Fostering Media Literacy through Digital Content Creation

An Educational Initiative at the Buck Festival of Foggia

Abstract

In the contemporary educational landscape, digital citizenship and media literacy constitute essential competencies for preparing students to engage critically and consciously with digital media. This study describes an experimental educational initiative conducted at the Buck Festival in Foggia, aimed at developing digital competencies and multimedia expression skills among middle school students. Drawing upon the Theory of Change framework proposed by McDougall & Rega ​(2022)​ the project identifies the interventions required to foster transformative learning, whereby students acquire not only technical skills but also civic awareness and autonomous expression capabilities. 

The project’s primary objective was to actively engage students in creating digital content, including podcasts, blogs, and web TV reportage, connected to festival events. The adopted methodology, both experiential and collaborative in nature, employed focus groups with guiding questions to gather data on students’ perceptions regarding the project’s educational impact. 

Preliminary findings indicate enhanced digital competencies and civic engagement, aligning with the transformative perspective proposed by the Theory of Change. Future research directions encompass a longitudinal analysis of the same student cohort and comparative studies with other educational institutions to assess the model’s applicability across different contexts and evaluate the effectiveness of the educational pathway.