Globalization / Networked Society, media
Media Literacy and Education
Recommendations / How we can educate
Edit of an Existing Design Wiki Entry
Edited by: Chantal Drolet, January 2009The format of this Word document: Please note that this document is a duplicate of the edit created in the wiki mentioned above. I kept the Arial font, forgone the indentations and used a subtitle format emulating the Wikipedia conventions. The APA style has been respected for quotations and references.
Rationale
With my entry, I chose to offer an example under the heading of “Recommendations / How we can educate”. There is a need to add to the information presented based on the escalating use of digital films on the web, as well as the increasing availability of this type of technology in schools. Digital film literacy can play a valuable role in the nurturing of global awareness and engaged citizenry.
The deconstruction, or analysis, necessary to produce student-made public service announcements and documentaries on racism, environmental issues or religious diversity can have a strong influence on young people’s values and conduct (Kline, Steward, Murphy, 2006).
Learning the techniques employed to create meaning in moviemaking empowers students with the capabilities of reconstructing similar products. The difference is that this time, they control the content and the depiction of the characters.
Kline, S., Stewart, K., & Murphy, D. (2006). Media literacy in the risk society: toward a risk reduction strategy. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1): 131-153. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from: http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE29-1/CJE29-1.pdf#page=11
The Validity of Digital Film Communication Literacy
One of the best ways to create awareness concerning the pervasive influence of the media on behaviors and attitudes is to engage students in the production of their own media projects. Digital film making, for example, is an alternative form of media literacy well suited to develop youth’s critical analysis of the mass media.
For instance, one of the important aspects of film making is selecting a theme, researching it and devising an original angle to promote the chosen concept. In order to create a public service announcement on a social issue students must spend a great deal of time finding data and statistics about this issue.
Once a clear mental picture is created around this topic, young cinematographers must use the grammar of film making to invent an innovative and enticing way of communicating their message. Like any professional advertisement campaign, the endeavor is to hook the members of the audience; or in other words, to convey a powerful message and influence the public’s behavior.
A major difference between digital film communication and commercial media, however, is that the educational aspect of film making centers its attention on social contribution, rather than consumption. Furthermore, the intent behind the creation of media shared among adolescents is to promote citizenship and awareness (Greenhow, 2008), not to concoct artificial needs in order to increase financial gains.
This is not to say that mainstream media only produce rubbish messages, detrimental to the public. On the contrary, if chosen with discernment, valuable information can be disseminated among citizens by a number of legitimate agents such as journalists, editors, documentary makers and bloggers. The key issues reside in a clear understanding of the iteration involved in the process of media production (Stables, 1997) as well as the critical assessment needed to decide which documents to access or avoid; believe or distrust. These are the intellectual outcomes of a digital film communication program.
As mentioned earlier on this page, a number of ethnographic studies have recognized that youth is often represented with a negative bias in conventional media. For example, “girls [may be presented] as fashion obsessed and impressionable” and “teen mothers as […] welfare bums”, to give only a few examples (Kelly, 2006). Moreover, no one will refute the fact that women’s and men’s bodies, young and old, are ruthlessly exploited by advertising firms to sell innumerable products; from cars to cigarettes. Magazines, television commercials, and even newspapers disseminate these kinds of images and contribute to the distortion of young people’s self-identity, while also cultivating a passive attitude.
Students involved in digital film communication become more aware of the stratagems that promotional media utilize to influence their self-image, their choices, and by extension, their lives. Equipped with such powerful incentives to act, adolescents easily become enthralled with technological tools enabling them to take action. The creative and critical processes involved when using communication technology can be highly motivating. Analyzing the media and creating their own scripts and stories also provides them with effective strategies to respond to commoditization of youth image in commercial broadcasting (T. Riecken, Conibear, Michel, Lyall, Scott, Tanaka, Stewart, J. Riecken, & Strong-Wilson, 2006).
Film making using digital technologies generates a language of transcendence, which facilitates the articulation of a discourse surpassing the limits set by the mass media’s ordinary hubbub. Digital film communication allows students to develop healthy self-representations, responsible voices (Riecken et al., 2006) and to promote active social contributions among their peers. From this point of view, media literacy and the grammar of film making offer powerful means of combating apathy (Bell, 2005) toward some of the manipulative effects of mainstream communication channels.
Finally, the hands-on experience of movie making brings about an appreciation for the spin involved when publishing media content. It also cultivates a point of reference from which to analyze the validity of information distributed by conventional communication agencies.
Example of Student film
The following link is a TeacherTube public service announcement created by Middle School students. Contrary to the usual negative treatment that “at risk” students receive from conventional media, this production portrays them in a positive light.
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=d36b602d3380b92c2476
Description:
“At Risk” Students is a Public Service announcement that is trying to inspire students to succeed despite the odds. This video was the 2007 Jere Baxter Middle School entry for the Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) program in the Public Service Announcement (PSA) Category. This video was awarded the KWN New Vision Award for PSA, the Technical Award for Writing, the Online Voting Award for Best Video, and the KWN New Vision Video of the Year-Best in the United States. Of the 14 awards given this video won four of them.
Jere Baxter is an inner-city school located in Nashville, Tennessee. The group was sponsored by Mr. Sam Frey. For winning the KWN awards, Mr. Frey was able to take three students on an all-expense-paid trip to New York/ New Jersey for the awards show sponsored by Panasonic. Then for winning Video of the Year for this video, Mr. Frey was asked to take three different students along with his wife on an all-expense-paid to Japan, sponsored by Panasonic and Japan Airlines. This video was also entered into the Tennessee eTales contest and won one of the awards given to teachers.
== References for “The Validity of Digital Film Literacy” ==
Greenhow, C. (2008). Connecting informal and formal learning experiences in the age of participatory media: Commentary on Bull et al. (2008). Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 8(3), 187-194. Retrieved November 8, 2008 from: http://www.citejournal.org/articles/v8i3editorial1.pdf
Kelly, D. M. (2006). Frame work: helping youth counter their misrepresentations in media. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1): 27-48. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from: http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE29-1/CJE29-1.pdf#page=11
Riecken, T., Conibear, F., Michel, C., Lyall, J., Scott, T., Tanaka, M., Stewart, S., Riecken, J., & Strong-Wilson, T. (2006). Resistance through re-presenting culture: aboriginal students filmmakers and participatory action research project on health and wellness. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1): 265-286. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from: http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE29-1/CJE29-1.pdf#page=11
Stables, K. (1997). Critical issues to consider when introducing technology education in the curriculum of young learners. Journal of Technology Education, vol. 8, No. 2. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v8n2/pdf/stables.pdf
== See Also ==
Poyntz, S. R. (2006). Independent media, youth agency and the promise of media education. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(1): 154-175. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from: http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE29-1/CJE29-1.pdf#page=11
Welsch, M., personal blog, A vision of students today (& what teachers must do – brave new classroom 2.0), October 21, 2008. Retrieved from: http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/a-vision-of-students-today-what-teachers-must-do/
TeacherTube: http://www.teachertube.com/