The Big Lie: eTwinning project 2013-2014
The project focuses on the media and more particularly the advertising media. The students collaborated with their European peers to express their views and reflect on this topic, critically analyze the media messages that surround them, and learn to recognize misinformation and lies. They were encouraged to ask questions about what they watch, hear, and read, and be active citizens. Also, the students developed their creative skills in creating and producing collaboratively their own media messages, using a variety of ICT tools. During the project the students communicated in English and learned in a playful, non-formal but constructive way.
Aims: The objective of the project is to develop the students’ media literacy skills. It is about developing their critical thinking skills and creative abilities when it comes to the media. The project provides tools to help them critically analyze messages, offers them the opportunity to broaden their experience of the media through collaboration with their European peers, and helps them develop their creative skills in making their own media messages. They are encouraged to become active citizens, not mere media consumers, and gain greater awareness of the risks of misrepresentation and manipulation by the advertising media. The aim of this project is also to make the English class more interactive and stimulating through a student-oriented project. It is designed as a set of “challenges” that the partners took up all along the school-year, and which gave them the opportunity to exchange and collaborate with other European teenagers, while practicing their English language and ICT skills. They learned to use various ICT collaborative tools and web 2.0 apps to communicate efficiently and work collaboratively with partners abroad, and improved their teamwork skills; the project also promoted individual responsibility by means of collaborative learning, developed inter-cultural skills and tolerance, broadened the cultural horizons of the students, and fostered self-expression and creativity.
Work process: The students first exchanged about their own experiences and perceptions; then they were invited to analyze and decode the advertising media, and finally created and produced their own media messages. The students exchanged and collaborated on Twinspace, using a variety of web tools and collaborative apps. They worked in national and international teams to discuss the topic and produce material. The project was developed throughout the whole school year with regular virtual meetings and collaborative team work.
Students from:
Escola Sec / 3 Martinho Árias - Soure, Coimbra, Portugal
Lycée Michelet, VANVES , France
Liceum Ogólnokształcące No. 11, Wrocław, Poland