Conference on multimedia in education

On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, a conference on multimedia in education titled “From 8 Millimeters to 8 Gigabits” was held at the Cultural Information Center in Zagreb. Forty participants attended in person, while over a hundred viewers followed the live online stream.

Through three panel discussions and one screening, the conference provided an overview of the use of multimedia in education throughout history, today, and in the future.

During the panel dedicated to art film in education, led by Marija Georgiev, Boris Bakal, Bojana Burnać, and Ivona Marendić discussed the challenges of teaching art film and developing sensitivity among children and youth. Ivona Marendić highlighted the difficulties faced by teachers who did not study film and the opportunities offered by informal education such as CinEd to enhance their knowledge. Bojana Burnać shared her satisfaction in showing art films to young audiences and how it broadens their understanding of the world. Boris Bakal emphasized the importance of a systematic approach and teaching children how to view through simple forms. The panel also touched upon the issue of restricted access to films for educational purposes, noting that platforms like croatian.film and cined.eu are making it easier.

Tomislav Šakić and Vjeran Pavlinić presented the element of film, its unique characteristics, and its place in the history of Croatian education. Tomislav Šakić discussed the history of educational films in Croatia, which predates that of feature films, and explained the concept and production of the film element used in schools. Vjeran Pavlinić described the process of ordering films, presented the collection created, and showcased films preserved in the Croatian State Archives, focusing on history, geography, and visual arts. It was concluded that the film element as a tool would be valuable today, perhaps even more than before, and there was enthusiasm for digitizing the archive for access by teachers.

Žarko Čižmar, Aleksandar Gavrilović, and Marko Horvat presented video games in education, their educational value, and examples from current practice. They discussed the design of video games in primary and secondary schools through the Digital Literacy Network. Marko Horvat highlighted past challenges in continuity and access to contemporary digital literacy programs, especially for schools outside Zagreb, which they aim to address through networking and long-term planning. Aleksandar Gavrilović explained that in addition to boosting motivation for learning and developing digital and media literacy, designing video games is useful for soft skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, and project development. Žarko Čižmar added that more attractive projects will help elementary and high schools interest students in STEM studies.

You can watch the recording of the conference at the following link

The conference was part of the project UP.04.2.1.06.0047 “Media Education Matters.MOV,” co-financed by the European Social Fund and the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.