The seminar " Strengthening Media and Information Literacy Skills in the education process – experience and knowledge in the Baltic States " was held on August 25 at the Daugavpils University and organized by the Nordic Council of Ministers' Offices in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in cooperation with Daugavpils City Council Education Board and Daugavpils University.
With the constantly increasing flow of information through the media and other information channels, it is become more and more important to have the abilities to find information, to understand and critically evaluate it, to responsibly and ethically use and produce media content. Children and young people are the ones who are the most exposed to new media, social media, and at the same time they are the ones who often lack abilities to independently and critically evaluate what they encounter in the flow of media and information.
Understanding the importance of citizens’ competencies in critical thinking for safe, open and democratic society, the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) has since 2014 been supporting various media and information literacy (MIL) related initiatives in the Baltic countries. The project “Development of Media and Information Literacy in Education” was implemented in Lithuania in 2014-2015 in cooperation with media literacy actors from the Nordic countries. It resulted in a set of methodological tools for school teachers, translation and adaptation of some best Nordic materials in MIL education, teacher training sessions and introduction of MIL as integral part in general education.
The aim of this seminar was to highlight the importance of strengthening the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills in schools, as well as to exchange various experiences and best practices among the Baltic States, and so to contribute to the development of national policies regarding MIL issues.
The seminar featured the following speakers: Ilva Skulte, Dr. philol., Asoc. Prof., Faculty of Communication, Riga Stradiņi University, Kadri Ugur, media researcher , University of Tartu, Rasa Jančiauskaite, Project Coordinator at Education Development Centre in Lithuania, Anika Miltuze, Asoc. Prof, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Latvia and Liene Valdmane, PhD candidate, University of Latvia.
