Media Literacy in the Classroom What and how are students learning? David Buckingham, Andrew Burn, Becky Parry, Mandy Powell

Transcription

1 Media Literacy in the Classroom What and how are students learning? David Buckingham, Andrew Burn, Becky Parry, Mandy Powell Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media Institute of Education, University of London

2 Where we ve been A continuing history Defensiveness: protection from (cultural, moral, political) influence, promoting critical/rational consumption Democratisation: educational progressivism, recognising children s media cultures, class politics

3 Where are we now? Beyond protectionism understanding and participation Changing views of media and of learning Key concepts media language, representation, institution, audience Literacy: reading and writing Creativity, culture and critique Policy media literacy and (self-)regulation New media media education 2.0?

4 Where does it happen? Media Studies (specialist subject) schools and HE Media education - in English - in ICT, citizenship, other subjects Media in primary schools literacy Changing politics of education: centralised control, but also marketisation

5 Why research? The policy debate leave it to teacher? Rhetoric versus reality Looking at learning, not just teaching Not effectiveness or good practice, but what works and doesn t work in specific settings

6 Issues and theories Understanding learning: discourse and conceptual understanding (Vygotsky) Progression: ages and stages (Piaget) or the spiral curriculum? (Bruner) Multiple literacies: media and modes (Kress), literacy as social practice (Street) Legitimation: what kinds of knowledge or discourse count in the media classroom? (Bernstein) Theory and practice: reading and writing media

7 New issues emerging Institutionalisation: assessment, curriculum, the promotional culture of marketised schooling Changing technology: beyond instrumentalism, the limits of creativity, converging literacies Participatory and commercialised media cultures Teachers cultures students cultures

8 Our research Developing media literacy: towards a model of learning progression, ESRC, Jan 09 Dec 11 What and how can students learn about media over time? Years 2/3, 4/5, 8/9, 10/11 Cross-sectional and longitudinal Specialist Media Arts schools Locations broadly middle-class / working-class

9 Fieldwork Year 1 audit : survey, interviews Years 2 and 3 - curriculum development: six units of classroom work Inductive activities existing knowledge Key concepts language (narrative) representation (celebrity) institution (news) audience (.)

10 Work in progress! Logistics and messy realities Collaboration with teachers The data mountain Systematic comparison and analysis A few snapshots from different sites

11 Teachers cultures, students cultures

12 Teachers and students media cultures Do media educators incorporate young people s media cultures in the work of the classroom? Or are they remote from their students cultural experiences? Henry Jenkins: grown-ups are one of the groups that need Media Literacy... it s got to include the teachers who need to be re-told and re-taught. (2004) So: Is there a gap? How is it perceived by teachers? What does it mean for media education in the classroom?

13 Survey of media uses and attitudes: 1745 young people; 259 teachers Students media cultures General consumption: - music, television, games, films (60-85%) - newspapers (30%) Social networking - 86% use Facebook, 62% use Bebo Making Media (46-77%) : - making (but not editing?) short films - Photos - music mixes - websites

14 Teachers media cultures GENERAL CONSUMPTION Television, music and radio (70%) Film and newspapers (68%; media teachers, 86%) ONLINE 90% - internet use for personal purposes. More functional (shopping, banking, etc) than social. BUT: 43% used social networking, with Facebook dominant. GAMES Frequent gaming: 15% Recent game experience: 63% Wide variety, from the MMORPG Everquest to Call of Duty, Medal of Honour, Wii Sport MAKING MEDIA 20% make music 10% make websites

15 So what gaps? Games Social networking Entertainment vs adult uses of internet Radio Newspapers BUT: less of a gap than might be imagined: teachers and students inhabit similar cultural worlds.

16 Media teachers perceptions of students media cultures SOME FEEL REMOTE: I found [teaching a course on computer games] quite challenging because it s something I don t do in my spare time. SOME FEEL CLOSE: I was showing some pictures I put on Facebook simply because it was an easy way to store them, to bring them up because you can put them on Flickr, but often they ve been taken down or whatever. They went oh my god, the teacher s got Facebook! SOME SEE A TECHNOLOGICAL GAP: It's a tricky situation for me because although I use a lot of technology here, I m actually previously quite a Luddite really, so with really quite old fashioned ideas about what things work, certainly in terms of new technologies SOME ASSUME CYBER-SAVVINESS: But then and the one big thing that you possibly also are going to have with media is how far ahead of the kids are the teachers. But then interestingly when I talk to my year 11 s about Twitter they hadn t heard of it, which I was really surprised about because I thought they would know more about it than I did

17 So what gaps? There are gaps, but they are not as striking as the overlap and common ground Teachers are generally enthusiastic about incorporating students media interests in the curriculum They are generally positive about students cultural experiences, though with some vestiges of protectionism and with some erroneous assumptions But what actually happens in teaching?

18 Complicated classrooms... Resident Evil: a snapshot from one observation Looking at horror narratives in films and games (GCSE Media Studies) - Teacher knows a lot about games (though disavowing knowledge of new technologies) - Connects with boys (but also some girls) who like games - Conflict with one girl who prefers films - Destabilising of conventional hierarchies of distinction - Opening up of questions beyond the safety of curriculum requirements - Exploring these issues through production

19 Media education bridging the gap? No obvious common culture, even between young people What gets legitimised as educational capital - and by whom? How do teachers use their popular cultural allegiances in the classroom? How can this become a third space for negotiation? Next, some more detailed examples

20 Establishing baselines 1: the media time-capsule Aims: to explore what learners already know about media concepts using unfamiliar media texts found in a time-capsule to explore how learners use familiar media texts to represent themselves and others to unfamiliar audiences by making their own time-capsules

21 The found timecapsule

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25 Questioning the objects what is this? how do you know? does it remind you of anything you use or see now? who is it for? who do you think made it? why do you think it s in the timecapsule? what can we tell about the person who put it in there?

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27 Establishing baselines 2: advertising Advertising (Depth) Aim: to explore what learners already know about media concepts (language, representation, audience and institution) using media education pedagogy and one media text

28 The Happiness Factory

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30 Sharing, extending and questioning knowledge and experience: building theory media education pedagogy depth: close reading strategies and attention to detail breadth: language, representation, institution, audience across media

31 Unit 1: Media Language Narrative Scary Movies

32 Structure Exploring what children and young people already know / understand about narrative and the conventions of scary stories / moving image form Experiencing texts which may extend what they know / understand about narrative Offering opportunities to creatively express and extend knowledge and understanding of narrative

33 Existing knowledge Pooling existing knowledge What do we expect to find in a scary (Primary) horror, suspense, thriller (Secondary) film / TV programme, book or game?

34 Viewing Viewing of a whole text (Lucky Dip) How does this film create a scary atmosphere? What are we expecting to happen in this film?

35 Analysis / Response Viewing of film, TV clips, stills, popular / picture books, music, games, photos How do different texts make audiences feel scared?

36 Production analysis editing and sound Picture Power How do music and image work together to create a scary atmosphere? How does the meaning change when we change the order of the images?

37 Scaffolding production skills In-camera editing How does the setting of a film help us create a scary atmosphere? What sorts of camera shots help us to tell a scary story?

38 Creative Production Making an opening sequence of a scary film How would you use what you know about creating scary / horror, suspense, thriller films to create one of your own? Using the title Who is at the Door? or Home Alone create a sequence or scene from a scary film, this could be the opening, closing or another key moment.

39 Distribution Marketing your film How would you make an audience come to see your film? Groups produce publicity or promotional material for their movie for two different audiences.

40 Exhibition Screening of films How effective do you think your film was? An opportunity for reflection and evaluation

41 What happened Year 2 Able to identify codes and conventions of scary films and infer meaning and make personal responses Very keen to learn a media vocabulary for example types of shots Storyboards became an expression of personal response / interpretation

42 What happened - Year 4 Able to draw on newly explicit media language such as shot composition into their own productions Production as play Importance of exhibition to constructive evaluation

43 What happened - Year 8 Focus on Point of View Cross media Cultural hierarchies Valuing student knowledge

44 What happened Year 11 Compatibility with GCSE Media Studies. Games vs. films Production performance. Rehearsing knowledge.

45 Emerging issues Students and teachers media cultures in the classroom Progression up close and personal Cultural values (proximity to literacy and English) Impact of contemporary contexts / curriculum / specifications on planning, teaching and learning

46 Continuing questions Age differences: learning key concepts Social class/context differences Students cultures --- teachers cultures Teachers identity, expertise and learning curves Changing school cultures and political contexts Theory and practice: scaffolding, from concrete to abstract, new media technologies Pedagogy and positioning: what is a media literate individual?

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