Introduction

As an organised working to raise active citizens through global citizenship education, we believe that literacy has gone beyond learning to read and write to using the knowledge and skills we have to make sense of our fast-changing world. It is important to expose learners to the vast opportunities that the media offers to communicate, engage in global conversations and make their voices heard.

The session lasted for two hours between 2 pm and 4 pm GMT+1 where facilitators explored the importance of MIL  and their influence on society. Facilitators shared with the students that MIL can help people develop critical thinking skills, understand how media messages shape our culture and society, advocate for changes to the media system, recognise bias and misinformation, and evaluate media messages based on their own experiences, skills, beliefs, and values.

Reflections from Youth Facilitators

Pascal Ekeh

I believe children should be carried along in discourses on important societal issues. I had a wonderful time at Standard High Mark School where members of the One African Child Foundation for Creative Learning held sessions with the students on Media and Information Literacy. I facilitated a session with the junior class (JSS 1-3) on manipulation of media messages and how they can use the media to learn more about their prospective careers. The session was fun, interactive and educative. Many of the students had knowledge about fake news and shared some examples. Many also had phones and social media accounts. I encouraged them to use the media and the wealth of information it offers to learn more about their prospective careers by reading voraciously and following professionals/influencers. I also engaged them on proper media ethics and encouraged them to avoid cyberbullying and posting indecent comments and pictures online. We answered the questions they had about their career choices and advised them on subjects they should take seriously. They seemed to enjoy the icebreakers a lot.

Habeeb Kolade 

While I prepared for a chat with the kids on media and information literacy, it became important I talked about a career as the school principal felt that was what the event was about. So I connected the two and talked about how media and information literacy was important to boost career success in today’s world. I had a session with the senior secondary school students who were seated in the same hall. I shared how understanding the media had helped me learn almost anything, pursue different careers, gain important information and also share important information with the world. I shared the different ways in which the media can facilitate their dream careers, whatever it was, and also accelerate their impact while helping them reach more of their audiences/customers. When the session was over, I had to answer questions from the students, privately. There were several memorable questions, mostly relating to career decisions and using access to media to facilitate them, which I did my best to answer by sharing my own experiences. I believe the most challenging was advising a girl on how to convince her parents to support her to become an aeronautical engineer after they had initially asked that she chose something else because she was a girl.

Esther Eyo 

My time yesterday at Standard High Mark School was Amazing. We talked to the students about Media and information literacy, its importance in this day and age. We explained how MIL can be used to accelerate career growth. I facilitated on how MIL can be used to accelerates career growth. I explained that the various media tools around us can powerful tools to be used. I focused a little bit on the various  social media platform and how they can be used for learning ( youtube, online schools, Facebook, whatsapp). I also explained how these tools can be useful for entrepreneurs, as they can reach a large audience through these channels. I sighted examples of traders buying goods from outside the country without leaving their houses, students learning more about career interests, students following up on interests. The students were very engaging and had a lot of questions. They wanted to know how to combine passion and a career choice. They wanted to better understand the roles media played different from day to day communication.

Ayobami Fagbemi

I was a part of the facilitators that sensitized the junior secondary school arm of the Standard High Mark school on Thursday, the 1st of November 2018, towards the celebration of the Global Media and Information Literacy week. I took the students in the following topics: what are Media, types of Media, and the importance of media in every career of life. Also, I helped in providing answers to some of the questions asked by the students: is it right to go on the internet in search for answers to given assignments from school?; what are the subjects required for a student who desires to pursue a career as an accountant? It was roundly a fulfilling experience because every second spent was loftily rewarded by the yearning of the students to learn, the students’ excitements and the hearty appreciation from the management of the school. I look forward to more opportunities, in the future, to make meaningful impacts in the lives of people.

Lateef Tayo

I noticed the students were so excited to have us around and most importantly there were so happy to have learned about Media and Information Literacy, Also some of the students asked questions on how they could use media to improve their career path. It was actually a great delivery!