From 11th-20th May, enjoy a cup of tea/coffee accompanied by a Breakfast Byte of digital citizenship. Each “byte” is a short 90-minute online session (from 9.30-11.00 Brussels time) aiming to increase critical thinking and understanding of the digital world.
Families want a healthy environment for their children to thrive and develop their own wings, this includes a healthy digital environment. Our approach is to promote education and empowerment of families to harness the full potential of technology, and our vision is set out in our 13 Digitalisation Principles. This is why COFACE Families Europe, for the International Day of Families 2020, organised a series of eight short webinars highlighting multiple layers of digital citizenship. These took place between 11th and 20th May 2020 every week day from 9.30-11.00 (Brussels time).
The onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic has plunged all of us, families, children, workers, consumers, into the digital age with imposed and recommended lockdowns meaning that digital tools are slowly but surely becoming the norm for schooling, working, socialising, gaming, staying connected with family members. This makes digital citizenship and critical thinking ever more urgent. Our original plans for an offline meet-up in Zagreb through a one-day study session on 12th May have now been shifted online in the form of 8 short webinars which will allow you to listen in to speakers talking about different layers of digital citizenship, connecting the dots between different stakeholders, sectors and policy fields. The speakers come from different horizons, and will cover topics such as child safety online, cyberbullying, digitalisation in schools, gaming, digital marketing and more.
At a European level, many different actors are contributing to creating a better digital environment for children. The European Commission’s Strategy for a Better Internet for Children is currently under revision, and will contribute to set new ambitious goals, covering emerging digital technologies. In this regard, civil society, among which COFACE Families Europe, has a major role to play to operationalize the general objectives and priorities set by European Institutions. In recent years, the concept of “digital citizenship” has been used more and more in order to capture the growing complexity and importance of the digital space. Digital citizenship extends beyond the traditional “safety online”, and encompasses many different aspects such as human rights (online and offline), security, privacy, participation, and many more. The webinar series provided opportunities to explore the concept of digital citizenship and how useful it can be to contribute to creating a positive digital environment for all families without discrimination.
We kicked-off with a video address to digital citizens by Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager.
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View the full webinar series on our youtube channel and
check out the presentations here below
Breakfast Byte 1
Monday, 11th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
Digital citizenship – myth or reality?
By COFACE Families Europe and the ICT Industry coalition
Breakfast Byte 2
Tuesday, 12th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
Video games and civic engagement – state of play
By FOr’J (+links) – Fédération de maisons de jeunes et organisation de jeunesse, Belgium
Breakfast Byte 3
Wednesday, 13th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
European Safer Internet Strategy post-2020: key trends and priorities
By the European Commission (DG CNECT) & Better Internet for Kids
Breakfast Byte 4
Thursday, 14th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
Using ICT skills to transfer human values in schools
By eTwinning
Breakfast Byte 5
Friday, 15th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
SELMA Hacking Hate toolkit: Games to empower young people online
By European schoolnet
Breakfast Byte 6
Monday, 18th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
Key steps to creating a bully-free zone offline and online.
By Parents Association Step by Step, Croatia
Breakfast Byte 7
Tuesday, 19th May from 9:30 – 11:00:
Critical thinking about the predominant online business model: advertising
By COFACE Families Europe
Breakfast Byte 8
Wednesday, 20th May from 9:30 – 11:00
Are youth all natural digital citizens?
By BIK Youth ambassadors
For more information : secretariat@coface-eu.org
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Speakers and organisations on Twitter