From Archive to Alive - Increasing students’ creativity and common values through EUscreen

Due to the pandemic measures, students have been deprived of cultural stimuli since field trips have been put on hold. At the same time, platforms such as EUscreen which have exceptionally interesting material, have not received sufficient attention, despite the fact that it has been online for about 10 years. EUscreen is a portal containing thousands of digital audiovisual items steaming from the biggest European audiovisual archives that provide an insight into the social, cultural, political and economic events that have shaped the 20th and 21st centuries, mainly form the European aspect. Therefore, the platform’s content can be an important collection of resources that can be exploited in education and incorporated in school lessons and projects. Finally, in the last years there has been a greater than ever need for civic participation, democratic values and social inclusion, due to daily incidents of racism, prediscrimination and prejudice, and environmental awareness due to the veer alarming issue of climate change. The project addresses all these issues simultaneously since it will provide students with a substitute for field trips, it will turn the spotlight to an interesting but neglected platform and it will raise awareness on inclusion and environment through its contest.

The objectives of the project’s activities are: 1) For students: -To motivate them into exploring the European audiovisual archives, with a focus on the EUscreen platform; -To view their everyday school lessons through an alternative and more artistic approach; -To have them compare analogue with digital art and incorporate the elements of the latter into their creations; -To establish a digital and creative mindset; -To increase civic engagement and participation in community; -To raise their inclusion spirit; -To raise their environmental awareness. 2) For teachers: -To introduce them to a new methods of design and delivering lessons and project; -To be able to motivate their students into exploring the legacy of Europe through archival material; -To make their lessons more pleasant and interactive; -To help students remain engaged into the learning process, despite the difficulties that the pandemic brings. 3) For schools: -To incorporate new learning methods into their curricula; -To retain extracurricular sources as a significant part of the school’s curriculum; -To promote dialogue, networking and interaction between schools; -To add inclusion and environmental awareness as 2 basic elements in their students’ mindset.

The project will produce an e-learning course for teachers that will show them how to design lessons and projects through the use of the digital audiovisual archives in order to make them more appealing. The benefit for using digital audiovisual archives in the learning process are multiple: - Teachers will be able to create interdisciplinary activities; - The collaboration with other educational, cultural institutions and local stakeholders will be supported; - They will be able to use o digital audiovisual archives to study European cultural heritage, develop intercultural understanding and civic competences and produce assumptions about the future of Europe; - Finally, they will receive a briefing about the proper use of the various copyright licenses that can be found among archival material. The project will also host a contest where students will create digital works of art that are based on the digital audiovisual archives of EUscreen and will revolve whether around inclusion or the environment, with all the entries being exhibited afterwards in a virtual gallery specifically created for the project and will take the form of a platform. The results of the contest will be decided through the voting of the public.

1) Project results: -An e-learning course for teachers that will show them how to design lessons and projects through the use of the digital audiovisual archives; -The From Archive to Alive online platform in the context of which there will be a contest for students where they will produce digital works of art that will draw inspiration from the EUscreen digital audiovisual archives and will revolve around inclusion or the environment. 2) Project outcomes: -Exploitation of digital audiovisual archives of EUscreen platform in the learning process; -Students will discover the European cultural heritage and identity; -They will be introduced into new forms of artistic creation; -They will have a fruitful intercultural dialogue through the contest; -They will raise their awareness on social inclusion and environmental sustainability and will be involved into more fun and immersive school sessions; -Teachers will learn how to make their lessons more fun and appealing through the use of the EUscreen digital audiovisual archives; -They will learn how to combine more than 1 school subjects and teach them through the use of digital audiovisual archives; -They will get connected to other educational institutions and cultural organisations; -They will receive a briefing about the proper use of the various copyright licenses that can be found among archival material; -Participating schools will introduce this innovative element of teaching through digital archives into their curricula. 3) Project impact: -The EUscreen platform will receive a new wave of exposure and repurposing; -New intercultural dialogues and connections will be made between schools; -Teachers will learn how to design and deliver more fun and intriguing lessons and projects; -Schools will add these innovative learning methods into their curricula; -Raised awareness on civic participation, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.