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

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.