The Importance of Media Literacy

Media Literacy

  While I am happy to see that media literacy courses are now required in Illinois high schools, I think that we should start educating our students on this essential topic in the earliest possible grade. Students are being exposed to an increasing amount of media each day, and it is important that we as educators ensure that students know how to consume this media safely and effectively. According to the Media Literacy 101 video, media literacy refers to our interaction with media and the messages that we take away from it. Media Literacy is our ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on the media messages that we receive. If we can teach students how to be media literate at the earliest possible age, we are empowering them to be the most successful 21st century learners that they can be. 

   

Renee Hobbs' 5 Competencies

    Media literacy expert Renee Hobbs believes that there are five competencies that all students need to know in order to be successful media consumers. 

Image Source: Renee Hobb's Twitter

According to Hobbs: 

1. Access- Students must be able to find and share appropriate and relevant information using technology tools and media texts. Students must be able to effectively locate and identify relevant information depending on the task at hand. This is important when students are researching and can be facilitated using instructor created presentations or by reading books, articles, or websites. As educators, we must realize how important access to relevant and appropriate information is. We also need to become competent digital consumers ourselves before becoming successful digital media educators. I know that there have been numerous professional developments on this topic, but I do believe that there is a gap in knowledge when you compare older and younger teachers in the classroom today. 

2. Analyze-This involves, "using critical thinking to analyze message purpose, target audience, quality, veracity, credibility, point of view, and potential effects or consequences of messages." In my opinion, this is the most important skill that students can learn. This can help students determine which sources are credible, if they are consuming "fake news", and decide which perspectives are being portrayed by the text. Being able to analyze media is an essential skill to becoming a 21st century learner. 

3. Create- Students must be able to create content as a form of self expression and share it with the appropriate audience in digital media form. Students who are consuming media at the rate that they are currently doing so should be able to contribute to the digital world in some form and being capable content creators is a wonderful way to do so. Content creation is imperative to teach our students because many of them focus on the consumption aspect of things. As teachers, we need to encourage our students to create projects and share with others so that they can engage responsibly. The creation of digital media will also help students prepare for their futures. 

4. Reflect-This step is essential to ensuring that our students are responsible consumers of digital media. Students must be able to regularly reflect on the content that they are creating and consuming. "This skill of reflection helps our students become humane consumers and creators of digital and media content."

When I think of myself as a consumer of digital media, sometimes reflection includes taking a social media break. When I do not feel like I am engaging in a positive way, I take a break to reflect on why this is. I tend to encourage my students to do the same, although, it proves to be much more difficult for them. Sometimes, I give them extra credit for logging off and doing something outside or engaging with others outside of the technology realm. 

5. Act-This step involves using the digital platform to better the world. This means collaborating with global and local communities to help solve problems. This implies that students should not just use their media literacy to go on Facebook to complain, but to help solve bigger issues. Being an informed digital citizen can lead to helping solve issues collaboratively. Having access to the internet gives us insight into so much of the world and I hope that our students can see how privileged they are to have this tool. 

    While I feel that all of these competencies are extremely important, I believe that the ability to analyze information is the most crucial today. If a student can effectively analyze the media that they are taking in, they will be able to create, reflect, and act with more success. If a student is unable to analyze the media they are consuming, they are unlikely to be successful digital citizens as they won't be engaging responsibly. 

                                    Image Source: Renee Hobbs Medium

 The Medium is the Message

   Truthfully, I think that it could be argued that each of Renee Hobbs' five competencies could be applied to McLuhan's Medium is the Message philosophy depending on how you look at it. In my opinion, I think that Hobbs' Create competency intertwines with McLuhan's belief the most because a media creator would want to consider the medium that they are using in the creation of their message. For example, a video could be much more powerful than a longer text if the creator wanted to evoke a certain emotion in a shorter amount of time. Sometimes, a creator might choose to use a short witty Twitter post to gain quick attention, rather than writing an entire article. I do find this theory fascinating and will continue to think about it while consuming media on a daily basis.