The Media Education Foundation website was a real treat to visit, and it was amazingly easy to spend an hour there. I started with the mission, which concludes with the statement, "Our aim is to inspire students to think critically and in new ways about the hyper-mediated world around them."
I feel I am such a student -- I want the tools necessary to think critically about media. I want this to become second nature so that I can naturally incorporate it into both my personal and professional life.
I first looked at the video collection and watched several previews and looked over some materials. I like that there are full-length previews of the movies (although I didn't put in the time to watch any full previews yet), study guides, and transcripts available. I looked over Beauty Mark and Generation M in some detail and thought the materials could encourage critical thinking and meaningful personal and classroom interaction with the content.
I was excited to find the film Culture Politics & Pedagogy: A Conversation with Henry Giroux. I will watch that preview or read the transcript as soon as I have some free time, as Giroux was my first introduction to the idea of a corporate pedagogy.
I was also excited to discover the page of handouts and articles, such as Deconstructing a Print Advertisement. Here I found something that is directly related to content I teach. War Games: Thinking Critically About Video Games That Play At War is a handout/activity that I might be able to incorporate into my Game Programming class. It is possible that I could weave a number of these activities regarding gender roles, violence, politics, and advertising throughout the course and find ways to excite students about creating video games that teach values of equity, acceptance, collaboration, and social justice.
This content relates directly to two of the three anchors of our course. The mission of the organization is to help students see the ideology in the media they consume (anchor #3). The content is clearly constructed (or chosen) with this mission as a focus. For example, in the Beauty Mark post-viewing questions portion of the study guide, question #4: "What messages do the media send about beauty, youth, aging, and health? How do you think media culture might help shape these cultural attitudes?" How to be a Critical Media Viewer #1 states, "Remember that all media images and messages are constructions. Ads and other media messages have been carefully crafted with the intent to send a specific message."
Teaching students to be critical consumers of media will help students identify as citizens and will combat the messages that are antithetical to social justice, equity, and inclusion. This is a slow path to education reform (anchor #2), but a critical component. Students who value education will grow into citizens who value education. In addition, these tools can help us as teachers to embrace these values in our classrooms.
I have no way to evaluate whether the content addresses the first anchor of the course, New Media and Digital Natives. The content is really "old media" content -- long movies and materials that encourage discussion of the content. There are Internet research components within the projects in the materials, for example "find a media example – from a movie, television show, magazine, the Internet, etc." within the Beauty Mark study guide, but other links to Internet materials are links to articles, which are decidedly old media. Providing new media content wouldn't necessarily address a tech-savvy audience, however. I have not seen compelling evidence that there is a generational difference in how people learn, and I suspect that content that is interesting and engaging will be accessible. Demographic studies indicate that the Millenial generation is more liberal on social issues than preceding generations, so I believe the materials will be interesting to a young audience.
I didn't see content on the site for a younger audience (the audience for this content seemed to be high school (perhaps middle school) and up). I'm not sure if I missed the content or if the mission doesn't include younger children, but I feel that the mission would be more successful if parents and educators had the necessary tools to begin teaching students to think critically about media at a younger age.
Hi Maggie,
ReplyDeleteThat was my thought as well, where are the age limits. Some of the videos and materials look to be a great addition to a lesson, but without a rating I'm not sure I want to spend 125.00 on a video only to realize its not appropriate. But I think the site has some great educational tools for students, if not to change policy to make them very aware of how they are manipulated and viewed by media.
I thought about the age limits too and wondered how Megan would be able to use this material, if any at all. I also wondered as a parent when would I show my son any of these movies. I am not sure about that, but I feel like I can use the questions that came at the end of Deconstructing Print Media now in an edited form.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, loved the demographics chart. I just wonder who was answering the question for the Greatest Generation. Was it the men or the women and did they think the question was about gender or race?
Age plays a factor in these videos, but that does not mean that I cannot use them for my own educational curiosity. Also, I could recommend certain documentries to parents.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know, Megan. I actually was thinking specifically of you when I looked at the materials, and I was thinking of Dr. Bogad's questions about how we could watch Disney films with children and Sarah's answers about her son. I would have welcomed some guidance when my children were younger and when I had Brownie Girl Scout troops.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I would assume that the people answering the question for the Greatest Generation were probably a larger percentage female than male simply because women live longer. There are a lot of interesting questions in that survey -- I linked to only one of them. I see what looks like the Millenials really being fed up with the status quo, and who can blame them? This economy is awful. They've essentially been lied to, as Ken Robinson indicates -- that "get a degree and you'll get a job" story that we were all told simply isn't true. (Not even for my generation -- Gen X, although it was still true when many of us graduated college.)
ReplyDeleteI really like how you all are thinking about the uses that these materials have for younger audiences (or parents and teachers of younger kids.) There are also lots of other online resources for younger children, as well. I will post some on my blog as a reference!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up regarding the Deconstructing an Advertisment guide. I am definitely going to use it in my class this year.
ReplyDeleteReading your entry helped me realize that indeed, much of the material on the site is pointed toward issues best covered with older students. I thought Megan's take that some of the videos could be useful for families is interesting, as well.
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