Enhancing Media Literacy with Technology

Not all about books, but about technology and digital media. Technology is everywhere. In the 21^st century, we have been exposed to a tremendous amount of technology. The younger generations are also being exposed which is now becoming a way of life and comes natural to use.

Using Media in the Classroom

Since we rely on technology so much in our lives, why not incorporate it in the classrooms. It is important in the curriculum for students to understand how to create forms of media. This not only makes it interesting to the students but it strengthens their understanding of how to use media to portray a message.

Bard, M. (n.d.). Poster [Online Image].
Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2dZfFAA

Social media can be a powerful tool used in the classroom. This article, A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom written by Vicki Davis provides helpful tips and information on how to incorporate social media in your teaching lessons and what effect it has on students in the 21^st century. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Blogger have been used successfully for students to analyze information as well as create their own content to post and share. For example, students can use YouTube to create presentations on a subject rather than presenting in class. Therefore, these social media outlets provide an engaging alternative for students to learn and share their knowledge with their class and the world.

Beware What You Share

However, incorporating media in the classroom must be used with caution. Teachers should be aware of online issues in order for media in the classroom to be effective and not a distraction for the students.

Fullerton, B. (2014, April 29).
Poster [Online Image].
Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2ecyY4V

Digital citizenship is important to notify students about so they can be safe online. There are numerous issues such as plagiarism, cyber bullying, security issues, and online maturity. Theses issues need to be addressed to students so they are aware and educated. The website Cyber Academy is a fun game students can play which educates them how to be safe online by focusing on security issues such as spam email, personal information, website dangers, and cyber bullying and how to detect if something is bad. It is important for teachers to monitor the students to ensure they are staying on task and being safe.

Media Literacy

Media information can also be critiqued and analyzed which is a key expectation in the curriculum. In order for students to develop literacy skills, multimedia texts can help with that. For instance, students can research certain subjects online that are of interest to them and spark conversations to their peers or family members about what they have read. This is interpreting and analyzing text and media sources.

Thoughtful Learning. (2016).
Poster [Online Image]. Retrieved from
 http://bit.ly/2dtyGs8

Mobile learning is an effective medium for students to use in the classroom or at home to develop media literacy skills. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops are gadgets that can be used for mobile learning. The reading “More Verbs, Fewer Nouns” written by Julie Evans explains how to incorporate mobile learning in the classroom effectively. The reading emphasizes that the effect these devices have is quite significant. Many benefits result from mobile learning as students develop skills such as communication and collaboration which can be helpful for their future in education or future careers. Students are also able to explore and gain an understanding of media languages – sounds, video, images, graphics, and words.

The blog post It's Not a Pipe: Teaching Kids to Read the Media recalls about a lesson where a class was shown a painting that included the phrase “ceci n’est un pipe” which in English means “it’s not a pipe”. It sends the message that media texts are not always real, but they are representations of reality. Therefore, it is important for students to be exposed to media and learn how to analyze and interpret it in their own way.

Media in the classroom has resulted in many benefits in student’s learning - improvements in engagement, literacy skills, and an overall better understanding of media language. Media can be a tool used to teach but also a tool for students to use to learn, present, and collaborate. Therefore, since digital media is such an important component to our 21^st century lives, it is important to be able to comprehend and create content from different forms of media which can be learned through the incorporation of media in schools.