The Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) are leading an international project to develop a tool to evaluate and improve media education for European students aged 14 to 18.

The scheme, called EduMediaTest, will be delivered to the European Commission (EC), which has partially funded it, by September 2021, and as of then, the EC will make it available to the institutions of the various European Union countries.

The Catalan initiative was one of five winners to receive funding from the European Commission within the Media Literacy for All scheme

It comes under the framework of the Media Literacy for All scheme, promoted by the EC, whose goals include combating disinformation and critically assessing content received via social networks.                               

EduMediaTest consists firstly of evaluating online the media skills of students aged 14 to 18 and, secondly, the formulation of proposals of interactive training to rectify any shortcomings. The scheme, hosted on an open access website, is designed to be managed by a teacher wishing to evaluate their class, as just another teaching activity at school.

Regarding for the first part (evaluation), the aim is to verify, by means of an interactive quiz consisting of 43 questions, students’ ability to ascertain the reliability of information, detect the hidden interests of the sources, establish the existence of stereotypes, and encourage a responsible attitude towards copyright. It also seeks to check students’ ability to produce messages that are understandable.

To respond, student must analyse videos and photos, and seek information on the Internet

As for the second part (training), the scheme will propose training in media education for implementation by teachers in the classroom based on data obtained from the evaluation and on a dossier they will be provided with, depending on their students’ shortcomings.

The Media Literacy for All scheme provides for the partial funding of initiatives to enhance media education. The project by the CAC and UPF was one of the 5 winning proposals out of a total of 17 submitted in the last call.

The project involves five European audiovisual regulators, two public institutions in the field of education, and one university.

EduMediaTest involves 7 countries: five European audiovisual regulators (France, Croatia, Portugal, Slovakia and Catalonia), two public institutions in the field of education (Greece and Ireland), and Pompeu Fabra University

Specifically, the five regulators are: CAC; Agencija za elektronicke medije (AEM) in Croatia; Rada pre vysielanie a retransmisiu (CBR) in Slovakia; Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) in France, and Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC), in Portugal.

The two educational institutions are the National Centre of Audiovisual Media & Communication (EKOME) in Greece and the Dublin West Education Centre (DWEC) in Ireland. Also, UPF is involved to ensure that the project adheres to the principles of scientific research.

The president of the CAC, Roger Loppacher, highlighted the cooperation between regulators to promote media education and for young people and teenagers to become increasingly skilled in this matter and develop a more critical attitude towards disinformation.

Pilot test in three months

Prior to implementing the interactive tool, the developers will conduct a pilot test to check students’ understanding of the questions and the test duration. The plan is to involve at least 100 students aged between 14 and 18 for each of the seven participating countries. This pilot project is scheduled to take place before January 2021.

The final implementation of the questionnaire is expected between February and March 2021. The deadline for submitting the project to the European Commission expires on 1 September 2021 and later this Community institution will decide when it will be made available to the public.

EduMediaTest is partially funded by the European Commission.