Media Literacy

Hello! This week’s blog post will be about Media Literacy and how it can impact education. We must first begin by defining media literacy in order to gain a better of understanding of how it relates to education. Media Literacy is the ability to access, question, assess, and produce different types of media. It goes beyond being able to use or understand media and requires one to evaluate its effectiveness or credibility. In order for a teacher to be able to teach this they must be media literate themselves. Once a teacher is media literate they can start to teacher their students the type of questions that need to be considered when navigating through various sources of information. These questions may be; where did this source come from, how credible is it, and when was it published? Teaching those types of questions will also go hand in hand with teaching what it means to be a digital citizen in the 21st century. This is so important for students to learn because they will be accessing and using media for the rest of their lives so it is vital for them to know how to do that in a safe and responsible way. I believe that teaching media literacy is especially important within the elementary school setting because that is when students are first beginning to interact with technology and it is at that time you want to set the standards high, right from the start. This will instill an appropriate set of ideologies about media into the minds of students. Now that we have established why media literacy is important lets discuss the purpose of it within education. The National Association for Media Literacy Education states the purpose of it is to, “to help students develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in today’s world.” (NAMLE, 2007). As you can see, this quote eloquently states the purpose of media literacy within the context of education. In the document, 12 Basic Ways to Integrate Media Literacy and Critical Thinking into Any Curriculum, C. Scheibe, &F. Rogow provide a list of what they believe to be the core principles of media literacy education (Scheibe, Rogow, 2008). They are as follows.

The Core Principles of Media Literacy Education

1. Media Literacy Education requires active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create.

2. Media Literacy Education expands the concept of literacy to include all forms of media (i.e., reading and writing).

3. Media Literacy Education builds and reinforces skills for learners of all ages. Like print literacy, those skills necessitate integrated, interactive, and repeated practice.

4. Media Literacy Education develops informed, reflective and engaged participants essential for a democratic society.

5. Media Literacy Education recognizes that media are a part of culture and function as agents of socialization.

6. Media Literacy Education affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.

References

National Association for Media Literacy Education. (2007). Core Principles of Media Literacy Education in the United States. Cherry Hill, NJ: NAMLE.

Scheibe, C. & Rogow, F. (2008). 12 Basic Ways to Integrate Media Literacy and Critical Thinking into Any Curriculum (3rd ed.). Ithaca, NY: Ithaca College. Retrieved

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