Redefining communication standards in academia and society: The role of media competences and respectful engagement [articol]

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic had a positive impact on the accelerated development of the digital capabilities of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) so that they can react adequately to cyber attacks or to the manifestation of negative phenomena we foresee such as the attack on scientific thinking, aggression on digital media and a distortion of public discourse through conspiracy narratives, fake news and hate speech. etc. In recent years, there has been a jump in the level of digital media literacy of university staff and students, which has led to a change in the way internal and external communication is carried out (university - civil society). Behavioral changes in communication were accompanied by the awareness of ethical aspects and regarding the content of the messages conveyed, but also a redesign of the curriculum in the field of communication and academic ethics. This article presents the set of open educational resources created on topics such as democracy and inclusive democratic participation, media literacy and the fight against disinformation and the prevention of aggression in the context of the implementation of the RespectNET project "Respectful communication through the media education network" (Erasmus + project, 2021-1-IT02-KA220-HED-000027578, https://respectnet.eu/). The main objective of the paper is to present the impact of RespectNET resources created at the level of HEIs that were intended to provide reliable educational resources for the formation of critical media and communication skills of university members and civil society activists.