In this talk presented at the Digital Media and Learning (DML) conference in Los Angeles on June 12, 2015, Professor Renee Hobbs explores three aspects of civic education as students learn to consume news, gain an understanding of consumer finance, and develop skills as digital media communicators. Hobbs explains that school-based civic education programs are shifting from emphasis on transmission of civic content towards a focus on cultivating skills & dispositions. She describes how a variety of partnerships with the business and philanthropic community are bringing new approaches to teaching and learning of civic education. She notes that these approaches use civic education to address a particular problem of interest to the funder and claims that the most sustainable school-based programs are developed by educators who engage in partnership programs while crafting learning experiences to meet the civic education needs of the students they serve.

1. Capitalists, Consumers, and Communicators:
How Schools Approach Civic Education
Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
Twitter: @reneehobbs
The Civic Media Project: Citizens, Technology & Learning in Digital Culture
DML Los Angeles June 12, 2015

2. School-based civic education programs are
shifting from emphasis on transmission of civic
content towards a focus on cultivating skills &
dispositions
Partnerships with the business and
philanthropic community are bringing new
approaches to teaching and learning of civic
education
These approaches use civic education to
address a particular problem of interest to the
funder
The most sustainable school-based programs
are developed by educators who engage in
partnership programs while crafting learning
experiences to meet the civic education needs
of the students they serve

3. 50% live in California,
Texas and Florida
 20 years of U.S. educational reforms
 “Race to the Top” testing regime
 Common Core State Standards
Emphasis on individual economic
competitiveness and not preparation for
citizenship in a democracy

4. How Schools Approach
Civic Education

11. Racial Disparities in
Civic Competencies
National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The Nation’s Report Card: Civics 2010 (NCES 2011–466). Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department
of Education, Washington, D.C.

12. National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The Nation’s Report Card: Civics 2010 (NCES 2011–466). Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department
of Education, Washington, D.C.

13. National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The Nation’s Report Card: Civics 2010 (NCES 2011–466). Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department
of Education, Washington, D.C.

14. 600,000students
annually

19. Examples of
Civic Education Initiatives
in Schools

22. News literacy curricula are developed
by members of the journalistic
community
Emphasis is on understanding how to
evaluate quality and credibility of news
sources through understanding
practices of verification
Former journalists offer their insight to
students and inspire them to
appreciate the ideals of American
journalistic objectivity
Little emphasis on providing critiques
of journalism or offering information
about the economics of news and
public relations

25. Financial literacy curricula are
developed by members of the business
community
Emphasis is on framing up personal
economic practices as fundamentally
rational choices
Little emphasis on providing critiques
of capitalism or alternative framing
that positions individual behavior
within a larger global and structural
economic context
Educational and instructional strategies
are described as “delivery systems”
designed to affect behaviors of learners

26. Financial Literacy
in Navajo Country

32. Programs emphasize the practice of
students in gathering, analyzing and
sharing information about the
community with members of their
community
Emphasis is on articulating personal
voice and/or learning as a practice of
finding out information and sharing it
using language, image, sound and
multimedia
Educational and instructional strategies
emphasize collaboration, the acquisition
of digital skills & the ability to use genre
norms for communicating informational
content
Student work products may or may not
reach an authentic audience

34. Communication Arts Program (CAP)
Montgomery Blair High School
Silver Spring MD
A comprehensive program
that connects the
humanities to the media,
now in its 28th year

35. Research Design
Quasi-experimental study
2 x 2 factorial
Open Selective
Admission Admission
Media
Literacy
No ML
COMMUNICATION
ARTS PROGRAM
MEDIA LITERACY
ACADEMY
CONTROL CONTROL
Academy Level
Treatment
Martens, H. & Hobbs, R. (2015). How media literacy supports civic engagement in a digital age. Atlantic Journal of Communication 23(2), 120 – 137.

38. School-based civic education programs are
shifting from emphasis on transmission of civic
content towards a focus on cultivating skills &
dispositions
Partnerships with the business and
philanthropic community are bringing new
approaches to teaching and learning of civic
education to schools
These approaches use civic education to
address a particular problem of interest to the
funder
The most sustainable school-based programs
are developed by educators who engage in
partnership programs while crafting learning
experiences to meet the civic education needs
of the students they serve

39.  How do teachers become inspired
to engage in instructional practices
that combine real-world inquiry
with digital media literacy?
 What kinds of professional
development experiences advance
teacher learning?
 What kinds of school leadership
practices best support teachers’
strategic risk-taking in media
literacy education?

40. Martens, H. & Hobbs, R. (2015). How media literacy supports civic engagement in a digital age. Atlantic Journal
of Communication 23(2), 120 – 137.
Hobbs, R. & Donnelly, K. “How Adolescents Advance Intellectual Curiosity, Collaboration and Civic Engagement
by Learning to Create Broadcast News,” International Communication Association, San Juan, May 24, 2015.
Hobbs, R. & McGee, S. (2014). Teaching about propaganda: An examination of the historical roots of media
literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education 6(2), 56 – 67.
Hobbs, R., He, H. & RobbGrieco, M. (2014). Seeing, believing and learning to be skeptical: Supporting language
learning through advertising analysis activities. TESOL Journal DOI: 10.1002/tesj.153
Hobbs, R., Donnelly, K., Friesem, J. & Moen, M. (2013). Learning to engage: How positive attitudes about the
news, media literacy and video production contribute to adolescent civic engagement. Educational Media
International 50(4), 231 – 246.
Hobbs, R. (2013). The blurring of art, journalism and advocacy: Confronting 21st century propaganda in a world
of online journalism. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 8(3), 625 – 638.
Hobbs, R. (2011). Connecting kids with news in their community. Nieman Reports 65(2), 48 – 51.
Hobbs, R., Cohn-Geltner, H. & Landis, J. (2011). Views on the news: Media literacy empowerment competencies
in the elementary grades. In C. Von Feilitzen, U. Carlsson & C. Bucht (Eds.). New questions, new insights, new
approaches. The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. NORDICOM. University of
Gothenburg, Sweden (pp. 43 – 56).
Hobbs, R., Clay, D., Clapman, L. & Cheers, I. (2010). PBS News Hour Student Reporting Labs. [News reporting and
production curriculum.] PBS News Hour: Washington, D.C. Available: http://studentreportinglabs.org

41. Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs
Web: www.mediaeducationlab.com