An entire day to equip young people with the necessary skills so that they can be empowered to make the right choices online. This means learning how to be a digital leader, not just citizen — to know how to respond to trolls online, and when and where to go for help.

This is the core of YOUNG DIGITAL LEADERS CURRICULUM a specific pilot-training designed by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue – ISD (UK) in collaboration with Google and delivered today by “A Rocca” Artistic and Cultural Organization in Istituto Istruzione Superiore Giuseppe Luigi Lagrange in Milan, with one objective in mind: to empower students through digital citizenship and critical thinking and media literacy skills, beyond the classroom so that they can grow up safe, responsible digital leaders.

The curriculum consisted of four sessions, from digital literacy to online behaviours and more:

Session 1: Digital Literacy. This session explored how to recognise fake news, distinguish between fact and opinion, and understand online echo chambers, as well as how young people can respond appropriately to contentious content online;

Session 2: Online Behaviours, Part 1. This session demonstrated to students how to recognise emotional manipulation techniques in news and social media, and how and why content creators try to take advantage of your emotional rather than logical responses to online material.

Session 3: Online Behaviours, Part 2. This session considered how to recognise ‘Us and Them’ thinking online and in communities and wider society, why it is used, and demonstrates how individuals and societies can flourish through collaboration.

Session 4: Your Role.  This last session was intended to help students understand what hate speech and free speech are, how and why hate speech is used, and how to respond to hateful content online.