LibGuides: Media Literacy Guide: Media Literacy

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Land Acknowledgement

The shared Nipissing University and Canadore College campus sits on the territory of Nipissing First Nation, the territory of the Anishnabek, within lands protected by the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850. We are grateful to be able to live and learn on these lands with all our relations.

Media/Digital Literacy

What is Media Literacy?

Definition:

Media literacy is the ability to confidently access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.

"Media literacy refers to the ability to interpret and understand how various forms of media operate, and the impact those media can have on one’s perspective on people, events or issues. To be media literate is to understand that media are constructions, that audiences negotiate meaning, that all media have commercial, social and political implications, and that the content of media depends in part on the nature of the medium. Media literacy involves thinking critically and actively deconstructing the media one consumes. It also involves understanding one’s role as a consumer and creator of media and understanding the ways in which governments regulate media" (The Canadian Encyclopedia).

According to MediaSmarts, "Media are powerful forces in the lives of youth. Music, TV, video games, magazines and other media all have a strong influence on how we see the world, an influence that often begins in infancy. To be engaged and critical media consumers, kids need to develop skills and habits of media literacy. These skills include being able to access media on a basic level, to analyze it in a critical way based on certain key concepts, to evaluate it based on that analysis, and, finally, to produce media oneself. This process of learning media literacy skills is media education". The five themes being explored by MediaSmarts this year are: Use, Understand, Engage, Access, and Verify.

Online Resources to Learn More About Media Literacy

Centre for Media Literacy
A pioneer in its field, the Center for Media Literacy (CML) is an educational organization that provides leadership, public education, professional development and evidence-based educational resources nationally and internationally. Dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating and participating with media content, CML works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture. The ultimate goal is to make wise choices possible.
Centre for Media Literacy - Best Practices
Best Practices encompasses the best of media literacy education - the instructional tools and techniques that teachers use to organize their classes, create engaging activities and accomplish their learning objectives. Explore this section to learn more about the exploding field of media literacy education and how to incorporate it in teaching, in learning and in life.

Critical Media Project (CMP)
Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical thinking and empathy, and builds on their capacities to advocate for change around questions of identity.
CMP has a two-fold mission:
* To raise critical awareness and provide the tools to decode media representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic class, religion, age, and disability, and develop an understanding as to how these identities intersect.
* To encourage and offer guidance for students to tell their own stories, create their own representations, and uphold their status as active and engaged participants in civic society.

MediaSmarts - Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy
MediaSmarts has been developing digital and media literacy programs and resources for Canadian homes, schools and communities since 1996. Through our work we support adults with information and tools so they can help children and teens develop the critical thinking skills they need for interacting with the media they love.

Our work falls into three main areas: education, public awareness, and research and policy.
MediaSmarts - Media Literacy Fundamentals
This section looks at the various aspects and principles relating to media literacy. The relationship between media literacy and media education is also explored and tips are provided for integrating media literacy into the classroom in subjects across the curriculum.

National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
Our Mission: As the leading voice, convener, and resource for media literacy education, NAMLE aims to make media literacy highly valued and widely practiced as an essential life skill.
NAMLE envisions a day when everyone, in our nation and around the world, possesses the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. Media literacy education refers to the practices necessary to foster these skills.