Saturday, December 08, 2007

Media Literacy & Technology

I just finished viewing Cat Ballou with my kids, who didn't stay for the entire film! I loved this movie but viewing it this evening I realized that what was once state of the art technology (albeit 40 years ago) is now something that anyone can produce in their own home. I feel old!

There are films of better quality these days on youtube! No wonder my sons left the room! It was interesting because the film studies critics at the end (it was TVO) were discussing morality and character in the film...they even got it wrong!!!

The more I learn about technology, media, the net and myself, I think I need to teach media studies! We have certainly evolved but our students only know what is.

3 comments:

Lorna Reads said...

Hi - I think someone has to teach Media Studies. Do "they" get it?

It would appear that Media is now as vast and deep as Technology is. I watched a student recently "doctor" a picture - and it still looked very real. He removed a window from the building and some trees out front and the end of the fencing. I wondered if he was able to apply critical thinking to the next media image - is it real? Has someone doctored it? Our youth are going to have to be astute critical thinkers with a vast framework of healthy scepticism for almost everything in their lives. It is almost sad somehow - can you trust anything? What IS real? (more to the point: IS anything real??)
L

J Martin said...

First things first: You are not old.

I love teaching media studies. And yes, Lorna, I've witnessed students altering photos as well. They have no qualms about doing it. I think media literacy is a "must-teach" strand. Media is woven throughout the curriculum, but, in my experience, teachers often gloss over the strand. Media lessons are left at the end of a unit "if there's time". Students should explore media and its power. Any medium can inform and persuade. Kids film all sorts of things with cameras (fights, for example) and then post them on YouTube. They often don't think about the consequences (or the message itself).

The Media Awareness Network is an excellent source.
-Julie

J Martin said...

Hi,
I tried posting this earlier but something weird happened. So here it is again...

First things first: You are not old.

I love teaching media studies. And yes, Lorna, I too have witnessed students altering photos. They have no qualms in doing so. A student today showed me the wonders of Adobe PhotoShop. Magazines "digitize" models' photos without a second thought. But do you remember the controversy that ensued after Time and Newsweek both had OJ Simpson on their covers and his skin colour was different in each one?

I think media literacy is a "must-teach" strand. In my experience, though, some teachers gloss over the media sections. Media is left to then end of a unit "if there's time." Our students need to explore media much more deeply. They film their lives and events around them and then post the finished products on You Tube. They don't think about the consequences of doing so (the message, as it were). Each medium has the power to both inform and persuade.

I find the Media Awareness Network to be an excellent source. The New York Times teacher resource section has many media ideas. Last year, there was a lesson about the celebrity milk ads that appear in many U.S. magazines.

Students too like studying media. I remember when I was teaching World War I, students were shocked to learn that the Canadian Government was altering photographs of the Front before they were put out for public consumption.
Thanks,
Julie