YouthDOCS video/drama 2014-2016 Erasmus+/KA2 Project
Code: 2014-1- EL01-KA201-001545
WHY:
Among youths, there are issues on “social identity and understanding of the other”, issues on “development of cooperation skills” and issues on “intercultural understanding and stereotypes” that need be critically addressed particularly in the context of the current economical crisis and the raise of violence and racism.
WHAT: The project’s objectives are:
a) To develop a partnership between two European regions, at the level of local educational authorities, as a means to create innovative educational procedures and to share good educational practices
b) to establish and develop a sustainable network between schools and institutions and to encourage future partnerships
c) ) to develop a teaching methodology which is student centered, promotes active learning and uses film and drama education techniques
d) to create and develop collaboration between teachers/students and media/drama experts
e) to promote students’ group work
d) to facilitate the expression of students’ collective views on their own youth culture and personal identity as well as their views on the culture of the partner region, in the context of the current economic crisis and the raise of violence and racism
f) to enable students to create and share doc-films and doc-dramas and to acquire the relevant abilities
g) to develop a teachers’ training course, a teachers’ educational guide and openeducational resourcesbased on the educational methodology implemented in this project
HOW: Methodology & Tools
The project will use pupil-centered methodology including active learning techniques in students’ group work and will utilizes the tools of “videodocumentary”and “theatredocumentary” ( DocFilms and DocDramas)
Students from secondary schools in both regions, in groups, will be invited to reflect upon, negotiate, choose, produce/record and exchange audiovisual messages (videos and/or dramas) on what they believe should be preserved from their natural, man-made or social environment, as representing important aspects of their own youth culture and identity. The trigger-question will be: “which elements of your youth culture would you choose, as a group, to create a short film or drama documentary for another youth group to see and comment?». Both videos and/or dramas will be based on own personal stories, and must have the form of the documentaries. In these doc-films/dramas, students, in cooperation with local partners (local associations, NGOs, municipalities, etc), will, at a first stage, present their collective views of their own community-region and, at a second stage, of the community of the other region in the partnership. Teachers will work together with media and drama experts.
DocFilms & DocDramas will be created, teachers, education officers and experts will travel to other region, good-practices will be shared, Student Festivals, Conferences and websites will be organised, Guides and Courses will be prepared.
ORGANISATION:
In both countries a set number of secondary education schools are involved in the project as “pilot schools“. These schools are linked as a “Local School Network”.
The teachers involved in the Project form the “Local Teachers Group”. While in this Project, teachers are trained, assisted and monitored by the “Local Media & Drama Experts”. This Network is managed by the “Local Managment Group“.
The Media & Drama Experts from both countries form the “Project’s Media & Drama Experts Group“.
Members from both Local Mangment Groups creat the “Project’s Managment & Immplementation Group”.
PRODUCTS-RESULTS:
a) Twenty four (24) videos (12 in each country) will be produced and shared in 2 years time. Local Experts and/or their assistants visit and support schools.
b) Four (4) short teachers training/reflection/feedback workshops (2 In each country) will be offered in 2 years time. Relevant material on film and drama techniques will be offered for teachers.
c) A webside, where all doc-films, doc-dramas as well as documents with both theoretical issues, the projects methodology and practical tips will be uploaded free of access
d) Four (4) Festivals (2 in each country) will be organised in 2 years time.
e) Minimum two (2) transnational meetings for training teachers, one in each country and 2-4 Experts & Management Group meetings
f) A final Report.
g) A Teachers’ Guide will be written
h) A specially digital Platform “..in our own view” as a virtual festival will be designed and used.
i) Eight (8) Video Tutorials for students and for teachers will be made
j) Two (2) International Conferences (1 in each country) will be organised and delivered
k) A 35hours Teachers’ Training Course will be designed and offered
IMPACT
On participating teachers and their schools: Professional development, skills in sharing good practice and working co-intentionally with experts, skills on ICT, open educational resources and on new educational tools (media, films, drama, etc)
On participating students: Development of personal identity, critical thinking and decrease of stereotypes, new skills on audiovisual expression (video and drama)
On participating Local Authorities and their officers: A local network between schools, administration and NGOs will be established and can be used for further projects. Festivals, Conferences, WebPlatforms and Material will be organized to last (locally and internationally)
THE STAGES:
In beginning of the first year of the project, steering group, experts and teachers will meet in one of the partner regions and agree on the implementation procedure.
During the first year, doc-films and doc-dramas will be created by the selected schools according to the commonly agreed procedure and shared locally.
At the end of the first year, steering group, experts and teachers will travel to partner region in order to view screenings of doc –film and drama productions, to evaluate first year’s procedure and decide together common themes/issues that they will explore during the second year.
In the second year, both region communities will record their own views on commonly developed issues.
Finally, all doc-films will be shared and commended locally and internationally.
THE PHASES / 2 Years Plan including Activities of Implementation (A) , Outputs (O), Events (E) & Course (C) plans:
YEAR 1
Α1: Setting Up the Groups/Networking/Planning: organisers, consultants, local officers and teachers in both regions will meet locally to form the 3 working Groups (Management, Experts, Teachers) and to agree on responsibilities to be undertaken. Transnational communication via web tools will take place for necessary arrangements. Projects webpage is designed. Local publicity of the Project (media, etc)
Mobility1:Sharing expertise/deciding the procedures: organisers, media and drama experts from both countries meet in Athens to exchange good practice, to negotiate project’s common methodology, to decide on the tools and procedures to follow and share the evaluation methods.
A2:The school groups & local workshops: School groups are formed and film & drama workshops/seminars will be organised locally in each region for students and teachers involved.
Mobility 2:Sharing expertise/teachers’ workshops: organisers, media and drama experts and teachers from both countries meet in Athens to exchange good practice, to practice on film & drama tools.
A3: Year1 monitoring, experts in schools: students in each school will develop procedures of recording and sharing their views on their own youth culture. Several approaches to finding the themes/issues, including drama education techniques, will be used. Students will be assisted and monitored by consultants, media experts and drama teachers to create, edit, upload and share their videos to Projects webpage.
A4:Year 1 Local Presentations-Festivals: the videos and the dramas will be shared locally in festivals and/or other events. Local and European websites will be created for communication and dissemination of results.
Mobility 3: Sharing expertise/teachers’ workshops. Organisers, media and drama experts and teachers from both countries meet in Istanbul to exchange good practice, to practice on tools and to attend the Istanbul Film Festival. They negotiate on Year1 videos and to set up the themes for Year2. Midterm evaluation and reports.
Output 3: Production of “Video Tutorials” starts (research period)
YEAR2
A5:Year 2 monitoring, experts in schools: includes the creation of the new doc-films/dramas based on commonly developed issues. It also includes peer-monitoring as one way of publicity within the schools and the partner regions. Film and Drama experts in schools to assist in filming and editing. Films uploaded to Project’s webpage.
Output 1 The “Teachers’ Guide” starts
Output 2: The “in our own view Platform”preparation starts.
Output 3: The “Video Tutorials” shooting & editing
A6:Year2 Local Presentation-Festivals: the new videos and the dramas will be shared locally in local festivals in both countries
Mobility 4: Steering & Experts Groups Meeting in Istanbul. Attending local Film festival. Evaluation.
Events 1&2: Planning the 2 International Conferences
Course1: The Training Courses organisation& delivery
THE APPROACH:
Methodology&Tools: The project will use pupil-centered methodology including active learning techniques in students’ group work and will utilizes the tools of videodocumentary” and “theatredocumentary” . In the partnership each Region will include one Educational Authority, a number of secondary schools, other local organisations (to promote & disseminate), NGOs (as training and consultancy).
Using the documentary methodology with students. DocFilms and DocDramas:
Students from secondary schools in both regions, in groups, will be invited to reflect upon, negotiate, choose, produce/record and exchange audiovisual messages (videos and/or dramas) on what they believe should be preserved from their natural, man-made or social environment, as representing important aspects of their own youth culture and identity. The trigger-question will be: “which elements of your youth culture would you choose, as a group, to create a short documentary for another youth group to see and comment?». Both videos and/or dramas will be based on own personal stories, and must have the form of the documentaries. In these doc-films/dramas, students, in cooperation with local partners (local associations, NGOs, municipalities, etc), will, at a first stage, present their collective views of their own community-region and, at a second stage, of the community of the other region in the partnership.
Students will critically reflect on their view on the culture they live in and their identity, they will give a public feedback on the above and compare and exchange this view with students from a different culture in Europe. They will notice stereotypes, differences and similarities and appreciate the diversity of cultures in their region and in Europe. They will use arts, especially drama, video and arts education for their survey, reflection and creations/productions. Methods on combining drama and video work in education will be developed and exchanged between the local and international partners. Themes as the economic crisis and violence-racism are to be explored expressing the students’ own view of their collective culture and identity particularly in the context of the present crisis.
Teachers will work together with media and drama experts. They will create peer learning structures and networks in schools. A training course will be developed, both on media and drama tools and on facilitating students in the framework of the project-based learning/teaching methodology.
The messages (doc-films&doc-dramas) are meant to be exchanged initially within the partnership and later among different EU members (via internet, conferences, festival, networks,etc)
This project insists on the documentary methodology of both video and drama as a strong pedagogical tool and also emphasizes on a pupil centered teaching. In this sense it is an ambitious combination and development of previous small scale projects as “the Videomuseums: recording traces of our subjective culture” and “You as I: exploring diversity via drama and arts” both applied in a number of schools in the Eastern Attica Region Greece in the past 6 years. It is also innovative as no audiovisual education has been, in general, satisfactory developed, neither has it, more specifically, been used as a tool to investigate and record young persons identity.
Framework for media literacy-Video documentary
Younger generations grow in a society, where the flow of information and the opinion manipulation through media, constitute a major threat for individuals, who, not having developed the necessary skills to perceive and evaluate such an informational overflow, become victims of propaganda and consumers of cheap cultural substitutes. However, not many proposals have been put forward for a systematic teaching of media language within the formal curriculum. We consider a media literacy project not as an isolated school subject, but rather as the combined outcome of educational activities incorporating other areas of knowledge. In this sense, the use of media language was viewed as a skill exercised whenever communication, accumulation and exchange of information, public opinion measurements and campaigns on social issues are involved. Young participants are invited to investigate, choose and record issues they believe represent important aspects of their own youth culture and identity and present them in the form of a short doc-film. This doc-film can be shared with other students locally/internationally and can also be considered as a means of preserving what they think represents their youth identity and culture. The selection of the subjects is to be decided by the team of students in every participating school promoting not only team work but also active engagement in a series or decisions. Specific techniques on decision making, exchanging of personal views, investigating own stories will be applied at this important stage.
Documentation acquires symbolic and purely ideological dimensions, since it’s not the object which is preserved on video but its image. Recording introduces students to a new way of approaching their environment. Apart from the role of “an empirical consumer” which they usually adopt, they are encouraged to critically examine and evaluate their surroundings. Through documentaries students become active mediators of their own culture. The doc-films produced and exchanged may also offer a methodological research tool for cultural comparisons and sociological research. The prospect of depicting the preservation priorities of a community will provide the opportunity for statistically valid and reliable comparisons over time and among communities of a different cultural, economic and social character. The program’s future implementation in other European communities, may lead to conclusions regarding to the peculiarities and similarities that may be shown in the student-produced “doc-films”.
Framework for Drama Education-Documentary theatre
Drama education offers various methods to reflect upon a personal relation. Therefore drama education supports mainly the phases of research and decision making. Drama methods aim at enabling the group members to express emotions, actions and ideas. They also aim to work constructively with other group members. Within the current project we would like to examine the usability of this methodology in combination with media work.
Documentary theatre is a genre that has its roots in Brecht’s and Piscator’s theatre, the ‘living newspaper’ movement of the 1930s, and German and British docu-drama of the 1960s. It is nowadays widely used in contemporary theatre, as well as in community theatre and theatre/drama-in-education. In documentary theatre, documents themselves, i.e. interviews, newspaper articles, court transcripts, statistics, and other research material, are elaborated through devised theatre techniques. In the performances, influenced by non-naturalistic epic theatre, the edited actual words of the informants or documents are used, combined with multimedia, music, narration, audience interaction. In documentary theatre the purpose is to readdress and reassess a historical or social issue under a new perspective, to inform, and/or to present oppositional critiques of dominant ideologies. It overlaps with other genres such as verbatim theatre, theatre of the fact, reality theatre. In educational setting documentary theatre can be a method for researching issues that concern young people, such as marginalisation,cultural identity, politics, social issues, and involves pupils in an intense research and artistic process
