Speaker Bios

Carolyn Wilson: President, Association for Media Literacy

speaker photo Profession: 
Teacher, author, consultant

Title: 
President, Association for Media Literacy

Affiliations: 
Media Education Working Group of the Centre for Media and Culture in Education at OISE/University of Toronto; CHUM Media Literacy Centre, London Public Library, London Ontario; MZTV Museum, Toronto; War Child Canada. 

Contact:
Phone: (519) 271-7235
Fax: (519) 271-8250
Email: Carolyn_Wilson@hpcdsb.edu.on.ca
or cwilson@oise.utoronto.ca

Speaking Topics:
Media Literacy and Global Issues; Corporate Sponsorship in Education; Gender Representation in the Media; Getting Started in Media Education; Advertising and the Art of Persuasion;  News Reporting and Global Issues; Media Literacy, Global Issues and Social Justice 


Past Speaking Engagements (Selected):

  1. 5th World Summit on Media for Children: Media as a Tool for Global Peace and Democracy.  Johannesburg, South Africa, 2007
  2. Media Education and Global Citizenship.  San Francisco, California, 2007
  3. 21st Century Literacy Summit hosted by Adobe Systems, Inc., the George Lucas Educational Foundation and The New Media Consortium in San Jose, California, 2005.
  4. 4th World Summit on Media for Children and Adolescents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2004.
  5. World Social Forum, Porto Allegre, Brazil, 2002.
  6. Forum on Our Global Challenges hosted by UNESCO and the University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica, 2000.
  7. The Oslo Challenge, hosted by the Norwegian Government and UNICEF, 2000.

Selection of Titles of Past Speeches:  
  • Media Literacy and Global Education:  A Transformative Paradigm for the 21st Century
  • Media Education:  Addressing our Global Challenges
  • Schools for Sale:  Corporate Sponsorship in Education
  • The Art of Persuasion:  Advertising and Public Relations
  • Striking the Pose:  Gender Images in the Media
  • Media Education: Literacy for the 21st Century
  • Media Literacy, Global Issues and Social Justice

Resources Produced (selected list):
  • Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum Document: English 2007 
  • Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum Support Document:  Think Literacy, Grades 7 – 10.  Chair of the writing team.
  • Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum Document:  Media Studies, Grade 11.   Chair of the writing team.
  • " Global Studies and Media Literacy:  A Paradigm for the 21st Century.”  Telemedium. National Telemedia Council, Madison, Wisconsin.
  • Study Guides for CHUM Cable in the Classroom Social Issues Programming.  ( Inside Your Threads – on sweatshop manufacturing in Mexico and Bangladesh; Musicians in the War Zone – produced with WarChild Canada, focusing on Iraq, Sierra Leone, and the Thai-Burmese border; September 11, 2001 - explores media coverage of the events of that day)   All guides are available on line at: http://www.chumlimited.com/mediaed/ 
  • " Media Education and Transformative Learning”  Educating for the Media and the Digital Age.  Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs and UNESCO.
  • Mass Media and Popular Culture, Version 2. (co-author).  Toronto: Harcourt Brace.

Willing to Speak:
Anywhere in Canada; internationally

Available for:
Consulting; writing; workshop facilitation; speaking engagements; media interviews

Fee:
Negotiable

Language:
English

Biography:
In March 2005, Carolyn Wilson received the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence for her work in media studies and global education.  The Award Committee recognized Carolyn as a tireless pioneer and advocate for media literacy and global education on a national and international level. 

Carolyn is the President of the Association for Media Literacy in Ontario, Canada.  Co-author of the best selling textbook, Mass Media and Popular Culture, Version 2, Carolyn has been invited to speak at conferences across Canada and around the world.  She has spoken at events hosted by UNESCO and the Ministry of Education in Austria, for UNESCO and The University for Peace in Costa Rica, for the Norwegian government and UNICEF in Norway, and for organizations in Spain, England and the United States.   She recently spoke at the  5th World Summit on Media for Children on the theme “Media as a Tool for Global Peace and Democracy”.  The summit took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2007.

Carolyn is a member of the Executive of the Canadian Association for Media Education Organizations (CAMEO).   During the summers of 2002-2007, Carolyn helped organize and taught at the Media Literacy Summer Institute in Vancouver, sponsored by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation and CHUM Television.  In the summers of 2004 - 2007 Carolyn organized and taught at the first Media Literacy Summer Institute in London, Ontario.  Carolyn’s workshops and lectures focus on a range of media literacy and social justice topics, including media literacy and its role in transformative learning and global education.

Carolyn has written numerous study guides for CHUM Television and their Cable in the Classroom programs.  All guides are available on-line.  In 2007 for the Ministry of Education, Carolyn was part of the writing team which developed the new secondary English document  which has an expanded strand dedicated to Media Literacy.  She was also the head of the curriculum writing team which was responsible for the new Media Studies strand in the English, Grade 11 document, released in 2000.   Also for the Ministry of Education, Carolyn recently led a writing team in the development of the Think Literacy document for media studies curriculum.  She is presently a member of a new Media Education committee at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, which is committed to expanding teacher training in Media Studies in Ontario.

For the Huron Perth Catholic District School Board and St. Michael Catholic Secondary, Carolyn pioneered an interdisciplinary program in Global Education which includes a billeting experience in the Dominican Republic, an inner city experience for students and work placements with  local social service agencies.  This program has become a model for other school boards in Canada. 

Carolyn also organizes annual trips for students and adults to Columbus, Georgia, to participate in the demonstration and vigil at the School of the Americas (SOA).  Workshops and lectures connected to the SOA have focused on such topics as human rights, global citizenship and a promoting a culture of peace. 

Carolyn has completed a Master's Degree in Education from the Ontario Institute for Education at the University of Toronto with a focus on Critical Pedagogy and Cultural Studies.  While working on her degree she attended Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, as a Visiting Scholar.  She is currently the media education consultant for the London Public Library, which houses the first Media Literacy Centre of its kind in North America, and which received the 2003 Industry Canada LibraryNet Best Practices Award.   Carolyn is currently a seconded instructor to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, where she teaches English and Global Education.