Ersilia helps to ‘get the picture’
Every year, we produce around 880 billions photos into the world; every second, about 3,000 images are uploaded on Facebook. Even though we live in a world submerged by images, we have not learnt to analyze them. We were taught to read and understand textual, not visual, messages.
Together with LE BAL, a research and exhibition center in Paris dedicated to the image in all its forms, the Evens Foundation engaged in joint reflection on methodologies of education in the visual image. The goal: to produce a pedagogical tool to help develop a critical approach in young people so that they question the conditions in which images are produced, circulated and assimilated.
Ersilia is the result of three years of research and experimentations led by LE BAL’s pedagogical leg, La Fabrique du Regard, in close collaboration with a team of teachers and students.
Launched in 2016, Ersilia, now available in French, is a practical toolbox and a collaborative platform that provides a new way of learning, teaching and sharing knowledge. It offers a selection of images, videos, critical texts and games, as well as methodologies and concrete ideas for projects to carry out in the classroom and beyond.
Teachers can create custom-made lesson plans, develop a creative project with an artist, give assignments to their students and carry out evaluations directly on the platform.
The Ersilia project is one of the laureates of La France s’engage governmental initiative, announced by President Hollande, which supports the most inspiring social innovation projects. Thanks to this recognition, Ersilia, with the support of the Ministry of Education, will benefit from a nationwide dissemination campaign and a program of teacher training in the use of the tool.