/ definition

What are educitizens?
The convergence of participatory media culture, diverse diasporic movements (the formation of dispersed populations that share common roots and identity), and frameworks for creating new commons (bottom-up means of managing shared resources) set the stage for re-articulating identity and community in a global society.

Education will find itself a contested resource in the crossroads of these forces of change. It will become part of the civic discourse in multiple new kinds of public forums and spaces as “educitizens” make visible the status of schools and of educational decision-making, resources, and activities in their communities.

 / knowledgeworks foundation

/ diversity
/ community
/ media culture
/ decision-making

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/ key terms of the project

Educitizens  is based on 3 fundamental pillars – participation, citizenship and empowerment – and the share of smart practices in educational field – formal or non-formal. It is thus important to define what this ideas means for the project.

/ participation

• Participation has to include ownership and responsibilities of a community.
• Participation should be solution oriented and methods should be interactive, motivational and giving space for engagement.
• Teaching participative methods should be based on learner-centered approaches with negotiated learning goals. They should enhance cooperative learning and team work.
• The learning should be based on shared expertise and peer learning. The facilitator should be rather a mentor and mediator than a preacher

/ empowerment

• Empowerment contains the knowledge and understanding how society works and how to make as an individual a difference.
• Empowerment brings power to the people and their ideas, by valuing change and providing tools to people.
• It is a crucial part of non-formal education, where learners reflect on how to think global and act local BUT as well understand how to think local and act global.
• Empowerment should be taught simple and not too specific. It should be rather shared through facilitators and multipliers in the community than through teacher.

/ citizenship building

• Citizenship building is basically concerned with identifying common ground in a community and establishing a sense of belonging to a community.
• Citizenship building should be understood as a continuous and transparent dialogue
• It is an open educative process with the aim to enable active citizens
• Citizenship building is closely connected to empowerment, by enabling citizens to actively participate and contribute to a community.
• As a facilitator make sure that you give permanent constructive feedback on the learners role in the community.

/ smart practices

• Smart Practices are adaptable and applicable practices, suited to various needs, target groups and circumstances (they are transferable).
• Smart Practices engage and are accessible for groups with different backgrounds and skills and raise from the needs and the capacity of the learners.
• Smart Practices improve the current status of communities in a smart way and empower learners to take a more active role in society.

• Smart practices include the learners in the construction of the assessment.

/ participation
/ empowerment
/ citizenship building
/ smart practices

 

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