I am now studying a module regarding media education as part of my MA in media. While interesting, it is a few years old and mostly focusing on the UK. That's why I have some questions about media education today.
Does your school have any formal media studies curriculum? Are media studies integrated into other subjects (such as English or arts?) what was the idea behind introducing the subject? was it to "immunise" the children against the dangers of media? to make children appreciate forms of media other than print? to acknowledge that the world is changing and the media are an important part of the culture?
as parents, do you educate your children about media? how and why?
And in general, what do you think about the idea of media education? (please also tell me where you're from if I don't know it yet)
I think many of you know me well enough to understand I am not asking anyone to do my homework for me I would however want to gain some more understanding of the issue.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
Hey Kama! I'm in my late 20s, so when I was in middle/high school there was no significant media education. In college it was very different, but it sounds that you're focusing on grade schools. At Brown there's a major ("concentration") called Modern Culture and Media.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
English teachers where I used to work did a unit on recognizing propaganda in the media. I also did a unit on critical thinking for internet browsing.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Couple of years ago in middle school, we had to write a paper about some current event, and explore how different sources reported it.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
I remember a really great project I did in high school (I'm 24 now) right after the district built us a new campus for the sophomores. They included a bunch of great computer and media labs that our teachers loved to take advantage of.
The project was for a history class and we had to create newspapers inspired by the propaganda of WWII with different groups writing from the perspective of different countries (US, Germany, England, Japan, etc). There was a huge focus on learning how information was spun so we had alot of fun coming up with headlines for our articles. Creating advertising and military recruiting posters was also a focus.
In general, there was alot of stress on print journalism but as teachers adopted to the technology, a few started branching into internet journalism (which meant more of a global focus rather than strictly our local paper, The Houston Chronicle.)
Television and media was never a big point of study from an educational or critical perspective.
And once you get into the more creative forms of media, you can forget about it.
I have two younger brothers including one who just graduated high school this year and even though I was around to hear alot about their classes and studies, I don't remember any emphasis on media studies, they actually probably did less than I did several years prior (not hard to believe since they attended high school in Louisiana while I went to school in Texas.)
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Kama, I'm trained as an English teacher and we do have recognizing propaganda in the media as part of our course of study. Formal media study, as course by itself, is not required in our state. There are some schools (usually much larger ones) that offer electives in media, but most schools only include any type of media study in the English program.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I should mention, I worked at a Middle School.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
thanks all. The propaganda angle is interesting.
We had nothing of the kind in my school, but it was ages ago. I wonder if that has changed.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
My office is at a middle school. There are no formal media classes, however I wouldn't be surprised if the technology classes or English classes had a unit on media propaganda. I vaguely remember a class years ago when I was in school that spent 3 days looking at all the different types of commercials and the tactics they use. That was high school.
Every room has a smart board and an overhead. We also have 2 free labs, a library with 45 computers, 3 rooms where every student has a computer (typing/technology, business/technology, shop), and two mobile labs. We also have several rooms with mini-labs of about 8 computers (year book, special ed, Reading Lab, and I feel like I am missing one).
We only have about 900 students.
I know the librarian spends several days at the beginning of the school year and at the middle of the school year to make a media presentation.
I have never watched the whole thing; but I have walked in when they were talking about the differences between wikipedia and authoritative sources. It seems to be a unit that is a mix on how to use the library and how to use the internet.
Our officer has a presentation for each class that talks about social networking sites. By gathering limited information from Myspace and other social networking sites, he demonstrates how easy it is to find a student's full name and address.
He then presents real world cases of pedophiles who pretended to be kids--showing them the chat logs and innocent false pictures they use contrasted with the pedophile's arrest photo and news case if someone was hurt. He also shows how easy it is to use public databases to find out all sorts of information. They have a video that goes with his presentation.
If you are interested in media like books,play, and films, our drama department does a series on musicals where they watch and analyze them. She also show's Bill Cosby Himself to talk about stage performance, comedic timing, et cetera.
Edit: I don't think she shows the entire film. I think she starts after the drugs and alcohol part. I have walked in plenty of times as he was talking about parenting.
[ July 13, 2009, 08:59 AM: Message edited by: lem ]
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
As a parent, I actively teach my children about the benefits and drawbacks of media. I want them to understand the motivations of people who create media, to be able to create media of their own, and to understand the influences of media on private and public opinions. We talk about relationships as portrayed in Disney movies, and whether in Real Life those relationships would be healthy or not. We talk about what we see in commercials, and the assumptions they make about certain populations. We talk about how storytelling in film and books is different, and why it needs to be different. We talk about bias in news reporting. Lots of things.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
quote:We talk about relationships as portrayed in Disney movies, and whether in Real Life those relationships would be healthy or not.
that's interesting! I read a study where the teacher used the Simpsons and the Flintstones to talk about representation of family, and which was more realistic.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I would however want to gain some more understanding of the issue.![[Wave]](graemlins/wave.gif)