On 26 November 2020, the conference “Media and Information Literacy in the Digital Age: How to Teach the Teachers” was held to discuss various aspects of promoting media and information literacy within teacher professional development systems in CIS countries. The conference became a concluding event of the project of the same name initiated by UNESCO IITE and the UNESCO Information for All Programme and implemented in partnership with the Eurasian Association of Pedagogical Universities and the Moscow State Pedagogical University.
During the conference, the participants discussed new tasks and new competencies related to media and information literacy (MIL), practical experience and opportunities for improving the level of MIL of teachers, as well as strategies for promoting media and information literacy in the educational systems of CIS countries.
Mr. Tao Zhan, UNESCO IITE Director, and Mr. Eduard Nikitin, Executive Director of the Eurasian Association of Pedagogical Universities, welcomed the participants of the conference. Mr. Sergey Karpov, National Programme Officer on Communication and Information at UNESCO Office in Almaty for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, spoke about MIL activities and approaches to policy development in this area.
The first plenary session of the conference was focused on the transformations that are taking place today in understanding the concept of “media and information literacy” and its substantive content. The session was opened with a speech delivered by Mr. Artem Soloveichik, Editor-in-Chief at Publishing House “Pervoye Sentyabrya”, who emphasized the importance of the humanistic orientation of education and the role of a teacher. Ms. Irina Zhilavskaya, Head of the UNESCO Chair of Media and Information Literacy and Media Education of Citizens at Moscow Pedagogical State University, spoke about media and information literacy as a phenomenon of daily life. Mr. Vsevolod Pulya, Editor-in-chief at Russia Beyond, outlined the peculiarities of the work of social media algorithms, which are important from the view point of MIL. Mr. Ivan Pechishchev, Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at Perm State University, reflected on the society in the era of post-truth, the coronavirus exacerbation and the faith as a key factor in the perception of information. Ms. Tina Berezhnaya, Academic Supervisor of the Master’s Programme in Data Journalism at Higher School of Economics, discussed the issues related to the development of visual and analytical literacy at school. Mr. Yuri Cherny, Head of the Centre of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shared his vision about the future of media by the example of the Chinese brand ByteDance and the social network Tik-Tok. The session was moderated by Ms. Tatiana Murovana, Programme specialist at UNESCO IITE.
The second plenary session was aimed to discuss successful practices for improving the level of media and information literacy of teachers. The session was opened by Ms. Lyubov Dukhanina, Deputy of the State Duma, Chair of the All-Russian NGO “Znanie” with the presentation on the implementation of the “Digital Curator” project in the context of media and information literacy. The following presentations were also delivered at the session:
From media and information to transmedia literacy: the dynamics of the development of processes
Ms. Svetlana Shomova, Professor at Higher School of Economics, Researcher of the Center for Digital Cultures and Media Literacy
Inclusive potential of media and information literacy: the experience of one project
Ms. Aigul Omurkanova, Associate Professor of the Department of International Journalism at Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University
Media education in the system of professional development
Ms. Kristina Zaitseva, Senior lecturer at Saint Petersburg Academy of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education
The programme “Media education in school”: experience of Belarus
Ms. Tamara Matskevich, Deputy Chair of the Association of the Belarusian School
How to develop media competence: from event management to everyday practices and vice versa
Ms. Svetlana Simakova, Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at Chelyabinsk State University
The second session was moderated by Ms. Veronika Yarnykh, Head of International Programmes of the UNESCO Chair of Media and Information Literacy and Media Education of Citizens at Moscow State Pedagogical University.
The conference ended with a panel discussion on developing a strategy for promoting media and information literacy in the education systems of CIS countries. The discussion was chaired by Ms. Irina Zhilavskaya. Ms. Gulnar Asanbaeva, Regional consultant on media literacy at MediaCAMP, Internews in Kazakhstan; Ms. Yulia Emelyanova, Teacher of English at Secondary School No.5 in Kolpashevo, Tomsk Region; Ms. Elena Romanicheva, Leading Researcher at Moscow City Pedagogical University; Mr. Vladimir Tulupov, Head of the Department of Advertising and Design, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism at Voronezh State University; Ms. Natalya Khanova, Editor-in-chief of the school newspaper “Peremena-Perm” and Mr. Alexander Chernov, Director of the University for Humanities, Head of the Department of Social Communications and Media at Cherepovets State University participated in the discussion.
The conference received over 1.5 thousand viewers and was broadcasted on the pages “Media and Information Literacy” and “UNESCO Chair of Media and Information Literacy and Media Education of Citizens” on Facebook and the UNESCO IITE YouTube channel.
The conference recording is available on the UNESCO IITE YouTube channel.