SCHOOL-UNIVERSITY CONNECTION CONTINUES TO BE STRENGTHENED AT YSU

The students were acquainted with the activities of the university, especially the faculty of journalism, visited the TV and radio studios of the faculty. More than 120 students of the 7th-12th grades of RA schools had the opportunity to record their speech in a professional studio, and then to be filmed in a TV studio. They were acquainted with the work of a journalist, and received answers to their questions. Arriving in the hall of the YSU central building, the students presented thematic booths, which were created based on their projects related to media and media literacy.

Mikael Hovhannisyan, the vice-rector for the development and innovation of YSU, welcomed the students and expressed hope that their visit to YSU will be important when choosing a profession in the future. The vice-rector noted that in the rapidly developing world, mastering the ways of "correct handling" of information is one of the most important skills nowadays.

Artashes Torosyan, director of the "KZNAK" Foundation of the ESCS Ministry of the Republic of Armenia, speaking about the importance of the project and the works carried out within its framework, said that the students not only learned media literacy; but also acquired the skills to conduct research and studies, cooperate and communicate with each other.

Lilit Mkrtchyan, head of the Educational Innovations and Research Department of the Foundation, emphasized that it is no coincidence that the "Media creator or media consumer" project is being concluded at Yerevan State University.

"We expect that the cooperation with the YSU Faculty of Journalism will be continuous, in the next stage the student-student connection will be expanded, and the students will implement joint projects," said L. Mkrtchyan.

The head of the department expressed hope that the students will receive professional education in a few years and will be students of Yerevan State University.

The Dean of YSU Faculty of Journalism Naghash Martirosyan expressed his belief that by participating in the "Media Consumer or Media Creator" project, the students were able to develop their skills in using the media, and the range of media literacy was expanded.

"It is important that both as a media consumer and as a media creator you should be media literate, and media literacy is the set of skills to search for, find, critically analyze and evaluate the necessary content," said Martirosyan, addressing the students. "With the presence of the Internet, information flows have increased, a huge volume of unverified and false information is distributed, and in this context, media literacy, the skills of using correct and verified sources are more important", said the Dean of the faculty.

It should be noted that the students participating in the project studied and analyzed the role and influence of the media on human life, developed critical thinking through project work, which will enable them to analyze and evaluate the credibility of the Internet and media, and develop the skills to use them.

Within the framework of the project, media clubs were created in schools with the title "Media consumer or media creator”. The club has selected and researched fact-checking tools and fake news, particularly how to distinguish and disprove them.

At the end of the event, the students were given certificates of appreciation.