While a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how powerful the use of video can be in today's society! If this video also tells us a good story and does it in an emotional and engaging way, then the probability that it has an impact on people's understanding, awareness and opinion on a specific topic is very high.
The main objective of the BRIGHTS project is to promote Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in formal and non-formal educational contexts in Europe, with the help of Digital Storytelling (DS) techniques. As a first step, the project partners collaborated on the elaboration of a report analyzing and describing the skills needed by European teachers and educators to effectively use digital storytelling as a teaching tool in the field of GCE.
The BRIGHTS Report on Training Needs Analysis summarizes the results of a research conducted at European level between February and May 2017 and focuses on the main pedagogical elements and contents to be taken into consideration when designing a blended course that will be offered to at least 400 selected teachers and trainers in Italy, Greece, Croatia and Belgium in the coming months.
Around 90 interviews were carried out with GCE experts, policy makers, representatives of schools and NGOs, with the aim of collecting and evaluating their opinions on the relevance of the general and specific themes of GCE, the advantages that such an educational practice can bring to different education systems and to European society as a whole, as well as the added value of using digital storytelling with students and young people.
As a conclusion of this research phase, coordinated by theCity of Foligno Study Center Association, project partners argue that formal and non-formal education systems in Europe are ready to be equipped with new tools for citizenship.
The Report, the online version of which is available here, can be used both as an information resource for approaching the world of GCE for the first time and/or as an initial point of reference for planning and implementing larger and more focused studies in the field.
Last, but not least, a invitation to submit your contribution will remain published on the project website throughout its duration, with the aim of continuously gathering further resources and proposals, as well as expanding an already existing community of GCE practice with a dedicated working group on UNITE-IT platform.
For more information on the project, contact Altheo Valentini: altheovalentini@egina.eu
