Who Should Do What
Who Should Do What
In order to review key action items, here is a summary of what each of the different stakeholders should do:
Executive Branch
The White House should raise visibility for digital and media literacy by asking Congress to support major initiatives in digital and media literacy. The President and First Lady could host a Rose Garden event that showcases the winners of the youth-produced PSA competition.
Congress
Congress should dedicate funding to support a network of in-school summer learning programs in digital and media literacy for public charter schools in low-income communities. This would help close the achievement gap. Direct federal funding should be used to build, sustain, and expand the national network. Federal investment could be matched one-to-one by university, local, state, and private dollars.
Congress should pass the Healthy Media for Youth Act (H.R.4925), which authorizes $40 million annually to support educational programs in media literacy programs for children and youth.
Congress should dedicate 10 percent of Americorps funding to support the development of a DML service outreach program that offers training and professional development in digital and media literacy to a group of recent college graduates and places them, in teams, to work in public libraries, school libraries and technology centers, local public access centers, and other community non-profit organizations.
U.S. Department of Education
The Department of Education should initiate funding to support an online test requiring no more than 30 minutes to complete that could measure students’ ability to (a) use digital tools; (b) identify the author, purpose and point of view of messages in print and digital formats; (c) engage in ethical reasoning about social responsibility as producers and consumers; (d) make judgments on the credibility of information sources; and (e) create simple media composition activities using language, images and sound.
Federal support for the development of an online video documentation tool is needed. Such a database would dramatically improve knowledge of “best practices” in teacher education for digital and media literacy education.
The Department of Education should support research on district-level teacher education initiatives in digital and media literacy to help develop a rigorous base of scholarship to support the field.
State Governments
State departments of education should make available a competitive pool of monies exclusively for university and college partnerships to support cross-disciplinary teacher education programs in digital and media literacy education. This would enable intensive collaboration between faculty and students in education and communication/media studies programs to support in-school community education programs in digital and media literacy.
States should make available matching funds, on 2:1 match basis, for school districts that invest in teacher education programs in digital and media literacy.
Local Governments
School districts should dedicate funding to support a fast-track, 12-month coordinated staff development program at the district level. Training should make use of the instructional practices of digital and media literacy education. School districts could offer opportunities to “catalyst teachers” who would participate in ten full days of professional development in partnership with a college or university over the course of an academic year. Some of this training should be offered online.
Each local government should assemble a small community leadership panel with interests in digital and media literacy education. In each participating community, a local group should be charged with mapping a community’s existing programs in digital and media literacy, with a special focus on youth media programs.
Libraries and Museums
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the American Library Association should coordinate a DML service outreach program to host a “Silver Surfers Week,” a library-based program designed to support the development of digital and media literacy competencies among Americans ages 55 and older.
Local libraries should host community screenings featuring the local youth media producers who contributed to statewide competition. In larger cities, a social media website could showcase all entries and offer localized “one-stop shopping” style information about digital and media literacy concepts that can be effective in the home and community.
Federal Communications Commission
The FCC can informally encourage media companies to support an entertainment-education campaign to target an ethically problematic but common online behavior (like teasing, spying, harassment, intolerance, cyber bullying or sexting) for exploration in sub-plots of prime-time programming.
A website that archives and offers examples of this programming could help parents and educators use TV clips to promote discussion and extend the learning experience in the home and classroom.
Philanthropies and Charitable Foundations
Support for local government is needed to map a community’s existing programs in digital and media literacy, with a special focus on youth media programs for underserved populations.
Support for the development of an online video documentation tool is needed. Such a database would dramatically improve knowledge of “best practices” in teacher education for digital and media literacy education.
Foundations should support research on district-level teacher education initiatives to help develop a base of scholarship to support the field.
A marketing/visibility campaign is needed to target college and university faculty, K–12 educators, media professionals, youth media advocates, and other stakeholders with interests and experience in digital and media literacy. A major philanthropy or charitable foundation should support NAMLE over a three-year period in order for it to position itself as a unifying force for digital and media literacy as a national and community education movement.
A foundation should provide support for research that measures the impact of an entertainment-education campaign, demonstrating how mass media can support knowledge and skill development in digital and media literacy.
News Media Organizations
Using a host of innovative online news tools already on the market that help teachers and students to use and analyze news and current events as part of general education, companies should offer modest grants to support partnerships with key educational groups. School districts, community colleges, museums, libraries, colleges and universities could be invited to apply for these funds, which would support teacher education and outreach activities.
ISPs and Technology Companies
Support is needed for professional membership associations to develop a national leadership conference with an educator showcase competition to raise the visibility of digital and media literacy among policymakers, federal officials, and leading non-profit and charitable organizations.
The Creative Community
The creative community should host an entertainment-education collaboration over a four-year period to integrate exploration of ethical and social responsibility issues as they relate to digital media. The goal would be to integrate social norms about responsibilities and rights of producers and consumers into prime-time program sub-plots, scenes, and dialogue.
Youth Media Organizations
Working collaboratively, youth-oriented media organizations should host an annual statewide PSA competition, inviting video, audio or script/storyboard submissions from youth media organizations, public access centers, and individuals. Winners would attend a White House event recognizing their achievements.
Professional Membership Associations
Working collaboratively and with support from charitable foundations, professional organizations should develop an online video documentation tool so that educators and researchers can upload clips of their own teaching practices and download clips for use in teacher education.
Working collaboratively, professional organizations should develop a national leadership conference with an educator showcase competition to raise the visibility of digital and media literacy among policymakers, federal officials, and leading non-profit and charitable organizations.
Public Television and Local Community Access Centers
Statewide competitions of youth-produced works will result in winning entries in each of the 50 states, which should be distributed via both local access and public television stations across each state.
