Author:

Annaliisa Post, Specialist for BECID Communication and Media Competence, University of Tartu

Summary:

Educating children about media and information literacy is crucial in today’s digital world. In Estonia, the first internet safety drill for preschoolers – DigiRapid in English, DigiÄKK in Estonian – taught online safety through games. Following its success, a collaboration with the magazine Täheke aims to further educate children by using comics featuring Pets the Pig.

Key words: media and information literacy, children, education

Educating children about media and information literacy (MIL) is crucial in today’s digital age, where they are constantly exposed to a vast array of information from various sources. Even if children do not have their own digital devices, yet, they might have access to their relatives’ and friends’ smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, etc. Knowledge of how to behave in the digital world and what threats to be aware of helps them make smarter decisions and avoid unpleasant situations.

In Estonia, it’s common that preschoolers already have a phone of their own or get one when they go to school. Therefore, it’s important to educate children about MIL from an early age. Since our experience has proved the benefit of game-based learning, in May, University of Tartu and the Baltic Engagement Centre for Combating Information Disorders (BECID) organised the very first internet safety drill in Estonia, called DigiRapid, for 200 preschoolers from Tartu.

The DigiRapid format includes rapid learning sessions where groups of participating kids with their accompanying teachers spend ten minutes at every learning station. When the time is up, they move on to the next learning station. In our case, the activities were carried out by future teachers and youth workers and covered topics like cyberbullying, generating strong passwords, how digital devices affect our emotions and the risks of sharing personal information. Children also learned more about each other’s media use and practised empathy.

Although, the focus of the event was on how to behave safely on the Internet, there were no screens present. Learning took place through age-appropriate games that encouraged discussion, movement and teamwork. The event was held in an outdoor environment, a city park, to make sure that everybody had enough space to move freely. Visiting the park was also like an excursion for the children and the teachers were able to combine the event with other topics, such as how we should behave when walking to the park or travelling by bus.

Teachers from kindergarteners admitted that children are more and more exposed to digital devices, but do not have enough knowledge about the possible negative impact of the digital world. So, the event was warmly welcomed by teachers, and they said that if the children haven’t already faced these problems, they are very likely to do that once they go to school.

Equipping teachers with tools to teach MIL effectively

Our main goal was to share knowledge of MIL, but we have also noticed that in our case children weren’t the only ones who benefit from these activities. Involving students in DigiRapid gave future teachers and youth workers knowledge of teaching MIL and confidence to carry out similar activities in the future, too. Therefore, we suggest involving students in event like DigiRapid to give them an opportunity to experiment with different types of games and activities that they can also use in their future work. Feedback given by the teachers from kindergarteners also showed that they benefited from the event – not only did they get new ideas how to teach MIL, but they also expanded their understanding of children’s media worlds.

After DigiRapid’s success and positive feedback, BECID also started a collaboration with Estonian children magazine Täheke, which is the oldest children magazine in Estonia. As a result of our collaboration the character Pets the Pig helps children understand the concept of digital world and how to behave in different difficult situations. Pets the Pig shares his life through comics. It offers yet another good opportunity for teaching MIL without using any screens at home, kindergarten and school.

In the first comic that was published this summer, Pets the Pig described the meaning of digital footprint. The second comic – published in September – was about feeling loneliness when you’re the only friend who doesn’t have a digital device and reminding children that no one should be left behind just because they don’t have a digital device as there are many games that can be played without using any devices.

In the increasingly digitalized world, it’s easy to assume that screens are necessary for teaching concepts like MIL. However, our experience with DigiRapid and the collaboration with Täheke demonstrates that meaningful learning can happen without relying on digital devices. By using creative, screen-free approaches like game-based learning and storytelling through comics, we can engage children in a way that resonates with their developmental stage and encourages active participation. These teaching methods are also universal as they are suitable also for those who don’t have access to digital devices.