Reviews

Review: The Media Education Project

April 24, 2008

Barry Duncan

New Resources for Ontario Media Literacy Teachers

Beginning last year Professor Mark Lipton of the University of Guelph received funding (e.g. from the Canadian Council on Learning, Social Sciences and Humanities) for The Media Education Project. According to the monographs just released, the project’s mandate is "to support Ontario teachers while collecting information about best practices and teacher experiences."

Acknowledging that many teachers are doing media literacy, the project rationale asserts that "the time has come for a re-consideration of curriculum and pedagogy in media…and that the time has come to assess and revise its core assumptions, goals and practices." To do this, the project has developed a "digital commons, an online portal that welcomes user-generated content and seeks to support the need of media educators."

The just-released four monographs for teachers - Metacognition, Integration, Creativity and Assessment - take an overview of the theme and are designed "to address critical issues in media education". Each one is 12 pages in length. The terms of the project did not allow for lesson plans or teaching tips (even though the material cries out for examples) rather, they are overviews of the key areas identified by the project’s teacher surveys and research. The monographs contain insights based on research in media education and critical pedagogy, although regrettably, no reference is made to prominent scholars in the field, e.g., David Buckingham, Howard Gardner.

 There are several concerns about the project that we believe need to be addressed:

How successful will the monographs be (15,000 copies will be mailed out) in luring new teachers to the field of media literacy?

How effective will the website (the digital commons) be in providing resources and soliciting debate and discussion about new directions for media education in Ontario?

If there is a real demand created for media literacy workshops in schools or teacher PA days, how will the project be able to respond to this need?

We wish the project success. No one has a monopoly on ideas and practices in media education. In fact, what makes our pursuit so worthwhile is the diversity of opinions, from celebration to denigration of the media.

 For more information about The Media Education Project, contact: www.mediaeducationproject.ca

You may contact Barry Duncan at baduncan@interlog.com

"In the history of the world, there has never been a propaganda effort to match that of advertising in the twentieth century."  - Jean Kilbourne