The National EPALE Conference 2024 was held on December 13, 2024, at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Banja Luka. The theme of this year’s conference was Media and Information Literacy for Digital Age. The organizer and host of the conference was the Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education, within which operates EPALE National Support Service (NSS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The conference gathered over 60 representatives from various institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the non-governmental sector, and practitioners in the field of education. Throughout the conference, participants had the opportunity to exchange views and experiences on topics such as online safety and privacy, media literacy, the role of the media in shaping personal and social values, the integration of assistive technology, and more.
In the opening part of the conference, the event was open by Maja Stojkić, Director of the Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education, Adnan Husić, representative of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slavko Karan, coordinator of the EPALE project. After that, Prof. Ilija Musa, PhD, spoke about Media Literacy and the Impact of Media on Human Behavior, followed by Jelena Ćurguz from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Banja Luka, who presented on the topic The Role of (Mass) Media in Shaping Personal and Social Values.
After the break, the participants had the opportunity to refresh their knowledge on internet safety and privacy, as well as to hear new insights from Prof. Zoran Đurić MD, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Banja Luka. The speakers from the Pedagogical Faculty at the University of Bihać, Šejla Bjelopoljak and Edin Dupanović, continued the session with a presentation on Integrating Assistive Technology and Digital Tools in Education: Promoting Critical Thinking and Media Literacy.
Prof. Dragana Trninić MD, from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Banja Luka spoke about the role and significance of digital literacy in education, while Vesima Čičkušić, PhD, from the Inspectorate of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Tuzla Canton provided a detailed overview of digital literacy and the challenges of the modern information society.
Prior to the questions and discussions, Dušan Sarajlić, Head of the VET Department at the Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education, presented the results of the EQET SEE project.
Additionally, the eTwinning project, in which APOSO has been actively participating for years, had its own information corner, where the participants could learn more about the project and its activities, as well as to pick up flyers and promotional materials.
The presentations from the conference are available on the EPALE resources.
The National EPALE conference 2024 was closed by Milana Popržen, Deputy Director of the Agency for Preschool, Primary, and Secondary Education.
