I am learning about media literacy in the ETEC531: Cultural and New Media Studies course. The question of whether media education important enough to be requirement in education is something that interested me. I recall a point made by Sir Ken Robinson, in his Do Schools Kill Creativity Ted Talk (2006). He mentions “education is meant to take us into a future we can’t grasp”. We are walking into the future, but trying to base it on the past. Because of this, and the rapidly changing technologies, teaching media literacy is particularly challenging.
That being said, it does make sense for media literacy education objectives to cover the past practises, in addition to the most current practices, to serve as a foundation for future knowledge to be built upon. If educators focus on digital media which is only 20 or 30 years old, the affordances of newer forms of digital media will not be fully understood or appreciated. If the previous forms are neglected, then the context, progression, and development of those technologies would not be understood or valued. Experts have noted this difficulty to “fully capture the diversity of ‘past’ ideas and experiences that shape our practices” and “how can we capture the ‘present’ state of media literacy education worldwide”.
Another related issue is whether media literacy should be taught as a separate subject, or should it be dispersed over multiple subject, as for example, spelling, or writing is? Personally I believe that media literacy should be taught as a stand-alone topic as a first-year university requirement. However, since youth are exposed to digital media, participate online via social media channels, and even create online content, digital literacy should be addressed in other subjects commencing during early education. After all, children as young as 5 or 6 years old are online and interacting in online games such as Club Penguin. And teenagers are online regularly to use social media platforms :
“Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile phones, 92% of teens report going online daily — with 24% using the internet “almost constantly,” 56% going online several times a day, and 12% reporting once-a-day use…”
— Lenhart, 2015
Social Media and Digital Identity
One component of digital literacy, touched upon in the ETEC 510: The Design of Technology-Supported Learning Environments course I took last semester, is digital safety. To maintain digital safety, the best thing is to not go online at all. Obviously, in today’s world, that is not a feasible option, as many children are using digital media even before they learn to read or write. There is a need for youth to understand how their online identity could impact them in the future. Often, they reveal too much information online, or not the correct type of information before they learn how it could impact their lives in the future.
| ▸ Click on the yellow dots, which appear when you scroll over interactive graphic below, to learn about online privacy and social media issues. I created this interactive learning aid using Piktochart and ThingLink. |
References
Hobbs, R. & Jensen, A. (2009). The past, present, and future of media literacy education. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1, 1-11.
Lenhart, Amanda. (2015).Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science, Tech. [website]. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/
Merrin, W. (2009). Media studies 2.0: Upgrading and open-sourcing the discipline. Interactions, 1(1), 17-34.
Robinson, Ken. (2006). Do Schools Kill Creativity? [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en#t-140994
Thinglink. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinglink