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This article presents the results of the research project "Media skills in Brazilian and Euro-American settings" conducted with 14 to 16 years old from public and private schools in six Brazilian cities. It was developed by the member universities of the Euro-American inter-university research network on media literacy for citizenship (ALFAMED) in Brazil. From a quantitative and qualitative perspective, it assessed the levels of each of the six dimensions of media competence (Ferrés and Piscitelli, 2015) of 499 students, taking into account their cultural practices. The results indicate that young people learn informally how to deal with media, have advanced level in the handling of technology and in language, aesthetics and ideology and values dimensions. However, in the dimensions of processes of interaction and of production and diffusion, which are related to consumption and media participation, they are at the basic/intermediate level, indicating the need for formative actions to promote learning and the development of critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of mobile technologies and Internet among children and young people is generating new frames of understanding, interaction and consumption of media and content. YouTube has become one of the platforms most used by these, which requires investigating the repercussions exerted by these influencers on children. In the present work, an analysis of the main YouTubers followed by children of Primary Education in Spain is carried out. It has used a quantitative methodology to know the main YouTubers, and qualitative, to analyze the profiles of these influencers. The results indicate the predilection Spanish YouTubers and that most use videogames or jokes associated with their channels. Finally, a reflection is offered on the content consumed by children on the Internet through these channels, providing pedagogical proposals to develop an adequate media education for psychosocial child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of this work form part of the coordinated RD&I project: "Citizens' media competence in relation to emerging digital media: innovative practice and educommunicational strategies in multiple contexts", developed between 2016 and 2019 at 25 Spanish universities. Specifically, the work pertains to the subproject: "Media competence of the citizen with emerging digital media in university settings". Data was collected from university students through questionnaires and focus groups. We sought to understand their self-perceptions regarding their level of media competence in relation to various dimensions, with the aim of extracting key points in order to improve training provided. According to the results obtained, this group largely considered themselves to be media competent; however, this is not coherent with the true perception revealed following inspection of students' self-ratings for each of the six main dimensions of media competence. Only technology appears to be sufficiently covered. A very limited vision of the importance of producing messages in comparison to their diffusion was evidenced; in addition, values were identified pertaining to the identification of ideology and interaction, among other aspects. A lack of assimilation of the aesthetic dimension and environmental implications is also highlighted. The need for media and digital literacy coincides with the vision held by university teachers, and for this reason the need for training is evident. As a result, it is observed that the common failings detected by more general population studies in relation to traditional media and digital education are being repeated in this sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]