Through a four-step "inquiry" process of Awareness . . . Analysis . . . Reflection . . .Action, media literacy helps young people acquire an empowering set of "navigational" skills which include the ability to:
Access information from a variety of sources.
Analyze and explore how messages are "constructed" whether print, verbal, visual or multi-media.
Evaluate media's explicit and implicit messages against one's own ethical, moral and/or democratic principles.
Express or create their own messages using a variety of media tools.
Participate in a global media culture.
Jeff Johnson on 17 Jul 08While many of us are just getting comfortable with the Internet and e-mail, Web 2.0 technologies are already changing the playing field for education. Though definitions of Web 2.0 vary, the one constant is that Internet users are now content providers rather than content receivers. The top-down approach of the Web we grew up with now has been replaced with users who build information from the bottom up. With Web 2.0, the focus is not on software or hardware, but on practices such as sharing thoughts and information through self-publishing and harnessing the collective intelligence of all users to generate information and solve problems. These technologies are creating huge changes in how educators and students receive and respond to information.
