Digital Literacy
MEDIA LITERACY
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1. Thoughts on Media literacy.
When we introduce a new media where human interactions occur, it is only normal that children be taught how to distinguish what is true from what is not true on it. In the olden days through the socratic method, Socrates taught his students how to think critically, progressively shedding light on complicated issues. This is a technique that can be best described as students and teachers “concerted efforts to explore the underlying beliefs that shape the students views and opinions”.
Since the beginning of this semester, we have discovered that social media is nothing but a manifestation of digitization, “the process of transferring many tasks and dimensions of human life to digital platforms”. One of the consequences of digitization is the increased pace at which life is lived, and information is passed around. Now as before, there is a need to have access to information as well as to reflect on it before acting.
Implied in the need to access to information is the need for humans to be informed since information necessarily impacts life choices and life choices define you.
It is very interesting that the State of Illinois now requires media literacy for children. Last week, we looked into laws that protect children from the pitfalls of social media. It is only normal that we also put laws in place that require educators to teach children how to analyze and reflect on what reaches them through their senses. In there lies the main characteristic of a rational mind i.e. to analyze information obtained through the senses and then to draw universal conclusions.
Because our children are increasingly obtaining most of their information from digital devices and platforms, it behooves us to teach them the techniques needed to distinguish the information they receive so that they may act according to reason and truth instead of according to a false a reality and phantasms.
2-Addressing Hobbs' 5 competencies
In looking at Educator Renee Hobbs competencies, I was most attracted to “Analyze”, “Reflect” and “Act”. Information will reach us whether we want it or not, choice and quality information on the other hand must be sought after. Here I want again to draw our attention to the population group that our new modes of communication relentlessly pursue i.e. adolescents not yet able to fully use their rational powers.
In the Merriam Webster dictionary, to analyze is defined as “ the separation of a whole into its component parts”. To reflect is defined as “to make manifest or apparent”. And finally to act is “to conduct oneself”. Looking at those three verbs you can see that they feed into each other. Humans will act upon what they have analyzed, reflected upon and found to be good.
3- Are there particular competencies that you feel are essential for students to know or do you feel all are important (be sure to explain your "why")?
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In my own life experience, analyzing and reflecting matters. After all, that is what separates us from non thinking animals. When information reaches you about what happiness is whether it be looks, success, honor, through the use of a certain product, you will do well to analyze and reflect upon, the who, why, and the what of that piece of information.
4- Rheingold's article was written in 2010. Do you feel it is still accurate today or is he missing something?
For Rheingold, Attention, Participation, Collaboration, Network Awareness, and Critical Consumption should be the end goals of digital literacy. What drew my attention is “Attention”, because without being attentive to the information that we consume, we can never “analyze”, “reflect” or “act” properly on it. Instead we run the risk of acting out of impulse, which is exactly what those who disseminate the information want us to do. This is timeless counsel whether in times past, in 2010 or in 2024.
5-Do any of these literacies or competencies tie into Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" idea?
By the sentence “the medium is the message”, author Canadian Marshall McLuhan wants to draw our attention to the fact that “the form of a message, whether print, visual, digital, or musical” plays a role in how the message is understood. Students will need to make a distinction between logos i.e. persuasion based on logic or reason and pathos i.e. persuasion based on emotions.
Certain media and related techniques will use the different forms of persuasion more efficiently than others. There is an ancient saying that goes “if you want to appeal to emotions, show pictures, but if you want to appeal to reason, use words.”
6-How do you teach your students to check for accuracy, reliability, and credibility?
As an educator, I tend to ask my students to make use of the 5 Ws technique. In our written assignments, we make sure to find out the Who, What, Why, When, and Where. In addition, the use of different sources ensures that we obtain a complete picture of our subject and finally, we make sure to research a view opposed to our own. These are methods that stand the test of time and will always be useful as we make sure to sift through information that we are bombarded with in order to choose the right course of action.
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Hello Karen,
ReplyDeleteI like your statement that “implied in the need to access to information is the need for humans to be informed since information necessarily impacts life choices and life choices define you”. This is a very powerful statement because it is important for people to learn how to make informed choices because they can be life altering. It is also important for us as educators to teach our students how they can analyze and reflect on the media they are consuming daily. I’ve never heard of the ancient saying “if you want to appeal to emotions, show pictures, but if you want to appeal to reason, use words” before today. I think that statement has demonstrated to be accurate many times. It is interesting to learn that people’s emotions are affected by pictures, but people’s reasoning is affected by words. That could be why some people may prefer to view a movie or show rather than reading the novel, and vice versa. Lastly, I think referencing the 5 Ws is a good technique to help students check for accuracy, reliability, and credibility. With what age group do you use this technique with?
Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Karen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how important reflection is. I think that in other areas of schooling and social-emotional learning, we teach intent versus impact. This lends itself really well to a conversation or lesson about reflection of digital media. When someone posts something or interacts on digital platforms, their intent might differ from the impact they have on their audience. I think this message and lesson is something that even the youngest students can understand. I also really like your 5 w's for research. This format gives a really clear structure for student to follow to analyze the sources that they're reading. Do you think this could be used in a lesson with intent versus impact as well? Thanks for sharing!
Hi Karen! Thank you for sharing your insights on media literacy. I appreciate how you said, "Information will reach us whether we want it or not, choice and quality information on the other hand must be sought after." It brought to mind how we're surrounded by media and by information, whether or not we choose to actively participate in social media networks, but we can always make the choice to seek out information that is credible and helpful to our growth.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate that you shared the Socratic Method. Although I'm gaining more familiarity with modern frameworks of media literacy, including Hobbs' 5 competencies, it puts things in fresh perspectives to also learn about ancient frameworks of information literacy - in this case, ancient Greece! The Socratic Method's focus on questioning information, rather than passively accepting information, rings true to developing media literacy. As you said so eloquently, we receive this information at a faster and faster pace. I speculate that this quick pace makes it less normalized to slow down to question, reflect, and engage in that shared dialogue of inquiry and investigation. Nonetheless, making that time is important, especially with kids. Aside from the five Ws, how do you (or how would you) facilitate that shared dialogue in your classroom?
Thanks again for sharing your perspectives and your resources!