The Future of Digital and Media Literacy Education

Digital and Media Literacy Education

Renee HobbsProfessor, Department of Communication StudiesDirector, Media Education LabHarrington School of Communication and MediaUniversity of Rhode Island EMAIL: [email protected]: @reneehobbsWEB: www.mediaeducationlab.com

PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING

Medium Theory. Media & technology are immersive cultural

environments; media structures re-shape human perception & values.

Active Audience Theory. Audiences are active; meaning-making is

variable; lived experience & social context are key dimensions of

interpretation.

Communication & Education. Institutions of education, communication

practices & democratic values are interconnected.

Inquiry Learning. People learn best from experiences that engage them

in active work that promotes intellectual curiosity and collaboration.

Critical Pedagogy. Awareness, analysis, and reflection enable people to

take action to make society more just and equitable.

Theoretical Framework

expanding the concept of text

ACCESS

expanding the concept of literacy

expanding the concept of literacy

open access

multitasking

transmediation

curation

play

data ownership

identity

representation

privacy

addiction


Define and operationalize digital and media literacy with examples from

K-12 and informal learning contexts

Describe some of the approaches to professional development we’re

exploring in K-12 and higher education

Consider why an examination of teacher motivations for digital learning

is essential for implementing curricular reform

Share an example of how teacher motivations shapes innovation in

digital literacy

Goals for Today’s Talk

Stakeholders in Digital Literacy

TECH

BU

SINESS

AC

TIVIST

GO

VER

NM

ENT

LIBR

AR

Y

EDU

CA

TION

CR

EATIV

E

Rhetoric

Literacy

Visual Literacy

Information Literacy

Media Literacy

Computer Literacy

Critical Literacy

News Literacy

Digital Literacy

Defining Digital Literacy in Historical Context

A Lifelong Process

A Lifelong Process

A Lifelong Process

Digital Literacy Competencies

Access, Use and Share

Keyboard and mouse skills Be familiar with hardware, storage and file

management practices Understand hyperlinking & digital space

Gain competence with software applications Use social media, mobile, peripheral & cloud

computing tools

Identify information needs Use effective search and find strategies Troubleshoot and problem-solve Learn how to learn

Listening skillsReading comprehension

Access: Read & Comprehend

Digital & Media Literacy Competencies

Analyze & Evaluate

Understand how symbols work: the concept of representation

Identify the author, genre, purpose and point of view of a message

Compare and contrast sources

Evaluate credibility and qualityUnderstand one’s own biases

and world view Recognize power relationships that shape

how information and ideas circulate in culture

Understand the economic context of information and entertainment production

Examine the political and social ramifications of inequalities in information flows

Analyze a YouTube Video


Create & Collaborate

Recognize the need for communication and self-expression

Identify your own purpose, target audience, medium & genre

Brainstorm and generate ideas Compose creatively Play and interact Edit and revise Use appropriate distribution, promotion &

marketing channels Receive audience feedback

Work collaborativelyComment, curate and remix

Learn about Primary Source Materials by Creating a Music Video


Reflect

Understand how differences in values and life experience shape people’s media use and message interpretation

Appreciate risks and potential harms of digital media

Apply ethical judgment and social responsibility to communication situations

Understand how concepts of ‘private’ and ‘public’ are reshaped by digital media

Appreciate and respect legal rights and responsibilities (copyright, intellectual freedom, etc)


Take Action

Acknowledge the power of communication to maintain the status quo or change the world

Participate in communities of shared interest to advance an issue

Be a change agent in the family & workplace

Participate in democratic self-governance

Speak up when you encounter injustice

Respect the law and work to change unjust laws

Use the power of communication and information to make a difference in the world

Act: Create a Public Service Announcement









digital literacy


www.harrington.uri.edu

Project-based learning

Real-world client

Intensive faculty involvement

Digital literacy competencies are embedded

Student work is gifted to client

Media Smart LibrariesChildren’s Librarians & Children’s Media Professionals

In Partnership with the Providence Children’s Film Festival and the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services

Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy

A 12-credit graduate program that enables educators, librarians and media professionals to acquire the knowledge and skills required for full participation in a read/write culture where active participation in a knowledge community requires the skillful use, creation and sharing of digital texts, tools and technologies.

Summer Institute in Digital LiteracyJuly 26 – 31, 2015

Providence RI

70% rated it the best professional development of their career, giving it

a 10 on a 10-point scale









digital literacy


LOVE HATE

PRINT VISUAL SOUND DIGITAL

Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and popular culture shape their work with learners

Empowerment

Protection

How do Teachers Make Sense of Digital Media and Learning?

Exploring the relationship between teacher motivation and likelihood to use digital media and technology in the classroom

Motivations for Using Media & Technology in Education

12

TECHIEYou’re the educator who loves tablets, apps, programs, plug-ins, widgets, websites, and other types of educational technology because you have a passionate curiosity about new tools. You see much potential to engage students with the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives.

TRENDSETTERYou’re tuned into pop culture and curious about kid culture. Maybe your own most-loved popular culture isn’t too far removed from that of your students. You are inquisitive about the trends and hot topics that make up a crucial component of the fabric of your students’ everyday lives. You want school culture to meet kids where they live with the popular culture they know and love.

DEMYSTIFIERAs a teacher, you “pull back the curtain” to help students see how various forms of information and knowledge are constructed. You emphasize the practice of critical thinking, helping students ask good “how” and “why” questions.

WATCHDOGYou are a natural critical thinker, aware of how economic systems and institutions influence our everyday lives, particularly through the media we use. You want your students and your peers to be more mindful of the ways that things are bought and sold. Who owns and controls the media content that we see, hear, read, and play with? You feel responsible for giving your students a “wake-up call” about the economic and institutional inner-workings of the technology and the world that surrounds them.

ACTIVISTAs an educator, you want to make society more just and equitable by promoting democratic participation. You use media in the classroom as a catalyst for students to understand how they might have a voice in improving the quality of life in their communities and in the world.

TASTEMAKERYou want to broaden your students’ horizons. You want them to have exposure to the kinds of media experiences that put them in touch with historical, aesthetic, and critical appreciation. You know that a key component of students’ future interactions will require them to draw from a variety of cultural sources both classical and popular.

ALTYou are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,” teacher. You’re always ready to challenge students with alternative ways of finding, using, thinking about, and making media in the classroom. Whether you use open source programs on school computers, encourage students to start alternative clubs or magazines, or introduce students to media that’s “off the beaten path” of mainstream and mass media, you are likely a key proponent of broadening students’ understanding of the many different ways that people can communicate in the world.

MOTIVATORYou are an inspiration, a catalyst for your students’ creative energy. Students who have never felt comfortable speaking up in class, participating in activities, or contributing to class dialogue find it easier to speak their mind when you’re leading the classroom. You see your role as helping students be the best they can be.

SPIRIT GUIDEYou are a listener. You have a dedication to the social and emotional well-being of your students, and want to make sure that everything you do in the classroom connects to their immediate needs to understand themselves and their lives. Students likely find you trustworthy, and may even confide in you in ways that they do not for other teachers. You know media is just one facet of student life, and you want to engage with it to help them through the highs and lows of life in all of its challenges and opportunities.

PROFESSIONALYou have high standards for your students’ work, and you may be seen as the go-to media professional in your school. You know how to push your students to understand and emulate the professional conventions that is important to being taken seriously in the world of media creation. To help students enter the real world of media creation, you bring other authors, professionals, and media-makers into your classroom to enrich the learning experience.

PROFESSOR You balance your interest in media and technology with a clear connection to academic standards. You want to be sure that media and technology are not used in the classroom for their own sake, but to gain content knowledge. Multimedia presentations, engaging websites, and educational technology serve the purpose of helping you deliver the core content and skills students need to master.

TEACHER 2.0You understand that participation in digital media and learning cultures requires flexibility to new formats, modes of expression, and participation in and out of school. You use online or interactive versions of classic literature to explore meaning behind texts. Teacher 2.0 teachers always trying new things in the classroom and finding new ways to connect learning to children’s culture.

Instructional Practices of Digital and Media Literacy are Linked to Teacher Motivations

Find, comprehend and interpret content

Gain knowledge and information

Examine the quality of information resources

Share ideas through dialogue & discussion

Create, build or make something

Reflect on expected and unanticipated consequences

Plan and implement action to effect social change

Critically analyze how messages are constructed

Motivations for Using Media & Technology in Education

12

Why reflection is a transformative practice

Self-reflection on one’s own motivations may increase focus and creativity

Collaborative reflection may promote respect and cultivate shared values

Respect for teacher motivations may expand the diversity and range of instructional practices and tools

Sensitivity to teacher motivations may contribute to the design of PD with greater impact

WATCHDOG ACTIVIST

Hobbs, R. & Moore, D.C. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Digital media and popular culture in elementary school. Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin/Sage.

Hobbs, R. (2013). The blurring of art, journalism and advocacy: Confronting 21st century propaganda in a world of online journalism. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 8(3), 625 – 638.

Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 182-197.

Hobbs, R. & RobbGrieco, M. (2012). African-American children’s active reasoning about media texts as a precursor to media literacy. Journal of Children and Media 6(4), 502 – 519.

Hobbs, R. (2013). La tension dialectique entre les perspectives de l’empowerment et de la protection dans les programmesamericans d’education aux medias. Jeunes et Medias 4: 19 – 31. Publibook, Paris France. [Translation: The dialectic tension between empowerment and protection in media literacy education in the United States.]

Babad, E., Peer, A., & Hobbs, R. (2012). Media literacy and media bias: Are media literacy students less susceptible to non-verbal judgment biases? Psychology of Popular Media Culture.1(2), 97 – 107. DOI: 10.137/a0028181

Cappello, G., Felini, D. & Hobbs, R. (2011). Reflections on global developments in media literacy education: Bridging theory and practice. Journal of Media Literacy Education 3(2), 66 – 73.

Hobbs, R. (2011). The state of media literacy: A response to Potter. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 55(3), 419 –430.

Hobbs, R. and RobbGrieco, M. (2010). Passive dupes, code breakers, or savvy users: Theorizing media literacy education in English language arts. In D. Lapp and D. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts. Third edition. New York: Routledge (pp. 283 – 289).

Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. Washington, D.C.: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Aspen Institute.






Consider how an examination of teacher motivations for digital learning

supports teacher reflection – a vital element of curriculum reform

Share an example of how my motivations influenced the development of

a interactive multimedia website for exploring contemporary propaganda


Digital and Media Literacy

Education

Renee HobbsProfessor, Department of Communication StudiesDirector, Media Education LabHarrington School of Communication and MediaUniversity of Rhode Island EMAIL: [email protected]: @reneehobbsWEB: www.mediaeducationlab.com