A Case For Media Education in the ClassroomNicoleta FotiadeActiveWatch, Romanianicoleta@mma.ro

What is this?

• A glimpse into one model of media education practice

• With illustration of several media education activities to use in the classroom (interdisciplinary approach, secondary education)

• Also a brief reflection on what media education is

Our preoccupation

• We are interested in active aware citizens

• Information media

• We do: teachers’ training and assistance, support materials, students’ workshops, advocacy for media education in schools.

ActiveWatch & Media Education

• We understand media education as the process through which

• children and adults achieve knowledge and skills that help them

• (1) understand media and their social, cultural and economic implications in everyday life and

• (2) use various media in a critical and creative way for their own benefit.

Why MedEd?

• Our belief: MedEd should be part of the core school curriculum.

• MedEd contributes to the children and young people’s media literacy in an increasingly mediated society

• It adds value to the teaching & learning activity

How?

• Introducing media knowledge and media-based teaching strategies within various subjects (social and humanistic sciences and languages)

• Extracurricular activities• Media as object of study (education about

media)• Questioning/Dialogue between teacher and

students

I am going to briefly illustrate….

• … with 3 examples taken out of our own experience with teachers.

(1) How to Find Credible and Useful Resources Online?

(1) How to Find Credible and Useful Resources Online?

• Imagine tasks that suppose a certain amount of documentation and ask your students to identify their sources of information

&• Initiate a class debate to discuss the reasons why

they chose certain sources and not others.

Aim: To stimulate your students’ critical thinking during search of information.

Value of information on Internet

• Who posted the information? Identify the

author/speaker’ background, the funding body,

ownership, the distributor etc.

• Why?

• Where?

• How do we verify information?

• Is the piece of information trustworthy?

TIPS to verify information

• Use specialized search engines! More chances to find articles from trustworthy sources.

• QUESTIONING: Look up the information from at least 3 sources and answer questions: Was there any information omitted? / Any significant contradictions in the article?

• BIAS: author’s value judgments / phrases that could minimize or increase the importance of an event / a person.

• Identification of SOURCES & QUOTATION give credibility to information.

(2) Judge an image to its context!

1. Present a press image to your students! 2. Ask them to write their own caption (without offering

any context related-information).3. Give them the context (e.g. the article) and then ask

your students to write a new caption!4. Have a group sharing of the students’ captions!5. Now compare with the original caption!6. Discussion: To what extent your students’ own

social and cultural prejudice played a role in their former interpretation of the image?

What do you think this is about?

Photo: Dumitru Liviu Ștefan

(3) Media Consumption Diary

Aim:

• to understand how and why we consume and interact with the certain

media

(social, cultural & economic reasons)

• To become aware of the circumstances in which we use &

interact with media

Media Consumption Diary

1. Encourage your students to record their personal media consumption diary for at least three days (in an excel database if possible).

2. Ask them to write a short analysis based on the recorded data.

3. Organize a classroom or an online forum debate on the basis of their findings.

Media Consumption Diary(excel)

• Date • Time/hour

• Place• Type of media content

• Context/Reason for consumption• General observations

Short analysis questions to answer:

1. What time of the day you access various media? And where?

2. What type of media channels?

3. What type of content? Why?

4. What exactly determined you to read or use certain media?

5. Role of the media content you access in your daily life.

A Variation of the USDA’s Food Pyramid by Steven Leckart (Balance Your

Media Diet)

Questions

• How feasible do you find this sort of activities for classroom practice?

• What are the limitations of the critical approach in media education?

• Any other considerations?

Proposals of a Romanian language teacher

For lower secondary school students (13-14 y)• Short exercises to critically analyze advertising

& news items, music video clips.• Online search. Comparative study on literary

topics - the basis of a critical discussion.• Production of short films on topics of interest for

the students’ age; presentation and discussion.• Short exercises to understand the meanings

they give to images; the study of image.

“How to teach…” Resources Online

OnAir Course

Media&Learning Resource Database

Thank You!

Nicoleta Fotiade

Program Manager

ActiveWatch Romania

nicoleta@mma.ro

www.activewatch.ro