Online MIL and Intercultural Dialogue Courses
Faced with the choice between privacy and safety on the Internet, between freely expressing themselves and the ethical use of information, the media and technology – women, men and young boys and girls need new types of competencies. Media and information literacy (MIL) offers these competencies. Education for all must therefore include media and information literacy for all.
UNESCO’s push to achieve media and information literate societies recognizes that MIL in formal education is a necessity, but not a final stop. Attaining MIL in formal education has been long and slow process. However, the momentum must be kept up.
MIL must also go beyond the classroom. To increase access to MIL training, UNESCO has launched two online courses:
In cooperation with Athabasca University, the course provides youth (girls and boys) with basic media and information competencies to become critical citizens. It explores how MIL can enable youth to be actively involved in intercultural and interreligious dialogue, to advocate for gender equality and freedom of expression, and to effectively use virtual spaces.
In cooperation with the American University of Beirut, the course explores the relationship between MIL, intercultural dialogue and gender representation, how to evaluate the information found in libraries, publications and virtual spaces, how to produce one's own content, and how to understand and evaluate the world of advertising and how it is regulated and controlled. The course is also available in Arabic.
This resource is part of a comprehensive MIL Toolkit being developed by UNESCO and partners. The full MIL Toolkit will include:
- MIL Curriculum for Teachers;
- Global MIL Assessment Framework;
- Guidelines for Broadcasters to Promote MIL and User-Generated Content;
- An online multimedia MIL teaching resources tool;
- MIL Policy and Strategy Guidelines.
