As part of the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Online Media Literacy Strategy, the National Youth Agency (NYA), based in Leicester City, has received funding from DCMS to design a new module to upskill youth workers in media literacy skills, enabling them to discuss issues surrounding online safety with young people they support.
Many young people have grown up in a digital age with access to computers, technology, and the internet; making it essential that youth workers are able to effectively respond to young people’s changing needs in the new digital landscape.
The free course contains 5 micro-modules:
- How the online environment operates, includes commercial motivations behind online platforms, digital advertising, and how and why digital communities are used by young people
- How online content is generated and can be critically analysed, looking specifically at awareness of dis-information and how to fact-check to determine veracity
- The risks of sharing personal data online, centring on how personal data can be used by others and the importance of protecting online privacy
- Understanding how actions online have consequences offline, highlighting what behaviour is not acceptable online and the impact extended screen-time can have on wellbeing
- How youth work can enable young people to engage in safe and positive online engagement, brings together learning from modules 1-4 and applying this knowledge to support young people with improving their safety and wellbeing in digital spaces
Volunteer and staff within the local VCSE youth sector may wish to access this free training.
Further details and how to book can be found here.