PEDAGOGIES IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MIL; USING THE CURRICULUM

The following pedagogical approaches underpin the strategies used throughout the modules in the MIL curriculum:

I. Issue-enquiry Approach

Issue-enquiry learning is a student-centred learning approach where the enquiry focus is on the issues related to media and information literacy in contemporary society. It incorporates many of the features associated with enquiry learning, problem-solving and decision-making, where the learners acquire new knowledge and skills through the following enquiry stages: identification of the issue; recognition of underlying attitudes and beliefs: clarification of the facts and principles behind the issue: locating, organizing and analyzing evidence: interpretation and resolution of the issue; and taking action and reconsidering the consequences and outcomes from each phase. It is an appropriate method to teach MIL as students can be given opportunities to explore issues in depth.

Examples of the issue-enquiry approach in MIL include: exploring gender and race portrayals through media analysis; exploring privacy and the media through primary and secondary document analysis; exploring cyber-bullying through ethnographic research.

II. Problem-based Learning (PBL)

Problem-based learning is a curriculum development and instructional system that simultaneously develops students’ interdisciplinary knowledge bases and skills, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving strategies. It originated in the Faculty of Medicine of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. It is a highly structured, cooperative learning mode to enhance both individual and collective knowledge by engaging students in critical and deep enquiry of real-life problems. The learning objectives, enquiry questions and methods, and the outcomes are all managed by students. An example of problem-based learning in MIL includes designing an effective social marketing campaign for a particular audience.

III. Scientific Enquiry

Scientific enquiry refers to a variety of techniques that scientists use to explore the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence they find. The enquiry process is often expressed as a simplified set of steps called the enquiry cycle, which involves activities such as: making observations; posing questions; finding out what is already known; planning investigations; reviewing past knowledge in the light of experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data; proposing explanations; and communicating the results. This method could also be adapted for teaching media and information literacy.

Examples of scientific enquiry include: investigating the impact of media violence; investigating the roles of online communities.

IV. Case Study

The case study method involves an in-depth examination of a single instance or event. It is practiced extensively at Harvard Business School where university students make use of real life incidents to see how theoretical knowledge might be applied to real cases. This approach is suitable in the teaching of MIL as students are exposed daily to various forms of messages from media and other information providers. It offers a systematic way of looking at the events, collecting data, analyzing information, and reporting the results, which in return supports enquiry learning among students. Students are able to gain a deeper and more thorough understanding of why the events or instances happened as they did. Case study also lends itself to the generation and testing of hypotheses. For example, students could undertake a case study of the marketing campaign strategy and release of a very successful film, bestseller book, or other high profile media product.

V. Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning refers to the instructional approach that puts students together to work towards accomplishing shared goals. Cooperative learning can range from simple paired work to more complex modes such as project learning, jigsaw learning, guided peer questioning and reciprocal teaching, all of which aim to produce learning gains such as the development of conceptual understandings and higher order thinking, better interpersonal skills, more positive attitudes toward schools and the self, and the exploration of how to manage academic heterogeneity in classrooms with a wide range of achievement in basic skills. This is an appropriate method in the learning and teaching of media education as it requires the sharing of ideas and learning from one another. An example of cooperative learning: Working collaboratively in a wiki space.

VI.Textual Analysis

Students learn to undertake textual analysis through identifying the codes and conventions of various media genres. This semiotic analysis should aim to reach further understanding of the key concepts. Therefore, students learn to identify how language codes and conventions are used to create particular types of representations that will appeal to certain audiences. Students are taught to identify the ‘technical’, ‘symbolic’ and ‘narrative’ codes of any media text. Where possible, this type of textual analysis occurs within meaningful contexts, rather than as an academic exercise for its own ends.

Example: students could be asked to select a piece of media text that is of interest to them. This could be a news article, a video from YouTube, or a video clip from an online news source. Put students in groups and guide them in analysing the audience, purpose, author, technique/textual features, and context.

VII. Contextual Analysis

Students are shown how to undertake basic contextual analysis, particularly in relation to the key concepts of institutions and technologies, but also in relation to a range of theoretical approaches.

Examples of contextual analysis and pedagogy include: helping students learn about such topics as: the classification systems for film, television and video games that operate in Australia; how media ownership and concentration relates to questions of democracy andfree speech.

VIII. Translations

This pedagogical approach can take many different forms and be used in a variety of media settings. Students can take a newspaper article they have written about an incident at the university and convert it into a podcast radio news story. Or they view a brief section of a children’s film and then work in small groups to draw a storyboard that corresponds to the scene, identifying the shots, angles and transitions that have been used.

Further examples: Students can also take a fairytale and convert it into a storyboard to be filmed. Or they can collect a range of existing visual material related to a person’s life and use this as the starting point to plan and make a short documentary about the person.

IX. Simulations

Simulation is frequently used as a strategy in film and media curriculum units. The tutors use simulation to demonstrate to the students what media learning ‘looks like’. That is, the tutor takes on the role of classroom teacher, and the trainees act as school-aged students, at least in terms of completing the activities. This strategy is discussed with the students as a pedagogic process.

Examples include: students taking on the roles of a documentary film team producing a youth-oriented television programme, or of radio/Internet-based journalists interviewing a media teacher for a podcast., or of a marketing team from the university making a promotional video for prospective students about life at university.

X. Production

This approach entails learning by doing which is an important aspect of knowledge aquisition in the twenty first century. Students should be encouraged to explore learning at a deeper and more meaningfull level. The production of media and information content offers the opportunity for students to immerse themselves in learning through exploring and doing. Through the production of media texts (for example audio, video and print), students are able to explore the creativity and to express themselves through their own voices, ideas and perspectives.

Examples include: students use software such as iMovie or Moviemaker (or any other similar free and open source software) to make a one minute digital story about an environmental issue or any other subject of interest.