On April 7, 2011, a group of Italian media education experts, led by Professor Giannatelli, the founder of the Italian Association of Media Education (MED), and Professor Alberto Parola, current Vice President of the MED, visited the Modern Educational Technology Center (METC) and held a seminar in the area of media education. Professor Zhang Jianping, Director of the METC, presided over the seminar; faculty members, staff, and graduate students working and studying in the METC attended the seminar.
    At the beginning of the seminar, Professor Maria Ranieri from the College of Education, University of Florence, made a presentation entitled “The On Air Web Portal.” In the presentation, Professor Ranieri introduced a European Project, “On Air.” Its main contents included the background of the project, target population, methodology, main findings and suggestions. The project was funded by the European Commission within the Lifelong Learning Program 2008/2010 and was promoted by the MED. After Professor Ranieri’s presentation, Professor Luciano Di Mele, Professor Angela Cbonomi Castelli, Professor Roberto Farne and Professor Matilde Pettinelli made another four presentations in areas of video production in the school, advertising and healthy diet of children, making photos in an educational context and instructional design for media education. In these four presentations, the Italian scholars shared many cases and their own personal teaching experiences in area of media education.
    In addition to the Italian scholars’ presentation, Dr. Li Yan from the METC also gave a presentation entitled “Chinese Media Education: Challenges and Issues.” In the presentation, Dr. Li introduced the history and current situation of media education practice in China. She then gave a brief introduction to the “Exploring Environmental Issues in the Media: Media Education in Chinese K-12 Schools” project, which is funded by the MED.
    After the presentations, the Italian scholars and Chinese scholars exchanged ideas, questions, and concerns in the area of media education practice in both countries. The seminar lasted three hours and all participants felt that such academic activity was very meaningful for mutual understanding, international collaboration as well as professional development.
                                      

                                                                                                                                                      Modern Educational Technology Center
                                                                                                                                                                                          April 20, 2011