Summary: Authors Kellner and Share (2007) describe the importance of implementing critical media literacy into a classroom environment because it promotes a more egalitarian democracy. Educational classrooms must not ignore that the major ways people in the 21st century receive, process, and create images and information is via media. Thus, educational institutions must reframe the tradition thought of literacy. Although Kellner and Share recognize that media may very well cause social problems (which is what Neil Postman states in article) because it dominants the cognitive habits of youth, they argue that there is pedagogical potential in media production. By incorporating media production in the classroom, educators are advocating a hands-on learning experience. Nevertheless, media production is beyond technical productions skills; it allows students to explore issues of gender, race, class, power, etc,. The media literacy movement in the US adopts a non-partisan stance. However, this poses a problem because it does not allow media education to become a tool that challenges issues such as oppression. Furthermore, critical media literacy allows people to critique mainstream approaches to literacy. Media literacy is also a form of communication; it allows individuals who are misrepresented in the mainstream tell their stories, and it allows dominant group individuals to engage with today’s social reality. Additionally, media literacy programs should criticize the ways that media reproduce large issues such as racism or sexism, and allow students to create their own alternative explanations and opinions. The authors then describe an example of how media literacy can be incorporated into a classroom setting; an educator at UCLA has her students produce movies and web sites that discuss assumptions about issues such as gender, ethnicity, power, etc,. Because of students’ technological savvy abilities, they can contribute to the educational process. Moreover, in order for media education to be successful, there must be a balance between critical autonomy (critically question media, even without the presence of a teacher) and critical solidarity (understanding that information does not exist in isolation). With this balance, students move away from an uncritical dependency on media. The authors are happy to know that media education is now expected to be incorporated into classrooms because it is listened in state standards.
In the “Games As Lit. 101” video, the speaker acknowledges that teaching through gameplay could be challenging. Throughout his video, he talks about a game known as “Civilization”, which — unsurprisingly — is a game that stimulates civilization. Thus, the educational potential is high. The reason is because it incorporates what is called tangential learning; this type of learning is facilitated and inspired, rather than directly communicated. The talker advocates for tangential learning because he argues that people learn better when they are engaged in what is going on, rather than at the command of a teacher or from a textbook. In “Civilization” there is a “civilopedia” embedded in the game; this means that players do not need to leave the game to find out more about what interests them. Although “Civilization” differs from the ways people commonly think about learning/teaching, the game evidently has the potential to facilitate learning. For instance, a teacher could ask his/her students to write about a concept or historical figure they encountered while playing the “Civilization” game. Furthermore, in the video “Historical Games”, the speaker argues that games can never truly be historically accurate because players have the ability to change the outcome. This is not a big problem because the point of history is to learn from events, rather than to memorize facts and historical dates. Thus, players can be played in the shoes of important historical figures, but the exact event cannot be mirrored. The speaker argues that, in games, players should be given the problems and face the realities that people in history struggled with. The mechanics of the game should also make the player feel like he/she is in that historical time period.
Personal Reflection: I really enjoyed reading about Kellner and Share’s arguments regarding critical media literacy. I, too, agree that media literacy should be incorporated into classroom curricula. The authors’ belief that media arts education allows marginalized groups to have the opportunity to voice their concerns really stood out to me. Prior to this reading, I never thought of media being used in this way. Media provides an outlet for creativity and allows underrepresented individuals to freely express themselves. Thus, information communication technology is a tool for empowerment because it allows these individuals to tell their stories. In some ways, my K-12 education implemented media literacy into classroom lesson plans. For instance, in my 10th grade history course, I completed an iMovie after learning about the gruesome topic of genocide. Consequently, in the iMovie that I made with my peers, we discussed large social issues such as race and inequality. Additionally, the two videos reminded me a lot about Forge of Empires. For instance, the “civilopedia” that was discussed in the “Games As Lit. 101” video is something that Forge of Empires could add to their game, in order to increase its learning potential.
Questions:
- What is meant by critical solidarity? (I got lost at this paragraph of the reading).
- In your K-12 education, have you every been asked to use media to discuss or critique large social issues such as race, glass, or gender?
UWP 104D 