Practical program

On 30th of Nov 8 organisations from 7 EU countries came together to develop a methodology for workshops that will be put in practice already in year 2019 all over Europe! Workshops aim to raise practical awareness for citizens of skillful participation through eDemocracy tools.

This section highlights the recommendations on how to organize practical workshop on e-participation while developing skills such as critical thinking, media literacy, and communication.

The following workshop module has been designed based on project “Smart eDemocracy Against Fake News” needs. However, it can be exploited for other necessities and similar projects. The module implementation is flexible in terms of selecting learning objectives and corresponding activities, enabling event organizers and facilitators to adjust to specific situations in their countries and to the capacities of particular participants.

This module description relates to the two one-day local workshops – (a) workshop for young people and (b) workshop for NGO and other activists. One workshop is organized specifically targeting young people in rural areas aged 18 – 25. The other workshop aims at involving NGO sector representatives and local citizens interested in the topic. Each workshop is designed for 30 participants. Both activities have to be organized in cooperation with local organizations. The workshop venue needs to be chosen in a rural area or a small city close to the rural area. It’s important to achieve the mentioned audience from rural areas both for young people and NGOs. The methodological approach is developed by organization “ManaBalss” (Latvia) in cooperation with project SMARTeD partners and involvement of a trainer working in a field of non-formal education and experiential learning. The involvement of trainers working in the field of non-formal education, having expertise in the field of media literacy, and knowing approaches working with young people and NGOs is mandatory. It is advisable to cooperate with fake news fighters in your country, while developing local content for the workshop.

Participants of the workshop will discover the phenomenon of fake news and its consequences in a global
EU context. The following themes need to be raised in educational workshop programme:

• What is fake news?
• What are the consequences of fake news on local, national, regional and European level?
• How can European citizens deal with fake news?
• Developing participants’ critical thinking by providing participants tools for analysing content (E.S.C.A.P.E. method).
• National and European initiatives (including European citizen initiative) to address the issue of fake news.
• E-platforms in EU and national levels.
• Participants have to develop recommendations on citizen’s needs and ideas on how to tackle fake news for more active and wise e-participation. At the end of the workshop participants’ evaluation should take place with both formal evaluation (questionnaire) and non-formal one.
• Contests results and award ceremony “The first time I realised the media lied to me”

LIST OF SITUATIONS / INSTITUTIONS / PROCESSES IN WHICH SUCH WORKSHOP MODEL COULD BE FULLY IMPLEMENTED:

• As a part of external curriculum or optional activities for pupils in primary and secondary schools.
  During (pre-)election campaigns for national elections, referendums or European elections when the fake news issues are higher on public agenda and consequently attract more attention.
• For members of large NGOs networks and youth organizations which can bring / motivate an adequate
  number of members to attend such a workshop.