CyGen is a co-funded Erasmus+ Key Action 2 strategic Partnership. The project engaged directly with children (aged 8-13), teachers and parents in four European countries (United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark and Greece) to:
- Explore the digital opportunities and challenges as these are experienced by these groups;
- Develop a novel participatory design methodology and methods in order to work collaboratively with children and young people;
- Co-design a culturally, linguistically and age appropriate open-access multimedia education programme, a ‘web app’ with children in the four member states. Designed by children, for children, the web app recognises and builds on children and young people’s knowledge and experience to support their safe, informed use of the Internet;
- Produce online open-access guidance encompassing lesson plans and pedagogical resources to support teachers and educators in primary and secondary schools in diverse European education settings to support children’s online safety
The CyGen project was created to understand the opportunities and challenges faced by children when they go online. The project worked with children, young people, teachers, parents and academics to map these opportunities and challenges and, with children, to design educational resources to support children’s safety online. The project was unique in that children helped the project team to develop and evaluate an evidence-based digital educational programme to promote young peoples’ online citizenship and safety across the four participating European countries (UK, Denmark, Belgium and Greece).
The outputs created for this project are:
- IO1: Scoping and needs analysis
- IO2: Participatory Design Model
- IO3: Design workshops
- IO4: Co-designed digital education programme
- IO5: Evaluation
Further information regarding the evidence-based digital educational programme can be viewed via our website http://cygen.eu/resources