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, learn a lesson on defaking 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.
It is understanding the culture and deep fakes
which we live in. It is the ability to become a media
information literate.
Literacy is the ability to encode and decode symbols and
synthesize
and analyze messages. But what, exactly, is
media literacy then? The
National Association for Media
Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media
literacy as
the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act
using all forms of communication.
It is a broadened definition
of literacy that includes
media beyond text and promotes curiosity about
the
media we consume and create.
As NAMLE puts it, media literacy provides us with the
skills
necessary to “both comprehend the messages we
receive and effectively
utilize these tools to design and
distribute our own messages. Being
literate in a media
age requires critical thinking skills that empower
us as
we make decisions, whether in the classroom, the living
room, the
workplace, the boardroom, or the voting booth.”
In effect, media literacy is a modernized approach to
literacy—how we
consume media and information
differently than, say, 15 years ago. The
context has
shifted dramatically. What we read and how, plus how
we find
what we read are remarkably different. Media
literacy education brings
our understanding of literacy
into the 21st century.
What is Media Education?
Media
education is the process through which
individuals become media
literate – able to critically
understand the nature, techniques and
impacts of
media messages and productions. In the words of
digital media
literacy scholar Sonia Livingstone,
“the more that the media mediate
everything in
society – work, education, information, civic
participation, social relationships and more – the
more vital it is that
people are informed about and
critically able to judge what’s useful or
misleading,
how they are regulated, when media can be trusted,
and what
commercial or political interests are at
stake. In short, media
literacy is needed not only to
engage with the media but to engage with
society
through the media.
Education for media literacy often uses an inquiry-
based pedagogic
model that encourages people to
ask questions about what they watch,
hear, and
read.
Media literacy education provides tools to help
people
critically analyze messages, offers
opportunities for learners to
broaden their
experience of media, and helps them develop
creative
skills in making their own media
messages.
Critical analyses can include identifying author,
purpose and point of
view, examining construction
techniques and genres, examining patterns
of
media representation, and detecting propaganda
,censorship and bias
in news and public affairs
programming (and the reasons for these).
Media literacy is defined as the ability to identify
unique kinds of
media while understanding their
corresponding messages. According to the
National Association For Media Literacy
Education,
it is the ability to access, analyze,
evaluate, create and act using
all forms of
communication.
In the current age we live in, it is very
easy for
anyone to create any form of media. From text
messages and
advertising to memes and viral
content, media takes all shapes and
forms.
This is where media literacy becomes important.
Media education acknowledges and builds on the
positive, creative and
pleasurable dimensions of
popular culture, while also teaching young
people
how to manage the risks and impacts of digital and
traditional
media. It incorporates production of media
texts and critical thinking
about media to help us
navigate through an increasingly complex media
landscape.
That landscape includes not only traditional
and digital
media, but also popular culture such as
toys, fads, fashion, shopping
malls and theme parks.
Because media issues are complex and often
contradictory, the
educator’s role isn’t to teach the
right answers, but to help students
ask the
right questions.
For example:
Who is the audience of a media work and why? From whose perspective is a story being told?
How do the unique elements of a specific genre affect what we see, hear or read?
How might different audiences interpret the same media work?
How do the affordances and defaults of a digital tool influence how
we use it? What might be the social and political implications of
that influence?
It is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate,
create and act using all forms of
communication is interdisciplinary by nature.
Media literacy represents a necessary, inevitable,
and realistic
response to the complex, ever-
changing electronic environment and
communication cornucopia that surround us.
Approaches:
Media education can involve considering a media work as
a text or an artifact. Analyzing a work as a text means
focusing on its content and the ways in which its authors
direct our
attention and communicate meaning, while
treating it as an artifact means
thinking about its context:
who created it and why, its relation to
similar works, how
different audiences might interpret it differently,
and so on.
Both approaches are important and reinforce one another:
even if your
interest as a teacher is mainly in analyzing
media as artifacts,
students need to do some analysis of
them as texts to meaningfully
discuss their broader context.
Some context around why media works are made is also
essential to understanding how they are made. In this way,
digital media literacy helps students become “expert
readers” of both traditional and digital media:
“Children
can be taught about visual codes and semiotic
conventions, and they may
also be taught about the
institutions that produce these texts and the
wider
circuit of culture in which they become meaningful
Media education addresses both the cognitive and
affective aspects of digital media literacy – how media
make us think and how they make us feel.
Whether we’re
managing online conflicts or learning to recognize our
own confirmation bias, learning to identify and question
our
assumptions, emotions and beliefs – and
understanding why we should do
so – is an essential
part of media education as well. As Erica Rosenthal
put it, “knowledge and skills provide the raw materials,
but motivation
provides the fuel
MediaSmarts’ digital media literacy model is made up of
three parts: key concepts, core competencies, and
framework topics. How these relate to curriculum can be
described in terms of Tomlinson and Imbeau’s “Know,
Understand, Do” framework: key concepts are what
students need to understand about digital media literacy,
the “insight, truth or ‘a-ha’ that students should gain”;
core competencies are the skills they need to be able to
do; and framework topics are the content that they need
to know. The following sections look at each of these in
more detail.
Aims / Purposes:
Examples of broad purposes are:
- to persuade
- to entertain
- to inform
- to explain
- to profit
The purpose of being information and media literate
is to engage in a digital society; one needs to be able
to understand, inquire, create, communicate and think
critically. It is important to effectively access, organize,
analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety
of forms.
The purpose of media literacy education is to help
individuals of all
ages develop the habits of
inquiry and skills of expression that they
need to
be critical thinkers, effective communicators and
active
citizens in today’s world.
Media literate people should be able to skillfully
create and produce
media messages, both to
show understanding of the specific qualities of
each medium, as well as to create media and
participate as active
citizens.
Media Literacy Education and 21st
Century Skills
Teacher Education
To prepare students to fully participate in
contemporary media culture,
media literacy
should be incorporated into the formal
education,
especially in K‐12 and
teacher
preparation programs.
This entry discusses ways in which media
literacy education in teacher preparation
programs provides
educators with a deeper
understanding of media literacy, critical media
literacy, culturally relevant curricula, and
integrated approaches that
promote media
literacy in standards‐based instruction.
Media
literacy education models and
pedagogical instructions narrow the gap
between
digital divides, bridge diverse cultural
groups, motivate learners to
make connections
across various disciplines, and offer more
equitable
opportunities in multimedia
environments were introduced.
Core Principles of Media Literacy
Education
Media Literacy Education requires active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create.
Media Literacy Education expands the concept of literacy to include all forms of media (i.e., reading and writing).
Media Literacy Education builds and reinforces skills for learners
of all ages. Like print literacy, those skills necessitate integrated,
interactive, and repeated practice.
Media Literacy Education develops informed, reflective and engaged participants essential for a democratic society.
Media Literacy Education recognizes that media as a part of culture and function as agents of socialization.
Media Literacy Education affirms that people use their individual
skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from
media messages.
Benefits:
Media Literacy helps kids to:
Enhance Teaching and Learning.
Media
can be used in almost any discipline to
enhance learning, both in
class, and also for out-
of-class assignments. Short film and television
clips, written articles, and blog postings can be
viewed to reinforce
concepts and spark
discussion.
So, why teach digital and media literacy in an
already jammed-packed
content-filled curriculum
with limited time? Well, for starters, media
literacy is literacy. Media literacy doesn’t need
to be “another thing” to teach. Instead, I see it
as another way to teach. It’s not another thing
to teach, but a redefinition of something we all
know and are most
likely already addressing in
the classroom. We simply need to be more
intentional in doing so.
Teaching media literacy can help combat the
current misinformation
epidemic and empower
students. Being media literate empowers
students to
ask questions, make sound
judgments rooted in fact and evidence and, in
the words of researcher Sam Wineburg, “derive
truth from falsehood,
bias from reality, and
promote values steeped in objectivity instead of
emotion.” By developing students' media literacy
skills, teachers help
strengthen our citizenry and,
in effect, our American democracy.
The cross-curricular skills inherent in media
literacy prepare
students how to know what to
believe in the digital age, imparting
skills they
need to become smart, active consumers and
creators of
information and engaged, informed
participants in civic life.
Learn to think critically.
As kids
evaluate media, they decide whether the
messages make sense, why certain
information
was included, what wasn't included, and what
the key ideas
are. They learn to use examples
to support their opinions. Then they can
make
up their own minds about the information based
on knowledge they
already have.
Create to Learn
Provide opportunities for students to create
media in a variety of
formats. Media creation
demystifies the creative process, equipping
students with the 21st Century skills needed to
navigate the digital
landscape. By embracing a
"create-to-learn" approach in the classroom,
students can show what they know through the
digital media creation
process. By adopting this
approach, teachers empower students to become
authors and can promote student advocacy and
amplify student voice.
Become a smart consumer of
products and information
Media
literacy helps kids learn how to determine
whether something is
credible. It also helps
them determine the "persuasive intent" of
advertising and resist the techniques
marketers use to sell products.
Recognize point of view.
Every creator has
a perspective. Identifying an
author's point of view helps kids
appreciate different
perspectives. It also helps put information in the
context of what they already know -- or think they
know.
Create media responsibly.
Recognizing your
own point of view, saying what
you want to say how you want to say it,
and
understanding that your messages have an impact
is key to effective
communication.
Identify the role of media in our culture.
From
celebrity gossip to magazine covers to memes,
media is telling us
something, shaping our
understanding of the world, and even compelling
us to act or think in certain ways.
It teaches you how to verify
information and other views.
Media literacy teaches you how to discern the
credibility of
information. Is this photo telling you
the truth? Did this person
really mean what the
article said or were the person’s
words taken
out of proportion?
Knowing how to determine the validity of
each
information that you read online keeps you aware
that there might
be other angles to a story, which
helps you accept other people’s
beliefs and
broadens your perspective in the process.
It encourages critical thinking.
With critical thinking, you are able
to discern
whether each information that you see makes
sense, why some
information hasn’t be
included, and what each idea contains.
You not
only get to formulate your own ideas using
the information you’ve
acquired, but also cite these
ideas as examples to support your
opinions.Media
literacy provides people with an opportunity to think
critically about
the world around them.
Media literacy is used everyday (whether or not
we
know it)! Media literacy engages, excites and helps
people to
understand the world around them.
Media literacy has enriched my
professional life in
allowing me to bring innovate teaching
opportunities to students, educators, families and
communities. Plus
it’s fun!
It encourages you to share sources of
media responsibly.
Having the freedom of liking, commenting, and
sharing
posts online also comes at a great risk.
Knowing the impact of each
information that can
be produced online also means you are
responsible
for whatever information you choose
to convey with other people, and if
done wrong,
false information can spread fast.
There might be a
possibility that the post you’re
sharing might either cover just one
side of the story.
Or another post might actually offend your friends,
for instance.
It informs readers how the
media affect our culture.
From the billboards to the texts and
the videos
that we see around us, media tend to promote
our culture in
various ways. Fairy tales and history
around the world, for example, are
preserved
through books, oral tradition, and other forms of
media
Reasons to Study the Media Literacy:
Critical Thinking
One of the reasons why media literacy is important
is because it
develops critical thinking skills from a
young age. Children are no
exception when it
comes to media literacy, especially considering the
amount of content they may be exposed to on a
daily basis.
Civic Responsibility
Current issues in modern-day society, mainly
political, are discussed at length in the media
today.
While many do not like intertwining politics
with other genres of
entertainment, the topic often
gets brought up frequently.
Without
properly studying media literacy in this
regard, false information and
narratives can be
thrown out to thousands, and potentially, millions
of
people.
It could potentially reach the point where society
would not be
able to discern the line between
harmless satire and political propaganda.
The Role MEDIA
EDUCATION Plays:
Media plays a dominant role in learning process.
It provides a framework to access, analyze,
evaluate
and create messages in a variety of forms - from
print to video to the
Internet. Media literacy builds
an understanding of the role of media in society as
well as
essential skills of inquiry and
self-expression necessary for citizens of a
democracy. Media
education is the process through
which individuals become media literate – able
to
critically understand the nature, techniques and impacts
of media messages
and productions.
Many years ago there was no such training given to
the media aspirants
but to understand the ethics
and guidelines many colleges have taken the
initiative and introduced media education.
Media education isn’t about having the
right
answers: rather, it’s about asking the right questions.
Because media
issues are complex and
often contradictory and controversial, the educator’s
role isn’t to impart knowledge, but to facilitate the
process of inquiry and
dialogue.
This role of the teacher as a
facilitator and co-learner in
a student-centered learning process is not only
the model
for media education; it has also become an accepted new
critical
pedagogy. Today, the chief challenges are to
locate and evaluate the right
information for one’s needs
and to synthesize what one finds into useful
knowledge
or communication. Media education – with techniques of
critical
thinking, creative communication and computer,
visual and aural literacy skills
at its core – is a key part
of a 21st century approach to learning.
Till now only colleges were providing the
media education
but now many schools have also taken the initiative and
started
integrating mass communication as a subject of
teaching. It will help the young
people to propagate the
new ideas and will know how to take steps for
themselves.
Types of Educational Media
Motion audio-visual media, like : silent film, a movie on tv, tv and animation.
Silent audio-visual media, like : slide.
Audio semi motion, like : writing moving voice.
Moving visual media, like : a silent movie.
Silent visual media, like : mute slide, print pages, photos.