The Importance of Media Literacy and Strategies for Teaching It at the College Level

The Importance of Media Literacy and Strategies for Teaching It at the College Level

Renee HobbsHarrington School of Communication and Media

University of Rhode Island

Association for Journalism and Mass CommunicationWashington DCAugust 8, 2013

University and college students develop their own media literacy competencies while they help

children and young people develop knowledge, skills and dispositions

ACCESS

ANALYZEE

CREATE ACT

REFLECT

ACCESS

Digital & Media Literacy Learning Process

1. Why video documentation is a powerful research and teaching tool

2. How connecting university students to local community schools builds dispositions towards collaboration, civic engagement and advocacy

3. How educator motivations for teaching media and technology shape instructional practices

What we are Learning from University-School Partnerships

Powerful Voices for Kids is a university-school partnership program that advances the quality of digital and media literacy education in K-6 schools

www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com

Video Documentation

VIDEO

Talking Back to the News Media

VIDEO

Exploring the key competencies of digital and media literacy with children and youth helps university students reflect on the complex interaction between media institutions, education institutions, individuals and culture

Participation in university-school partnerships may improve skills of collaboration that advance civic engagement, self-efficacy and advocacy

REFLECT

ACT

Exploring Educator Motivations for Teaching Media & Technology

www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com

THE DEMYSTIFIER As a teacher, you “pull back the curtain” to help students see how various forms of information and knowledge are constructed. You emphasize the practice of critical thinking, helping students ask good “how” and “why” questions.

THE ACTIVISTAs an educator, you want to make society more just and equitable by promoting democratic participation. You use media in the classroom as a catalyst for students to understand how they might have a voice in improving the quality of life in their communities and in the world.

THE TASTEMAKERYou want to broaden your students’ horizons. You want them to have exposure to the kinds of media experiences that put them in touch with historical, aesthetic, and critical appreciation. You know that a key component of students’ future interactions will require them to draw from a variety of cultural sources both classical and popular.

THE ALTYou are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,” teacher. You’re always ready to challenge students with alternative ways of finding, using, thinking about, and making media in the classroom. Whether you use open source programs on school computers, encourage students to start alternative clubs or magazines, or introduce students to media that’s “off the beaten path” of mainstream and mass media, you are likely a key proponent of broadening students’ understanding of the many different ways that people can communicate in the world.

THE TECHIEYou’re the educator who loves tablets, apps, programs, plug-ins, widgets, websites, and other types of educational technology because you have a passionate curiosity about new tools. You see much potential to engage students with the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives.

THE TRENDSETTERYou’re tuned into pop culture and curious about kid culture. Maybe your own most-loved popular culture isn’t too far removed from that of your students. You are inquisitive about the trends and hot topics that make up a crucial component of the fabric of your students’ everyday lives. You want school culture to meet kids where they live with the popular culture they know and love.

THE PROFESSIONALYou have high standards for your students’ work, and you may be seen as the go-to media professional in your school. You know how to push your students to understand and emulate the professional conventions that is important to being taken seriously in the world of media creation. To help students enter the real world of media creation, you bring other authors, professionals, and media-makers into your classroom to enrich the learning experience.

THE WATCHDOGYou are a natural critical thinker, aware of how economic systems and institutions influence our everyday lives, particularly through the media we use. You want your students and your peers to be more mindful of the ways that things are bought and sold. Who owns and controls the media content that we see, hear, read, and play with? You feel responsible for giving your students a “wake-up call” about the economic and institutional inner-workings of the technology and the world that surrounds them.

LOVE HATE

PRINT VISUAL SOUND DIGITAL

Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and popular culture shape their work with learners

Hobbs, R. & Moore, D. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Teaching digital media and popular culture in elementary school. Thousand Oaks: Corwin/Sage.

Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 1 – 28. Hobbs, R. & RobbGrieco, M. (2012). African-American children’s active reasoning about media texts as a precursor to media literacy. Journal of Children and Media 6(4), 502 - 519.

Grafe, S., Hobbs, R., Boos, M., Bergey, B. (2012). Teachers´ motivations for media education in Germany and in the United States. Paper presentation at Digital Media and Learning(DML) Conference, Los Angeles.

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., 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. “Messy Engagement and Strategic Risk Taking as an Instructional Strategy in Informal Learning,” Paper presentation, International Communication Association (ICA), Phoenix, AZ. May 28, 2012.

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).

Renee HobbsProfessor and Founding DirectorHarrington School of Communication and MediaUniversity of Rhode Island USAEmail: [email protected]: reneehobbsWeb: http://mediaeducationlab.com