WEBSITES: FilmEd website launched

FilmEd is a one year European Commission supported study entitled “Showing films and other audio-visual content in European Schools – Obstacles and best practice” which aims to support the European Commission in its current efforts to develop a European wide media literacy policy, especially on the inclusion of European films in school curricula.

It is being carried out by a Consortium composed by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the European Think Tank on Film and Film Policy, CUMEDIAE – Culture and Media Agency and AEDE -The European Association of Teachers. The study will last until October 2014 and will cover the 28 Member States of the European Union, the EEA Member States and Switzerland.

Visit the FilmEd website

Source: Media & Learning news (4/2014)

EVENTS: The Contest Runs For EFA Young Audience Award

The Danish family film The Contest (MGP missionen) will screen in 17 cities across Europe on May 4 as part of the European Film Academy Young Audience Award 2014. The Martin Miehe-Renard film will compete against the Dutch film Regret and German film Windstorm.

Youngsters between 12-14 in 17 European cities (including Aalborg and Stockholm) will vote for the best youth film. The winner will be announced in an award ceremony streamed live on the website yaa.europeanfilmawards.eu

The Contest screened at Berlin’s Generation KPlus section and will take part at Toronto’s Children and Youth Film Festival and Stockholm’s Junior Film Festival in April. The film sold over 100,000 in Denmark. World sales are handled by LevelK.

Source: Nordisk Film & TV Fond email newsletter

GAMES: What Makes Educational Games Work?

As the gaming in education continues to grow, one of the foremost experts in the field, Constance Steinkuehler, makes the case for why it’s important to pay attention to what works in gaming and how it could be applied to learning.

At the recent Aspen Ideas Festival, Steinkuehler, who’s now a Senior Policy Analyst at theOffice of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, spoke with author and researcher John Seely Brown about some of the more prominent issues in gaming and education.

read more and watch a video at the KQED website

WEBSITES: Civics for kids: Website enhances children's knowledge about government

While riding in the car, a precocious 8-year-old passively absorbs her parents’ preferred NPR programming. At home after dinner, she often hears the nightly news blaring in the background. But she shows no outward signs of comprehending the barrage of media coverage dedicated to the upcoming presidential election.

One day, out of the blue, she looks up with a crinkled nose at Mom and inquires, “How does somebody get to be president?”

What would be your strategy for answering that third-grader’s question? You could ostensibly start at the beginning with basic prerequisites, like birth in the U.S. and being at least 35 years old. On the other hand, jumping straight to a discussion of the Electoral College might be a bold move that's not exactly reasonable.

The website Kids.gov — the federal government’s official web portal for children — offers something of a one-size-fits-all solution to just such an inquiry: a poster titled “How to Become President of the United States” that measures 22-by-34 inches. It can be downloaded as a PDF or ordered free of charge, and is simple enough for a first grader to understand yet includes enough fine print to satisfy even the thirstiest 13-year-old minds.

full article on the Deseret News website

NEWS / WEBSITES: First website to promote child participation launched in Armenia

YEREVAN, 14 March 2012 – UNICEF and Youth for Achievements NGO launched today http://www.ashakert.am/ - the first website to promote child participation in Armenia.

“It is a true pleasure to be present today at an event which has a potential to change the way adults perceive children and children perceive important processes of decision-making and their role in those processes. Today we are making the first important step towards establishing a process that we call meaningful child participation,” UNICEF Representative in Armenia Henriette Ahrens said, addressing representatives of various ministries, local and international civil society organizations, school administrators and children.

The newly created website is primarily designed for members of Student Councils established in all schools in Armenia and aims to intensify Student Councils’ activities in the area of child protection and child participation.

full article

WEBSITES: BBC completes CBBC website relaunch

The BBC has today completed the phased relaunch of the CBBC website, introducing a refreshed visual design and improved functionality.

Phil Buckley, BBC Children's portfolio and product manager at BBC Future Media, said that relaunching the children's website has proved a "surprisingly perilous business".

full article

NEWS / WEBSITES: Website backs children's rights

An online initiative launched yesterday is hoping its use of social media will raise awareness among children and youths of their human rights.

Wendy Craig, a psychology professor at Queen's University and the co-director of Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence (PREVNet), is one of the co-directors of the collaboration between PREVNet, UNICEF Canada, the Public Health Agenc y of Canada and MyHealth Magazine.

The project has created a website, www.childandyouthrights. net, that interested youths can visit.

"It's really a way of helping kids understand what their rights are and then providing them with resources about where they can go to ensure those rights and needs are met," Craig said.

It also contains articles about children's rights written from a different perspective.

full article

WEBSITES / PROJECTS: Pan-EU Youth: a new online resource to engage young people in citizenship issues

Pan-EU Youth is a unique online platform aimed at young people between the ages of 14 and 18 where they can blog, vote and share videos on citizenship issues of concern to them. The platform went live early December 2010 and schools and teachers are starting to use it in a variety of classes ranging from IT, ethics and social studies to citizenship and language classes.

The Pan-EU Youth project was designed to address a gap in the policy arena, in terms of involving youth in policy matters of relevance to them. While there is wide consensus that young people should have their say in shaping political decisions that affect them, youth consultation is still in the very early stages.

Recognising the strategic importance of youth participation, European Schoolnet (EUN) and Vivendi decided to pioneer together an online platform to give visibility to the work the Insafe youth panels are doing and to solicit their views and those of other young people on critical topics such as ‘Young people in the media’, ‘Digital lives’ and ‘E-skills’.

full article

PROJECTS: Child-friendly schools documentary series 'Rising Voices' on Viewchange.org

18 November 2010 – The UNICEF film series on education: Rising Voices features on the newly launched ViewChange.org.

The new website, created by US television network Link TV, with support by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, combines powerful video stories with the latest semantic web technology, highlighting videos, articles, blogs, and actions about efforts to eliminate hunger, poverty, and disease in the developing world. ViewChange.org features the entire Rising Voices series.

website

NEWS / WEBSITES: International Media Literacy Research Forum launches website

The International Media Literacy Research Forum (IMLRF) has launched its new website, providing an online hub for policymakers, practitioners, regulators and researchers to communicate, share ideas and promote their media literacy work.

As the promotion of media literacy moves up the policy agenda there is a growing need to understand and share learning at a global level. Media literacy researchers often receive an audience for their work only in their own country, and the Forum provides a platform to improve understanding of the emerging issues, promote innovative methodologies and facilitate dialogue between researchers, policy makers, practitioners and regulators worldwide.

For more information on the IMLRF, to join the Forum or use the site, visit the IMLRF website.

Source

NEWS: Web ethics in school - Denmark

Web-ethics on the agenda

SMS, Facebook, chat, World of Warcraft. Today, children and young people live a major part of their lives online in an everyday life where the borders between online and offline are blurred and online communications constitutes a central nerve. Integrating digital technology in teaching in primary school is about much more than just offering computers and internet to the students – it is every bit as relevant to take the digital media reality of children today as a starting point for developing the teaching methods. Digital media and technologies such as the mobile, wireless internet and social networking are not in opposition to teaching – on the contrary they hold the potential to improving and developing the very content of education.

The term web-ethics is gaining ground in school and this is a development which The Danish Media Council for Children and Young People, The National IT and Telecom Agency and UNI-C cooperate on supporting through a web-ethics section on the teachers portal www.emu.dk.

full article

WEBSITES: Voices of Youth needs your ideas!

Voices of Youth is doing an evaluation of its activities, and we are looking for your feedback on how you are using the website and what impact it has made. We are also in the early planning stages of developing a new technology platform for Voices of Youth, and we are asking for your ideas on what new tools and features you want to see included! Please participate in the survey by clicking on the link below – it should not take more than 5 minutes of your time.

We would appreciate your responses by Monday October 12.

Click here to take the survey!

Water on Earth and in space – the ESA/UNICEF water quiz

26 August 2009

To mark ESA astronaut Frank De Winne's six-month OasISS mission to the International Space Station, and triggered by his role as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF Belgium, ESA's Human Spaceflight Education Team has teamed up with UNICEF to launch an online quiz for 12-14 year old European children.

The theme of the quiz is water on Earth and in space. UNICEF is currently running a campaign called WASH about water and hygiene. The campaign centres on the importance of clean water for human life.

full article - ESA & UNICEF water quiz website

WEBSITES / EVENTS: ‘I’m Part of the G8 Too!’ – Website gives people a virtual seat at the G8 Summit

'I'm Part of the G8 Too!' – Website gives people a virtual seat at the G8 Summit

A new website called 'I'm Part of the G8 Too!' brings online visitors together to show their support for the UNICEF goals at the global summit.

The G8 Summit is scheduled to take place in L'Aquila, Italy, in July. This is one in a series of articles on UNICEF's preparations for the event.

By Roderick Huntress

L'AQUILA, Italy, 22 June 2009 – You may not have a seat at next month's G8 summit, but a new website by UNICEF's Italian National Committee is offering what might be the next best thing: a way to communicate with the leaders there.

The project, called 'I'm Part of the G8 Too!' brings online visitors together to show their support for the three goals UNICEF aims to achieve at the meeting in L'Aquila:

Secure continued funding for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTC) of HIV, and for diagnosing babies as soon as possible

Focus attention on the special vulnerability of girls to HIV and AIDS

Reinforce an existing commitment by the G20 countries to social protection, with an emphasis on ensuring that social systems are both child-sensitive and AIDS-inclusive.

Social protection uses measures ranging from transfers of cash to legislation to support health, financial stability and equality for children and their families.

How the project works

The 'I'm Part of the G8 Too!' site encourages visitors to leave their names, and to upload a picture showing what it means for them to have a place at the summit. All of the photos will be compiled into an online gallery, with the best ones selected for the project's home page.

Ultimately, the site will serve as an interactive online petition. On 9 July, delegates from the J8, the junior version of the G8, will personally deliver the names of those participating in the 'I'm Part of the G8 Too' project – and a selection of the best photos – to leaders attending the meeting.

The J8 brings together young people aged 14-17 from around the world to consider the same issues the G8 countries address, and to draft recommendations for the leaders to consider.

full article