How can media literacy education help address important community needs? Review 16 media literacy instructional practices that are foundational to students in primary and secondary education and learn about research on the specific characteristics of quality MIL education. Then work in a small group under deadline pressure to plan how you could implement one or more instructional practices to address a timely and relevant community issue, using a creative design process to imagine educational futures.

1. Media Literacy
Instructional Practices for Every
Teacher
A WORKSHOP
Renee Hobbs
University of Rhode Island USA
Media Education Lab
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs

2. WORKSHOP OUTLINE
1. Reflect on your media literacy motivations and the
motivations of your colleagues and peers
2. Learn about research on what constitutes quality
MIL education.
3. Review some ML instructional practices that may be
relevant to your practice
HOMEWORK. Plan how you could implement one or
more instructional practices to address a timely and
relevant community issue, using a creative design
process to imagine educational futures.

3. expanding the concept of
literacy
open access
multitasking
creativity
identity
curation
play
data
ownership
representati
on
surveillance
addiction
disinformati
on
EMPOWERMENT
PROTECTION

4. There is an Art to Creating
a Media Literacy Learning
Environment

6. Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal
learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology,
38(2), 182-197.

8. Teachers Have Different
Motivations for Using Media &
Technology in Education
12
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.

9. What’s Your Motivation?
https://setyourmotivation.com

10. TASTEMAKER
You want to broaden your students’
horizons. You want them to have exposure
to the kinds of media experiences that
put them in touch with historical,
aesthetic, and critical appreciation. You
know that a key component of students’
future interactions will require them to
draw from a variety of cultural sources
both classical and popular.
PROFESSOR
You balance your interest in media and
technology with a clear connection to
academic standards. You want to be sure
that media and technology are not used in
the classroom for their own sake, but to
gain content knowledge. Multimedia
presentations, engaging websites, and
educational technology serve the purpose
of helping you deliver the core content
Focus on Media Content and Quality

11. ACTIVIST
As an educator, you want to make society
more just and equitable by promoting
democratic participation. You use media
in the classroom as a catalyst for
students to understand how they might
have a voice in improving the quality of
life in their communities and in the
world.
TEACHER 2.0
You understand that participation in
digital media and learning cultures
requires flexibility to new formats,
modes of expression, and participation in
and out of school. You use online or
interactive versions of classic
literature to explore meaning behind
texts. Teacher 2.0 teachers always trying
Focus on Community Connections

12. DEMYSTIFIER
As a teacher, you “pull back the
curtain” to help students see how various
forms of information and knowledge are
constructed. You emphasize the practice
of critical thinking, helping students
ask good “how” and “why” questions.
WATCHDOG
You are a natural critical thinker, aware
of how economic systems and institutions
influence our everyday lives,
particularly through the media we use.
You want your students and your peers to
be more mindful of the ways that things
are bought and sold. Who owns and
controls the media content that we see,
hear, read, and play with? You feel
responsible for giving your students a
“wake-up call” about the economic and
institutional inner-workings of the
technology and the world that surrounds
Focus on
Understanding Media
Systems

13. MOTIVATOR
You are an inspiration, a catalyst for
your students’ creative energy. Students
who have never felt comfortable speaking
up in class, participating in activities,
or contributing to class dialogue find it
easier to speak their mind when you’re
leading the classroom. You see your role
as helping students be the best they can
be.
SPIRIT GUIDE
You are a listener. You have a dedication
to the social and emotional well-being of
your students, and want to make sure that
everything you do in the classroom
connects to their immediate needs to
understand themselves and their lives.
Students likely find you trustworthy, and
may even confide in you in ways that they
do not for other teachers. You know media
is just one facet of student life, and
you want to engage with it to help them
Learner Centered Focus

14. TECHIE
You’re the educator who loves tablets,
apps, programs, plug-ins, widgets,
websites, and other types of educational
technology because you have a passionate
curiosity about new tools. You see much
potential to engage students with the
technology tools they love and use in
their everyday lives. PROFESSIONAL
You have high standards for your
students’ work, and you may be seen as
the go-to media professional in your
school. You know how to push your
students to understand and emulate the
professional conventions that is
important to being taken seriously in the
world of media creation. To help students
enter the real world of media creation,
you bring other authors, professionals,
and media-makers into your classroom to
enrich the learning experience.
Focus on Tool, Genre or
Format

15. TRENDSETTER
You’re tuned into pop culture and
curious about kid culture. Maybe
your own most-loved popular culture
isn’t too far removed from that of
your students. You are inquisitive
about the trends and hot topics that
make up a crucial component of the
fabric of your students’ everyday
lives. You want school culture to
ALT
You are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,”
teacher. You’re always ready to challenge
students with alternative ways of finding,
using, thinking about, and making media in
the classroom. Whether you use open source
programs on school computers, encourage
students to start alternative clubs or
magazines, or introduce students to media
that’s “off the beaten path” of mainstream
and mass media, you are likely a key
proponent of broadening students’
understanding of the many different ways
that people can communicate in the world.
Focus on Texts and
Audiences

16. The Art of Reflection:
What’s Your Motivation?

17. https://setyourmotivation.
com

18. https://setyourmotivation.
com

19. https://setyourmotivation.
com

20. CONSIDER THE
MOTIVES OF OTHER
EDUCATORS
Can you guess a teacher’s
motivation through the

21. Elementary students create a public service announcement
encouraging people to stop littering

22. High school students analyze disinformation about the
Israel-Hamas war

23. Teacher creates a video to motivate student interest in le
about the French Revolution

24. Middle school students collaborate on a video about cybe

25. Elementary students compare and contrast film and poetry

26. High school students create an in-school news show

27. Reflection increases personal passion
and cultivates shared community values

28. Respect for diverse teacher
motivations may expand the diversity
and range of instructional practices

29. What is Quality
Media Literacy
Education?
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/j

30. What is Quality
Media Literacy
Education?
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/j
ACTIVITY: Work with a
partner to identify your top
priorities from the chart
provided
What are the most important
factors for considering
quality media literacy
education in Romania?

31. How often do students in
elementary or secondary schools
encounter media literacy through its
core instructional practices?
We identified 16 basic activities that are commonly used in
elementary and secondary schools in subject areas including
English language arts/literacy, social studies, the sciences,
visual arts & design and the performing arts, mathematics,
engineering and technology, comprehensive health, and
world languages.
While each of these instructional practices can be
implemented using digital technologies, they do not require
it.
Hobbs, R. Moen, M., Tang, R. & Steager, P. (2022) Measuring the implementation of media
literacy statewide: a validation study. Educational Media International, 59:3, 189-208, DOI:
10.1080/09523987.2022.2136083
Hobbs, R., Moen, M., Tang, R. & Steager, S. (2022): Measuring the implementation of
media literacy instructional practices in schools: Community stakeholder
perspectives. Learning, Media and Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2022.2151621

32. Compare
and
Contrast
How Media
Messages
Influence
Stereotype
s
Examine
the News
Images and
Advertisin
g
Music and
Cultural
Values
Access, Analyze &
Evaluate

33. Tell a
Story
Team-Based
Production
Research
Project
Present a
Strong Point
of View
Create a
Public Service
Announcement
Create & Collaborate

34. Balancing
Online &
Offline
Life
Reflect on
Your
Interpretat
Social
Responsibili
ties of
Consumers
Apply Media
Law and
Policy
Role Play
the Business
of Media
Reflect, Understand &
Apply

35. WORKSHOP OUTLINE
Reflect on your media literacy motivations and the
motivations of your colleagues and peers
2. Learn about research on what constitutes quality
MIL education.
3. Review some ML instructional practices that may be
relevant to your practice
1.
HOMEWORK. Plan how you could implement one or
more instructional practices to address a timely and
relevant community issue, using a creative design
process to imagine educational futures.

36. PITCH YOUR PLAN
1. What is the name of your lesson/activity?
2. Who are your learners and what is the learning
context?
3. Which instructional practice will students experience?
4. What materials and media artifacts will you need to
find, create, or use?
5. How will you assess student learning?
EMAIL: hobbs@uri.edu

37. Media Literacy
Instructional Practices for Every
Teacher
A WORKSHOP
Renee Hobbs
University of Rhode Island USA
Media Education Lab
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs