Eight Key Concepts for Media Literacy

John Pungente, S.J. From Barry Duncan et al. Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto, ON. Canada, 1989.

1. All media are constructions

The media do not present simple reflections of external reality. Rather, they present carefully crafted constructions that reflect many decisions and result from many determining factors. Media Literacy works towards deconstructing these constructions, taking them apart to show how they are made.

2. The media construct reality

The media are responsible for the majority of the observations and experiences from which we build up our personal understandings of the world and how it works. Much of our view of reality is based on media messages that have been pre-constructed and have attitudes, interpretations and conclusions already built in. The media, to a great extent, give us our sense of reality.

Question Authority:

•    Who is responsible for the presentation of this information?

•    What are this person’s/organization’s credentials?

•    What conscious choices did this person make in selecting information resources? 

•    What key relationships can you see between these information resources?

•    How do these relationships affect the logic of this presentation?

•    Do other people rely on this presentation? Who and for what purposes?

3. Audiences negotiate meaning in the media

The media provide us with much of the material upon which we build our picture of reality, and we all "negotiate" meaning according to individual factors: personal needs and anxieties, the pleasures or troubles of the day, racial and sexual attitudes, family and cultural background, and so forth.

4. Media have commercial implications

Media Literacy aims to encourage an awareness of how the media are influenced by commercial considerations, and how these affect content, technique and distribution. Most media production is a business, and must therefore make a profit. Questions of ownership and control are central: a relatively small number of individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media.

Question Audience:

 

•    Who is the target audience for this information?  What social characteristics identify this audience?

•    Has this information undergone a review process preceding publication?  What is the intent behind this process?

•    What is the target audience’s primary interest in this information?  What is your primary interest? Where do you sense interesting differences?

5. Media contain ideological and value messages

All media products are advertising, in some sense, in that they proclaim values and ways of life. Explicitly or implicitly, the mainstream media convey ideological messages about such issues as the nature of the good life, the virtue of consumerism, the role of women, the acceptance of authority, and unquestioning patriotism.

6. Media have social and political implications

The media have great influence on politics and on forming social change. Television can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of image. The media involve us in concerns such as civil rights issues, famines in Africa, and the AIDS epidemic. They give us an intimate sense of national issues and global concerns, so that we become citizens of Marshall McLuhan's "Global Village."

Question Unique Viewpoint:

•    Does this presentation reflect a unique viewpoint on this topic?

•    What does this presentation add to the cultural conversation surrounding this topic?

•    How does this presentation enrich/challenge my own unique point of view?

•    How has this presentation/might this presentation influence your discipline, other disciplines, popular conceptions of the topic, and social action surrounding the topic?

•    How might you further engage this topic in your life?

7. Form and content are closely related in the media

As Marshall McLuhan noted, each medium has its own grammar and codifies reality in its own particular way. Different media will report the same event, but create different impressions and messages.

8. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form

Just as we notice the pleasing rhythms of certain pieces of poetry or prose, so we ought to be able to enjoy the pleasing forms and effects of the different media.

Questions Depth of Coverage:

•    Does this presentation offer a general overview of a topic or an in-depth view of some interesting aspect of this subject? How does this influence the format in which the information is presented?

•    How might you re-imagine the presentation of this information in a variety of formats for different audiences or purposes?  What aesthetic considerations come into play?

3 Approaches Based on Different Pedagogical Theories

Descriptions of learning styes from: http://ihsc.worc.ac.uk/clinical/learningresources/learning/index.html

Cognitivist: EN139 (Medical Ethics)

Philosophy: Learning is something that happens as a result of thinking. Learning is a process in which the student is actively engaged. Information is processed to create symbolic meaning. Learning is mainly based on the meaning that students associate with symbols. Symbols and meaning have to be organised in a retrievable manner for learning to have occurred. Learning results in changes in thought processes.

 

 

Method: The teacher needs to know about the student’s previous learning. The teacher assists the student in developing meaning by providing puzzles and rules for the student to work through. The teacher provides a structure or helps the student to create a structure to which is added new learning. Students are provided with opportunities to examine the same puzzle or rule under different conditions or situations. New information is presented during the use of a well known puzzle to facilitate the creation of meaningful links between old and new information. Students are provided with positive feedback to guide their future thinking and symbolic or model creation.  Programmed learning, discovery learning, learning styles.

 

 

Pedagogy:  Learner self-assessment.  Presentation of short movie.  Presentation of questions.  Presentation of search techniques and tools.  Guided worksheets.  Positive feedback.

 

 

Media: Articles, websites

Constructivist: EN115 (Bullying)

Overall Philosophy: Learning results in changes in the whole person.  Knowledge is created by the individual.

 

Reflective Learning

 

Philosophy: Learning is not sequential it is cyclical and more knowledge can be created by constantly re-thinking about a learning experience.

 

 

Method: The teacher can be used as a resource and a sounding board but learning occurs through the student thinking about their learning experiences, sometimes known as "critical incidents".

 

 

Problem-Based Learning

 

Philosophy: Knowledge is complex, contextual construct and learning occurs through a complex reiteration of finding, testing and applying information and knowledge to solve a problem.

 

 

Method: The teacher creates "triggers" and "scenarios" in which the learner is provided with the opportunity to seek out the information they need in order to create knowledge.

 

 

Resource-Based Learning

 

Philosophy: Knowledge is a complex, contextual construct and learning occurs through developing strategies for seeking information resources with which to extend knowledge.

 

Method: The teacher and the organisation are responsible for creating resources through which students develop the skills to create information seeking strategies and develop their knowledge.

 

 

Pedagogy: Presentation of questions along with various media examining the issue at hand.  Group and personal reflection.  Presentation of search tips and tools.  Using CQ article and Media that Matters Film Festival movies as a springboard, devise search strategies.  Using tools presented in PPT, conduct these searches. 

 

 

Media: Movies and article

Humanist/Constructivist: EN172 (General)

Philosophy: Learners should be assisted to learn what they choose to learn. Adults learn more successfully using humanist learning theories because they learn differently from children.

 

 

Methods: 1) The teacher creates learning opportunities and acts as a facilitator and a resource, all learning is valued. 2) The teacher is a facilitator and a resource, all learning is valued and learning opportunities are based on students' previous experience and immediate need.

 

 

Pedagogy: Submission of learner questions.  Screening of instructor-created media addressing these questions.  Instructor-facilitated discussion following screening. Involvement of other expert resources.  Guided journey from one learning environment  to another (determined by pre-session questions), addressing immediate needs at each stop.

 

 

Media: Movie, pamphlets