Learning and Teaching: What Works
Learning and Teaching: What Works
Today, educators use a variety of engaging texts, including those from mass media, popular culture and digital media, to support the development of digital and media literacy competencies across K–12 and higher education. With support from creative teachers, students use books, movies, websites, newspapers, blogs, wikis, and games for learning. They also use instructional practices that enable students to take personal responsibility for their own learning.
Instructional Practices of Digital and Media Literacy Education |
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| Keeping a media-use diary | Record-keeping activities help people keep track of media choices and reflect on decisions about sharing and participation, deepening awareness of personal habits. |
| Using information search and evaluation strategies | Finding, evaluating and sharing content from a variety of sources helps people explore diverse sources of information. Using search strategies appropriate to one’s needs helps people make discriminating choices about quality and relevance. |
| Reading, viewing, listening and discussing | Active interpretation of texts helps people acquire new ideas, perspectives and knowledge and make sense of it in relation to lived experience. Dialogue and sharing help deepen understanding and appreciation. |
| Close analysis | Careful examination of the constructed nature of particular texts encourages people to use critical questioning to examine the author’s intent and issues of representation. |
| Cross-media comparison | Comparing and contrasting two texts that address the same topic help people develop critical thinking skills. By examining genre, purpose, form and content, and point of view, people recognize how media shape message content. |
| Gaming, simulation and role-playing | Playful activities promote imagination, creativity and decision-making skills, supporting people’s reflective thinking about choices and consequences. |
| Multimedia composition | Message composition using a combination of language, images, sound, music, special effects and interactivity provides real-world experience addressing a particular audience in a specific context to accomplish a stated goal. Teamwork, collaboration and knowledge sharing enhance creativity and deepen respect for the diverse talents of individuals. |
Notice that none of these instructional practices are dependent upon using a particular set of texts, tools or technologies. That is why digital and media literacy education can be applied to a variety of technologies and with entertaining, persuasive and informational content. These instructional practices can be used across all grade levels and subject areas, including social studies, science, literature, health, mathematics, the arts and the vocational and professional fields, in both formal and informal educational settings.
It is also important to recognize that many of these instructional practices are already standard in some fields of study. They do not necessarily require either expensive equipment or time-consuming hours of instruction to develop. They do require the presence of educators who have the skills and experience necessary to use these practices in productive ways to support genuine learning. In this report, we see teachers and learners (not technology) as the vital resources at the heart of the vision for how digital and media literacy competencies are best acquired.
The successful application of these instructional practices depends on creating a respectful learning environment where students’ lived experience is valued and multiple points of view are encouraged. Digital and media literacy education activates independent thinking, authentic dialogue, collaboration, reflection, creativity, and social responsibility as applied to the practices of responding to, creating and sharing messages (NAMLE, 2007; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2010). Fortunately, this definition of digital and media literacy education resonates with diverse stakeholders in the education, media, technology, museum, non-profit, social service and library communities.
A comprehensive plan of action is needed to build a community education movement for digital and media literacy education. Many diverse stakeholders are already moving towards this goal. Groups like the Partnership for 21st Century Skills have done a commendable job in helping school leaders and policymakers understand the “big picture” scope of the challenge. The federal government, through the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is providing $4 billion through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), which will help bring broadband infrastructure to local communities along with supporting public computing centers and providing training opportunities. With support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Digital Youth Network and the YOUmedia program at the Chicago Public Library has enabled young people to collaborate and create using digital media. Still, much work is needed to make digital and media literacy a fundamental part of K–12, higher education and lifelong learning, in and out of school.
