Last week, our German project partners Stiftung Digitale Chancen (Digital Opportunities Foundation, short SDC) took part in Didacta 2022 in Cologne – Europe’s largest fair for education – and were able to present our AMeLiE project to interested teachers and educators!
“Insight, overview, outlook – didacta is the leading trade fair and continuing education event for the entire education sector. From early childhood development and vocational training to lifelong learning: the education platform unites the entire range of modern education and learning opportunities like no other.” (Source: Didacta Website)
Digitization in schools, opportunities as well as risks of the digital world, were among the major topics of this year’s educational trade fair. Didacta hosts 555 exhibitors from 55 countries, has about 35.000 annual visitors and about 500 events.
AMeLiE project shared a booth with “Gutes Aufwachsen mit Medien” (Eng.: “Growing Up with Media”), an initiative that offers information and practical help for matters of children’s media usage and media education, that is coordinated by SDC as well. SDC presented and advertised the project and especially the AMeLiE online learning platform. AMeLiE brochures and bookmarks attracted interested teachers who wanted to learn more about the project and how to counter online hate speech – in school and beyond.
Valuable conversations about hate speech and the need to counteract
Many teachers but also parents and generally interested people visiting the booth also shared their experiences with hate speech in and outside the classroom: There were many valuable conversations that gave interesting insights in the daily challenges of the life of a teacher or a parent. All of them confirmed the need to counteract hate speech, which has been part of everyday (school) life for a long time. More importantly, visitors described how this topic is not only important for young students, but also for their parents and the teachers themselves in order to become media literate European citizens.
The idea of the AMeLiE platform was very much liked by everybody. Teachers were very interested in registering to the platform and discovering the worksheets as well as the additional learning resources provided by other trainers and teachers on the platform.
All in all, Didacta 2022 was an all around rewarding and beautiful experience – let’s hope AMeLiE project has left the same positive impression on the guests.
Sources:
Didacta in Köln: https://www.didacta-koeln.de/
English version: https://www.didacta-cologne.com/?_ga=2.31437247.1490642764.1655140017-1643371026.1644307443
Gutes Aufwachsen mit Medien: https://www.gutes-aufwachsen-mit-medien.de/
