At the end of February and beginning of March, Mediawijs and Ketnet used the De Schaal van M competition to challenge all fifth- and sixth-grade classes to compete for the title of most media-savvy class in Flanders.
Classes that successfully completed the five game days and participated in the competition challenge had a chance of winning media wise prizes, such as a visit to the set of the Ketnet series 'Girls', a class visit to VRT [Flemish Broadcasting Corporation] or Technopolis, media-savvy workshops, etc.
1 in 3 schools took part
De Schaal van M was an overwhelming success. No fewer than 2,000 of the 6,000 Flemish primary schools, representing 40,000 pupils, took part in the competition and let their creativity run wild.
Videos proved quite popular among the youngsters. There were stop-motion videos against cyberbullying, videos in which they gave tips on safe passwords, warned about fake profiles on social media, about gaming addiction, etc.
But youngsters also launched discussions on those topics in their schools. Some even went out, camera in hand, to question people in their immediate surroundings about their knowledge of social media, for instance.
'Klas 9 made a gripping clip that got under our skin. It gave everyone on the panel goose bumps.'
Criteria
The panel consisted of people from Mediawijs, Ketnet, Mediaraven and the three partners who devised the partner challenges. In their assessment, they took into account primarily the media-savvy content of the entry. 'We look at whether the message was right and the tips were media-savvy,' explains Elke Boudry of Imec. 'Some classes stick bravely to classic themes while others go a step further. We also check how involved the entire class was in the project, whether they worked well together, whether they were able to get their message across to other classes...'
The panel naturally also checked whether the young creators respected copyright and portrait rights and, for example, used music free of copyright, had permission from the children featured in the picture, etc.
And the winner is…
The panel ultimately chose Klas 9 of De Leerexpert Biekorfstraat from Antwerp from the thousands of marvellous entries to be named 'most media-savvy class in Flanders'.
Ketnet wrapper Héritier and the Mediawijs team gave them the good news on Wednesday, 22 March.
The class from Antwerp convinced the panel with their entry for the JEF Challenge. The students in the class made a catchy stop-motion clip about online risks with tips on how to surf safely.
'The storyline of the stop-motion video the class made is fully in line with the pupils' world. They worked very hard on it and can be rightly proud of the final result,' says Miss Annelies, the teacher of Klas 9.
'Klas 9 made a gripping clip that got under our skin. It gave everyone on the panel goose bumps,' Elke said. 'You can see that they worked on it for quite a long time. Moreover, it ties in with current affairs because it broaches themes such as grooming and sexting, but at the same time it is also very empowering and gives good tips.'
‘Once the decision was made, they winner turned out be a special education class. That was a wonderful surprise.'
The class won a visit to the set of the Ketnet series 'Girls'.
Klas Paars came in second with an entry for DNS Belgium's competition challenge on secure passwords:
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