Media Literacy: Connecting Classroom and Culture

Digital & Media Literacy:

Connecting Classroom and Community

Renee Hobbs

MEDIA LITERACY FOR ELEMENTARYSCHOOL TEACHERS (ML4T)University of Zagreb, CroatiaMay 11, 2015

Harrington School of Communication and Media University of Rhode Island USA

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www.mediaeducationlab.com


PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING

Questions for Today

What is media literacy and why is it important?

How is media literacy relevant to the elementary curriculum?

What does media literacy look like in the classroom?

What do students actually learn when they learn media

literacy?

How can teachers play a role in advancing media literacy?

Media literacy is a response to the contemporary cultural

environment

How Many Do You Recognize?

Stakeholders in Digital & Media Literacy

MED

IA &

TECH

A

CTIV

IST

GO

VER

NM

ENT

LIBR

AR

Y

EDU

CA

TION

CR

EATIV

E

Empowerment

How do Media Influence Us?

Family

Peers

Community

Nutrition Substance Abuse Stereotypes

Media Affects Attitudes & Behaviors

Sexuality AggressionOnline SocialResponsibility

Media Affects Attitudes & Behaviors

Protection

Productive Tension between Empowerment & Protective Approaches

LOVE HATE

PRINT VISUAL SOUND DIGITAL

What is your own love-hate relationship with media, technology and popular culture?

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy

Literacy is the

sharing of meaning in symbolic form

expanding the concept of text

What forms of media texts did you use before coming to this program today?

Rhetoric

Print Literacy

Visual Literacy

Information Literacy

Media Literacy

Computer Literacy

Critical Literacy

News Literacy

Digital Literacy

Historical Context


Communication & Education. Institutions of education, communication

practices & democratic values are interconnected.

Inquiry Learning. People learn best from experiences that are carefully

supported or scaffolded to meet the needs of the learner.

Critical Pedagogy. Awareness, analysis, and reflection enable people to

take action to make society more just and equitable.

Medium Theory. Media & technology are immersive cultural

environments; media structures re-shape human perception & values.

Active Audience Theory. Audiences are active; meaning-making is

variable; lived experience & social context are key dimensions of

interpretation.

Theoretical Framework

Media literacy enables people to be lifelong learners

Children Interpret Media Messages Differently

We are socialized to beactive or passive consumers of media

Media Literacy is a Lifelong Process



What media content do you use now that you did not use when you were growing up? What media content did you use long ago that is not so important to you now?

Media literacy educators use a wide variety of instructional

practices to advance core competencies

Accessing the Internet

ACCESS

Keyboard and mouse skills Be familiar with hardware, storage and file

management practices Understand hyperlinking & digital space

Gain competence with software applications Use social media, mobile, peripheral & cloud

computing tools

Identify information needs Use effective search and find strategies Troubleshoot and problem-solve Learn how to learn

Listening skillsReading comprehension

Defining Digital & Media Literacy Competencies

Analyze &

Evaluate

Understand how symbols work: the concept of representation

Identify the author, genre, purpose and point of view of a message

Compare and contrast sources

Evaluate credibility and qualityUnderstand one’s own biases

and world view Recognize power relationships that shape

how information and ideas circulate in culture

Understand the economic context of information and entertainment production

Examine the political and social ramifications of inequalities in information flows


Create &

Collaborate

Recognize the need for communication and self-expression

Identify your own purpose, target audience, medium & genre

Brainstorm and generate ideas Compose creatively Play and interact Edit and revise Use appropriate distribution, promotion &

marketing channels Receive audience feedback

Work collaborativelyComment, curate and remix


Reflect

Recognize how entertainment media communicate values & ideology

Understand how differences in values and life experience shape people’s media use and message interpretation

Appreciate risks and potential harms of digital media

Apply ethical judgment and social responsibility to communication situations

Understand how concepts of ‘private’ and ‘public’ are reshaped by digital media

Appreciate and respect legal rights and responsibilities (copyright, intellectual freedom, etc)


What values are depicted in this episode of children’s entertainment media ?

Take Action

Acknowledge the power of communication to maintain the status quo or change the world

Participate in communities of shared interest to advance an issue

Be a change agent in the family & workplace

Participate in democratic self-governance

Speak up when you encounter injustice

Respect the law and work to change unjust laws

Use the power of communication and information to make a difference in the world


Creating a Public Service Announcement

ACCESS

expanding the concept of literacy


When students can access, the power of choice activates intellectual

curiosity

When students can analyze, they have critical autonomy – control over

their interpretations

When students compose media, the discover the power of collaboration

as a key dimension of human creativity

When students reflect, they consider the impact of their communication

on themselves and others and develop a sense of social responsibility

When students act, they use of the power of information and

communication to make a difference in the world

Learning Outcomes

Media literacy educators are passionate about its

transformative value and research is demonstrating its effectiveness

Teacher Leadership is at the Heart of Media Literacy Education

• Book Clubs• Tech Tuesday Sessions• Teachers Teaching Teachers• After-School & Summer

Programs• Graduate Programs• Curriculum Development • Participatory Action Research • Sharing and Discussion of

Student Work• Advocacy and community

building • University-school partnerships

What happens when children and teens learn to critically analyze and

create media?

Improves learning across the curriculum

Res

earc

h E

vid

ence

How Do How Attitudes towards News Media, Media Literacy and Video Production

Contribute to Adolescent Civic Engagement?

Inspires leadership & entrepreneurial thinking

Res

earc

h E

vid

ence

AUTHORSHIP

Creative sillsCollaboration skills

Technical skills

MEDIA ANALYSIS SKILLS

Comprehension

Identify Purpose

RecognizePoint of View

ATTITUDES

Giving & Receiving Feedback

Intellectual Curiosity

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Sign an online petition

Express an opinion to news

media

Blog about an issue

Write an opinion letter

QUALITY OF MEDIA CHOICES

Increases civic engagement

Inspires confidence to ask questions

Res

earc

h E

vid

ence

Promotes collaboration and creativity

Res

earc

h E

vid

ence

Increases motivation & engagement

Res

earc

h E

vid

ence

Promotes reflective thinking about communication ethics

Res

earc

h E

vid

ence

Connects classroom and communityRes

earc

h E

vid

ence

Prepares learners for an unknowable future


Conclusion

Media literacy is a response to the contemporary cultural

environment

Media literacy enables people to be lifelong learners

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy

Media literacy educators use a wide variety of instructional

practices to advance five core competencies

Media literacy educators are passionate about its

transformative value and research is demonstrating its

effectiveness


Martens, H. & Hobbs, R. (2015, April). How media literacy supports civic engagement in a digital age. Atlantic Journal of Communication 23(2), 120 – 137. DOI:10.1080/15456870.2014.96163

Hobbs, R., He, H. & RobbGreico, M. (2014) Seeing, Believing and Learning to be Skeptical: Supporting Language Learning through Advertising Analysis Activities. TESOL Journal.

Hobbs, R., Donnelly, K., Friesem, J. & Moen, M. (2013). Learning to engage: How positive attitudes about the news, media literacy and video production contribute to adolescent civic engagement. Educational Media International 50(4), 231 – 246.

Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 182-197.

Hobbs, R., Yoon, J., Al-Humaidan, R., Ebrahimi, A. & Cabral, N. (2011). Online digital media in elementary school. Journal of Middle East Media 7(1), 1 – 23.

Hobbs, R., Ebrahimi, A., Cabral, N., Yoon, J., & Al-Humaidan, R. (2011). Field-based teacher education in elementary media literacy as a means to promote global understanding. Action for Teacher Education 33, 144 – 156.

Hobbs, R., Cohn-Geltner, H. & Landis, J. (2011). Views on the news: Media literacy empowerment competencies in the elementary grades. In C. Von Feilitzen, U. Carlsson & C. Bucht (Eds.). New questions, new insights, new approaches. The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. NORDICOM. University of Gothenburg, Sweden (pp. 43 – 56).

Hobbs, R., Cohn-Geltner, H. & Landis, J. (2011). Views on the news: Media literacy empowerment competencies in the elementary grades. In C. Von Feilitzen, U. Carlsson & C. Bucht (Eds.). New questions, new insights, new approaches. The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. NORDICOM. University of Gothenburg, Sweden (pp. 43 – 56).

Hobbs, R. and RobbGrieco, M. (2010). Passive dupes, code breakers, or savvy users: Theorizing media literacy education in English language arts. In D. Lapp and D. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts. Third edition. New York: Routledge (pp. 283 – 289).


Renee Hobbs

Professor of Communication Studies

Director, Media Education Lab

Harrington School of Communication and Media

University of Rhode Island USA

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @reneehobbs

WEB: www.mediaeducationlab.com

mailto:[email protected]