Education Commons^™

Media Literacy In Teacher Education: A Good Fit Across The Curriculum, Jessica Meehan, Brandi Ray, Sunny Wells, Amanda Walker, Gretchen Schwarz

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Abstract

Current preoccupations in teacher education reform include data gathering, teaching technique, and preparing PK-12 students for standardized tests. The purpose of American education has been reduced to economic benefit. Concerns with ethical behavior, the good life, and democratic citizenship have fallen by the wayside except perhaps in a single social foundations course. Media literacy education infused in the teacher education curriculum offers one way to restore purpose to teacher education, encouraging both pre-service teachers and their students to think critically about their media-dominated society.

Media, Culture, And Education: One Teacher’S Journey Through The Mediated Intersections, Crystal L. Beach

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Today’s classrooms often have a plethora of new ways of reading and writing entering the room, but too often these new ways of “doing” are disregarded and checked at the door. For this reason, one educator shares her journey through the mediated intersections of media, culture, and education. In this piece, she explores how literacy transformations are impacting her classroom and her students’ lives, how she tries to make connections for her students, as well as noting what these mediated intersections might mean for the future of education.

The Role Of Collaboration And Feedback In Advancing Student Learning In Media Literacy And Video Production, Carl M. Casinghino

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Educators can learn many lessons as they implement collaborative project strategies, manage appropriate feedback, and measure communicative skill development in the media literacy classroom. This article examines case studies and learning outcomes in a high school digital production classroom taught by a veteran media literacy educator.

Critical Media Literacy And Gender: Teaching Middle School Students About Gender Stereotypes And Occupations, Laurel Puchner, Linda Markowitz, Mark Hedley

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study examined the effectiveness of the implementation of a small-scale critical media literacy curriculum unit focused on gender stereotypes, especially as they pertain to occupations. The research question was whether students exposed to the critical media literacy (CML) curriculum were more likely than students not exposed to believe: that women experience discrimination in the workplace; that the media constructs stereotypical messages about women and men, especially regarding occupations; and that the media influences people’s thinking. Participants were students in 5 seventh grade classes, who were exposed to a 4-workshop curriculum, and students in 5 eighth grades classes, who were …

Soviet Cineclubs: Baranov’S Film/Media Education Model, Alexander Fedorov, Elizaveta Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In this paper we discuss a historical form of media literacy education that is still insufficiently explored in English-language literature: Soviet cineclubs. We focus on one particular cineclub that was created by a Soviet educator Oleg Baranov in the 1950s. We admit that Baranov’s teaching practices might have been rooted in and shaped by ideological requirements of the time. However, we believe that the structure of his model can be used as an inspiration for a media literacy club in today’s schools.

Investigating How Mtv’S 16 & Pregnant May Be Used As Media Literacy Education With High-Risk Adolescents, Tracy Marie Scull, Rebecca Ortiz, Autumn Shafer, Jane Brown, Janis B. Kupersmidt, Katherine Suellentrop

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Reality television shows featuring teen pregnancy may be used as media literacy education tools to positively affect youth sexual health outcomes. Concerns, however, exist that such programming may glamorize teen pregnancy. The present study examined how viewing and discussing episodes of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, a reality television series about teen pregnancy, may impact adolescents at high risk for teen pregnancy (N =162; M=13.5 years). Adolescents indicated that they enjoyed viewing and discussing the episodes and saw the program as realistic but did not perceive the lives of the characters as desirable. Many also reported that they …

Parents’ Views Of Video Games: Habitus Forms In The Context Of Parental Mediation, Henrike Friedrichs, Friederike Von Gross, Katharina Herde, Uwe Sander

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper is based on a research project conducted in 2014 on parental attitudes to, and their mediation of, video games. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 28 parents (14 couples) explored their media-related habitus, their media-educational habitus and the interaction between the habitus. The results show, inter alia, that the media-related habitus has a significant influence on the media-educational habitus.

Digital Media Literacy In A Sports, Popular Culture, And Literature Course, Carolyn Fortuna

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Abstract: This article considers how media sports culture is an apt space for digital media literacy instruction. Describing a senior year high school English course that requires students to deconstruct and compose with sports media texts, the author outlines how learning modules, analysis of curated collections of texts through heuristics, and mentor texts help students achieve higher literacy levels. The author argues that sports media literacy, due to its authenticity and relevance, can be a model for traditional literacy classrooms as ways to infuse multimodal texts and help students to gain both enhanced communication skills and critical distance from media …

Connecting, Creating, And Composing: A Shared Multimodal Journey, Margaret B. Krause

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Given the dynamic nature of our society, literacy conceptualizations are constantly being redefined. While print literacy continues to be the primary literacy within elementary classroom, the growing nature of technological capabilities, social networking, and multimodal affordances require educators to delve into explorations of how children can be successful in negotiating meaning in our world. As an elementary educator, university instructor, and mother of three children, the author explores personal views of literacy through a shared multimodal journal experience with her children. This article highlights the experiences of her son through the journaling process and how he selects material for a …

Developing Media Literacy: Managing Fear And Moving Beyond, Katherine G. Fry

Journal of Media Literacy Education

One way to view the development of the media literacy movement is through the various different ways in which strains of media literacy education have been called on to allay fears that accompanying new media technologies. This article focuses on how one media literacy organization,The LAMP, deals with two very different arenas —the internet safety arena and the news literacy arena--where fear of digital media has created narrow pockets of concern seeking narrow solutions. As media literacy grows and develops the hope is that these fears subside, a perception of separateness dissolves, and a broader media literacy vision advances.

Puppets On A String? How Young Adolescents Explore Gender And Health In Advertising, Deborah L. Begoray, Elizabeth M. Banister, Joan Wharf Higgins, Robin Wilmot

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article presents qualitative research on young adolescents’ abilities in communicating and evaluating health messages in advertising especially how they understand and create gendered identities. A group of grade 6-8 students learned about media techniques and movie making. In groups divided by gender, they created iMovie advertisements for health activities in their school. They represented themselves in these advertisements by creating stick puppets. Observations during lessons, examination of movies and puppets, and interviews with students and their teacher revealed that young adolescents were neither completely manipulated by media nor were they completely in charge of their responses to media’s messages …

Dusty But Mighty: Using Radio In The Critical Media Literacy Classroom, Miglena S. Todorova

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In a culture dominated by images, what is the capacity of radio-making to enact the ideals and meet the objectives of critical medial literacy education that empowers learners and expands democracy? This article conceptualizes a radio-based critical media literacy approach drawing upon a course project called “Borderless Radio,” where fifty-two students in a large urban Canadian university produced short radio programs narrating how they view and experience “multiculturalism.” Radio making in the classroom is soundscaping that politicizes intimacy, disrupts hegemonic discourses, and allows for teaching and learning to transgress; yet it also illuminates the ways in which self-positionality poses limitations …

Measuring News Media Literacy, Adam Maksl, Seth Ashley, Stephanie Craft

Journal of Media Literacy Education

News media literacy refers to the knowledge and motivations needed to identify and engage with journalism. This study measured levels of news media literacy among 500 teenagers using a new scale measure based on Potter’s model of media literacy and adapted to news media specifically. The adapted model posits that news media literate individuals think deeply about media experiences, believe they are in control of media’s influence, and have high levels of basic knowledge about media content, industries and effects. Based on measures developed to assess news media literacy, highly news literate teens were found to be more intrinsically motivated …

Guiding Digital And Media Literacy Development In Arab Curricula Through Understanding Media Uses Of Arab Youth, Jad P. Melki

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The role of new media in the Arab uprisings and the news of widespread surveillance of digital and mobile media have triggered a renewed interest in Arab audiences research, particularly as it pertains to these audiences’ critical abilities and digital media literacy competencies. Taken for granted have been Arab youth’s widespread use of social media for activism and political expression and their suspicion of government monitoring and privacy threats. This study questions these assumptions and attempts to provide a more accurate picture of Arab youth’s media uses, with the goal of informing the development of digital and media literacy curricula …

“Media Violence Is Made To Attract And Entertain People”: Responses To Media Literacy Lessons On The Effects Of And Institutional Motives Behind Media Violence, Laras Sekarasih, Kimberly R. Walsh, Erica Scharrer

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study investigated the following research question: How do sixth-graders respond to a media literacy lesson that was designed to, among other goals, introduce the concept of the presence of commercial interest in media production, particularly regarding the prevalence of media violence? Forty-seven responses were analyzed thematically using constant comparison. Students’ responses illustrate their critical thinking and understanding about producers’ intent in including violence in media, although recognizing the commercial interest behind media violence still seems to be a challenge. Findings also suggest the task of striking a balance between instilling critical thinking skills and acknowledging children’s personal media experiences.

Review Of “The Teacher’S Guide To Media Literacy: Critical Thinking In A Multimedia World” By Cyndy Scheibe And Faith Rogow, Julie Smith

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article reviews “The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World” by Cyndy Scheibe and Faith Rogow

The Hyperreality Of Daniel Boorstin, Stephanie L. Viens

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Early media theorists can help us to link the past and present of media literacy to pose new questions and gain new knowledge. Historian, author and Librarian on Congress Daniel Boorstin (1914 – 2004) played an important role in increasing public awareness of the constructed nature of media representations. Connections are explored between constructed reality, technological advances, media literacy education, and the current work of media scholar Douglas Rushkoff on presentist society. Daniel Boorstin helped recognize the changing nature of knowledge in an image-saturated environment and influenced a new generation of theorists, scholars and educators who have advanced the …

Federal Agency Efforts To Advance Media Literacy In Substance Abuse Prevention, Alan M. Levitt, Robert W. Denniston

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article describes and reflects upon efforts to generate greater support for media literacy and critical thinking within the strategies and programs of the Federal government, primarily in agencies with an interest in youth substance abuse prevention. Additionally, some of the inherent challenges and obstacles that impacted the ability to expand these efforts are discussed.

The Core Concepts: Fundamental To Media Literacy Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow, Tessa Jolls, Carolyn Wilson

Journal of Media Literacy Education

“New media” does not change the essence of what media literacy is, nor does it affect its ongoing importance in society. Len Masterman, a UK-based professor, published his ground-breaking books in the 1980’s and laid the foundation for media literacy to be taught to elementary and secondary students in a systematic way that is consistent, replicable, measurable and scalable on a global basis – and thus, timeless. Masterman’s key insight was that the central unifying concept of media education is that of representation: media are symbolic sign systems that must be decoded. This paper explores the development and the application …

Teaching About Propaganda: An Examination Of The Historical Roots Of Media Literacy, Renee Hobbs, Sandra Mcgee

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Contemporary propaganda is ubiquitous in our culture today as public relations and marketing efforts have become core dimensions of the contemporary communication system, affecting all forms of personal, social and public expression. To examine the origins of teaching and learning about propaganda, we examine some instructional materials produced in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA), which popularized an early form of media literacy that promoted critical analysis in responding to propaganda in mass communication, including in radio, film and newspapers. They developed study guides and distributed them widely, popularizing concepts from classical rhetoric and expressing them in …

Media Now: A Historical Review Of A Media Literacy Curriculum, Yonty Friesem, Diane Quaglia Beltran, Ed Crane

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The Elizabeth Thoman Archive at the Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island, has the last complete kit of one of the milestones in the early chronology of media literacy, the 1972 Media Now curriculum. This curriculum was the first of its kind, using self-contained lesson modules that were part of a larger series of kits, text references, and accompanying workbook. Its self-directed learning model gave students the opportunity to learn about the media, by doing, responding to, and reflecting on core concepts of media production. Using physical artifacts from the Media Now kit, historical documents, promotional …

Why History Matters For Media Literacy Education, Michael Robbgrieco

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The ways people have publicly discussed and written about media literacy in the past have great bearing on how citizens, educators and learners are able to think about and practice their own media literacy. Our concepts of media literacy have evolved over time in response to changing contexts of media studies and educational discourses as well as changes in communication technologies, media industries, politics, and popular culture. My research on the history of Media&Values magazine 1977-1993, made possible by the Elizabeth Thoman Media Literacy Archive, illustrates how tracing developments of media literacy concepts over time can give us much needed …

Introduction To Media Literacy History, Sarah Bordac

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Why is it important for us to consider the history of media literacy? Beyond forging connections of the past to the present, exploring the history of the field can deepen intellectual curiosity and understanding for those who work in media literacy education, ignite interest in others, and drive investigation into understanding the relationships of the facets and fundamentals of media literacy from past to present and into the future. The theme of leadership emerges from questions such as: How do people build programs? How does information get disseminated? What were the challenges? Who were the learners? Who were the teachers? …

Creating Critical Viewers, Renee Cherow-O'Leary

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This essay is a personal reflection on the implementation of Creating Critical Viewers, a national media literacy program sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), an industry association, in 1995. The television industry’s decision to develop a media literacy curriculum in the 1990s was a powerful statement by certain broadcasters to take seriously the ethical and social questions being raised about the impact of their work and to learn how to address those questions through education.

Cinekyd: Exploring The Origins Of Youth Media Production, Renee Hobbs, David Cooper Moore

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Review: The Media Ecosystem: What Ecology Can Teach Us About Responsible Media Practice, Ju-Pong Lin

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Review: Arts, Media And Justice: Multimodal Explorations With Youth (2013), Kelsey Greene

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Review: Slam School: Learning Through Conflict In The Hip-Hop And Spoken Word Classroom, Emily Bailin

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

A Story Of Conflict And Collaboration: Media Literacy, Video Production And Disadvantaged Youth, Elizaveta Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media literacy educators talk about the importance of developing essential social skills, such as collaboration, by using video production in the classroom. Video production with disadvantaged youth can also play a role of art therapy, as students use their creativity to come to terms with traumatizing pasts. This paper offers an account of a media literacy intervention that involved making videos with a class of foster youth. Using the methodology of portraiture, I describe highlights and pitfalls of collaboration that one of the teams experienced. I focus on moments of conflict, unleashed creativity and transformation brought by one video project.

Quality Media Literacy Education. A Tool For Teachers And Teacher Educators Of Italian Elementary Schools, Damiano Felini Ed.D.

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The dissemination of good practices in MLE requires a more rigorous definition of their characteristics, including criteria and indicators to measure their quality. This article – after reflecting on the meaning and function of identifying good MLE practices – presents a systematic framework of 35 indicators for good MLE activities in Italian elementary schools. These indicators are grouped according to five general criteria of quality: adequacy of the teaching methods; competence and involvement of the actors; structuring and coherence of the activity's organization; awareness of the underlying MLE theories as well as their appropriateness; and originality of the project. The …