Resources

The school can be a safe space where the little ones can learn to inform themselves, contrast and express themselves; childhood has the right to information, participation and protection against disinformation. That is why empowering children to have the ability to use their critical spirit and express their concerns and interests through communication channels that allow them to reach others is vital in a world where informational disorder increasingly makes it difficult to exercise and defend these rights.

Creating school media can help children obtain the necessary tools to exercise their citizenship with less interference from external interests. The possibilities are multiple and cover a wide variety of formats that can be adapted to the conditions of each school. In this article we outline some ideas that can inspire teachers:

What allows: A periodic publication prepared by the students that can collect news from the center, interviews, reports, activity chronicles, opinion on current affairs and fixed sections such as verification of rumors, environment, coexistence, sport, culture…

Role of students: Students assume journalistic roles (writing, editing, illustration, data review), decide topics and learn to contrast sources before publishing.

Educational keys: It favors reading and writing, critical thinking about information and cooperative work, the hierarchization of current affairs… It is advisable to define a realistic timetable and work on the collective revision of texts to strengthen quality and information responsibility.

What differentiates them: School radio is usually a regular broadcast (live or recorded), while the podcast allows you to publish content on demand and listen to them at any time.

What allows: Information bulletins, interviews, short debates, dramatisations, thematic programmes or sections dedicated to dismantling rumors and fables.

Role of students: Students prepare scripts, investigate, interview, locuta and edit, developing oral communication and active listening skills.

Educational keys: Starting with short pieces, working with clear language.

What allows: The making of informative or creative videos and the broadcasting of events of the center such as festivals, talks or debates. Live content can be combined with recorded tracks.

What is learnt: Speaking in public, structuring messages, coordinating technical roles and reflecting on the ethical limits of communication.

Educational keys: It is essential to work previously on issues such as privacy, consent, responsible use of the image and respect in language.

What allows: Through institutional accounts of the center, managed by adults, students’ works can be disseminated such as infographics, short videos, carousels or explanatory threads.

What is learnt: They allow us to analyze how virality is built, why some contents are shared more than others and how arogithms or screaming or misleading headlines work. In addition, students also learn to reflect and respect copyright and the right to privacy.

Educational keys: Work on the citation of sources, complete reading and reflection before sharing and the difference between information, advertising and opinion. It also allows working on digital competence, written and oral expression, the search and evaluation of information and the generation of multimodal texts.

What allows: A central space that collects and organizes the different media products of the center: texts, audios, videos and links to social networks. It can function as an archive of the centre’s “media history” and as a showcase for the students’ work.

Educational keys: Create sections for courses or projects, label content by topics (science, equality, coexistence…) and enable moderate comments as a space for responsible participation.

Educational keys: It allows to work on digital competence, written and oral expression, the search and evaluation of information and the generation of multimodal texts.

What allows: Working on the same topic from different formats and languages. For example, research a fable about health, climate or migration and produce a written report, a podcast, a short video and a campaign for networks.

Educational keys: It promotes project-based learning, competence-based work and collaboration between subjects such as language, social sciences, technology or values education.

• It begins slowly: a single format, a single group and a realistic calendar. Regularity is more important than quantity.
• It defines clear objectives: it is not only about “making a medium”, but also about learning to inform, contrast and communicate better.
• Accompany without excessive leadership: the role of teachers is to guide, help verify and take care of the ethical approach, leaving room for the voice of students.
• Establish shared norms: respectful language, contrast of sources, care for privacy and responsibility about what is published. This is a good time to open a debate on freedom of expression.
• It gives visibility to the work: sharing the contents with the educational community reinforces the motivation and meaning of the project. There are networks of school media both at the state level and at the European level.

• Turning the medium into a bulletin board: if it only reproduces information from the centre’s agenda, the opportunity to work on critical thinking, participation and creativity is lost.
• Prioritizing technology over content: no great technical resources are needed; the essential thing is reflection on the information and expression of students.
• Assuming all adult control: if students do not decide on topics or formats, learning loses meaning.
• Not working on verification: publishing without contrasting sources reproduces the same problems of the current information ecosystem.
• Forget sustainability: overly ambitious projects tend to be abandoned; it is better to have something simple that can be sustained over time.