals are female (Women in the digital Age; EC 2018).
The criticalities heavily affect also the democratic participation of European citizens as digital literacy is totally related to the capacity to spot disinformation. The Flash Eurobarometer 464 stresses the low trust in news published on online social networks (19%), the high perception of running into online misrepresenting information (68%) and a discouraging 83% of respondents identifies fake news as a problem for democracy in general.
As outlined in the “Renewed EU agenda for higher education” HE plays a unique role in tackling skills mismatches to prepare students for jobs where shortages exist or are emerging.
Digital literacy brings with it an extraordinary enhancement in HE teaching, pedagogy and education delivering as stressed by “Transforming Higher Education” (WG 2017) “Digital Education Action Plan” and “Improving and modernising education” that inspired Fakespotting objectives:
- Updating HE Teachers skills and curricula on digital information and media literacy enhancing collaborative learning, digital and ICT provision in HEIs’ learning delivery.
- Training of academics in new and innovative pedagogies fostering: 21st century skills provision tying higher education and labour market needs, acquisition of innovative assessment methods and tools for skills recognition and promotion;
- Tackling future skills mismatches matching HE students skills with emerging labour market needs and improve female participation in ICT;
- Enhancing the provision of digital competences for unemployed adults and adult educators;
- HEIs coordination with HEIs from candidates countries to develop common educational frameworks in digital education as recommended by “European Higher Education in the world”
The latter directly relates with the involvement of candidate countries. Domestic shortage of digital information literacy recorded entails a dangerous threat whereas specific actions of disinformation might be carried out against those countries and hindering their accession in EU.
To achieve the project purposes the partnership is strategically composed by:
- 3 European HEIs delivering media literacy and related subjects;
- 2 HEIs from candidate countries experts in media literacy;
- 4 NGOs delivering and implementing fact-checking services, online debunking actions and teaching, adult education, journalism.
By implementing researches, surveys and interviews within the labour market, one international training, 5 TPMs, 9 local pilots providing innovative digital literacy skills to 150 HE students, 50 HE teachers, 40 unemployed adults and 8 external adult education organisations and, in the end, promoting the results through 8 Multiplier Events and a wide online dissemination, the project will realise the following outputs:
- Web based learning on information, media literacy and fact-checking;
- Toolkit on fact-checking methodologies related to labour market needs and methods to include digital skills in academic programmes and recognition tools;
- Guideline on Media and Information Literacy and national online disinformation case-studies;
- Digital assessment tool fostering tracking methodologies of students’ skills improvements in HEIs
The impact on HE teachers and students and adult educators is the following:
- Improvement in digital information and media literacy for HE teachers and students;
- Inclusion of innovative tools and collaborative teaching methods in HEIs and AEIs;
- Enhancement the relationship between HEIs and labour market needs by acquiring new methods to recognize, promote and track digital skills;
- Awareness of online disinformation threats at European level.
Inclusion of innovative tools, methodologies and activities into academic programmes and adult education institutions will ensure long term benefits for the European higher and adult sector.