Ferraro_Travis_Week 7 by Travis Ferraro

Media Literacy/Competencies

trafer199 — 2024-10-12 03:47:22 UTC

There are a multitude of competencies students must have and be taught in order to be properly informed. As educators, it's important to teach our curriculum to students delivering all the information to them we need. However, in order for this to be properly executed, the correct competencies must also be taught at a young age or throughout their educational career. What good is teaching all of your planned curriculum if your students don't have a solid foundation to learn from? Educators must communicate these to students and be able to use technology to aid them in the process.

What are the competencies to properly be informed and use media literacy? There are a plethora of competencies that each student can have, but the following are key ones to educate about: critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity. These are all essential competencies to be able to not only learn the lectured curriculum in the classroom but needed for students to transform throughout their educational careers. By starting with competencies to build a foundation, media literacy is able to be properly learned by students and implemented into lectures and lesson plans.

Why exactly are these important? Critical thinking is not only an essential part of life but extremely important for a student's transformation. Critical thinking must be used when learning new technology and mastering media literacy. Communication must be properly learned in order for students to feel comfortable asking questions and having informative discussions with other students in the classroom. Asking questions about new technology is extremely important to properly learn how to work it. Problem-solving pairs with critical thinking when it comes to issues arising and learning new things like new technology in the classroom. This is important for students to flourish during independent time and not be reliant on educators. Collaboration is used in technology/media literacy for many projects and must be learned by students in order to work well with others. Creativity is built through all of these competencies being executed properly and will allow students to uniquely express themselves through new media literacy technologies in the classroom.

Example 1 of Misinformation: Silencing of Narratives/Mislabeling History

trafer199 — 2024-10-12 04:20:01 UTC

Many narratives throughout history are silenced due to a controlling narrative trying to be pushed into a lot of curriculum. This is harmful to students learning about history because the full story should always be communicated. Pushing a heroic, victorious, or white savior narrative is often present in many historical lectures and can give students the wrong impression about how history truly played out. This goes along with mislabeling many groups because of what history used to label them. This is very common with Native Americans, even in Utah history. In many historical literature, Native Americans are referred to as "Indians" which is incorrect and disrespectful to many tribes who don't affiliate with that label. Along with this, history paints Native Americans as struggling people who were essentially saved by Americans and are lucky to have the reservations they have. What is left out of a lot of the curriculum is the massive murders of Native people and how gruesome wars were fought because Americans wanted land. By not teaching this, it gives students the idea that Americans are the "good guys" and didn't do much wrong when that's in fact not the truth. This is a massive misconception that I will correct when I become an educator.

Example 2 of Misinformation: How to spot bias and fake news

trafer199 — 2024-10-12 04:32:51 UTC

Spotting bias and fake news in history is extremely important. It takes proper education within media literacy using critical thinking. Fake news can first be spotted by doing research on where the article is published and where you are accessing it. Doing research on the author and his/her credibility is also an extremely important tool that is not taught that much in history. A big misconception is that just because an article is published by a certain press means the author is one hundred percent credible, which is false. Along with this, bias is very important to educate your students about when it comes to media literacy. Implicit and explicit bias are almost never taught and how to truly spot them. It's a big misconception that because an article is published and talks about facts there isn't a bias present or narrative trying to be pushed. This is extremely false and students must have the critical thinking to spot biases being expressed. Everyone has a bias and it's important for students to notice it and take it into consideration when doing research, writing a paper, etc.

trafer199 — 2024-10-12 04:35:34 UTC

trafer199 — 2024-10-12 04:36:43 UTC

Media Literacy in History Education

trafer199 — 2024-10-12 04:49:28 UTC

Media Literacy in history education is extremely important when discerning what fake news is and identifying biases/present narratives being pushed in literature and/or online. Misinformation is so easily spread on so many social media apps like Instagram and TikTok in today's younger generation that it's very easy for any shocking information to be taken as the truth. This easily leads to students believing anything and using any source for research. This is difficult as an educator because identifying biases is not only important in history but also in life. Defining and educating the listed competencies is very important to build a foundation with students. By doing so, teaching about biases and narratives becomes easier to do. By students being able to identify biases and narratives, they will be able to identify what is true and what is an opinion and not fall to misinformation. As an educator, I would start off by teaching about bias and narratives and how to properly identify them. By starting off with this, students are able to carry this into any project or research they do. I can also practice this throughout the year with students by breaking down sources/articles and identifying any narrative being pushed or present biases. Media literacy is a key component that needs to be covered in education and history in order to stop this.