Media Literacy — the ability or skill to critically analyze the accuracy, credibility, or bias evidence of the content spread and consumed in various media, including radio and television, the internet, and social media.
The skill of media literacy is more relevant than ever— it aids in raising our awareness of our interaction with texts, images, videos and other media products and to question the relationships between ourselves, the media and our community. As such, it is a crucial part of education for all ages— from early childhood to late adulthood. With the aim to train this competence, students of the OTH Regensburg commit to organizing annual projects with local schools and educational institutions in the scope of a project seminar.
Project seminars at OTH Regensburg
Cooperation with a local school in Eastern Bavaria
Based on the previous media literacy day, students created three workshops for sixth graders at a local high school. In dynamic learning modules, the students acquired fundamental knowledge on media literacy, internet safety, and legal aspects regarding social media.
OTH Regensburg x LUCE foundation: Media literacy for senior citizens
In collaboration with the LUCE foundation, a group of students developed a target-oriented educational event on digital literacy for senior citizens. The workshop includes a theoretical instruction session and an interactive segment featuring topic-specific Q&A sessions.
Community corner for digital literacy in Regensburg
The project “zusammen digital”, funded by the Bavarian Ministry for Digital Technology, aims to educate citizens about the usage of smartphones and the internet through local initiatives. In cooperation with the local library and a school, the OTH Regensburg opened a corner for digital literacy in Regensburg, where students offer weekly consultations to people with limited knowledge of digital technology.
Media Literacy Day at a local school
Building on the work of the previous semester, one group of students developed a media literacy day at a regional high school for students in grade 6. The goal was to train critical thinking regarding social media, data protection and online privacy, as well as the dangers of cyber bullying.
Virtual exchange with Xavier University
One group of students worked on an online project together with students at Xavier University. The US students learned about the concepts of developing tabletop games, and together the US and German students developed four different games focusing on different aspects of media literacy.
UNESCO MIL week
The entire project group worked together to create an event for UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy week. The students organized a library takeover, in which they prepared numerous Easter eggs for the OTH Regensburg students to discover in our university library.
Cooperation with local schools in Eastern Bavaria
Led by Prof. Dr. Katherine Gürtler, two groups of students developed workshops at regional high schools for students of grades 6 and 11. The goal was to teach the critical use of social media as well as the dangers of misinformation, conspiracy narratives and cyber bullying in an interactive way. Another project team took part in UNESCO’s Global Media Literacy Week, laying the foundations for this “Media & Democracy Lab” website.
The content developed at the seminar will now be deepened and distributed by upcoming project groups in order to provide sustainable added value for society.
Virtual event to mark the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Constitution
A virtual event on February 3, 2022, provided insights into the work and successes of the project seminar and celebrated the value created for society. In the keynote speech, state parliament member Tobias Gotthard acknowledged the students’ work and emphasized the importance of media literacy. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Baier, President of OTH Regensburg, as well as the students’ parents and teachers attended the event and expressed great interest and appreciation for the students’ insights and contributions.
Cooperation with Civic.net
The #LoveSpeech project seminar team worked together with Civic.net, a project of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, to support their work against hate speech.
The project work focused on three areas of investigation:
- Cross-national investigation of anti-hate speech initiatives with best practice recommendations for communication in social networks.
- Needs analysis of civil society organizations in Berlin regarding their experiences and support needs in dealing with online hate speech
- Comparative analysis of different communication platforms to determine how Civic.net can best communicate with its stakeholders (confidential)
