“Active Learners Active Citizens” runs out of the postdoctoral research project titled “Active Citizenship: The Role of New Media in Literary and Educational Practices” that Dr. Despoina Feleki carries out in the School of English of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Through its conceptualization, “Active Learners Active Citizens” marks the need to study eminent activist writers’ and poets’ social media presence in close connection to their digital and printed writing production with the aim of drawing valuable conclusions about their emergent political and activist role. Active Learners Active Citizens investigates the ways writers, poets and activists employ their voice, their literary craft and their poetic verse in tandem with digital tools as a means of social mobilization and then develops a methodology for teaching social awareness and engagement useful to Greek learners of English in Secondary Education.

This effort is further implemented by the research findings that have been collected from Greek educational institutions since March 2022. The engagement of learners of English in Greek Primary and Secondary Education with “Active Learners Active Citizens” leads to valuable insights into the impact of the word (spoken, literary or poetic) on social media.

On the basis of the material and data gathered, this project focuses on providing educators with helpful tips, methodologies, and tools of how to implement active citizenship in the English Language classroom.

The particular project aims at raising teenager social awareness while energizing their participation in collective instances of activism.

Ultimately, Active Learners Active Citizens” manages to shift the strict boundaries between the Academy and society.