Criteria for Raising Quality for European Educational Media (CRAIQ-EUmedia)

Erasmus+ Smaller partnerships
2021-2-AT01-KA210ADU-000050773
Project start: 01.05.2022
Project end: 31.12.2023

Project consortium

• European Society for Education and Communication (Coordinator) – AT
• Bitviser – NL
• ERCI, Educational, Research & Consultancy Institute LTD – CY
• Society for Education, Information and Media – DE
• Projactive Consulting Kft. – HU
• Hellenic Political Science Association – GR
• EdUman – Izobraževalni management, Marko Ivanisin, s.p. – SI
• itw – Institute for Education and Training gGmbH – DE

Background

European society was and is facing permanent transformation processes: In addition to the constant crises triggered by the further development of the European Union, ideas and institutions, the digitalization of all areas of life in particular is having a massive impact on the world we live in.
Education and the media are key socialization mechanisms for finding one’s bearings and participating in society. Technological change offers many opportunities here, which can be both an opportunity and a risk. This also increasingly affects education, as changes to schools, vocational training and adult education during the pandemic have impressively demonstrated.
Against the background of the emergence of new competition to traditional educational media, the CRAIQ-EUmedia (Criteria for Raising Quality for European Educational Media) project aimed to put the existing quality criteria (Erasmus EuroMedia Award criteria) to the test in order to meet the demands of these transformation processes.

Objectives

Based on the existing evaluation criteria and categories of the Erasmus EuroMedia Awards, the project had the central goal of
(sister prize to the Comenius EduMedia Award) to create quality criteria in order to promote the development and impact of educational media that
European idea.
The background to this further development was twofold, on the one hand to do justice to the changes in a Europe that is constantly reinventing itself out of crises, and on the other hand to promote a generational change in the group surrounding the two prizes mentioned in order to fit in with new perspectives and demands.
The basis for this change should be the latest findings from media and educational science, as well as the wealth of experience gained from more than 25 years of award practice.
Feedback from the evaluation of the application also added the dimension relating to the dissemination of educational content, i.e.
on the one hand the activation of learners to share their knowledge, on the other hand functions integrated into the digital media

Implementation

A linear process was conceived in the design of the project. Based on the existing criteria of the award, the current state of research and the wealth of experience from more than 25 years of award practice were to be integrated through desk research [IO1]. In a subsequent step, these newly formulated quality indicators were to be tested through case studies and focus groups [IO2] and finally disseminated through multiplier events [IO3].
However, the intensive involvement with the subject matter as well as challenges of a personnel nature led to changes. It turned out that the tools created for IO2 and IO3 were themselves a very good educational medium to meet the demands of discussing and disseminating the European idea. At the same time, the project partnership also developed apart, while the experienced generation tended to safeguard educational media practice through the award practice, younger members were primarily interested in debating and discussing the new.
In order to do justice to this, efforts were made [IO4] to pass on the project results to new partners.

Results

The central results, at least as things stand at present, are the Erasmus EuroMedia Award practice as part of the Comenius EduMedia
Awards in their existing form or to expand them into the area of sustainability through a follow-up project (coordinated by the GPI).
The Think & Drink event methodology, which was developed by the coordinating organization ESEC, is now the inspiration for a
Series of events to engage with the interested public, debate European topics and combine expert knowledge with everyday knowledge to establish robust social practice.
This high, but also abstract, standard is now primarily used to initiate the evaluation of interim results and brainstorming with new partners.
The theoretical core result of the project, which is a reorganization of criteria and categories based on the dimensions of Content, People &
Technology is used as an epistemological framework for new projects, especially in the intersection of digital infrastructures, media content and competence patterns (deconstruction of the concept of educational media).