On the 16th of September 2017 Hellenic Open University organised in Athens the 1st multiplier event in Greece with the help of the other Greek partner Hepis.
The event was held in the premises of the Hellenic Open University in Athens and the target group were stakeholders and trainers/teachers who have been contacted through HOU’s and HEPIS’s networks in Athens. The idea was to present the project (its objectives, ideas, Global Citizenship Education, online community, MOOC) to them as well as familiarise them with the technique of digital story telling and its importance for promoting the principles of Global Citizenship Education.
To make the whole event more interesting the HOU team invited Emeritus Professor Michalis Meimaris, who is a member of Unesco board and with his team has been working in the area of Digital Storytelling in Greece in the last decade or so.
The event started with a welcoming note from Prof Achilles Kameas and was followed by the overall presentation of the BRIGHTS project by Barbara Quatra who is running the project on behalf of the project’s leader, ALL DIGITAL. Importantly for the first dissemination event of the project in Greece Barbara focused both on the project’s idea, objectives and outcomes, as well as on the the concept of Global Citizenship Education and its embeddedness in European and global politics and policies.
Prof. Meimaris introduced the audience to the state of digital story telling in Greece providing illuminating examples of stories already created in the context of previous projects focusing mainly on how digital story telling can enrich the educational process in general. Moreover, he presented a short introduction of the history of the digital storytelling and its academic genealogy. In so doing he both familiarised the audience with digital storytelling and provided the necessary background for the engaging discussion that followed.
The third presentation by Sissie Theodosiou and Mara Aspioti focused on the outcomes of the research conducted in Greece both with trainers/trainees and experts on the presence and importance of Global Citizenship Education. The research outlined also the ways in which digital storytelling can enhance the process of implementing GSE.
The following presentation by Prof Kameas concerned the content of the planned MOOC entitled “Addressing Global Citizenship Education through Digital Storytelling”. In the introduction of his presentation Prof kameas outlined the characteristics of a MOOC.
Having already gained an understanding of the BRIGHTS project, the audience furthered its knowledge about digital story telling and its importance for the promotion of GCE through a focused workshop led by Veronique de Leener from Maks vzw, Belgium, a partner in BRIGHT’s project. Veronique’s tele- presentation focused mainly on the story circle, the main methodology employed for creating a digital story. Importantly for such an event, a very interesting and lively discussion followed.
The audience’s interest was high in both the blended course and the f2f workshops and a high number of the people present expressed their desire to participate.