The New Be Media Smart national campaign officially started on the 24th of October and it encourages people across Ireland to ‘Stop, Think, Check’ when they encounter information. Coordinated by Media Literacy Ireland and supported by a wide range of members, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the disinformation problem among the population and provide guidance on how to check the reliability of information.
For this campaign, EDMO Ireland developed a Workshop in a Box, a package with teaching materials for teachers, librarians, community leaders and coaches to deliver a media literacy workshop in their communities. Besides the teaching resources, which are available in both Irish and English, EDMO Ireland is also running a series of online training sessions in October and November to explain how the Workshop in a Box should be used and encourage participants to provide further training sessions across the country. It is expected that over 100 people will be trained to deliver the media literacy workshop.
EDMO Ireland is also involved in a series of webinars until the end of November, exploring topics such as digital spaces, disinformation, and the work of fact-checkers. EDMO Ireland will also host an online event for secondary teachers to discuss best practices in teaching the Digital Media Literacy short course, one of the most important media literacy initiatives in the Irish education system that is available for Junior Cycle students across the country.
More information about training sessions and other events can be found on the Be Media Smart website – www.bemediasmart.ie
