Author: 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World

Questions Matter Adult Educators Conference 2023

Calling adult education practitioners!

Grab a coffee, pastry and immerse yourself in a morning conference that will challenge the spread of misinformation using media literacy & microlearning in an increasingly polarised world.

Tue, 12 Dec 2023

08:30 - 11:30am

Mermaid Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow

Register for your FREE place at the Questions Matter 2023 morning conference

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Conference aims

To explore misinformation, how and why it spreads and how educators can respond

To network and share digital literacy tools you can use to protect both yourself as well as your learners as part of active citizenship

To showcase learning and methods from the microlearning project and build regional interest for the digital media literacy approach piloted

To demonstrate and try out the new microlearning 10-lesson course on WhatsApp, following its pilot phase.

To review the sustainability of microlearning initiatives in Wicklow and beyond

Target audience: adult literacy educators, tutors and adult education practitioners.

Event location

Questions Matter – training session

Date: Tuesday 5th September 2023

Time: 10am – 3pm

Venue: Bray Adult Learning Centre, 1 Brennan’s Parade, Bray, Co. Wicklow, A98 D9X0

For: Adult education and literacy tutors in the Wicklow & Kildare region

Session led by: Bray Area Partnership, the Bray Adult Learning Centre and the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) and 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World

Registration: limited spaces available – register for a place today (only 20 places available).

Participants call for adult tutors!

Are you interested in building on digital literacy tools for your students and are open to test-driving a pilot micro-learning course?

The main aim of the course for adult literacy tutors is to develop critical thinking and digital citizenship skills to assess and challenge news and information. This 1-day session seeks to pilot a suite of short-form microlearning materials in order to embed active citizenship through education and build on digital literacy outcomes.

The objectives are to enable participants to:

  • share their experience, knowledge and understanding about news and information today
  • explore and develop critical thinking and digital literacy skills
  • review the pilot micro-learning materials developed
  • become more confident and skilled in assessing and challenging sources of news and information.

Join us for this one day session on 5th September 2023 at Bray Adult Learning Centre. Note: travel costs and lunch included.

Register for a place at the session today.

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Questions Matter is a joint educational project supported by the ALL Collaboration and Innovation Fund 2023

Media Literacy Ireland’s resource of the month

Resource of the month update!

Facts Matter was announced as Media Literacy Ireland’s resource of the month in February 2023 – great news!

Facts Matter: A Guide to Building Critical Media Literacy in Today’s World was co-published with the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) and includes 10 lessons, 30 activities, 19 handouts and 14 worksheets.

For more, check out the project on MLI and check out the MLI website – a key platform for media literacy stakeholders across Ireland.

Be seeing you at Bray Literary Festival 2022

We are excited to be returning to the Bray Literary Festival, and hope to see you there!

Session: Writers Responding to Crises

  • Date: Sunday 2nd October
  • Time: 11.00am at Bray Library

Join writers Maria McManus and Rosemary Hennigan with Tony Daly from 80:20 as they discusses how writers can respond to crises in an ever-changing political landscape.

Maria is a poet. Her most recent collection is Available Light, (Arlen House). Librettos include Wretches, Ellipses and Tierra Sallada. Dance & film collaborations are BIND, EPILOGUE, DUST and TURF. Essays are published in Impermanence (Centre Culturel Irlandais/ No Alibis), The New Frontier (New Island) and The Irish Times. She founded Quotidian – Word on the Street; it includes Poetry Jukebox.

Rosemary Hennigan published her debut novel, ‘The Truth Will Out’, in March 2022. She has been shortlisted for the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition, longlisted for the Colm Tóibín Short Story Competition, and was highly commended in the Sean O’Faolain Short Story Prize. She is a qualified solicitor who has worked in the NGO sector and is also a Fulbright Scholar.

Photo: Johnny McMillan

Where There is No Engineer – Designing for community resilience

The National Finals of the “Where There Is No Engineer” Design Competition will take place in the Museum Building in Trinity College Dublin on Saturday the 4th of June 2022. Interested individuals can register to attend the event via Eventbrite.

“Where There Is No Engineer” (WTINE) is coordinated by Engineers without Borders Ireland and the Development Technology in the Community (DTC) Research Group in TU Dublin. Now in its eighth year, this development education initiative provides participants with the opportunity to learn about design, teamwork and communication through real, inspiring, sustainable and cross-cultural development projects. By participating in the programme, students and professionals have the opportunity to design creative solutions to real life development challenges. The competition is jointly funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Bentley Systems and the Arup Trust.

Architecture, product design and engineering students from universities in Dublin, Cork, Carlow, Waterford, Galway and Belfast have taken part in the WTINE competition this year. Students had the opportunity to design a development solution for either the location of Kabwe, Zambia or Kameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India in collaboration with EWB Ireland’s development partners Zamda Ireland and Friend In Need India Trust (FIN). The collaboration with FIN focused on improving the design and user experience of ecosan toilets and the development of a Green Academy incorporating circular economy principles for architecture students.

Participants were encouraged to develop designs and schemes to improve community resilience under six core development themes; Self-Supply Water & Sanitation, Food Security, Community Participatory Health, On & Off Grid Energy Systems, Climate Resilient Infrastructure and Communications.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, over 600 students from 9 universities participated in the WTINE programme. Thirteen projects have been chosen to participate in the National Finals, with the creation of a new category for First Year students. Students from TCD, TU Dublin, NCAD, NUIG, SETU (formerly Waterford IT) and MTU will all take part in the Finals on Saturday 4th, with students joining both remotely and in person.

Students have designed creative solutions ranging from eco and sustainable solar stoves, to micro greens as a means to increase food security, to novel and improved design of ecosan toilets amongst other innovations.

Teams and student finalists will present their innovations and schemes to a panel of judges drawn from Engineers without Borders Ireland, Irish Aid’s Development Education Unit and EWB partners 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World and Friend In Need India Trust. Lecturers, fellow students and members of the public will also attend the event on the day.

  • Note: “Where There is No Engineer” is funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas development programme which supports partners working in some of the world’s poorest countries. Irish Aid also supports global citizenship education in Ireland to encourage learning and public engagement with global issues.

Press release: Supporting adults to think critically, check facts and tackle misinformation

The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) and 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World launch Facts Matter: A Guide to Building Critical Media Literacy in Today’s World, Ireland’s first guide for adult literacy tutors on building critical media literacy for adults, supported in its development by Irish Aid.

Launched as part of the UN International Day for Universal Access to Information, access to reliable information is a right, not a privilege. It is an essential part of holding governments and public bodes accountable for their decisions and actions on health issues, climate change and more, particularly during an era where we are bombarded everyday by information, a lot of which is false or misleading – this is often called an ‘infodemic’.

This an introductory guide for adult literacy and adult education practitioners who wish to build their students’ knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence in critical thinking, media and digital literacy. It consists of 10 session outlines along with handouts and worksheets and lists of resources.

Colleen Dube, Chief Executive Officer, NALA commented: “There is so much information available at our fingertips right now, a lot of which is false or misleading. We require skills to work out if what we are reading or hearing is true or false. This means taking the time to find reliable and accurate information, question the role of information and look at what can I do.  Today we are delighted to launch the Facts Matter tutor guide with our partners 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World. This guide will support adult literacy and adult education practitioners to support students to enhance their critical thinking, media and digital citizenship skills.”

Tony Daly, Co-ordinator of 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World, said: “Media literacy is not confined to ‘reading’ the news; it is also about practice and producing your own responses. We must keep questioning and remember to stop, think and check before we believe or share. We know facts and truth matter if we want to build a better society and a better world.  The Facts Matter tutor guide will support adult literacy tutors to explore what it means to live in an increasingly unequal world and to invite students to question and challenge this.”

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

About NALA: www.nala.ie

The National Adult Literacy Agency is an independent charity committed to making sure people with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs can fully take part in society and have access to literacy learning opportunities that meet their needs. NALA promotes media literacy

About 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World:

80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World is a non-governmental organisation that promotes popular education on human development and human rights through education & action projects, research and partnership work. 80:20 believes in using education to enable people to change their world for the better.

  • NALA and 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World are members of Media Literacy Ireland, an independent association of members committed to promotion of media literacy across Ireland.

www.medialiteracyireland.ie

Launch event 28 Sept: Facts Matter – New tutor guide

We are bombarded everyday by information, a lot of which is false or misleading – this is often called an ‘infodemic’.

We require skills to work out if what we are reading or hearing is true or false. This means taking the time to find reliable and accurate information, question it and ask yourself ‘what can I do?’

On Tuesday 28 September at 1pm, 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World is delighted to launch a new tutor guide, Facts Matter: A Guide to Building Critical Media Literacy in Today’s World at this webinar, with our partners The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA).

Join Helen Ryan from NALA and Tony Daly from 80:20 to hear about developing the guide and also hear from:

  • Catherine Devlin, Adult Literacy Ambassador, talking about why facts matter
  • Órla Ryan from TheJournal.ie, talking about how we can fight back against misinformation
  • Joan Fitzpatrick, Adult Literacy practitioner from Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, talking about teaching and facilitating learning on media literacy
Register for the launch event, taking place online via Zoom

‘Facts Matter’ is an introductory guide for adult literacy and adult education practitioners who wish to build their students’ knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence in critical thinking, media and digital literacy.

Once you register at the link you will then receive an email from Zoom with a link to join the 1-hour webinar on 28th September 2021.

For more, visit https://8020.ie/facts-matter/

  • The production of Facts Matter has been supported by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Call for participants: Perinatal Mental Health Care for Migrant Women

The Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick in partnership with 80:20 Educating for a Better World, are undertaking a research project in the area of perinatal mental health care for migrant women. The research project aims to increase our understanding of how we can collectively support migrant women experiencing perinatal mental health issues.

Women are at risk of developing an acute onset, relapse or re-occurrence of a wide range of mental health conditions, during the perinatal mental health period (during pregnancy and in the year after birth). The evidence highlights that migrant women are a particularly vulnerable group that face greater mental health needs during the perinatal period (during and after pregnancy) and experience a range of challenges, which may prevent them accessing perinatal mental health supports.

Call for expressions of interest!

We are seeking expressions of interest to participate in an online (zoom) World Café event, which will last approximately 2.5 hours. World cafés are informal opportunities that encourage conversations, sharing of ideas and networking opportunities. We invite you to share your experiences, perspectives and opinions on perinatal mental health care for migrant women. Our aim is to contribute to improving how we support migrant women experiencing perinatal mental health problems.

You are welcome to join any one of the three sessions taking place at 2pm on:

  • Friday 13th August
  • Friday 3rd September
  • Wednesday 15th September

If you can think of anyone who might be interested in making their voice heard on these matters, we would be very grateful if our call for participants could be passed onto them. We would also be grateful if you could place our attached flyer on your notice/information board (if appropriate). If you are interested in participating, please register by emailing kathleen.markey@ul.ie or claire.odonnell@ul.ie.

This research project is supported by the Irish Research Council.

80:20 joins The People’s Vaccine Alliance Ireland

“The fairest and most effective way to end this pandemic is to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. But pharmaceutical company monopolies could leave countries in the global south waiting until 2023 for widespread vaccination. This leaves us all in danger from new variants which may make current vaccines ineffective.”

Last month on the 8th July, 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World joined the launch of The People’s Vaccine Alliance Ireland.

The campaign is based on four immediate realities in 2021:

  1. The science is clear: The fairest and most effective way to end this pandemic is to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to COVID-19 vaccines.
  2. Global access to COVID-19 vaccines is also in our self-interest as ongoing outbreaks anywhere mean greater risk of new variants developing against which our vaccines may not be effective.
  3. There simply is no way to defeat COVID-19 in Ireland without united action worldwide. But pharmaceutical company monopolies could leave countries in the global south waiting until 2023 for widespread vaccination and this is where we would ask for your support.
  4. In order to produce sufficient vaccines for everyone globally, we need to greatly increase manufacturing capacity and all suitably qualified vaccine manufacturers must be permitted to produce vaccines free from patents and pharmaceutical companies must agree to share their know-how. We need a People’s Vaccine.

As a member of the Alliance and as a development and human rights education NGO, 80:20 will continue to challenge the fault lines of inequalities amplified under a global pandemic through our education and action work.

For more, check out the The People’s Vaccine Alliance Ireland. campaign pages and the Covid-19 Dashboard on developmenteducation.ie

If interested in following up with us, drop us a line.