Capstone event as part of the Continued Engagement after the Media Literacy Tech Camp Ohrid “Countering disinformation through education” was held on 23rd and 24th of August 2024. The event was organized by Center for innovations and digital education Dig-Ed and supported by the United States Embassy in North Macedonia and the U.S. Department of State’s TechCamp team from DC. Teachers, media literacy experts, and representatives from US Embassy in North Macedonia were present at this event aiming to empower teachers’ media literacy skills on national level.
At the beginning, the US Chargé d’affaires Nicole Varnes and Maja Videnovik (representative from Dig-Ed) greeted the participants and talked about the importance of the TechCamp for improving media literacy education. After that, in order to make connection with other projects on national level that tackle media literacy, Dejan Dokuzovski – the project director for the USAID-funded media literacy project YouThink in North Macedonia. shared project outcomes and future steps and their impact on media literacy education.
Media literacy experts, which were trainers at the TechCamp Ohrid, presented the latest trends connected to cybersecurity, AI tools and game-based approach in media literacy education:
- Using AI to Enhance the Storytelling in Media Literacy and Cyber Security Classes – Vladimir Trajkovik
- Media Literacy Education and AI – Maja Videnovik
- New Trends in Cybersecurity – Aleksandar Acev
The activities and final products from the projects implemented as the results of small grants competition were presented. Six projects, implemented by the teams of teachers that participated at the TechCamp, were carried out to strengthen teachers’ media literacy and to create open educational resources. After each project presentation feedback from participants and mentors was given and a discussion about future steps within these projects was started. In the following table you can find short information about each project, coordinator, project outcome and link to the presentation:
| Project title | Implementing school | Coordinator | Project outcome | Link |
| Developing and Testing Media Literacy Curriculum | Petar Pop Arsov, Skopje | Aleksandra Mitrovska | Curriculum for an elective subject, concerning media literacy, as well as activities for Media Literacy Clubs. (https://nasmedium.edu.mk/) | link |
| Native terms of Media Literacy give you better capacity | Mirce Acev, Skopje | Elena Apostolova | Glossary with terms connected to media literacy on local language, as well as mobile game for learning those terms (link) | link |
| TruthTech: Media Literacy in the Age of AI (acronym MLinAA) | Straso Pindzur Karbinci, Stip | Silvana Jakimovska Binova | Online course concerning media literacy in the age of AI, as well as catalogue with the best practices concerning media literacy from the teachers that participated in this online course (https://mediainaa.mk/) | link |
| Media literacy for all | OURC Maca Ovcarova, Veles | Zhivka Panova Sazdova | Materials for implementation media literacy education with students with special education needs (https://mediumskapismenostzasite.mk/) | link |
| EduCyberGuardians | Tosho Velkov – Pepeto, Kavadarci | Zora Milkova | Online course for strengthening teachers’ cybersecurity skills (https://educyberguardians.mk/) | link |
| Media digital triangle | Strasho Pindzur, Negotino | Marina Stanislavova | Workshop for students and parents concerning media literacy and designing comics on the same topic (https://medigtriagolnik.wordpress.com/) | link |
At the end of the event a panel discussion was carried out concerning the future of media literacy on national level, ideas for sustainability of existing and start of new projects, as well as their impact on young people. Center for innovations and digital education encourages all teachers, inspired by these good practices and using created educational resources to implement lessons connected to media aliteracy and all together to improve the quality of media literacy education on national level.
