For German version, please visit:
http://www2.mediamanual.at/themen/practice/mmt_21_modell_medienbildung.pdf
Taking the general motto “media skills are identical with the ability to think critically” (Joseph Weizenbaum) the best media projects by European schools have been honoured since the school year 2001/02 with a media literacy award [mla]. Every year up to four hundred projects are submitted, around 90% of which come from Austria. The competition, initiated by the Austrian Ministry of Education, is one of the most important media literacy initiatives in Europe. Since the start of the project, [mla] award winners have been determined by a selection process lasting a number of weeks. Media project submissions are judged using a project description (including a description of the learning processes), an accompanying questionnaire about the project and a catalogue of criteria based on the governmental policy statement relating to media education. In addition, each project is given multi-level consideration by an editorial board (pre-jury which is nominated by the Media Education Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education. The final evaluation of the nominations by the pre-jury is undertaken by the (annually changing) members of an external jury. Award winners are presented on the mediamanual.at platform and thus made available to a wider public. In addition, selected projects are presented in a blog accompanied by a description and a video.2 Each autumn the best projects receive their awards at a three-day media festival, mla:connect, specially organized for the purpose. The individual project teams are invited to present their results and to discuss them with the [mla] community. A meeting of experts is integrated into this festival. This is open to all interested educationalists so that views and information can be exchanged. Participants can reflect on their practical experiences in the World Café where the main question is: “How can media education be successful in an everyday school environment?” The results of these sessions are also published on mediamanual.at. Seen as a whole, it is a feedback loop intended to promote public discourse, to inspire new and innovative media projects, and to motivate other teachers who have not carried out projects to become active with their pupils.
After more than ten years of accompanying educational practice in Austrian schools, it appeared to us to be time for a re-framing. So in summer 2012 we examined the whole project critically in order to interrogate its systemic effectiveness and to accurately delineate future aims. The objective of this survey was to make the success factors visible and to draw them back into the social activity areas by means of the feedback loop (media festival, specialist meetings, public relations work) described above so that sustainable, long-term quality for teachers is ensured.