Nov 07

The Heat and Light of Media Literacy at #McLuhan100

News No Comments »

It’s Marshall McLuhan’s birth. So the good folks at The University of Toronto Faculty of Information, and their friends at Ryerson University, York University, OCAD University, the City of Toronto, and others are hosting a conference and festival.

The McLuhan 100 · Then | Now | Next assembles a unique group of Canadian and international interdisciplinary experts on media and culture—including researchers from humanities, social sciences, science and technology departments, artists, and leading public thinkers.

 

Conference Program

 

 

I’m presenting my work about Media Literacy from the point of view of “New Media, New Policy Redux: Homage to Liss Jeffrey.” Full text of paper available if you ask.

The Heat and Light of Media Literacy on Prezi

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jul 04

Media Education and Communication Advisor @CMF in Nepal: Center for Micro Finance + Mark Lipton

News No Comments »

I have a formal MANDATE! As a volunteer with the Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI) and Uniterra’s Leave for Change (L4C) program, I’ll be working in Nepal for a month this summer.

 

I’ll be a “Media Education and Communication Advisor” for the Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

 
The Center for Microfinance (CMF) was established in July 2000 to strengthen the capacity of microfinance institutions and enable them to provided savings, credit and other financial services to the poorest-of-the-poor families, especially women. CMF runs a wide range of programs designed to meet the emerging needs of microfinance institutions. To promote the microfinance sector, CMF engages in training, technical assistance, consultancy services, research, knowledge management, publication and documentation, dissemination of best practices and networking in partnership with national and international organizations.

 
CMF seeks the development of more innovative and effective training modules in order to increase trainees learning commitment as well as their information retention. Specifically, to update the content and audiovisual delivery of an existing microfinance training module using available audio visual computer in order to achieve maximum trainee impact. This module will serve as the proto-type for the audiovisual translation/conversion/ creation of other microfinance training modules. I will also provide on the job training for the two CMF counterparts to enable them to do this work in the future.

 

Tagged with: • •
Apr 30

Learning Through Digital Media: Experiments in Technology and Pedagogy

News No Comments »

Edited by R. Trebor Scholz

 

“Facebook as a Functional Tool & Critical Resource”

Watch for my latest article about teaching with Facebook in R. Trebor Scholz’s newest collection entitled “Learning through Digital Media: Experiments in Technology and Pedagogy.”

Despite much controversy, I have taken up Facebook as a digital tool in my large lecture halls for a variety of reasons using a number of pedagogical approaches. I challenge myself to consider the social media world from the point of view of today’s students. The aims of this short essay are to identify my motivations for using Facebook, describe methods and practices of this classroom use as a functional tool and critical resource, then to discuss current pedagogical challenges.

 

As a faculty of media, it is important to teach both about and through digital tools. Teaching about Facebook includes contextual information about its social, cultural, and historical dimensions; teaching through Facebook includes the praxis of using this tool (along with or in conjunction with others) to both process and distribute information. Kirsten Drotner (2008) reframes this discourse about digital media pedagogy by asking whether digital or multimodal literacy should be “defined as a functional tool or as a critical resource?” (182). Simply put, my answer is both.

Tagged with: • • • • • •
Apr 22

Social Media for Student and Teacher Learning

News No Comments »

On October 23, 2010 the Association for Media Literacy hosted a conference at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Invited Speaker Mark Lipton (University of Guelph and the Media Education Project) explains how teachers can use social media as functional tools and critical resources to support their professional learning networks. Teaching ‘about’ media and ‘through’ media, teachers can negotiate the barriers and benefits of media literacy in the classroom, as well as develop student’s 21st Century learning skills, such as collaboration and connectivity.

Check out his interview with the Association for Media Literacy:

Video also available from the Association for Media Literacy’s YouTube Channel.  Thanks to Paul Baines for conducting this interview and his work for the Association.


Tagged with: • • • • •
Apr 05

Social Media Equity, Pedagogy & the Use of Twitter to Build Professional Learning Networks

News No Comments »

 

Who’s in Boston for ACME & NCMR? ACME begins Thursday April 7th, 2011. The National Conference for Media Reform begins the following day.

The Action Coalition for Media Education is a national media education organization working to promote independent media education. ACME is the only national media education organization that does not take money from corporate media. This is ACME’s sixth national conference. Others have been held in New Mexico, California, Vermont, Tennessee and Minnesota. ACME conferences are exceedingly involved in activism for media reform; thus, Mark Lipton will also participate in the National Conference for Media Reform.

Mark Lipton is presenting as part of the Technology Track; Session four, (Thursday April 7th 2011) 2:15–3:30, in the Winthrop Room of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

Twitter, Facebook and Social Media Literacy: Equity, Pedagogy and the Use of Twitter to Build Professional Learning Networks

21st Century Skills can be defined as the capacity to engage in lifelong learning (i.e., self-directed and collaborative inquiry) and connectedness (i.e., communication and collaboration with experts and peers around the world). As teachers begin to adopt the latest technologies as part of their teaching practice, social media becomes both a critical resource and a functional tool. For example, Facebook can be a classroom management tool as well as a way to provide lessons about online privacy and behavior; Twitter can provide a backchannel for class participation while functioning as a resource for professional sharing and collaboration. To these ends, this presentation first reviews approaches to media education that weigh the differences between media access and digital equity, then outlines current research describing teachers’ barriers to media integration and finally considers such examples by addressing pedagogical models and examples. Ongoing research suggests that nearly half of freshly minted teachers leave the profession within five years; the goal of this session is to add value to any teacher’s learning networks.

Follow Lipton’s presentation here:

Social Media Equity, Pedagogy, and the Use of Twitter to Build Professional Learning Networks on Prezi

thanks to matt watson of bombtea for the work on paper tweet

 

 

Tagged with: • • • • • • •
Jan 25

Action Coalition For Media Education (ACME) National Conference | Boston Park Plaza Hotel | April 7, 2011

News No Comments »

Action Coalition For Media Education (ACME) National Conference | Boston Park Plaza Hotel | April 7, 2011 | Media Education for Health, Democracy and Reform

Register for ACME, go to:
http://www.acmecoalition.org/acme_summit_2011_registration
The early bird deadline is February 18th.

Come check out Mark Lipton’s Social Media Workshop in Track 5 | Technology in Media Education “Twitter, Facebook, and Social Media Literacy: Equity, Pedagogy and the Use of Twitter to Build Professional Networked Learning Collaboratives”
—————————————————————————————————————————–
Conference Highlights:

* Learn media education/media literacy from basic tools to sophisticated programs.

* Learn the latest high technology media literacy/education software and web-based tools.

* Enjoy up close and personal access to media legends like Jean Kilbourne, Susan Linn, and Michael Rich.

* Acquire new skills and techniques with experienced media educators who will bring their students.

* Gain new tools for using media education/media literacy with health related issues.

* Experience the inspirational keynote oratory of scholar, reformer and legend, Robert McChesney.

* Take part in all this at a bargain price (an ACME commitment) and then, stay for the fabulous National Conference for Media Reform.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
This conference will consist of five tracks, or five mini-conferences, presented the day before the National Conference for Media Reform.

Location: The ACME conference will be held at the upscale Boston Park Plaza Hotel in April 2011. The hotel is across from the Boston Commons and in the middle of cultural, culinary and recreational opportunities; also a great place to stay for NCMR!

Book a room at the hotel here: http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/acm0403
—————————————————————————————————————————–
Choices: You may pick and choose from the five tracks: (1) Media Education: Content and Methods, (2) Media, Culture and Democracy: Criticism and Solutions, (3) Health in Media Education, (4) Youth in Media Education, and (5) Technology in Media Education.

Each track will consist of five 75-minute sessions. These will be interactive, media-driven, cutting-edge, entertaining and motivational, and they will take the form hands on workshops or interactive presentations. It will be a day devoted to generating new skills of observation, analysis, teaching, and, most importantly, creating solutions to our media challenges.

THE FIVE TRACKS
1. Media Education: Content and Methods. Five sessions of progressively more advanced strategies and methodologies used in media education, including tips about everything from core concepts to advanced techniques.

2. Media, Culture and Democracy: Criticism and Solutions. Two kinds of sessions: 1. Noteworthy and motivational criticism of the media’s failure in our culture and government, with an emphasis on new and informative critiques. 2. New and relevant uses of media education to stimulate interest in creating activist solutions.

3. Health. Solutions and results from unique programs using media education in health promotion and wellness. State-of-the-art examples using media education as an intervention, including programs that have been effective and evaluated.

4. Youth. Making the case that media education must attract and motivate young people and utilize their knowledge and energy if it is to be successful. Creative leading-edge examples of programs, classes or curricula that demonstrate youth gaining valuable skills and knowledge. Sessions can be presented by youth, teachers or youth and adults working together.

5. Technology in Media Education. How to use the latest technology, Internet tools, Web 2.0, research software, presentation and social media tools, as well as how to evaluate information from modern sources. Examples that utilize and explain technology as part of innovative media education are welcome.

ACME is a national media education 501(c)(3) organization which promotes unbiased and independent media education, especially that which is not influenced by corporate support. This will be ACME’s fifth national conference. Others have been held in New Mexico, California, Vermont and Minnesota.

To register for ACME, go to:
http://www.acmecoalition.org/acme_summit_2011_registration

Questions about the ACME Annual Conference should be directed to Bob McCannon at mccannon@flash.net.

Tagged with:
Oct 19

Spotlight on Media Literacy

News No Comments »

Facebook, Twitter, and Social Media Literacy on Prezi

According to a Nielsen report, three of today’s most popular brands are “social media” (Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia).[1] Despite public outcries about privacy, Facebook has over 500 million active users and seems to be growing by fifty million users every few months.[2] Twitter has over 105 million registered users[3]; the 300,000 new users who sign up each day signal its ongoing growth; Twitter receives 180 million unique visitors each month and most of its traffic (75%) comes from third-party clients and applications.[4] These examples are just a few signals of the ubiquity of social media. For many young people today, the popularity of social media tools is undeniable. Social media (it seems) provides access, opportunities and information that is limitless, borderless and instantaneous.

However, current research about social media and digital divides quickly demonstrate how access to today’s media tools as popular forms of communication need to consider issues of equity. As Barney explains, “for some people access to the Internet is a source of empowerment, autonomy, and agency, for many it simply means connection to a technological infrastructure in relation to which they remain significantly disadvantaged and powerless.”[5] The challenge for schools and teachers is to leverage today’s social media in ways that create relevant learning experiences that mirror students’ daily lives and the reality of their futures. To this end, educators have begun to consider “21st Century Skills” defined as one’s capacity to engage in lifelong learning (i.e., self-directed and collaborative inquiry) and connectedness (i.e., communication and collaboration with experts and peers around the world).[6]

Such capacities ask educators to consider social media both as a critical resource and a functional tool. As teachers begin to adopt social media as part of their teaching practice these tools become both a subject and object of inquiry. For example, Facebook can be a classroom management tool while providing important lessons about online privacy and behaviour; Twitter can provide a useful backchannel for class participation while functioning as a resource for professional sharing and collaboration. To these ends, Lipton reviews and considers these examples by addressing: (1) media access; (2) digital equity; (3) teachers’ barriers to media use/integration; (4) pedagogical models and examples; and (5) ideas for action.

[1] <http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/social-media-accounts-for-22-percent-of-time-online/>. June 2010.

[2] <http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics#!/press/info.php?factsheet>. Accessed August 2010.

[3]Actual number: 105,779,710

[4] <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/twitter-user-statistics-r_n_537992.html> & <http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/14/twitter-has-105779710-registered-users-adding-300k-a-day/>. April 2010. Accessed August 2010.

[5] Barney, Darin. (2005). Communication Technology. Vancouver: UBC Press, pp. 155-156.

[6] 21st Century Skills are defined as a finding from the IEA SITES 2006 study. The results of the third module of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s (IEA) Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) were conducted in 2006. The full report is edited by Nancy Law (University of Hong Kong), Willem Pelgrum and Tjeerd Plomp (both from Twente University, The Netherlands). It was published in 2008 by the CERC-Springer, Hong Kong SAR.


Tagged with: • • • • • • •
Dec 12

You’re invited to take a look at my course wiki about Social Media

News No Comments »

So thrilled to see my students participate with wikispaces for my new course in social media. Interested in participating? Let me know. . .

Here’s a link to our class wiki.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • •
preload preload preload