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We Must Extend Media Education Beyond the Classroom

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We Must Extend Media Education Beyond the Classroom

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Students must understand their new role as a learner in the 21st century and we must all acknowledge the new focus of the more active, rather than passive learner.  We are all part of a larger group and we can learn from many others besides just the people in our immediate path.  "Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement" (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2005, p. 4).

There are community opportunities to support media education beyond the classroom. These include community media workshops, churches, and activist groups. Parents are also a major focus for media education along with the support they may receive from other groups  (Buckingham, 2003).

"The new media literacies should be seen as social skills, as ways of interacting within a larger community, and not simply an individualized skill to be used for personal expression" (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2005, p. 4).

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Media Education in ALL Subjects and Disciplines 

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Media Education in ALL Subjects and Disciplines 

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Participatory culture focuses on how we use and understand media technologies and provides insights on how consumers can archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content in powerful new ways (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2005).

Including inquiry and media making in an integrated curricular unit can help support students as they connect the academic content and creative learning experiences  (Adobe Youth Voices, 2012).

Media production, and media education, can exist and flourish in the content-specific classes with teachers and students being critical of the media in terms of production and use (Buckingham, 2003).

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Media Production Created by Students is a Central Component

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Media Production Created by Students is a Central Component

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When students take the time to create their own representations of their understanding through media, while reflecting on media, they are able to gain a better understanding through their personal involvement and move beyond the 'ritualized condemnation' which is commonly seen used as a form of criticism (Buckingham, 2003).

"Adobe Youth Voices has always had creativity at its core, inspiring youth to grow and demonstrate their creativity through the media-making process" (Adobe Youth Voices, 2012, p. 11).

The capacity to network and communicate has emerged as a 'core social skill and cultural competency' with media and knowledge production key abilities to understand and inform the world around us (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2005).

Media making allows for self-expression, ideation, collaboration, flexibility, and persistence (Adobe Youth Voices, 2012).

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Creating with Media is Vital for Critical Thinking

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Creating with Media is Vital for Critical Thinking

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"...the term youth media can refer to the end product, but it is also a facilitated process that engages young people in critical thinking ,  collaboration, and technical skill development" (Adobe Youth Voices, 2012, p. 19).

Media literacy includes the need to address

how media-constructed stereotypes about race, class, sex, ethnicity, religion, and culture exist in our world today. Yet, should be much emphasis put on the importance of young people themselves creating media content that will not perpetuate stereotypes, but focus on personal considerations and thoughtful of others through many lenses (Buckingham, 2003; Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2005).

One lens we cannot forget about is regarding our own biases as we contemplate the media and the world around us. This must be done in a manner that is real, authentic, and not perfunctory (Buckingham, 2003).

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Media Education is Not the Same as Teaching With Media

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Media Education is Not the Same as Teaching With Media

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Teachers must be aware that teaching with media is not the same as media education and that we must move beyond the scope of having students create/produce media as a mere technique of the times (Buckingham, 2003).

"Media literacy turns the passive act of receiving a media message into action through the practice of decoding , reflecting , questioning , and ultimately creating media" (Adobe Youth Voices, 2012, p. 20).

"As media literacy advocates have claimed during the past several decades, students also must acquire a basic understanding of the ways media representations structure our perceptions of the world; the economic and cultural contexts within which mass media is produced and circulated; the motives and goals that shape the media they consume; and alternative practices that operate outside the commercial mainstream" (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2005, p.20).

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Important, Intriguing, and Interesting Concepts Learned 

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Important, Intriguing, and Interesting Concepts Learned 

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Don't confuse media education with using media as a "teaching aid".

Students should be able to use, create, produce, and play with media in order to investigate and move into true critical thinking and beyond just mechanistic criticism.

Production should be a central component of media education.

Media education should be taught and explored in all subject areas.

Media education, and media production, extend beyond the classroom setting.