DR Cs : MEDIA LITERACY,
AN OVERVIEW.
“Accomplished teachers understand that what students read is no longer limited to words on a page: today’s students must be intelligent readers of texts in different media … the ability to view and produce texts in different media is crucial to students’ successes in today’s media-saturated world”.
[English Language Arts Standards, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards]
Working Definition:
Within the U.S. and Canada it is generally agreed that Media Literacy includes the ability to ACCESS
ANALYZE and
EVALUATE texts in a variety of media which includes print and nonprint.
It must also be noted that just as traditional literacy requires not only the ability to read/comprehend print, but also the ability to WRITE, media literacy also contains a component that goes beyond comprehension to embrace the effective COMMUNICATION and CREATION of information through a variety of formats.
Anyone who has ever seen a poor Power Point presentation has had the experience of realizing assembling words and images on a screen to successfully communicate requires more than the ability to click, point, drag or insert.
Successful Power Point presentations are based upon an understanding of both design and delivery which includes everything from the pace of the presentation to the font used and the selection of background.
The Purpose for Media Literacy:
An international body of scholarship exists to justify media literacy in those nations where the school systems have embraced it. [is called media education or media studies in Australia, New Zealand the U.K.] This rationale typically includes elements such as:
* Preparing students for informed responsible citizenship at the national & global level.
* Preparing a technologically skilled productive & creative workforce.
* Preparing competent and critical consumers [a skill we all need daily]
* Protecting impressionable children and teens from potentially harmful media messages. [a concept more embraced in the U.S than abroad where so called protectionist paradigms are often suspect].
Despite the fact that Media Literacy is a relatively new concept in American education, is has been an established part of the school curriculum in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere for some decades.
I got my own start, teaching English to 11-18 year-olds in Australia in the early 1970s. While my undergraduate degree in teacher education contained little media literacy, I was fortunate to be able to go back to school part time and complete one of the first media degrees offered. With my Bachelor of Media Education in hand I began to incorporate Media Studies into my English classes including first 8 mm film production and then video production, along with a strong component in film studies.
Since then, groups like ATOM [Australian Teachers of Media] and Canada’s, Association for Media Literacy [AML] have made important contributions to validating Media Literacy so it is valued as a necessary response to the complex media and technological landscape that we live and learn in.
When I introduce college students to the Media Studies curriculum for Australian high school students they are more than impressed with the rigor required for passing the examinations in this subject which includes analysis, production, aesthetics and an awareness of the economic and legal aspects of the Australian broadcast industry.
National examinations in the U.K. also serve to document the fact that Media Literacy in terms of both content addressed and skills developed, is an important relevant and rigorous component of education in an age when we get most of our information about the world through media/technology.
Today, numerous studies have been conducted in the U.S. that indicate we can successfully teach children to think critically about their media environment, whether examining news for balance or bias, understanding the design decisions directors make when composing a frame or shot, or exploring the thin line that separates marketing from manipulation in the world of advertising.
Evidence is also starting to emerge that suggests students who have these skills are able to successfully comprehend and evaluate texts in a range of media including print.
In short, a strength of media literacy is the fact that it appeals to students because it addresses the media landscape they are receptive to, [but not necessarily questioning of,] at the same time that it reinforces a set of skills that can be effectively applied to traditional print texts. |
