The eMysteries project offers a rich media mobile-device-supported interactive environment which can be utilized for educational purposes among upper secondary education students (15-18 year-olds) in order to enhance their literacy skills by actively engaging them in close reading activities. By using the interactive environment, students will have the opportunity to create their own detective stories that can be adapted to various characters and plots. The project also offers a Teacher’s Toolbox and a MOOC dedicated to enhance teacher’s capacity and professionalism on how to use the eMysteries environment and resources in their daily practices.

By the time young people in the EU leave compulsory education most of them have regularly made use of computers and the internet for a variety of activities. While the most common activities of young people using mobile phones are writing through text messaging (“texting”) and reading for information search and entertainment purposes, the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results showed that one in five pupils in the European Union have insufficient proficiency in reading.

The eMysteries project aims to develop the capacity of upper secondary school teachers working with students (15-18 year-olds) in using digital tools for addressing literacy goals. However, other school staff, school leaders, several policy decision makers, researchers, academics, people that work in after-school programs and other relevant stakeholders can be benefited from the innovative educational prospects on enhancing literacy of the eMysteries project.

Upper secondary school teachers will directly be involved in the project by producing a number of significant results, thus enhancing their knowledge, skills and attitudes on teaching literacy using close reading activities. They will also have the chance to increase their capacity and professionalism by gaining access to a free MOOC.