Blog #3 - Media Literacy

If literacy in the 21^st century is going beyond reading, writing, and presenting on paper and moving toward language in a multitude of mediums; educators have their hands full with keeping up with what is new and still give students necessary skills to produce “cogent arguments on paper”.

In order to prepare students for this new trend in literacy, where thoughts and ideas are presented more often in images and sounds in our multimedia culture rather than the printed word, the primary focus needs to be on communication in general. The form of communication for which students share their ideas would be the secondary element. Kathleen Tyner states in her book Literacy in a Digital World that media literacy or media education is more about education than it is about media. What this means is that the goal isn’t so much the study of the different medias as it is about how we can teach our students to interpret the information they are receiving today and how to create their own information in a way that allows others to understand what they are trying to communicate. Different mediums for communication can all be learned but learning how to formulate ones ideas, organize them effectively, develop strong points of emphasis, and presenting them cognitively requires no digital skill. If you are given a tool with no background in which to use it, the tool is useless. This digital age in which are students are native to, provides many new and exciting tools for which to enhance their level of communication. In order for them to utilize these tools they must first be grounded in literary skills, which will provide a solid foundation for utilizing media to produce beautifully created literary pieces.

By embracing the idea of literacy as the primary goal of education and then focusing on the mediums of sharing our thoughts and ideas educators will be able to balance the need to still embrace literacy on paper as well the multimedia of the 21^st century. There is not one size fits all method to education that so many “experts” would like the world to believe.

For this to be a reality, teachers need to first embrace the idea of a constructivist classroom. This means curriculum, classes and activities must be designed to engage students in problem solving and discovery, in learning how to learn. Secondly it also means providing students with proper scaffolding from which students can build upon in their problem solving and discovery. It is okay to lecture (only for ten minutes) and provide practice and drills from time to time as long as they have a purpose in the bigger picture of a student education. Teachers shouldn’t be afraid to do what works in the classroom. That usually means a variety of different things that get students motivated to learn.