Enhancing Adults Media and Digital Literacy to Fight the Infodemic (INFORMATION MATTERS)

"<< Background >>The INFORMATION MATTERS project focused on the development and piloting of learning materials for elderly people over 55 years and a training programme for adult educators to prepare them in teaching digital and media literacy to elderly learners.The project was designed to respond to new specific needs that have only occurred during the last few years, as a result from the latest implications created by the global digitization, and the spread of misinformation and fake news. The project combined targeted effect in 3 EU countries - Austria, Bulgaria and Romania, but also worked towards causing substantial impact at European level.The implementation of the IM project demonstrated the significant benefit digital and media literacy training can have on the elderly population since the training sessions equipped participants with practical skills and fostered a sense of empowerment and community engagement. The feedback by the learners and trainers illustrated education’s transformative power in navigating the digital world. Moving forward, the IM project should continue to expand by reaching even more senior citizens across Europe and providing them with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly digital environment. << Objectives >>The three main project objectives that defined the implemented activities were:1. To enhance elderly people’s digital and media literacy competences, through the development and exploitation of innovative interactive learning materials with focus on tackling the ""infodemic"", misinformation and fake news, expected to cause positive effect on at least 300 adults in Bulgaria, Romania and Austria during the project lifetime and at least 3000 across Europe by mid-2025. 2. To enhance adult education staff’s competences to effectively engage in building elderly people’s digital and media literacy, through the development and piloting of a training programme to directly upskill 120 adult educators during the project lifetime and at least 400 by mid-2025. 3. To promote the importance of and the benefits from enhancing elderly people’s digital and media literacy by effectively disseminating the project activities and results, reaching out to 3000 stakeholders from across Europe. << Implementation >>We developed (in English, Bulgarian, German and Romanian languages):1. A set of educational video series serving as learning tutorials for elderly users to help them gain basic digital skills and media literacy competences that are up-to-date yet suitable to older adults needs.2. A training programme for adult trainers to prepare them provide non-formal education in digital and media literacy skills for elderly people. It was developed in the form of an online-based Digital Training Course. We conducted (in Bulgaria, Romania and Austria):1. A pilot online training for adult trainers. 2. A pilot training of elderly people 55+ , implemented by selected trainers from those who completed our digital course. On these sessions were first exploited the learning materials for elderly people developed within the project. During the whole project time span we made active online and offline dissemination, starting with the creation of a logo, visual identity and a website, producing some targeted online campaigns, conducting meetings with relevant stakeholders, and ending with two multiplier events (a webinar targeted at European audience and an in-person conference held in Sofia). << Results >>*IM Learning Materials for Elderly People - multilingual learning resources in the form of educational video series with focus on building digital and media literacy *IM Training Programme for Adult Educators - multilingual online training course on how to build elderly people’s digital and media literacy within a changed context *Promotion and sharing campaign to include 1 online international multiplier event for 140 participants, 1 dissemination conference in Bulgaria for 150 participants, 4 unique email campaigns that reached more than 500 European stakeholders, 1 video campaign, 20 meetings with local stakeholders, a regularly updated multilingual project website *at least 170 adult educators with enhanced competences to build elderly people’s digital and media literacy*at least 400 elderly people with enhanced digital and media literacy competences with focus on navigating, understanding and communicating information on health, politics and sustainable development *at least 3000 stakeholders with raised awareness on the importance and media literacy *5 organisations with enhanced capacity for transnational collaboration and benefiting from the project results through enhanced capacity to serve their target populations"