CrAL kick-off

Young people will develop critical thinking and media literacy skills in our Creative Audiovisual Labs

ALL DIGITAL and six partners started 2021 with a new challenge targeting the Generation Z. The Creative Audiovisual Lab for the promotion of critical thinking and media literacy – CrAL – is an exciting project co-funded under Erasmus+ KA3 Social inclusion which will run over the next three years from January 2021 till January 2024.

Why this project?
Generation Z have been dubbed “digital natives” – young people who grew up in the digital age. However, even though they have been in contact with the Internet and technology since a very young age, and have access to an unlimited amount of information, this doesn’t mean that they are digitally and media literate.

Address their insufficient media literacy and provide them with the knowledge and tools they need to understand the world they live in, cultivate critical thinking, and help them understand the responsibility and the power of their voice – this is what the Creative Audiovisual Lab is designed for.

What is it about?
The Creative Audiovisual Lab is based on the Creative audiovisual writing and reading methodology. As its name suggests, it is an engaging methodology centred around stimulating the creativity of young people. Through the creative process of filmmaking, it involves them in reflection, questioning, analysing, re-using, and creating audiovisual content with the ultimate goal to enhance their critical thinking and media literacy. The methodology has been tested in high schools in Italy by the Central Institute of Sound and Audiovisual Assets of the Italian Ministry of Culture. In this project, we have the chance to benefit from this experience, and adapt and upscale the methodology to four other countries – Spain, Greece, Croatia, and Lithuania.

How will we do it?
The project has started in January and brings together seven partners from six countries (Belgium, Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia and Lithuania) with complementary expertise in research, education and training, and network cooperation.

To kick-off the project, partners were supposed to meet in Brussels, but given the exceptional situation in which we are currently living, the project was launched through an online kick-off meeting on 18-19th February. Nevertheless, the kick-off meeting was very productive, and the first activities of the project have kicked off with full speed. Partners are adapting the Creative audiovisual writing and reading methodology and preparing it for the upscale. A blended training course for teachers and trainers working with youngsters will follow, with e-learning and face-to-face workshops, which will run in Spring 2022.

To follow the current developments of the project, stay tuned for the project website (coming soon), and look out for our hashtag on social media #CrALProject.