Step 1: Understand the Curriculum Foundations

The SHIELD Ee-toolkit provides a modular structure that can be adapted to suit your subject area, student group, and educational context. However, before selecting specific themes and activities for integration into your lesson or course, it is recommended to first review the General Curriculum – available in the Deliverables section of this webpage -, which includes the following components:


Component	What It Includes	How You Can Use It
Learning Objectives	12 core objectives + detailed sub-skills focused on Critical Digital Literacy (CDL)	Choose the goals that match your students’ needs and integrate them into your lesson or course design
Teaching Materials	Suggestions for lessons, media analysis tasks, real-world case studies, and prompts	Adapt or build from these materials to create engaging classroom activities
Pedagogical Strategies	Suggestions for Interactive methods: simulations, debates, group work, role-play, reflection	Select approaches that fit your teaching style and learners’ level
Assessment Tools	Rubrics, quizzes, reflection prompts, evaluation frameworks	Track student progress and adapt your teaching using practical evaluation methods

These elements are mapped to a quality-assurance matrix – available in the Deliverables section of this webpage – developed through interdisciplinary research during the second stage of the SHIELD Project. The Ee-toolkit is based on the principles of the Matrix and the General Curriculum and it is designed to be easy to use and adapt, whether you’re teaching 12-year-olds, college students, or adult learners.

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