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Model for Digital and Media Literacy

What is media literacy? 

Media Literacy helps learners develop critical thinking skills with all types of media such as articles, radio, tv, magazines, movies, music, and more. According to the article from Media Literacy Now, media literacy is “an umbrella term encompassing variety of approaches that build an understanding how media messages shape our culture and society and give people tools to advocate for a change media system.” Media literacy gives our students the opportunity to access and analyze media messages and create their own message and share it with others. Our professor Nicole shared how this is important now because our teenagers can spend around 11 hours per day using "media multitasking."

In our classrooms

How can we motivate and encourage our students to use digital and media in our classrooms? Involving digital and media can help our students be creative and come out of their comfort zone in a safe way. In the article Media Education Lab, the book from Renee Hobbs was introduced and it explained how we can guide our students to use digital and media. Hobbs has a “A Process Model for Digital and Media Literacy,” which is 5 steps: access, analyze, create, reflect, and act. These five steps remind me of a persuasive essay my English language learners (ELLs) are writing about.
Source: Media Literacy & Online Learning 

Hobb's Model

The first step in Hobb’s model is access, in which students locate and identify information for a task. Even though I provided resources like articles or videos that they can use for their evidence, they are still identifying important information from articles or videos that are reliable. In their following essays, they would be able to access trustworthy information by themselves. 

The second step in the model is to analyze which students examine the messages and information they receive from digital and media forms. In this step, my students collaborate and receive feedback from me digitally. For example, when they write their thesis, I encourage my students to highlight their three reasons in different colors in their persuasive essay. This helps them keep everything organized. This can help them follow the structure better. 

The following step in Hobb’s model is create. In this step, there is creativity and confidence in self-expression. One of the things that I would like to explore more with my students is screen casting. In this manner, my ELLs can talk about their persuasive essay in a safe, comfortable environment. Additionally, it can help them become creators and practice pronunciation. 

 The last two steps in the model are reflect and act. In reflection, students react to feedback from their classmates from Peergrade, which is an online app that allows students to grade and provide feedback to others. The final step is to act. This is also another thing that I would like to integrate in my class: motivating my students to share their works with others. With these practices, I believe we can help our students be part of our media literacy. Hobbs shares in the Youtube video about what is digital and media literacy. She discusses that literacy can be in different types of texts and how students can be creators and consumers of our digital environment.

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Comments

  1. Trinity Von HuffenstuffenApril 30, 2022 at 11:55 AM

    Hi there!

    Awesome post! Thank you so much for sharing the information about Peergrade! What a cool app! I have been on the lookout for an app just like this one! Thank you very much! The essay your students are writing sounds very cool. I love how you are using highlighters and color coding to support your students. I have taught essay writing years ago as a DL teacher and never thought to do that! I can really see how it would help students with their own organization but also understanding how essays are supposed to be organized in general. Awesome post!

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  2. NMZumpanoMay 1, 2022 at 9:04 AM

    Thanks for focusing on ways you already incorporate these competencies! If we all reflected on them in this manner they might become more of a habit in our teaching.

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  3. Nataliya ZelenetskaMay 1, 2022 at 4:57 PM

    Jesenia,

    I love your example of how English learners can record themselves talking about their essay. Not only they will practice their speaking skills in a more comfortable setting, where they are prepared for what to say or they have an option to make another recording. It will also give your a better insight on what they were trying to write about in their response or work. We all know that usually writing is the last domain that EL conquer, so when it is not fully developed, students are not able to fully express themselves. As a result, it may end up in a simple essay or group of paragraphs, that use the vocabulary the students know, but not the concepts they are trying to reflect on.

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  4. Kelly BarkerMay 1, 2022 at 6:07 PM

    Hi Jesenia,

    Thank you for your post. I enjoyed reading about how you think teachers can integrate Hobbs's competencies into the classroom. Like Nataliya, I think it's a great idea to let EL students present written work to you via a screencast. When I was working on my EL endorsement, we often explored alternative assessments for students to do so that they could still present their ideas and show what they know, but in a format that was more comfortable to them (e.g., portfolio projects). I feel that using technology to create alternative assessments would make the overall learning experience more dynamic- great job!

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