Abstract
Digital information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery and assessment of information, the understanding of information, the critical evaluation of sources. The relevance of the subject is confirmed by “key competence for life-long learning” (2006-2018) when the digital competence is outlined as “the ability to search, collect and process information and use it in a critical and systematic way, assessing relevance and distinguishing the real from the virtual while recognising the links.” Information literacy is directly related to the individual’s employability, to get employed and to stay in employment or to move on in the workplace (Cedefop 2018).
Digital literacy brings with it an extraordinary enhancement in HE teaching, pedagogy and education delivering as stressed by “Transforming Higher Education” (WG 2017) “Digital Education Action Plan” and “Improving and modernising education” that inspired Fakespotting objectives:
- Updating HE Teachers skills and curricula on digital information and media literacy enhancing collaborative learning, digital and ICT provision in HEIs’ learning delivery.
- Training of academics in new and innovative pedagogies fostering: 21st century skills provision tying higher education and labour market needs, acquisition of innovative assessment methods and tools for skills recognition and promotion;
- Tackling future skills mismatches matching HE students skills with emerging labour market needs and improve female participation in ICT;
- Enhancing the provision of digital competences for unemployed adults and adult educators.
Domestic shortage of digital information literacy recorded entails a dangerous threat whereas specific actions of disinformation might be carried out against those countries and hindering their accession in EU. To achieve the project purposes the partnership is strategically composed by:
- 3 European HEIs delivering media literacy and related subjects;
- 2 HEIs from candidate countries experts in media literacy;
- 4 NGOs delivering and implementing fact-checking services, online debunking actions and teaching, adult education, journalism.
By implementing researches, surveys and interviews within the labour market, one international training, 5 TPMs, 9 local pilots providing innovative digital literacy skills to 150 HE
students, 50 HE teachers, 40 unemployed adults and 8 external adult education organisations and, in the end, promoting the results through 8 Multiplier Events and a wide online
dissemination, the project will realise the following outputs:
- Web based learning on information, media literacy and fact-checking;
- Toolkit on fact-checking methodologies related to labour market needs and methods to include digital skills in academic programmes and recognition tools;
- Guideline on Media and Information Literacy and national online disinformation case-studies;
- Digital assessment tool fostering tracking methodologies of students’ skills improvements in HEIs