The use of digital technologies and open data in education in general and in addressing the need for active citizenship in particular remains fragmented because educational stakeholders are largely unaware of the potential benefits that digital technologies and open data can offer for learning as well as the opportunities available to them when they develop digital skills in an open data environment. Digital technologies are used in most employment areas, but the understanding and recognition of data and information literacy is lacking in the European job marketplace. This is recognized as the first item in the European Commission Digital Competence Framework (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomp/digital-competence-framework).Until now, educational stakeholders have been extremely timid in applying the use of open data and digital technologies in satisfying their responsibility to help young people in their demographic engagement and acquisition of digital citizenship skills in order to fully participate in their communities and make smart choices online and in life. According to the EU Science hub, this European initiative urgently needs to be embedded in schools and in teacher training. This proposal, D3: Developing Digital Data literacy is a response to these needs, while embracing engagement in citizenship through digital technologies as outlined in the European Commission Digicomp Conceptual reference model. The D3 project aims to make use of the outcomes of the Comenius Forward Looking Youth project “YouthMetre: A Tool for Forward Youth Participation”, which promoted “the collection and analysis of substantive evidence allowing young people to participate effectively in policy making”. This project, in turn recommended relating further actions to the European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organizations and supporting innovative approaches and digital technologies for teaching and learning in schools.D3 is designed to promote a highly relevant educational approach, applying the framework of a digital citizenship educational paradigm, by providing innovative mechanisms (curricula and engagement structures) resulting in learning and engagement opportunities to integrate digital technologies and open data in schools. The goal, therefore, of the proposed project is not only to narrow the existing gap between education and digital literacy, but to shift the education process in innovative ways altering the approaches we have catalysed learning that needs to include digital citizenship. Towards that goal the project will produce the following outputs:IO1: Review school curricula and qualifications, open data tools This review is relates to the EC Digicomp framework and provides a capacity building tool by identifying opportunities to integrate open data and digital data tools into secondary schools and responsive to the “digital data skills” gaps.IO2: Teacher Training Course focusing on competences related to digital technologies and data literacy key competences in initial and continuing teacher education and trainingIO3: Teaching resources on democratic engagement and open dataThese teaching resources will provide blueprints for teachers to use digital data and information tools to help build critical engagement and active citizenship.IO4: Gallery of Case studies demonstrating pedagogical approaches such as citizen science. A series of Multiplier events will be organized to promote and share these outputs and engage and enthuse teachers and educators to adopt ‘digital data literacy’ with ‘active citizenship activities’ in school situations.

<< Objectives >>The project aims at increasing young people's active participation in the EU elections by developing participatory tools and methodologies based on NFE that will empower young people in becoming Youth Engagers or Youth reporters in their local communities.<< Implementation >>Transnational, local and digital activities will be implemented to achieve the project objectives. More in particular, the project consortiums will involve young people to carry out an activity to develop a tested toolkit, together with a Learning Activity and a flow of local and media activities. The project consortium will also meet regularly for project management activities.<< Results >>A toolkit to foster youth participation in the EU elections will be developed. Moreover, partners will develop local and media activities in their local communities.

The goal, objectives and results of the project are indicated by the analysis of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in partner countries:In today's geopolitical situation in all the Baltic States, Slovakia, there are individual initiatives that start talking about MIL in schools, libraries, or youth centers. Critical thinking is also mentioned among the key competencies of the 21st century, but the youth field still lacks innovative distance based learning courses (such as online courses) and other tools responding to the needs of the digital society. These could be easily integrated into the activities of the main MIR formal and non-formal educational agents and help them to educate people to further develop and maintain their competences in information verification, content analysis, debunking misinformation, and critical thinking, and thus help during their self-development. In other words, young people are already living in a mediated reality, but education is often unable to go hand in hand with technological developments and respond to current challenges of digital information world, despite many discussions and goals such as talking about the media and it’s positive or negative effects.At the same time, complexity of media and information world is increasing, and new content creators are even more prone to manipulation and misinformation than traiditional media. That increases need for MIL not among receivers of information, but also content creators, who should be socially responsible and tackle misinformation instead of spreading it.During the project, it is planned to develop and test 9-month long online training courses that will multiply the good experience of Media and Information Literacy Education (MIR) partners. Online courses will have two different accesses that are designed according to the specifics of the following target groups:- For people preparing public information (youth opinion framers). This is for young journalists and other media and content creators, those responsible for youth information points.- Youth leaders, youth workers, social educators and other people working directly with young people who have the opportunity not only to gain new knowledge and skills during online courses, but also to pass it on to others. In the frame of the project, we state that multipliers through online courses will be able to work independently with the group of 15 young people and to pass on topics of critical thinking and informative literacy themselves.The main goals of this project are:1. Increase the quality of youth work by creating and integrating future-oriented online courses.2. Improve media and information literacy and critical thinking of potential multipliers of the project with the help of created intellectual product.Tasks are: 1. Create an international online course in Digital MIR lab in Youth work that would be accessible via website and mobile app.2. To extend the course and ensure the sustainability of the project results, test courses with potential multipliers, and to develop critical thinking and media and information literacy through peer educators.3. Implement an online course for youth and youth workers.Project activities are compiled to ensure the sustainability of the project results as well as making direct affect to the target groups that are potential to operate in a wider society (content creators, peer educators) or those involved in the education of these people: organizations working with journalist education, youth workers, social educators).Project results and needs:- In the most vulnerable points of the Baltic countries innovative and interactive tool will be created for people working with youngsters. That tool will help to ensure young people's continuing education, support and motivate as well as will be responding to the needs of future youth work.- Critical thinking and media literacy of potential multipliers will be improved, thus enabling the project results to continue.Segmenting the results by planned training activities they would lead to the following aspects of impact:- 42 youth opinion makers will be empowered to work with topics of media literacy and critical thinking. - 67 youth leaders and youth workers will be empowered to educate peers and develop critical thinking and information literacy.- Online course evaluation training for opinion formers and peer educators will give feedback to online course developers and allow them to improve the product in a quality way.- 1005 young people regularly participated in activities organized by peer educators, have critical thinking, understand how media works and are able to identify different manipulations.- 80 potential users of intellectual product – educators of young journalists, people working with non-formal education and other professionals interested in critical thinking will attend online courses and empower other people do the same.

- In today's Lithuania geopolitical situation there is a lack of suggestive educational methods for information literacy based on non-formal education principles and adapted for work with youth with fever opportunities. - So far, pilot information literacy programs, confined integration to formal education system or, by educating critical approach, have not specialized in information literacy area. - Some of initiatives operated in Lithuania in information warfare reacted counter-propaganda. In various strategies it identified as destabilization of situation: just as petrol can not extinguish fire, via propaganda it is impossible to create antidote for other propaganda mechanism. That is why this project aims: T1. Increase youth work quality by integrating critical thinking and information literacy education. T2. To develop youth critical thinking and media literacy. Objectives: U1. To take over the foreign partners good practices in critical thinking and media literacy areas. U2. By invoking international cooperation create critical thinking and information literacy methodology for young journalists and empower to adapt it in practice both - young journalists and institutions working with them. U3. By invoking international cooperation, set critical thinking and information literacy educational program which would fit in Lithuania non-formal education scholars program requirements and empower youth workers to adapt it. U4. In order to ensure sustainability of project results, empower young leaders by developing their critical thinking and information literacy to adapt it through peer-to-peer education. U5. Implement critical thinking and information literacy promotion campaign among youth. U6. To disseminate project intelectual outputs in Baltic and other partners countries. Project activities will be organized in a way that would ensure sustainability of project results (results further application through non-formal education scholars program, peer-to-peer educators, journalists educational institutions) and applied to those group which has potential to change broader society opinion: young journalists, organizations working in the field of journalist education, youth information. Different sectors connected in the project will let us ensure that methods, born during project implementation, will be tested systemically: A. By young journalists, institutions which is working with them, organizations (including organizations working in youth information field, Eurodesk network, youth information points). In the future particular organizations will become sustainable base for critical thinking and information literacy education campaign implementation. B. Non-formal education specialists – youth workers, peer-to-peer educators. A few methodological implementation cycles for young journalists and non-formal education specialists – youth workers will help, in order to improve methodology, target groups will be prepared to act independently, will be ready for possible challenges and have tools, possibilities to act further according non-formal education scholars program and in this way ensure further financial sustainability. By implementing, testing and improving methods, created during project implementation, special attention will be given to geopolitically vulnerable regions, youth with fever opportunities. Planned that project activities will directly reach 1350 people, by results dissemination events the number will be increased with at least 80 people. Critical thinking and information literacy education popularity campaign will reach even higher part of the auditory (not less than 20% of young people). Individuals who will participate in the project will improve their critical thinking and information literacy skills (1350 young people participated in peer-to-peer education, 50 young journalists) or learn how to adapt methodology (20 youth workers, 90 peer-to-peer educators and 20 institutions or informal groups which is working with journalist education, youth information).