UNIT 2: Getting Past the Barriers

Return To: Alyssa Staino Mini-Course | Integrating Digital Media

Overview

Given the potential benefits of incorporating digital media and media literacy strategies - for students, teachers, and school relationships - why aren’t more teachers giving it a go? Utilizing digital media is one of the key 21st century skills that will be required of our students in school and after graduation. In this unit, we will explore the barriers to incorporating digital media and media literacy strategies, as well as how to get past them.

Unit Objective: The participant will distinguish barriers to incorporating digital media, explore suggestions to overcome barriers, and suggest ways he/she can incorporate digital media.

Reminder
Please open up your Google document, and access UNIT 2: Getting Past the Barriers

Key Terms

Media: form of communication through visuals, language, and/or sound where the producers are not in the same physical space as the receiver(s) of those messages.

Digital Media: audio, video, and photo content that has been encoded

Media Literacy: the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce communication in a variety of forms, and includes capabilities such as comprehension, collaboration, reflection, and social action.

The Nitty Gritty

1. Based on your your preconceived notions of media literacy and digital media integration, spend 3-5 minutes and reflect upon the following statements...

As an educator, I already feel pressured to incorporate many other mandates and initiatives.
Adding technology to my lessons will take too much time and effort.
I feel as though I don’t have time to spend on concepts that won’t be on their state / local tests.
I need to spend time on things that I must teach.
Adding media literacy curriculum should be it’s own content area.

What types of barriers do you foresee in your classroom?

Is/are the barrier(s) related to your comfort level in your practice? Or is it unchangeable?

Did you find yourself agreeing with most if not all of these statements? If so, that’s okay, many teachers do.

2. Read the pdf article titled “Sounds Great, But I Don’t Have Time! Helping Teachers Meet Their Goals and Needs With Media Literacy Education”.
File:Sounds Great But I Don't Have Time!? Helping Teachers Meet Thei.pdf

Describe what resonated with you the most in the article.
Do the suggestions make incorporating digital media and media literacy seem more feasible?
What ideas do you have for way that you could incorporate digital media into your classroom?

3. Imagine a lesson that you may have done before, or seen someone do. Choose a lesson that did not incorporate digital media. For example, it could be a standard lecture type, or read from a textbook and quiz style of lesson. Perhaps you want to choose one from when you were a student?

Once you have picked your lesson, re-write the lesson plan, but this time, incorporate at least 2 sources of digital media.
Take both plans, and have a peer review them to give you honest feedback.
Which plan seemed to interest your peer more?
Which plan do they think students would enjoy more?
What are your thoughts on both of the plans?

Synthesis

Key ideas to remember…

Digital media should be used to supplement what you are already doing. It should not be treated to teach media literacy as it’s own content area.
Digital media can be included by offering students the choice to use it. This is a simple way to start. The option is there for the, but it’s not required.
If we want our students to be successful citizens in the 21st century, we need to teach them how to use digital media ethically, responsibly, and purposefully.
Utilizing digital media can help shift a student’s true/false, good/bad thought processes to a more complex version that identifies strengths, weaknesses, and explores the ‘so what?’
Digital media offers the opportunity for true student engagement and empowerment.