DigiMENTE: media literacy for LatAm

Digital and media skills are two of the key competences of the XXI century needed for social inclusion and employment, however these skills are underdeveloped in Latin America, and the majority of the school systems in the region are not properly addressing this subject.

In this context, we developed DigiMENTE: a free media literacy curriculum for young Latin American people with attractive multimedia resources aimed to develop the abilities needed to critically analyze news and information; to create and share content ethically; and to work online as a team; in a way that meets current and future technology challenges. 

The curriculum has been successfully implemented in some schools in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. Now we will bring it to an extended number of schools in those three countries and, in future stages, to other Latin American countries to increase the accessibility to this type of education.

Despite the fact that media and digital skills are necessary to  improve the chances of accessing better education and employment opportunities (IDB, 2019),  LATAM region ranks lowest in the world in tech skills and skills related to communication (GSI, 2020), and 81% of LATAM youth are having difficulty finding a job partly due to this lack of skills (Manpower, 2020). 

Associated with this lack of skills is the fact that 70% of the population in different countries of LATAM don't know how to detect fake news; specifically 73% in Colombia, and 66% in Mexico and Argentina (Kaspersky, 2020).

To better understand the problem, we conducted surveys and focus groups on students from vulnerable contexts, as well as interviews with educational authorities of those three countries and we discovered that the subjects or initiatives aimed at developing media and digital literacy skills in the national secondary or high school education systems are almost nonexistent.

Bringing the curriculum to an extended number of schools in Mexico and, in future stages, to other Latin American countries, will provide the youth with the media skills they require to succeed in their professional lives and have access to better living conditions.

DigiMENTE is a curriculum created to train young Latin Americans (12 to 17 years old), in 16 to 32 hours, on the skills needed to participate and interact in a responsible and ethical way in the media ecosystem under any academic, professional and personal context. 

After developing the curriculum and testing it with our target audience, we are now looking to socialize and increment the adoption of DigiMENTE in public and private educational institutions in Latin America so that students of secondary and highschool levels develop the following skills:

1. Assessment, understanding and analysis of information, news and content produced by the media.

2. Creation and production of content with, for and in the media.

3. Participation and performance in and with the media.

4. Ethical and critical reflection on the information that is produced, consumed and shared.

The above will be reached through:

• Generation of alliances with public and private educational institutions interested in implementing DigiMENTE in their curricular programs. 

• Adaptation of the contents and evaluations to the academic plans of each institution.

• Free training and technical assistance to teachers on the implementation of the curriculum and its evaluations.

Our target audience is Spanish-speaking people between 12 and 17 years of Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, mainly living in vulnerable communities. They have been underserved because there isn't an institutionalized program of media literacy in secondary or high school that is being successfully implemented where they can develop the digital and media literacy skills necessary that the current and future labour markets require.

To understand the media education needs of our audience, we conducted a survey with a sample of students with the same profile, as well as 4 focus groups. At the same time, we reviewed study plans and conducted interviews with different educational systems at the local and national level from which we confirmed that young students have a digital and media literacy gap that educational systems are not covering. Based on this context research, we developed a curriculum that helps them evaluate critically and ethically the content they consume; participate actively in their communities; protect their digital sensitive data; know their digital rights; and develop creative content in a responsible way. We tested the curriculum among ±500 and then piloted the second version among ±1,700 students in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina and the results showed a significant improvement in the student’s digital and media skills. Now we are starting the implementation phase with more than 500 teachers in the three countries, serving a population of more than 40,000 students.

Digimente is going to help students to evaluate critically and ethically the content they consume; participate actively in their communities; protect their digital sensitive data; know their digital rights; and develop creative content in a responsible way. In addition, we’re going to teach professors and facilitators innovative ways to perform in their classes; improve their skills in the analysis of digital media; and provide them with resources to support the teaching of subjects such as language, social sciences, computing, civic education, among others.

The understanding and replication of the program will be simple for the students because it includes materials that engage them in a fun and entertaining way, considering not only the Spanish language but the culture of the Latin American region, this was proven in the focus groups and the testing stage of the curriculum, which was specially developed in and for the region.

As a result, the students will increase their abilities on media literacy that will allow them not only to access better job opportunities in order to climb the social ladder but also to increase their participation in the construction of more democratic societies.

Our solution aligns with the TPrize Challenge and the selected dimension because it will support teachers and educational institutions in the process of introducing digital media literacy materials in their curricular programs as a complementary topic for youth, which are necessary to improve the skills required to access better jobs in the XXI century.

Additionally, all of the materials of DigiMENTE are free and available online and the interaction between teachers and students can be done using apps of easy and free access such as whatsapp, zoom and google meets and without the need of a permanent internet connection.

During 2020, the first version of the curriculum was tested among ±500 students of different socio-economic backgrounds in Colombia, Argentina and Mexico; the results obtained showed that the curriculum is useful and comprehensible both for students and teachers. In addition, based on the feedback obtained from the testing period, the final version of the curriculum was completed in April 2021 and placed in a web platform for its access at no cost for the users. 

Based on this final version, we piloted the implementation of  the curriculum among 1,700 students in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina during the first semester of 2021. In this second semester, the curriculum is being implemented in ±500 schools in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, impacting ±40,000 students.

DigiMENTE is a media literacy curriculum designed specially for young people in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries that also allows access to those from more vulnerable backgrounds and segregated communities. 

Unlike other similar curriculums, DigiMENTE is particularly innovative because:

• It was designed based on the results of focus groups, surveys and pilot tests executed with students from Colombia, Argentina and Mexico, to adapt to the needs of the Latin American region. This allows us to serve a broad target audience: Spanish-speaking youth from 12 to 17 years of age from any context and socioeconomic level.

• In addition to covering skills for the evaluation of information, it also considers skills for the creation and production of content with, for and in the media; participation and acting skills with and in the media; and skills for ethical and critical reflection on the information that is produced, consumed and shared.

• It is a simple support asset for teachers since the topics and activities are flexible, and can be adapted to curricular subjects of secondary and highschool education such as social sciences, Spanish, ethics and computer science, among others.

• It can be learnt virtually and remotely, adapting to the context of the students and without the need of a permanent internet connection.

• It has written and audiovisual materials that serve as reinforcement so that its use is more dynamic.

• The teachers who apply the study plan can provide guidance to their students through free and easily accessible platforms such as Google Meets, Zoom and WhatsApp.

All DigiMENTE materials and resources are found on a web platform (www.digimente.org) with the aim that anyone, whether they are teachers, students, researchers or academics, can access the curriculum for free and learn about media literacy without the need of a permanent internet connection.

The platform also keeps track of the number of teachers and students who enter and download the materials. All the content has been adapted to different multimedia formats such as videos, podcasts and other resources like infographics, templates and readings; so that the four modules and the 16 lessons of the plan can be adapted to the needs and available resources of the different contexts of teachers and students. 

Furthermore, the teachers who apply the study plan provide guidance to their students through easily accessible platforms such as Google Meets, Zoom and WhatsApp

During 2020, the first version of the curriculum was tested among students of different socio-economic backgrounds in Colombia, Argentina and Mexico; the results obtained showed that the curriculum is useful and comprehensible both for students and teachers. Based on the feedback obtained from this testing period, the final version of the curriculum was completed in April 2021 and placed in an online platform (www.digimente.org) for its free access for the public in general.

We are now in the phase of promotion and socialization which consists mainly of presenting the project to public and private educational organizations. The goal of this process is to seek its adoption in education systems in all three countries, and at a later stage, throughout the region.

This starting phase of the implementation has been successful so far and ±500 schools and organizations in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina will implement it as a new subject or as part of the compulsory official subjects, impacting  ±40,000 students.

To support the effectiveness of DigiMENTE, the following studies are included:

In this link you can find an executive report with the main findings of our research and the results of the evaluation when implementing DigiMENTE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gV3csY5LKBggO04CzJhZhKLSNRNf6qR0/view?usp=sharing

In this link you will find different media publications regarding DigiMENTE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mZxAG51dEnDUPt4Cxbjuikjc-fnaXD2R1TaNXTJcef8/edit?usp=sharing

• Risk: There could be institutional resistance to adopt additional educational content to what has been previously programmed.

• Mitigation: The lessons are designed to serve as reinforcement material for compulsory subjects in the high school education system such as social sciences, civic education, communication and ethics among others, it is not necessary to create additional subjects for this curriculum. In addition, the curriculum will facilitate the remote work of teachers by developing skills in their students to consult information on the Internet in a better way. Teachers will also learn teaching tactics used in DigiMENTE to connect with their students in the virtual world.

• Risk: Given the different cultures and expressions within the countries, the content and examples used in the curriculum may not be easily understood by all students and teachers.

• Mitigation: We sought to use language and examples that were understandable in the three countries, which was validated with the students with whom the curriculum was tested and a glossary was added for the words that were not substitutable. However, the engagement plan with schools will include training for the teachers to solve questions about the curriculum, its implementation and its evaluation.

• Risk: Considering that the teachers who would implement the curriculum are external to our organization we could lose some control over the quality in the teaching of the curriculum.

• Mitigation: We will carry out training sessions for teachers on how to implement the curriculum and evaluations, and we will offer periodical technical assistance.

Digimente is currently serving ±40,000 students in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. We are in the process of building alliances with more public and private educational institutions  in order to increase the capacity for the implementation of the curriculum. Our current strategy aims for the curriculum to be adopted by the local and/or federal school systems of the mentioned countries and by at least one additional country in Latin America in the next 5 years; we estimate to reach at least 150,000 students within a year and 15 million students in the following 5 years.

For students:

• Increment their capabilities to evaluate, in a critical and ethical way, the information they consume on the internet.

• Improve their skills to create their own content and be key actors in the media ecosystem of the XXI Century.

• Participate in a more proactive way with their digital communities.  

• Learn how to protect and defend their digital rights.

• Understand the risks of their interactions in the media ecosystem.

For teachers:

• Improve the performance of students in face-to-face and remote classes.

• Increment of the teaching materials and resources for use in language, informatics, ethics, and social sciences subjects.

• Boost their skills to identify misinformation and evaluate online information in a more critical and ethical way. Increase their interaction with the digital media.

We expect to impact ±150,000 students in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina during the second semester of 2021 and the first of 2022, and 5 million students during the following 5 years by implementing a  socialization strategy among school systems in the three countries with an initial free training or training at a cost for the partial or complete implementation of the curriculum for next school cycles. 

During 2021-2022 we will also implement a media campaign aimed at audiences of different ages and countries, announcing the availability of these resources for their free and independent use.

We’re going to measure our progress with the following metrics:

• Number of schools, colleges, universities and other organizations that are implementing the curriculum with their students.

• Number of students who are receiving the full version of the curriculum or part of the contents adapted as complementary materials to their curricular subjects. .

• Percentage in the  increase of the digital skills developed by the students upon completion of the curriculum.

• Number of people that access the DigiMENTE platform.

• Number of people that download the free contents from the DigiMENTE platform.

• Number of views of our free educational videos.

47 full-time staff (30 women and 17 men)

We are a young and multidisciplinary team, with experience in communication, innovation, digital marketing, new business, legacy, administration and design. Before Movilizatorio, we worked at non-profit organizations focused on education, digital rights, human rights, environment, IT development and behavioral Science among other subjects. 

Hector Escamilla, the leader of the project was the Planning Director at the Federal Ministry of Education of México where he led the implementation of the curricular reform and he is also a founding member of Teach for Mexico.

We believe in the power of diversity, our executive team is led by a woman in Colombia, who is the founder and CEO of Movilizatorio and a man as the Executive Director in Mexico, who always work as a team to create powerful projects that have a diverse impact on our region. We support and empower all the people in Movilizatorio, no matter religion, gender, sexual preferences, or ethnicity. All the people in our very diverse team are valued for their talent, courage and knowledge dedicated to each project.

DigiMENTE is a curriculum that was and will always be a solution governed by inclusion and equity: from the beginning we’ve always kept in mind that it should be developed in a way that it is adaptable enough to reach a wide range of contexts every Latin American country has: from private education institutions to public institutions with limited resources, remote access and from segregated areas of our countries.

MIT is a prestigious institution around the world, helping to build better solutions for the main social problems. As MIT, we’re innovators, and we believe in social change and technology solutions to create a better world.

We live in a hyper-connected society, and we face many challenges in the misinformation era, that’s why we need to implement new processes to tackle the problem and help the new generations to be prepared to understand fake news, privacy violations and data falsification, and also be proactive to produce content to communicate their stories in a responsible and creative way. This will allow them to increase their participation in the construction of a more democratic society and also will provide them with better opportunities for employment that will translate into better living conditions.

Financial: Until our solution becomes financially sustainable, we need financial support in order to continue developing partnerships with educational institutions and training teachers on how to use and implement DigiMENTE in their schools and in more countries of Latin America. 

Strategic alliances (legal and product support): We need strategic partnerships from public and private organizations of the education sector, on the one hand, to get the push we need to promote the inclusion of media literacy in the national academic plans of basic and secondary school systems, and, on the other, to get the support needed to contextualize the curriculum to each country.

International Educational organizations like Room to Read, Education Development Trust, Pearson, World Learning, Inc, Education Development Center, among others. We want them to help us promote the adoption of the curriculum among the teacher networks with which they have influence.

Non governmental organizations like the International Organization of Journalists, International Press Institute, IFEX,  Inter American Press Association, News Media Coalition, Reporters Without Borders, World Press Institute, International Association of Press Clubs, International Center for Journalists, International Journalism Festival, International Media Support and the International Press Center, so that they can encourage the media businesses with which they have a partnership, to issue periodical publications about the importance of media education and to announce the availability of our curriculum.