On March 6, 2018 Prof. dr. Danutė Balšaitytė from the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University conducted a seminar on “Media education: necessity and perspectives” for language educators. The seminar was organized by the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University and Lithuanian Language Teachers’ Association.

The importance of public education in the field of media seminar was discussed during the seminar alongside other relevant issues for contemporary societies such as, how our opinion is shaped by the media, what we should know, so that we are not deceived by the creators of the news, how to separate true information from fake news. “Media literacy is associated not only with the proper use of digital technologies, but also with the critical perception of the content of media texts, as well as the ability to create high-quality, contemporary media texts in various communication spheres, analyze and interpret them. Media is currently playing an important role in the life of modern society. In many countries of the world, pupils’ media literacy is being developed at schools, high-level media specialists are being trained at universities, media educators, and media centers are being set up in different cities of the world,” said Prof. Dr D. Balšaitytė.

During the discussion, the participants of the seminar agreed that media has become an integral part of our lives, it is important to  develop students’ media literacy, their ability to orient themselves in the world of media culture, to master media language, to be able to analyze, interpret and create high-quality media texts.