Preparing Media Literate Students for 2011 and Beyond

Michael Arnold, Instructional DesignerThe Center for Learning and Technology

marnold@marylhurst.edu

"We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge." --John Naisbitt, Megatrends

Critical Questions

What are the essential technical skills that all students will need?

What critical thinking abilities do we want all students to possess?

What does “media literacy” even mean?

How do educators support student media literacy in their own classes?

How do we prepare students for a participatory culture?

What are the essential technical skills that all students will need?

Consider this…

• YouTube exceeded 2 billion views per day as of May 2010.

• Facebook recorded over 500 million users as of July 2010.

• CBS News reported in February 2010 that the number of cell phones worldwide topped 4.6 billion.

• Teens send and receive an average of 3,339 texts per month.

SOURCES:http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-statistics/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169422/Pupils-spend-time-Facebook-worse-exams-study-shows.htmlhttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/15/business/main6209772.shtml http://edtechdigest.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/6-reasons-why-students-need-21st-century-skills/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cellphones_in_the_classroom_distraction_or_tool.php

Source: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

EDUCATIONTHE WORLDSTUDENTS LIVE IN

What are the essential technical skills will all students will need?

SKILLS HOW DO WE HELP THEM?

Security and Privacy settings LMS, private social networking site

Protect and backup data Web 2.0 tools, cloud services

Choose the proper tool for the job Open source, web 2.0 tools

Effective presentation skills Video, open source, podcasting

Search databases for information Use something other than Google!

Media creation and distribution Photostory, iMovie, web 2.0 tools

Cross platform functionality Linux, Mac, Windows, Ubuntu

Cloud and web 2.0 applications Google, Storybird, Voicethread

Grammar and writing Productivity applications

Alternatives to productivity suites OpenOffice, Google docs, Mindmeister

What critical thinking abilities do we want all students to possess?

• Basic, Scientific, and Technological Literacy• Visual and Information Literacy • Cultural Literacy and Global Awareness • Inventive Thinking• Adaptability/Managing Complexity and Self-Direction • Curiosity, Creativity and Risk-taking • Higher Order Thinking and Sound Reasoning • Personal and Social Responsibility • Prioritizing, Planning, and Managing for Results • Effective Use of Real-World Tools • High Quality Results with Real-World ApplicationSOURCE:

www.metiri.com/21st%20Century%20Skills/PDFtwentyfirst%20century%20skills.pdfNCREL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/ METIRI GROUP: http://www.metiri.com/our_work.html

How do educators support student media literacy in their own classes?

• Get buy-in• Create relevancy • Set reasonable boundaries• Reach consensus of accountability• Be a role model• Become a co-learner• Provide options

How do we prepare students for a participatory culture?

• Use participatory tools– Blogs– Wikis– Podcasts/Vodcasts– Video– Forums– Cell phones

• Modeling proper use– Security– Ethics– Online is Forever– Netiquette– Online behavior– Audience

Critical Questions

• What are the essential technical skills will all students will need?

• What critical thinking abilities do we want all students to possess?

• How do educators support student media literacy in their own classes?

• How do we prepare students for a participatory culture?

Where do I start?

Start small.Plan for growth.

Pathway 1: Mobile Devices

www.polleverywhere.com

•Mobile phone survey tool•Cost effective•Data in real-time

ReQall

• Voice-enabled memory aid• Integrates your mobile phone, email, text messaging and IM • Organizer, reminder system and productivity assistant

Google Mobile Apps•Mobile search technology•Filtering software•Location sensitivity

Pathway 2:Learning Management System

Moodle

• Embeddable content• 24/7 access• Level playing field• All activity is archived• Journal and Blog tools• Protected behind login

Link to Marylhurst LAC 172 : Computer Technology Survey course

Pathway 3: Web 2.0 applications

Animoto

Storybird

Google Docs

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

What is “media literacy” anyway?

What does it mean to be

“media literate”?

Media Literacy refers to the ability to

decode, evaluate, analyze,

and produce both print and

electronic media.

National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy, 1992

A “media literate” person can:

• use critical thinking to assess truth of information

• be sensitive to verbal, visual and linguistic arguments

• distinguish logical arguments from emotional appeals

• recognize metaphor and other types of symbolism

• assess the credibility of information and its source

A “media literate” person understands that …

All media messages are constructed.

Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.

Different people experience the same media message differently.

Media have embedded values and points of view.

Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

A Modest Proposal - By Jonathan Swift (1729)For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being A burden to Their

Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public

“I have been assured…that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.”

“A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.”SATIREAn Early Example of

Media Literacy

A “media literate” person understands that …

All media messages are constructed.

Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.

Different people experience the same media message differently.

Media have embedded values and points of view.

Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

Don’t believe it?Try this on for size.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffOCZYX6F8

“Ground Zero Mosque”

Imam Feisal on the Cultural Center

VS

Martin Luther King

Dog Island Free Forever

God is a DJ

RYT Hospital

How media literate are you?

Food Insurance

What Media Literacy is NOT

• Media 'bashing’• Media production• Teaching with videos • Looking for political agendas, stereotypes or

misrepresentations• Looking at a media message or a mediated experience

from just one perspective• Telling people, “Don't watch”

Source: Center for Media Literacyhttp://www.medialit.org/reading-room/what-media-literacy-not

How and why to use which tools

when and for what purpose.

Benefits of Media Literacy Education

Wise consumers of media

Managers of information Producers of their ideas

Global media culture

Connects learning with "real life"

Common approach to critical thinking

Integrating all subject areas

Common vocabulary

Helps meet academic standards

Contemporary media content which students use

Expands communication opportunities

Global dissemination of ideas

Expands audience beyond the classroom

Frees the teacher to learn along with students

Inquiry approach to learning

Focusing on process skills rather than content knowledge

Students gain the ability to analyze any message in any media

Empowerment

Replicable across curricula

Not only benefits individual students but benefits society

Encourage respectful discourse

Participate in and contribute to the public debate

What does a media literate student look like?

What are the essential skills all students will need to be competitive?

What critical thinking abilities do we want all our graduates to possess?

What does “media literacy” even mean?

How do faculty support student media literacy in their own courses?

How do we prepare students for a participatory culture?

Thank you for your attendance.Thank you for your attendance.

May the media gods smile upon you.May the media gods smile upon you.

Sources and Images• Woman on Computer slide 3• Girls At Laptop slide 4• Girl with Headset slide 4• Boy on computer slide 4• Student on Computer slide 4• Kid with cell phone slide 4• Girl on cell slide 4• Complaining kid slide?• Google mobile apps slide ?• Red block slide 13• Handful of cell phones slide?• Blackboard logo slide 18

• Moodle logo slide 18 • Desire2Learn slide 18• Cart before the horse

slide 24

Additional Resources

• ReadWriteWeb, http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cellphones_in_the_classroom_distraction_or_tool.php

• ReQall: http://www.reqall.com/about

• http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/08/voices_is_building_the_mosque.html– http://www.linkedin.com/companies/the-daily-call

er

– http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/the-daily-caller-tucker-c_n_207675.html

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