Part 2 of our look at the similarities and overlap of Media AND Information Literacy. This issue includes three interviews with librarians representing public libraries, maker spaces, and higher education who offer first-hand accounts of how libraries and librarians are reinventing themselves to meet the varied needs of today’s learners. Read the interviews with Susan Broman, LA Public Library; Mya Stark, LA Maker Space, and Spencer Brayton, Blackburn College, IL.
Part 1 was published in the May 2017 issue of Connections.
In 2006 Henry Jenkins published a white paper identifying the challenges and opportunities for media literacy in our 21st century media culture. Since then, new ideas, new technologies, and new names have emerged bringing with them misunderstandings and rifts among educators. It’s time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we are now.
Research that provides evidence of the effectiveness of media literacy education is so important, and yet can be so difficult to find. In this issue, we review the literature in the field, and we offer research and resources to contextualize the issues that need to be addressed to move the field forward.
We present some of the basics for integrating media literacy education into the Common Core. And we interview teacher educator Jeff Share from the UCLA Center X Teacher Education Program (and CML alumnus), who speaks to the possibilities for shaping implementation of the standards to meet the needs of media literacy educators.
Media literacy training helps consumers of all ages make reasoned, reflective decisions of all kinds in a society where media frequently supply our sources of information. Media literacy instruction helps us understand how media can affect us emotionally, how they can color our perceptions, and how they can shape our choices. Based on our years of experience in the field, many children don‘t believe that the media influence them at all. Yet research shows that media are a primary socializing agent in society.
We discuss criteria for assessing media literacy instruction and we make the important distinction between teaching with media and teaching about media. We also report on the successes of a new “bring your own technology” initiative in a Georgia school district.