Generation Z Reading Club

<< Background >>Young people today read less frequently than any previous generation and enjoy reading less than young people did in the past. At the same time every two days now the human race creates as much information as we did from the dawn of civilisation until 2003. Nowadays, the spaces with the widest civil participation are found online, including social networks, video games, and other internet platforms. Therefore, if we want young people to be active, empowered and informed citizens, the presentation and communication of common strategic priorities asking for comprehensive social engagement also need to change. On the other hand, the workplaces of today require reading and understanding tons of information online, reporting through apps, applying HSEQ software, etc. Therefore, in order for young people to enhance their employability in Europe, acquiring the right set of literacy skills is fundamental.Reading has the potential to bring strangers together and the benefits are not only linked to basic literacy, but reading also develops functional, recreational, civic, media, information and critical literacy. The purpose of any club is to bring a community together to learn about and discuss something that matters to them..<< Objectives >>We wanted to:- develop, test and launch a virtual reading club, i.e. Generation Z Reading Club, which will provide a safe space foryoung people at the age 15-25 to develop their love for reading, inform themselves on key topics such as common values, civic engagement, etc., develop critical thinking skills, enhance their literacy competences, participate in discussions, interact with peers and support the process of new content creation.- develop detailed guidelines on how to: manage the reading club (administration, work with the app, functionalities,process of registration, etc.); moderate and facilitate online discussion sessions among young people on texts that they have read; develop new content for the app and support the process of content creation by young people.- carry out a comprehensive sharing of results and promotion campaign to ensure wider exploitation of our project results, further multiplication and sustainabilityThe results that we hoped to achieve are:RESULT 1 – Generation Z Reading Club App – an application software for young people between the age of 15 and 25 with bite-size youth-friendly texts on key topics Result 2- Guidelines for trainers, Multiplier events in 5 countries<< Implementation >>We implemented:1)*PR1 – Development of an Generation Z Reading Club App – an application software for young people between the age of 15 and 25 withbite-size youth-friendly texts on key topics such as common values, civic engagement and participation, green transition,social inclusion, digitalisation. It will be accessible through smart phones and tablets; MAC and ANDROID compatible2)*PR2 – Development of Generation Z Reading Club Guidelines – comprehensive manual for youth workers and stakeholders working withyoung people on how to manage a virtual Reading Club through the app, how to moderate and facilitate discussions andhow to develop new content for the app, as well as support the process of content creation by young people;3)*5 targeted multiplier events in Norway, Austria, Italy, Cyprus and Greece to promote the project and its achievements;4)*Testing the app with students and trainers with collecting feedback5)* two Transnational project meetings, two bilateral meetings, an online kickoff due to Covid and three teams meetings6)*Translation of PR1 and PR2 in 4 languages, pluss english<< Results >>1. Reading Club app (no registration necessary or personal data collection) free to download for free for everyone as described above. Can be downloaded from the following links:For Android: https://lykio dev data.s3.eu central-1.amazonaws.com/FTP/GenZ /application-6ddee1f8 7b85 4d9b b6b8d24cb18b87d6.apkFor iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gr/app/generation reading club/id64474294292. Guidelines for trainers how to use and maintain the app3. Multiplier events in each country4. testing the app with students and trainers with oral feedback afterwards5. Developing the text content for the app in all partner languages, then translated into English