2. Although media literacy is now a part of
the curricula, it is confronted with a variety
of factors, such as limited access to equipment,
teachers' lack of confidence with the material,
and perception of media education as just an
accessory to the curriculum.
Lynch (2018) presents six ways to
integrate media literacy into the classroom for
students to become media literate while
making media education a meaningful and
integrated part of classroom practice.
3. 1. Teach students to evaluate media. Students
learn to evaluate what they are viewing by showing
them that media changes depending on who created
it, the intended audience and the biases that may be
attributed to the source.
2. Show students where to find digital
resources and databases. Teachers should
provide students with reliable and safe media
sources and trustworthy content.
3. Compare/contrast various media sources.
In the discussions, distinguish various media sources
and compare elements.
4. 4. Discuss how the media edits and
alters. Purposely point out to students
examples of media altering photographs or
stories while teaching them to be critical of
what they see or read at face value.
5. Examine the "truth" in
advertisements. Let students identify what
advertisements are trying to sell and what
promises or ideas are they using to convince
them to buy the product.
6. Have students create media. Let
students create media appropriate to their
levels such as presentation, videos or
websites.
5. Although this is given little emphasis in the classrooms,
Hobbs and Frost (1994) present the skills that students a able
to possess with the media they use in class. To with:
1. reflect on and analyze their own media consumption habits;
2. identify the author, purpose and point of view in films,
commercials, television and radio programs, magazine
and newspaper editorials and advertising and
3. identify the range of production techniques that are
used to communicate opinions and shape audience‘s
response;
Media skills
6. 4. identify and evaluate the quality of media's
representation of the world by examining patterns,
stereotyping, emphasis and omission in print and
television news and other media;
5. appreciate the economic underpinnings of mass
media industries to make distinctions between those
media which sell audiences to advertisers and those
which do not.
6. understand how media economics shapes message
content;
7. gain familiarity and experience in using mass media
tools for personal expression and communication
and for purposes of social and political advocacy.
7. Approaches to teaching media literacy
Kellner and Share 2007) mentioned three approaches to teaching
media literacy that would utilize media in pedagogical practice.
1. Media Arts Education Approach. It intends to teach students to
value the aesthetic qualities of media and the arts while using their
creativity for self-expression through creating art and media.
2. Media Literacy Movement Approach. It attempts to expand the
notion of literacy to include popular culture and multiple forms of media
(music, video, Internet, advertising, etc.) while still working within a
print literacy tradition.
3. Critical Media Literacy Approach. It focuses on ideology
critiquing and analyzing the politics of representation of crucial
dimensions of gender, race, class, and sexuality; incorporating
alternative media production; and expanding the textual analysis to
include issues of social context, control, resistance and pleasure.
8. Utilizing Media across disciplines
Media education can be integrated in every course discipline.
The following are examples of using media in different subject
areas using PPPP (Purpose, Process Performance, Product)
9.
10.
11. Assessing and evaluating media literacy work.
Just like any student outputs, media-oriented works
should also be evaluated to assess quality based on standards.
Students need regular feedback to be able to reflect on their
progress and develop mastery and that would remind them
that it is an important part of the course.
However, for some teachers, creating assessment and
evaluation tools for media education is more challenging than
traditional means due to the lack of technical skills. Also, it is
because media education is all about finding the right
questions to ask, rather than learning previously determined
answers.
12. Canada's Center for Digital and Media Literacy prescribed two
important steps in creating objectives, comprehensive and meaningful
assessment and evaluation tools for media literacy work, namely:
(1) by using a rubric to assess the work of students; and
(2) by framing the expectations within the rubric in terms of key concepts
of media literacy.
In general, media literacy work can be evaluated in three ways:
1. Based on how well the student understands the key concepts of media
literacy and the specific concepts and ideas being explored in the lesson.
2. Based on the depth and quality of the student's inquiry and analysis
of the questions raised in the lesson, as well as his/her
thoughtfulness in identifying issues and questions to examine.
3. Based on how well the student applies specific technical skills
associated with either the medium being studied (movies, TV,
video games, etc.), the medium used in the evaluation tool, or both.
13. However, whenever any form of media is being utilized, there
should be a reflection at the end by asking students how media form has
shaped their thinking, decision-making, analysis, choices, values and
interrelationships,
Thus, media educators base their teaching on key concepts for media
literacy, which provide an effective foundation for examining mass media and
popular culture. These key concepts act as filters that any media text has to
go through in order to critically respond.
1. Media are constructions. Media products are created by
individuals who make conscious and unconscious choices about
what to include and how to present it. It can assess students
understanding of how media product was created and the analysis
of creators' beliefs or assumptions reflected in the content.
14. 2. The audience negotiates meaning. The
meaning of any media product is a collaboration
between the producers and the audience. It can assess
students' understanding of concepts and the elements
in a relevant medium or product
3. Media have commercial implications. Since
most media production is a business, it makes profits
and it belongs to a powerful network of corporations
that exert influence on content and distribution. It can
assess students' knowledge and understanding of
the commercial factors influencing the creation of
media product and analysis of how media
product is influenced by commercial factors or
the owner.
15. 4. Media have social and political implications.
Media convey ideological messages about values, power and
authority and they can have a significant influence on what
people think and believe. It can assess students' knowledge
and understanding of how this medium communicates ideas
and values.
5. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form. The
content of media depends in part on the nature of the medium
that includes technical, commercial and storytelling demands.
It can assess students' knowledge and understanding of the
technical elements of the medium and the tropes, clichés,
codes and conventions of the medium and genre.
