The SOLIS Biblioteca: a co-produced set of media on inclusive education

During July the partners of the Erasmus+ project SOLIS gathered in Malta, together with teachers from each partner country to partake in SOLIS training focused on digital storytelling and the unique expertise brought by this experienced group from the UK, Norway, Turkey, Malta, Italy, Lithuania, Spain and Greece. This culminated in the recording of over 20 modules for both the e-learning platform and the fantastic resource library that will be available to teachers, called Biblioteca, covering topics such as what inclusion is, anxiety, bullying, ice-breaker tools and digital storytelling masterclass within highly accessible videos, to help raise awareness and understanding of inclusion and wellbeing.

Loughborough University MA students co-producing video resources for teachers on Digital Storytelling

An important consideration of the SOLIS project is to make the media outputs also in an inclusive manner. The approach to this was to record all videos in the native languages of the partners and teachers involved, supported by subtitles in the languages of the partners developing the platform. When looking to devise an inclusive platform, it was important not to exclude expression, understanding and participation within the diverse languages represented by SOLIS, but to use this as an example of what inclusion is.

The Biblioteca platform (developed for teachers) will also include articles on the core themes of the project to add depth and background to learning outcomes. An example is the SOLIS article on bullying:

James Ecendance, from E-Consultants Norway, recording one of the modules
during the training in Malta in July 2022.

Bullying has been linked to numerous negative effects, both short and long-term. Research shows that students in primary and secondary schools, who have been involved in bullying, either as perpetrators, victims, or both – had lower self-esteem compared to students who were not involved in bullying. Students who spanned both roles, being both the perpetrator and victim, proved to have the lowest self-esteem of all.

The SOLIS group of trainees and project partners in Malta in July 2022

The project is formed by the following partners:

Loughborough University (UK) – Coordinator Dr Antonia Liguori

E Consultants (Norway)

Afyonkarahisar Provincial National Education Directorate (Turkey)

AcrossLimits (Malta)

People Help the People (Italy)

European Social Entrepreneurship and Innovative Studies Institute (Lithuania)

European Learning Centre (Spain)

Research Paths (Greece)

Contacts:

Facebook: erasmussolisproject

Website: https://solis-project.eu