When I first began applying to Bachelor of Education programs, I was shocked to learn that my undergraduate degree - Communication Studies - was not accepted as a teachable subject. How could this not be taught in high schools? We are saturated with media in myriad forms, all vying for influence over us, more so now than at any point in human history. Shouldn’t students have the skills to navigate this brave new world?
Now, almost 15 years into my career, that initial rejection has been replaced with a rock-solid foundation of research-based lessons and advocacy from MediaSmarts. Since 1994, MediaSmarts has provided Canadian educators at the elementary and secondary levels with hundreds of lesson plans, articles, presentations, virtual workshops, and interactive games related to media studies. Never has it been more critical for students to be digitally literate citizens; MediaSmarts provides everything an educator needs to get them there.
Recently I had the opportunity to preview two new MediaSmarts resources for a Gr. 10 Academic English class (ENG2D1). The first was Consensus or Conspiracy?, a resource package that addresses the massive misinformation campaigns surrounding both Covid-19 and the vaccines produced to mitigate it. It uses guided questions, an online game, and jigsaw mats to help students understand the process of scientific consensus, the characteristics of a conspiracy, and how the two apply to digital content. The package also included rubrics, a “how to” guide for teachers, additional resources, and consent letters for parents.
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| Consensus or Conspiracy? |
The second was a fascinating card game called #foryou. In it, one player is “VidYou” - analogous to TikTok or another social media video hosting site. The others are consumers. VidYou uses an algorithm to make as much money as possible via advertising. The goal is for the consumers to understand the algorithm presented by VidYou. #foryou is certainly more complicated than Go Fish or Uno, but once the players understand the process, the game picks up and creates meaningful, concretized learning experiences.
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| #foryou |
My Gr. 10 Academic English students not only enjoyed, but appreciated these lessons. Media literacy had rarely, if ever, been addressed in their classes prior to this; whatever lessons they did have certainly weren’t as timely or as relevant as Consensus or Conspiracy?, or presented in as interesting a format as #foryou. This hunger to learn more is difficult to come by in a post-lockdown classroom.
Our world is increasingly moderated by, and understood through, media relationships. Social media has gone from keeping in touch with friends to influencing international elections. Media portrayals of race, gender, religion, and sexuality have sparked national reckonings and civil unrest. More and more of our personal data is being harvested and sold by telecommunications behemoths, usually without our knowledge or consent. Fewer and fewer independent, local media organizations are surviving in this climate, being bought up and vertically integrated by multi-billion dollar companies with partisan agendas. Youth spend more and more time online, creating incredible content, being subjected to ethically suspect information, and disengaging from - or, perhaps, redefining - “real life”.
Our students aren’t just entering this world - they’ve been in it since birth. The importance of media studies has moved far beyond “let’s make a poster advertising the best toothpaste”. Media literacy is a critical tool in understanding how we are constantly being pushed and pulled in different directions, towards divergent goals, by forces that we do not fully understand. Media studies is about not only understanding our relationships with media, but also defending ourselves from unwanted influences and actively engaging as informed digital citizens.
Media studies is more pertinent in 2022 than it ever has been before; our students deserve the chance to educate themselves on the new, amazing, terrifying, and ever-changing world they live in.
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