Listen to some of the comments made by participants who were involved in developing the toolkit. Thanks to: Omar Seguna, Sara Brunno, Donata Federici Monesi, Monica Giansanti, Samara and Yevgeny. We are grateful for the valuable contributions made by all those involved in the consultations and co-creative workshops.
The main aims of the toolkit are: 1) bringing together updated, evidence-based and practical resources for education stakeholders and 2) helping educators better understand, use, and find “good” research about children’s engagement with digital technologies. The education toolkit is based upon the key findings from national consultations and the co-creation workshops. These steps were crucial for stakeholder engagement to identify users’ requirements and to translate academic resources into more accessible outputs.
The toolkit has three main target groups:
Teachers and school staff.
Practitioners and professionals from the informal or non-formal education sectors interested in the topic of children and digital technologies (e.g., Safer Internet Centres, civil society organisations, youth workers, etc.).
Policymakers and their advisors interested in the topic of children and digital technologies (e.g., Ministries of education, media, youth, etc.).
Toolkit structure
The Tool Kit is organised in three sections
1) Getting acquainted with research
This section provides a quick overview of key research about children and digital technologies. This part is organised around four subsections summarising the latest research about:
Online risks to children
Youth Digital Skills
Cyberbullying, digital technologies and adolescents’ wellbeing
Children data and privacy in the digital age
Digital technologies and adolescents’ wellbeing
These topics were selected based on the input received from the CO:RE stakeholders, including teachers, SIC representatives, policymakers, and children themselves during the consultations and co-creation sessions.
2) Using research in education
This section discusses why it is important for education stakeholders to use research in their daily work and it provides educators and practitioners with practical ideas to make their work more impactful using relevant research. Some ideas include using research to inform awareness-raising campaigns, to apply for funding (e.g., consulting recent research when writing a project proposal) or to inform the development of educational tools and materials.
3) Staying up to date
The third and last toolkit section contains information and tips about where to find the latest, good quality research in the area of children and digital technologies. It also contains a selection of good quality resources (e.g., reliable websites, blog articles, reports, etc.), for teachers, practitioners and policymakers recommended by our own stakeholders. Through these recommendations we want to ensure that the educational toolkit also provides practical resources on children and online media that are relevant for our target groups.