Learning & Motivation in Media Literacy
In 2010 and 2011, I had the privilege of working as a Stoneleigh Junior Fellow at Research for Action in Philadelphia. This allowed me to work on a project to investigate how learning occurs in afterschool media production programs, what students learn from those programs, what motivates students to engage in them, and how new media literacies connect with traditional academic literacies. The final product is a web portal based at http://www.researchforaction.org/media-literacy, but some presentations and publications are included below.
In this research, I worked with two Philadelphia-area afterschool programs that use media literacy:
Included here are the presentations and publications that highlight the findings of this research about learning and motivation in youth media. You can access the full research reports and more details at http://www.researchforaction.org/media-literacy. Please be in touch if you have any further questions or want to discuss any ideas with me further.
In this research, I worked with two Philadelphia-area afterschool programs that use media literacy:
- The Philadelphia Student Union (PSU) is a long-standing youth organizing group focused on empowering youth to create change in education, and it uses a number of different forms of media to document and gather support for its organizing efforts. I specifically spent time with their radio program, On Blast, which hosts a live show on WPEB in West Philadelphia and has its own podcasts.
- Chester Voices for Change (VFC) was a youth film production program in Chester, PA, which I started while an undergraduate in 2009. The program ran as a summer institute in 2009 and as an afterschool program in the fall of 2010. The main focus of VFC was to develop young change agents in Chester through training in video production and opportunities to engage with the community.
Included here are the presentations and publications that highlight the findings of this research about learning and motivation in youth media. You can access the full research reports and more details at http://www.researchforaction.org/media-literacy. Please be in touch if you have any further questions or want to discuss any ideas with me further.
Presentations & Videos
Most presentations include a slide show of the PowerPoint, a video of the PowerPoint with audio explanations, and PDFs of the slides and any accompanying handouts. This section, also includes videos to highlight my findings, which were created with some of the students with whom I worked.
Final Research Videos
Created as part of my Stoneleigh Junior Fellowship at Research for Action in 2011, all of these videos illustrate the core findings of my research and were made with help and support from students in the VFC program.
Linking Literacies: Connecting Generations of Literacy through Media Production
Learning for Life: Recognizing How Media Literacy Helps Prepare Youth for Life
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Motivation & Movies: Understanding Why Youth Create their own Media
The Pedagogy of Production: Investigating What Works for Teaching Media Literacy
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Multiple Modalities & New Knowledges: Out-of-School Media Literacy and Learning
Part of a panel, "Youth as Creative Agents Across Globalized Spaces"
Ethnography in Education Conference
University of Pennsylvania, February, 25, 2011.
Ethnography in Education Conference
University of Pennsylvania, February, 25, 2011.
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Publications
As with the presentations section, more details can be found on Research for Action's website: http://www.researchforaction.org/media-literacy. There are a set of short papers to discuss each of the videos above.
Linking Learning: Connecting Traditional and Media Literacies in 21st Century Learning
Journal of Media Literacy Education, Volume 4, Issue 1, February 2012.
http://jmle.org/index.php/JMLE/article/view/230
This work focuses on findings of a year of research surrounding connections between new and traditional literacies. The research studied two out-of-school programs based in the Philadelphia area that engage youth in media production and used a series of observations, interviews, and student surveys. It highlights key findings about how media literacy and production build on and enhance many skills used in traditional reading and writing, drawing connections to the Common Core Standards throughout the analysis. In addition, it offers advice for educators and people concerned about how to improve the literacy rate among youth today.
http://jmle.org/index.php/JMLE/article/view/230
This work focuses on findings of a year of research surrounding connections between new and traditional literacies. The research studied two out-of-school programs based in the Philadelphia area that engage youth in media production and used a series of observations, interviews, and student surveys. It highlights key findings about how media literacy and production build on and enhance many skills used in traditional reading and writing, drawing connections to the Common Core Standards throughout the analysis. In addition, it offers advice for educators and people concerned about how to improve the literacy rate among youth today.