By Sue
As modern educators, teachers are not only responsible for traditional education – “the 3Rs” – but also to educate the students in topics of the 21st century. These include media literacies. The internet and mobile media are important, however film and television, as two of the older media continue to be a vital part of most children’s lives.
My major focus in teaching and learning is that I believe learning should be an active process, with inquiry at the centre and the teacher as the facilitator of learning. I employ a constructivist approach to teaching and learning and believe in setting up a problem or a 'quest' and allowing students to construct their own knowledge by connecting from what they know to the new. I act as a facilitator in a majority of cases guiding the learning and allowing students to arrive at their own conclusions. As a social constructivist, I search for the Zone of Proximal Development - find where the students are at and therefore how they can be moved on. I act as a scaffold, providing support for students to achieve. I view learning as a collaborative and a social activity. I attempt to develop knowledge in authentic learning activities, which engage students in the kinds of problems and practices that are present outside of school. These practices must include media of all types as this is what students are using to acquire knowledge and develop socially at home. Therefore it is imperative that I use digital media in the learning context.
My above view of knowledge in the 21st century is supported in a variety of research and current curriculum documents. The Essential Learnings Position Paper (2007) states that knowledge itself has a undergone a transformation.
Knowledge exists in a range of forms, and a comprehensive curriculum will ensure a balance of the most important ones. A synthesis of knowledge typologies illustrates the range which needs to be represented in the curriculum
(Essential Learnings and Standards Position Paper 2007, p5
My view of the use of digital media in general and film and television in particular is supported by the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for young Australians where it is stated that although technologies are used in schools there is a need to increase the effectiveness of the use of such technologies over the next decade. (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008) Therefore with the above beliefs in mind it is necessary to approach the media literacies and in particular film and television in a very similar manner, that being not of a passive participant but rather a creator and critical viewer of media. Jenkins’ White Paper supports this assertation.
“ We are moving away from a world in which some produce and many consume media,
toward one in which everyone has a more active stake in the culture that is produced” (Jenkins, 2006 P 10)
The 3C’s – Connect, Create and Critical– discussed in the Lecture 11 (QUT, 2011) are an excellent way of allowing students to construct knowledge when using film and television. No longer is it acceptable to just put on a TV show for children to gain knowledge from. I do recall such TV shows as “For the Juniors” where perhaps, sometimes, I would tune in at 1.40pm after second break just to allow my Yr 2 students some down time after play. In that situation I lacked purpose. After many years of teaching this type of activity is no longer acceptable (if it was ever?) It is now necessary to use the medium to connect students to their past knowledge allowing them to construct new learning from it. We can then ensure new learning is connected through student’s creating with this knowledge. Most importantly, developing the critical aspect of film and television viewing is essential. This view is also supported in the Literacy for the 21st Century Document where the process skills of media literacy are discussed as Access, Analyse, Evaluate and Create. (Thoman, 2003)
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 1-2 hours of screen time per day. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2010). This includes film, television, computers, and mobile media. However realistically most children have up to 5 hours of screen time per day not including screen time at school. So with screen – TV in particular such a major aspect of children’s lives, it is vital that children develop critical media literacy skills. With many children using TV as a background noise in their bedrooms and perhaps just watching to chill out, they may take all that is on ‘the box’ at face value. It is vital for educators to be modelling and practicing the critical viewing of television and movies targeting in particular, the moral panics, gender and ethnicity stereotyping and the sexualisation of children and women. Using TV in education is not just about the what, but rather the how. It is a time when the substantive conversations about important moral issues can take place. In traditional literacies, teachers constantly discuss comprehension techniques – predicting, questioning, clarifying and synthesising. I consistently apply these known strategies to any film and television viewing. The connections between what is watched and what is read are established. Television is used not just to support learning – or as a resource, but rather the use of TV and movies is the learning. This targeted use of film and TV resources ensures that, the use of film and television in schools does not become a moral panic in itself. In my community the use of a movie in learning is very rarely seen as an authentic medium – rather parents view this medium as down time and ‘fun’ for the students. This is a view that with publicity is gradually changing.
I believe digital media is a most powerful medium for providing the optimal opportunity for transformative learning to take place and for students to construct knowledge. It is vital not to simply equip them with knowledge but rather with the skills and processes to access any knowledge they may need in order to achieve success. The appropriate use of film and television in schools assists in transforming learning, developing 21st century skills that will allow students to be productive citizens. Thus film and Television continue to be viable education resources in my setting.
References
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2010). Policy Statement - Media Education. Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 1-8.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2011, March). Guide to understanding ICSEA. Retrieved April 5, 2011, from My School: http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Guide_to_understanding_ICSEA.pdf
Brown, J. (2002). Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Growing Up Digital: How the web changes work, education and the ways people learn.: http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/FEB02_Issue/article01.html
Jenkins, H. C. (2006, August). Confronting the Challenges of Particpatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. . Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=enJLKQNlFiG&b=2108773&ct=3017973¬oc=1
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from MCEEDYA: http://www.mceetya.edu.au/mceecdya/melbourne_declaration,25979.html
Queensland Studies Authority. (2007). Essential Learnings Position Paper. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from Queensland Studies Authority: http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/early_middle/qcar_el_position_paper.pdf
QUT. (2011). Youth, Popular Culture and Texts Blackboard Site - Week 11. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Youth, Popular Culture and Texts: http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_75617_1%26url%3D
Thoman, E. (2003). Literacy for the 21st Century. London: Center for Media Literacy.
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