You were exposed to the term 'media literacy' in your visual representation during the previous lesson. You may still have some unresolved questions about media literacy such as:
- How significant a component of digital literacy is media literacy?
- Does media literacy refer only to advertisements and news media?
- What other forms of media are included in media literacy?
What is media literacy?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6grhWShNY]
Video: What is Media Literacy? (3:06)
MediaSmarts is Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy. On their website they describe media literacy as follows:
"Media literacy reflects our ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce media through understanding and appreciation of:
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the art, meaning and messaging of various forms of media texts
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the impact and influence of mass media and popular culture
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how media texts are constructed and why they are produced
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how media can be used to communicate our own ideas effectively
Critical thinking is central to both digital and media literacy."
Source: MediaSmarts
Click here to read the key concepts of media literacy on the MediaSmarts website. Just read that one paragraph, but read it carefully and extract the main responsibilities for teachers in media literacy and the kind of questions that media consumers must learn to ask. Compare this with the US-based National Association for Media Literacy Education's (NAMLE) list of key questions. Do you see the overlap?
Now watch Andrea Quijada's TED Talk called "Creating critical thinkers through media literacy". Which of the media literacy concepts and questions did she mention? How does media literacy develop critical thinking?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAApvHZ6XE]
Video: Creating critical thinkers through media literacy (7:03)
