Media Literacy
As I was researching media literacy, I realized that it can be viewed in various ways. The following definitions came from the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE):
Media refers to all electronic or digital means and print or artistic visuals used to transmit messages.
Literacy is the ability to encode and decode symbols and to synthesize and analyze messages.
Media literacy is the ability to encode and decode the symbols transmitted via media and the ability to synthesize, analyze and produce mediated messages.
Media education is the study of media, including ‘hands on' experiences and media production.
Media literacy education is the educational field dedicated to teaching the skills associated with media literacy.
Within North America, media literacy is seen to consist of a series of communication competencies, including the ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, and COMMUNICATE information in a variety of forms, including print and non-print messages. (National Association for Media Literacy Education [NAMLE], 2008, n.p.)
One viewpoint is that people should be able to correctly “read” media. The idea is that media can be propaganda and can negatively influence children and that this is a concern for educators to address as demonstrated in the following quotes:
The longstanding and widespread argument used by media literacy educators—about the need for education to be relevant to the lived cultural experience of students with mass media and popular culture—seems to have lost its prominence as educators seek something which is simultaneously more basic and more challenging: to bring online technology tools into classroom to harness their use for socially-connected (or participatory) learning” (Hobbs & Jenson, 2009, p. 5).
Quite a bit of hype has been perpetuated among the legion of advocates, telling us that children and teens are actively creating content online by sharing their writing, video, music, and photography. But what is the reality? Sadly, neither creation nor sharing is randomly distributed among a diverse group of young adults, since creative activity is related to similar factors as it was in previous times: a person’s socioeconomic status.” (Hobbs & Jenson, 2009, p. 5).
A video from the Center for Media Literacy (2008) web site, "Media Literacy, Education & Choice," very clearly states this argument for acquiring and teaching the skill to "read" media so as not to be unknowingly swayed toward prejudice or unreasonably sold on bad ideas. In the video, Tessa Jolls, the President for the Center for Media Literacy explains the "five core questions of media literacy".
Media Literacy, Education & Choice
The other side of the coin is that students should be taught to create and develop media also. Michael Wesch's (2008) "A Portal to Media Literacy" presents an excellent demonstration of using a "portal that we play withthat is designed to bring students together, to get them working together in new ways, in ways that actually allow them to explore new media while actually using new media to learn about the subject." The video is long, but gives a beautiful and clear explanation of the differences between education ideas in yesteryear and the possible influence of new media on education today and well worth watching. Also, he defines the "meaning" and shows two different definitions as they relate to meaningful connection and creating what he calls "significance" in learning. Very relevant for teachers who want to truly educate.
Both sides of media literacy are important, relevant and necessary in education today. The question that it raises is how will we do it?
Credits
Photo used with permission of http://www.flickr.com/photos/extraketchup/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
References
Center for Media Literacy. (2008). Media literacy, education & choice: CML's Tessa Jolls explains the five key questions [web video post]. Media Education Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article709.html
Hobbs, R. & Jensen, A. (2009). The past, present, and future of media literacy education. Journal of Media Literacy Education. 1, 1-11.
National Association for Media Literacy Education. (2008). Media literacy: Definitions. Retrieved from http://www.amlainfo.org/media-literacy/definitions
Wesch, M. (2008, June 17). Lecture presented at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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