Group of children using phones

About

The APRICOT project supports teachers who want to assist parents and grandparents to mediate their children’s digital literacy and safety when at home.

We believe that being able to contribute to and support children in the development of their media literacy is now an essential duty of parents (and grandparents). 

Research shows that programs aimed at improving parents critical thinking skills and media literacy may be a very effective way of positively impacting children’s responses to media exposure. Parents (and grandparents) with enhanced media literacy will be better able to monitor their children’s behaviour, and model healthy behaviours with regards to their interaction with media. They will be better able to support and educate them.

There is widespread agreement that media literacy is now a necessary and important skill. It is frequently referenced in educational policy documents. However, a systematic approach for adult educators is needed – one that allows them to consistently operationalise what it means to teach Media Literacy, to educate adult learners in a manner that encourages critical thought, and to develop an organisational culture which supports and promotes media literacy. 

To meet this complex challenge, APRICOT seeks to promote media literacy as a broad and comprehensive concept, not one limited by technological understanding and skills, but as a concept that embraces all parts of it and serves for:

a) widening personal horizons;

b) strengthening professional competencies;

c) encouraging and supporting inter-generational, intercultural dialogue;

d) empowering for critical actions and

e) contributing for democratisation processes in each separate country and at overall EU level.

Project Aims

APRICOT is a two-year project, funded by the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships for Innovation in Adult Education programme

The APRICOT project aims to support:

  1. Teachers, who want and need to improve their professional competences working with diverse audience of parents (grandparents) in order to deliver high quality media literacy programs;
  2. Parents (and Grandparents) in helping them to contribute to their children safe, meaningful and wise use of media tools (including digital), as well as developing critical thinking attitudes and habits.

Our Objectives

  • To develop a training course and training materials for teachers and other educators with the aim of improving their ability to deliver high-quality media literacy programs to a diverse audience of parents and grandparents;
  • To elaborate methodologies and materials for parents and grandparents to use with their children and grandchildren at home – a step by step guide on how to educate and support their children in their use of digital and social media;
  • To prepare a collection of APRICOT stories – testimonies given by adult educators, parents and grandparents about their personal experiences of applying their digital and media skills either in their professional practice or with children at home. This will be used as a tool to empower and encourage people to improve their own digital and media literacy skills, allowing us to reach a wider audience.

Our Targets

The project specifically tackles adult learners of different age, education, cultural background and

traditions, trying to develop their media literacy (including digital) and critical thinking skills for their own and their children well-being.

APRICOT will include two target groups:

  • firstly, adult educators, who want and need to acquire necessary skills to teach parents (grandparents) on media literacy and critical thinking;
  • secondly parents (grandparents) to make them possible to contribute to their children safe, meaningful and wise use of media tools (including digital), as well as developing critical attitudes and habits.

In turn, it is hoped that the benefits of the skills gained will be passed on to a younger generation who will have improved support within the family home as they navigate the digital world.

The materials produced by the project will also be of use to a number of other professionals (e.g. class teachers, family counsellors) who work with children and their parents.

The Anticipated Results

The project will produce significant innovative results both in the form of tangible products

(intellectual outputs), and in terms of the target groups' improved capabilities, as well as institutional capacities.

APRICOT will produce these intellectual outputs (IO):

  • IO1 – Training course and training materials for adult educators. The course and materials are addressed to adult educators working with adult learners. This output is directed towards development of adult educators’ professionals’ skills in work with parents’ (grandparents);
  • IO2 – Methodology and materials for parents (grandparents). This methodology will be ‘step by step guide‘ how to advise to children and to control the use of digital and social media, including children safety; how to promote and develop CT skills to be purposefully and effectively used in different life situations;
  • IO3 – Collection of stories. Narrative and digital testimonies of adult educators and parents (grandparents) about attentive parental education for wise being and co-being in changing times.

APRICOT will enhance the following target groups’ capabilities:

  • 15 participants (adult teachers) will take part in the international training to learn and to test training course and materials for adult educators and to provide feedback on their efficiency and improvements to be made;
  • 60 participants (parents and grandparents) will take part in the national trainings to learn and to test methodology and materials and to provide feedback on their efficiency and improvements to be made;
  • 120 participants in the multiplier events will understand how parents can be supported to develop ML skills in themselves and children, how parents can become mediators between challenging world of media and digital realities. Participants will also understand what adult educators need to provide professional assistance for parents and grandparents;
  • Professional development course for adult educators will be developed after the international training and multiplier events, for use of all willing to attend it outside current partnership.

APRICOT will improve these beneficiary organisations’ institutional capacities:

  • Organisations will have at least 4-5 trained adult educators to be able to contribute to organisations strategic goals and serve parents (grandparents) at professional level;
  • Organisations will enrich their services portfolio and will be able to go further with its improvement and dissemination activities;
  • Organisations will make concrete plans how to facilitate the process of introducing developed program into formal education settings (kindergartens, schools).

Activities & Timeline

IO1 – Training course and training materials for adult educators.

IO1-A1. November 2019 - February 2020 – Development of methodological concept & syllabus.

IO1-A2. March - August, 2020 – Draft of syllabus including inquiry-based learning, modules & materials for work with grandparents and disadvantaged groups of parents.

IO1-A3. September 2020 – Syllabus draft testing during international training for adult educators.

IO1-A4. October, 2020 - January, 2021 – Syllabus development incorporating feedback of adult educators and taking into consideration cultural, social and other contextual aspects.

IO1-A5. February - July, 2021 – Elaboration of the final version of syllabus including recommendations on work with disadvantaged mothers & fathers, grandparents, class teachers; parental organizations, etc.

IO2 – Methodology and materials for parents (grandparents).

IO2-A1. March 2020 - May, 2020 – Development of methodological concept & syllabus.

IO2-A2. May - September, 2020 – Development of draft version to be tested with different groups of parents’ (grandparents) in partner countries and organizations.

IO2-A3. February - July, 2021 – Elaboration of the final version of syllabus.

IO3 – Collection of stories.

IO3-A1. July - September, 2020 – Development of the concept & methodology (narrative research method) of story collection.

IO3-A2. September - December, 2020 – Test of the narrative research methodology.

IO3-A3. December 2020 - April 2021 – Implementation of the methodology: story collection, transcriptions, analysis, adaptations.

IO3-A4. May - July, 2021 – Publishing stories (narrative (electronic format) and visual (filmed material)) in national languages.

I03-A5. July - August, 2021 – Publishing selected national stories in English.