The Electronic Digital Media Reporter Comenius 3 Network Children’s Increased use of Internet has created the need to establish criteria for evaluating web-pages for young people and developing methodological tools for using them in schools/libraries. EDM Reporter will develop a pedagogic tool to enable teachers, librarians and children throughout Europe to evaluate children’s literature web sites, so that they can be used effectively to promote intercultural cultural education. EDM Reporter will: In Year I: Develop questionnaire for interviews in schools/libraries; carry out empirical research in schools, libraries, teacher training institutions and universities to select the most visited/user-friendly websites suitable for use in multicultural education; In Year II: Determine criteria for evaluating websites for children/adults working with children; develop pedagogical approaches for their use in schools/libraries; test materials in selected institutions in all partner countries; create analytic in- service on-line materials for teachers/librarians. In Year III: Conclude testing, evaluation and modification of all materials; publicise/disseminate results through EDM Reporter website; conferences, publications, contact seminars etc.; make final products universally available through Internet. Materials produced for website analysis will be available in the 13 languages of our 19 partner institutins.

The main objectives of the network are to: ●Provide a creative platform for the exchange of information, discussions, dissemination and implementation of best practice in the innovative use of the Internet in multicultural education, thus deepening the international dialogue and cooperation and promoting multicultural education; ●Give teachers, librarians and media experts the opportunity to share their experience with a large international audience, thus raising the importance of the profession of educator, increasing the European awareness in this field, and creating a possibility for exchange of teachers between different schools in Europe; ●Raise the awareness of the multiplicity of cultures in Europe by means of websites from different European countries; ●Prepare children to live with the concept of European citizenship; ●Provide schoolchildren with instruments and tools to better understand the others and those who are different; ●Provide disabled, minority and bilingual children, and children who are victims of violence, racism and xenophobia with access to selected websites relevant to their concerns in order to help them interact better with their various social environments; ●Aid language learning, especially by creating regional cooperation in this field; ●Contribute to ITC skills and stimulate creativity; ●Help young people develop the ability for individual learning; ●Develop further cooperation between schools in Europe based on the selected websites; ●Create a basis for exchanging teachers between the European countries.

EDM REPORTER is targeted at teachers, student teachers, educators, librarians, parents, researchers, school authorities and thus ultimately at schoolchildren and young people throughout Europe. The targeted group of children and young people is the age group of 9 to 16.

The innovative features of EDM Reporter are that it: Reaches children through non traditional media Is closely connected to the new media and uses one of the most interesting media for children (Internet) to better understand children' culture, increase children’s awareness of the multicultural societies in their Europe, improve children's foreign language skills as well as reading abilities, and inspire teachers and librarians to use this media in- and outside the classroom. Develops the ability to individual learning and changes the role of the teacher from instructor to a facilitator in the process of learning; Creates synergies between libraries and schools; helps transfer methods and approaches of the libraries to the classroom. Uses an inductive (bottom-up) approach starting with studying children's and young people's interest in multimedia and attracting children, creators of web sites, as consultants of the network; Establishes criteria for evaluation of websites for the best of their educational potential; Aims to raise teachers' awareness of the role of multimedia and the possibilities for their use in schools; Enlarges the European awareness of children and teachers specifically through presenting them with a selection of websites from all over Europe. Develops networking on different levels.

The main outputs / products to be developed by the network (2) ●The Network will start with developing questionnaires to conduct interviews, do action research and empirical studies in schools and libraries. Three questionnaires will be developed: one for adults working with children, and for the two age groups of children targeted by the network (advanced primary school children and secondary school children); ●Website of the network will be made in all the 13 languages of the 19 partners of the Network. It will start as a simple tool for internal communication between the partners, and go public at the end of the first year. Further a discussion board for teachers and librarians will be set up where they can post their opinions on the resources and curricular structure. Further develop and make final adjustments to the web site ●Criteria for evaluating web-pages for children and for using them in schools and libraries will be established; a new field - Internet critic – will emerge. ●The Network will collect the best websites in Europe designed for children, designed by children, or designed for people working with children, with a special focus on minority, disabled and disadvantaged children, and showing the similarities while helping a better understanding of the differences; Database of the selected websites for children, and for adults working with children, about literature and intercultural education with special emphasis on working with marginalised and disadvantaged children will be created. Further, the most successful websites in Europe designed by children, or designed for people working with children, with a special focus on minority, disabled and disadvantaged children will be selected;

The main outputs / products to be developed by the network ●The Network will develop methodological tools for teachers on how to use these new media sources in the classroom; Pedagogical approaches to websites will be developed. ●Pedagogical framework for analysis ●A proposal for a curricular structure that integrates ICT and intercultural education ● Prepare in-service on-line materials for teachers; ● Preparing common publication with other thematic networks dealing with themes of common interest, such as MIR, Tolerant school, ACODDEN, BARFIE. ●Joint trainings of librarians and teachers to share best practices and experience ●After school training for children in the framework of intercultural education and ICT ●Scientific publication will support teachers to develop skills in using Internet resources and facilitate learning; ●Final modification of the content of materials ●One international conference will be organised each year, complemented by regional and national conferences; ●One contact seminars will be organised during the second year; ●Common Seminars and workshops for teachers and librarians will be organised based on the selected web pages; ● Newsletter in electronic form will be published twice a year; ● Information folder about the Network in at least two language versions will be prepared once a year.

EDM Reporter will produce its outputs in constant cooperation with schools and teachers, and through action research. Thus continuous feed back and on- going improvement are possible. The bottom-up approach will be used to consult the beneficiaries of the network; feed back from teachers and librarians will be published on the Internet. In addition the plan of activities envisages time for improvement of the results after testing the products with the target groups. A trial period is previewed for the basic outputs of the network: website; criteria for evaluating the existing websites; pedagogical and didactic recommendations.

Partnership composition and contribution The EDM REPORTER Partnership is composed of 19 partners form 14 countries, thus achieving a broad European coverage stretching from the UK and Portugal to Finland and Greece. 6 partners of the BARFIE Comenius 3 Network have been chosen for EDM Reporter Specificity for their expertise in intercultural education and for their ability to work well together in a team. This constitutes 1/3 of the Network’s partners. The other 2/3 comprise new partners form 4 new countries. This includes teachers from EDU 2 and EDU 3 categories (as the teenagers’ target group is 9 to 16), librarians, teacher trainers, media experts, reading experts, language teaching experts, etc. For the moment there is a group of members that will cooperate with the Network, including some Comenius 3 Networks. There is also a list of experts who will be involved in the Network activities. Teenagers experienced in creating Networks will be invited as consultants. The list of members will increase during the three years duration of the Network. The EDM REPORTER Partnership includes teachers and teacher trainers, librarians, media experts, reading experts, language learning experts. Thus the EDM Reporter “team” will be suitably eclectic and meet the EC requireme

The Network will cooperate with other Comenius 3 thematic networks, such as ACODDEN, MIR, Tolerant School, PEACE, BARFIE, and organise a common publication and mutual participation in the Networks’ annual conferences.