Critical Thinking: The Uses of Media

Literacy

@JulianMcDougall

Access

Analysis and

Evaluation

CreationReflection

Action/ Agency

Media Literacy: The what and the

how

Regulation, law, politics – to tackle

disinformation, propaganda, cyber-bullying,

hate speech.

Media literacy – access, skills, competences,

the means to engage in the digital media

world.

The dynamic uses of media literacy – for good

The Media Literacy Project: 4 steps

1. Work with young people to work out what literacy is in 2019;

2. Work out how to use education to enable more people to be media literate

3. Create opportunities for dynamic media literacy, not static skills and

competences.

4. Focus on the USES of this media literacy for good things.

What is the media literacy project like here? What steps are

complete so far?

Moral Panics vs Media Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWP_N_FoW-I

Media Literacy

The local context

….develop a coherent

understanding of the media

environment, improve cross-

disciplinary collaboration,

leverage the current media

crisis to consolidate

stakeholders and develop

curricula for addressing action

in addition to interpretation.

What about looking at the vitality of the

patient instead? So rather than coming

up with a new algorithm to filter

dangerous, weaponized memes from

my teen’s Instagram account, what

about if I just make my teen, and our

culture, more resilient to this? So I’m

trying to promote our humanity so

we’re less vulnerable to the insanity

rather than looking at the insanity as

the problem to be fixed.

Media Literacy: The what and the

how

Media literacy education is still

in a fragmented state in schools

across Europe.

MLE is not taught as a discrete

mandatory school subject in any EU

country.

Most EU member States have not

adopted a media education curriculum,

and schools still largely have autonomy

in their decisions about MLE practices.

The only country with a designated (but

optional) school subject for Media

Literacy is about to leave the EU.

Exampl

e

https://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/hr

Media / school partnerships: journalists, teachers, students.

Transmedia Learning; Beyond media specificity

Active Inquiry / Game-based / Collaborative learning

effectively nurtures critical, analytical and reflective ML skills.

Holistic and Reflective Media Learning – The Third Space

‘DIY learning’ across physical and virtual borders - a shift in

mindset that mingled the roles and identities of teachers and

students.

Findings: Effective practices

Policy Pointers

1. Develop dynamic and holistic media literacy curricula

2. Invest in research into good practices in teaching ML to build

resilience to misinformation, propaganda, hate speech

3. Define and adopt a clear connection between M/DL policy,

curricula and teacher education

4. Invest in large-scale collaboration initiatives between media

literacy educators, data analysts, social media platforms,

journalists, NGOs.

5. Bring best practices of short-term, small-scale media literacy

partnership projects, for all students. into the formal curricula

6. Support the inclusion of media literacy competences in the

next OECD PISA evaluation criteria.

Dynamic Literacies: ‘The HOW’

First space – home

Second space – school / education

Third space – in between

’In between’

• Physical or metaphorical or digital / virtual

• Expertise is exchanged between teacher and student

• Learners bring with them repertoires of literacy and

funds of knowledge

Dynamic Literacies Third Spaces Curation

Dynamic literacies offer a

sharp contrast with the static

nature of the literacy of

performative systems, being

inclusive of various other

liminal, spatial and

technological literacies and

concerned with the

sociomateriality of digital

media.

When digital media

is used to create a

third space with the

effect of transgressing

disciplines and traditional

ideas about knowledge

and expertise…

Curation is a new form

of cultural production

and literacy practice. We

should recognise the

skills, knowledge and

dispositions which go

with it as a practice and

build on them in

education.

In our work with

young people, is our

framework for literacy:

static, agentive or

dynamic?

Can we facilitate

third spaces to work

in with young

people?

Can we integrate

curation into the

repertoire of literacy

skills we acknowledge

in our work with young

people?

Our research says…. the challenge is to adapt educational practices to free

agentive, social and connected learners from static systems. A static curriculum

puts some young people at risk from propaganda, hate speech, disinformation,

fake news, cyber-bullying..

Agentive people are less vulnerable.

Dynamic Literacies: ‘The HOW’

Invitation