This document discusses digital media literacy pedagogies. It notes that educators incorporate these approaches for various reasons such as engaging and motivating learners, activating critical thinking, and building students' confidence as authors. The create to learn process involves 5 steps: access, analyze, create, reflect, and take action. Instructors support learning through offering a mix of creative freedom and control. When students shift from passive learning to creating media, they increase engagement and motivation. The document asks questions to prompt reflection on incorporating these approaches in one's own teaching.

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

4. DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY
PEDAGOGIES
 Engage and motivate learners
 Activate critical thinking
 Build students’ confidence as authors
 Support creativity and collaboration
competencies
 Connect classroom learning to culture and
society

6. Critical thinking is a desire to seek,
patience to doubt, fondness to
meditate, slowness to assert,
readiness to consider, carefulness
to dispose and set in order; and
hatred for every kind of imposture.
•Francis Bacon, “On the Interpretation
of Nature,” 1605

7. How are students activating critical
thinking in your classroom?
How are you supporting students’
creativity, autonomy and authority as
digital authors?
What current activities could be
modified so that students
experience the power of digital
media literacy?
What impact can digital media literacy
have on your learners?

13. “FAKE NEWS”

14. DISINFORMATION

15. CONSPIRACY CULTURE

16. PROPAGANDA

17. PROPAGANDA

19. AFFECTIVE POLARIZATION

21. What’s Your Why?
How do your motivations shape your instructional
practices?

22. Reflect on Your Motivations for Digital Media Literacy
www.setyourmotivation.com
Hobbs, R., & Tuzel, S. (2017). Teacher motivations for digital and media literacy: An examination of Turkish educators.
British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(1), 7-22.

25. Teachers as Creative Media Makers

27. ACCESS: Students find an example to express their own
understanding or comprehension of a concept

28. @reneehobbs
Kami PDF & Document Markup
http://chrome.google.com
A Student PDF Annotation

29. ANALYZE: Students make a screencast to demonstrate their critical thinking

30. @reneehobbs
A Student Annotates a Video
ANT Video Annotation
https://ant.umn.edu/

31. CREATE: Students compose media that is aligned with learning goals
Teach with Story Maps
University of Minnesota
https://storymaps.umn.edu/

32. REFLECT: Students consider the impact and consequences of their life actions
REFLECTING ON HOW YOU SEARCH WHEN
SHOPPING
• In what kinds of shopping situations have you
found yourself using search engines?
• Do you notice any patterns about typical ways
that you use search engines for shopping
purposes?
• Can you describe one of the best experiences
searching for something and one of the worst
experiences you have had?
• Based on your experience, do you have any tips,
tricks, or advice for other people who might want to
improve their online shopping skills?

33. TAKE ACTION: Students use information & communication to make a
difference in the world

34. TAKE ACTION: Students use information & communication to make a
difference in the world

36. “How do I get started?”
“What is our topic?”
“When is it due?”
“How long should it be?”
“Do have to work with a
partner?”
“How do I get an A?”

37. Creating with Digital Media Involves a Process of Messy Engagement

38. FORMAT
CONTENT AUDIENCE
PROCESS
Supporting Learning Through a Mix of
Creative Freedom & Creative Control
The type
and genre How you get
it done
The ideas
and
information
you share
Who reads,
views,
listens to or
uses it

39. https://medium.com/propagandacom416

40. Steps in the Process
1.Focus on a Topic or Issue of Interest to You. Select a topic of interest from the Do Something website. Ask permission of the instructor
if you would like to choose another topic that’s not on this list. Learn what you can about the topic and issue in order to develop a plan for
your propaganda initiative.
2. Create to Learn. Create 1 form of propaganda to accomplish the goal of the campaign. Choose from these options:
•blog post
•press release
•infographic
•collection of 5 memes
•poster
•video, 60–90 seconds
•radio ad
•collection of 5 social media posts
3. Comment on and Analyze Your Work. Reflect on the experience of creating propaganda. Write an essay about your work, explaining
your creative choices and strategy. How did you apply what you learned about propaganda? What did you like or dislike about the
experience? (Word count: 1,000–1,500 words)
4. Publish Your Work. You publish your work on the class publication, the Propaganda COM 416 Medium website. Here are the steps in
the process.
1.Create an account on Medium using your URI email.
2.Place your Medium user name on this LIST OF COM416 Blog Writers
3.Your instructor will then make you a designated writer for the class blog.
4.Create your propaganda and then compose your essay.

41. https://medium.com/propagandacom416

42. FORMAT
CONTENT AUDIENCE
PROCESS
Supporting Learning Through a Mix of
Creative Freedom & Creative Control
MEME
Use a Meme
Generator
Work Alone
Deadline
Pressure
Any Key Idea
in Chapter 1
CLASS PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY: Explain a key idea from Chapter 1 by creating 1 – 3 memes, working alone under deadline
pressure. Publish your work on a Padlet so that the teacher and class can view it. View the work created by your peers
and comment on one work.
Teacher &
Class

43. COM 416 Student Nikita Duke

45. FORMAT
CONTENT AUDIENCE
PROCESS
Supporting Learning Through a Mix of
Creative Freedom & Creative Control
STUDENT
CHOICE
Collaborate
Deadline
Pressure
Principles of
teaching
environmental
science
ASSIGNMENT: Develop a set of multimedia lesson plans for how students can deepen their understanding of climate science
Public

47. FORMAT
CONTENT AUDIENCE
PROCESS
Supporting Learning Through a Mix of
Creative Freedom & Creative Control
CHOICE
Work Alone
Deadline
Pressure
Show that
you can
connect
ideas from
the class to
your major
MAJOR ASSIGNMENT: Create a piece of media that demonstrates how the
ideas explored in this class relate to your major
Public

48. CHOICE
MATTERS
Hobbs, R. (2017). Create to Learn. NY: Wiley.
BLOGS VIDEO
PODCAST ANIMATION
INFOGRAPHIC
VLOGS &
SCREENCAST

49. Learner
creative control
changes everything
deeper learning

50. Cloud-Based Tools Support
Digital Authorship for Students
Writing
Google Docs
Storybird
Medium
Animation
Animoto
Powtoons
Osnap
Moovly
Screencasting
Screencastify
Screencast-o-Matic
Loom
Podcasting
Anchor.fm
Video Production
WeVideo
Shadow Puppet
Multimedia
Kizoa
Storify
Flipgrid
Coding
Scratch
Ready
Infographics
Piktochart
Easel.ly
Canva
https://createtolearn.online

53. INQUIRY
CREATIVITY
COLLABORATION
METACOGNITION
AUTONOMY
ENGAGEMENT

55. 1. There are a lot of different reasons why educators are incorporating digital media literacy
pedagogies in higher education
2. Educators benefit from reflecting on their own values for using digital texts, tools, and
technologies
3. Respect for diverse motivations increases collegiality and stimulates intellectual curiosity
4. The create to learn process involves 5 steps: access, analyze, create, reflect & take action
5. Instructors support student learning by offering a mix of creative freedom and creative
control
6. Creating media under deadline pressure or with a partner creates opportunities for
cognitive, social, and emotional growth
7. When learners shift away from the “sit and get” mentality, they increase
engagement and motivation for learning
Summary of Key Ideas

56. How are students “creating to learn” in
your classroom?
How are you supporting the
development of student autonomy
and authority as digital authors?
What current activities could be
modified so that students
experience the power of digital
media literacy?
What potential impact might digital media
literacy have on your learners?

57. Create to Learn
Renee Hobbs
University of Rhode Island
Media Education Lab
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
@reneehobbs

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