Recording on 23.1.2025 Helsinki event by Faktabaari, NORDIS and DECA
Opening words: Mikko Salo, Faktabaari
Faktabaari’s co-founder and executive director gives opening words to 2025 NORDIS DIL Forum held in Helsinki 23rd January 2025. NORDIS is part of the EDMO network, currently on its second phase. The mission of NORDIS is to debunk misinformation, bolster digital information literacy and strengthen the Nordic information ecosystem.
The hub conducts joint investigations, tech development, coordinated media literacy, policy work and training of journalists.
Launch and Presentation of “AI guide for teachers” by Dr Kari Kivinen
Faktabaari’s EDU lead Dr. Kari Kivinen presents the new AI Guide of Teachers in a keynote speech. The guide aims to give education providers, teachers and learners basic information about the functioning of AI, its capabilities, limitations, ethical challenges, benefits, misuse, AI pedagogy and AI literacy.
The English version will be available soon. You can find the table of contents already in this blog.
Commentary on the AI Guide: Kristian Smedlund, Finnish National Agency for Education
Kristian Smedlund comments and discusses the newly launched AI Guide for Teachers. The Finnish National Agency for Education is also preparing recommendations on AI for the Finnish education system.
Smedlund says that the guide has a good balance between the different areas of generative AI: how it works, AI ethics, critical evaluation of GenAI-produced material, EU’s AI Act, the AI assessment scale and the Generation AI project. The AI guide for teachers is well in line with the Agency national guidelines for the use of AI still under consultation. Smedlund also discusses the guide with Kari Kivinen and the audience.
The Role of technology companies in Nordic MIL – Some perspectives by Minna Aslama Horowitz
DECA project researcher Minna Aslama Horowitz presents EU regulations and tech platforms’ reporting, with focus on Tiktok. Tiktok has its own democracy and literacy campaigns, but their reporting is not very open, so their claims are difficult to verify.
The Tiktok labels on political content tend to be infrequent and inconsistent. There is also a limited number of partners and the campaigns are quite basic. EDMO is surveying with regional hubs like NORDIS the role of technology companies in MIL.
Media literacy in Norwegian education: Insights and experiences
Marte Foldvik-Høgås and Tina Scheen Kiese from the NORDIS member Faktisk/Tenk talk about media and information literacy work in Norway. Tenk develops free learning resources on media literacy and source awareness in secondary education in Norway. They also give students tools to develop digital media literacy skills.
All Tenk staff are teachers, which give them good viewpoints for developing the materials. The materials fit well into the national curriculum, and include various lesson plans on a variety of topics.
Faktisk/Tenk has also been developing a new Center for information resilience, that hopes to reach new audiences beyond secondary education. The training center will reach the whole civil society and is expected to start its work in about one year.
Stop, Think, Check – the Australian way with Squiz Kids & Newshounds
Bryce Corbett presents Squiz Kids and Newshounds, a media literacy program for primary school students. Supported by Google News Initiative, Squiz Kids is a daily news podcast for kids, and Newshounds is an animated video series of “the world’s first internet detective dog”, who helps kids to verify online facts.
Launched in 2022, they now have 40 000 kids, parents and teachers who listen to Squiz Kids each day and more than 3300 classrooms are completing the Newshounds pilot program. They wish to reach also audiences outside Australia.
Closing Words by Mikko Salo
Faktabaari’s Mikko Salo discusses the way forward and thanks the participants. The next big thing happens on the 13th March, which is the NORDIS source literacy day, when Faktabaari’s new guide international edition will be available in English, and many NORDIS members also have media literacy activities.
More information on NORDIS media and information literacy activities and resources see NORDIS website literacy portal with links to all national services.