Digital Media Literacy
Digital Media Literacy
I have spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of social media usage and how to stay safe when using social media. I have also briefly focused on keeping children safe on social media. Parents and teachers need to be vigilant when children are using the internet. It is also imperative to teach children how to safely navigate the internet and use social media when they are on their own and how to discern if what they see online is real or not. This is where the topic of media literacy comes into play.
What is Media Literacy?
Media literacy refers to our ability to navigate media. How do we access, analyze, or evaluate the types of media we see every day? Media literacy is especially important for children to know. They are growing up in a world saturated with various forms of media. This includes movies, television, the internet, video games, and social media. Media literacy for kids involves teaching them how to critically engage with media, understand its messages, and navigate it safely and responsibly.
What Media Literacy teaches:
When I was teaching, we had a designated technology person who came in at the beginning of the year to teach media literacy to the children. The lesson promoted healthy media habits, such as teaching children to balance screen time with other activities. It also promotes the use of critical thinking skills when they encounter information online. Children need to distinguish fact from opinion and realize that not everything they see online is true. There was a lesson on distinguishing trusted sources from untrusted sources, similar to the quiz I took about identifying credible news sources. Needless to say, children needed this lesson, and so do adults. I remember often seeing shared articles from The Onion that cause an uproar because many do not know it is a satirical news website.
Image from The Onion
Digital Citizenship
Another important lesson that children were taught in the media literacy session is how to be a good digital citizen. Children learned about not interacting with strangers online, using safe search engines for projects, how to avoid cyberbullying, and the importance of thinking before posting online. Beyond what was taught in schools students will benefit from Hobbs 5 competencies of media literacy which provide a framework for developing media literacy skills.
The five competencies are:
- Access: students effectively locate and identify relevant information.
- Analyze: students employing critical thinking to assess the purpose, audience, quality, truthfulness, credibility, perspective, and potential impact of digital and media messages
- Create: students apply knowledge from the previous two steps to create content considering the audience, purpose, and technique.
- Reflect: students evaluate how media messages and tools influence their thoughts and behaviors. They learn to incorporate social responsibility and ethical principles.
- Act: Students need to utilize their digital and media skills to address challenges by using technology and global connections, acknowledging the interconnectedness of the world in the 21st century.
As we wrap up our discussion on digital media literacy, it's evident that navigating the digital world requires more than just basic technical skills. It demands a critical understanding of media messages and digital citizenship. By instilling media literacy skills in children we empower them to responsibly interact with social media, discern what is real from fake news, and contribute positively with the digital community.
Want to learn more about media literacy? Watch this interesting video.
Hobbs' competencies are all important but I'm curious to know where you think educators should start. Is there one that stands out to you more than others?
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteIn looking at Hobb's five competencies, what stood out most to me was how the final three all relate more to creation and reflection, as opposed to what could be considered a more traditional view of media literacy. In the past, I had more thought of media literacy as being able to find reliable sources, telling the difference between real news and fake news, understanding credibility, etc. However, for Hobbs, it is clear that true media literacy also means being able to create media that reflects understanding, and more importantly to do so in a way that has a positive impact without our global society. In other words, just being able to find information that one knows is reliable/not is not true media literacy-there is an aspect of creation that must be achieved as well. I'm not sure if you had a similar takeaway when writing your post, but it's something that struck me because the schools I have worked in seem more focused on Hobbs' first two competencies, but not as much the final three.
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated your thoughts on the significance of media literacy, particularly for children. Your focus on encouraging good media practices and helping kids find a balance between screens and other activities resonated with me. Nowadays, with the overwhelming amount of information coming at us from all directions, it's important for parents and educators to make sure kids know how to navigate media in a safe and responsible way.