Quote:
“A major challenge in developing critical media literacy, however, results from the fact that it is not a pedagogy in the traditional sense, with firmly established principles, a canon of texts, and tried-and-true teaching procedures.”
Response:
From this reading I believe that technology presents unprecedented challenges in creating curriculum. In the past, many aspects of “new” educational opportunities were limited in scope. For instance in the 1950s and 1960s developing and adapting Home Economics curriculum was challenging, but fairly mainstream. I have spoken with a retired teacher from that era and she felt that adapting was easy because it was “technology” that was in everyday life for all. Today’s technology advancements are far less uniform and consistent.
In the race to introduce technology to students it has been thought that more technology sooner is better. For instance, providing laptops to 3rd grades students who have not yet mastered penmanship has been popular in the Lewis County, West Virginia school system. Yet, little to no consideration has been given to ensuring that students are adequately prepared to not only utilize the keyboard properly, but that they have the skills necessary for maintenance and care of equipment.
As in many subjects, technology education comes with no clear guidelines. The once certainty is that all students learn at different rates and in different ways. With the rapid advancement of technology as a teacher finds a new tool, develops new curriculum, and perfects the skill to be able to teach it, the technology will be on the way to being obsolete.
Supporting Resource:
In the paper by Ernest Morrell he focuses on the development of curriculum, for urban youth. His discussion and outlook are relevant, but only to a specific population. Will his theories working in different economic settings? Are his ideas adaptable to other socioeconomic environments, and if they are they sustainable practices that will last longer than one or two years?
He puts forth the challenges of creating pedagogy in a particular environment yet summarily relies upon a recommendation from 1951 on the development of critical media literacies through curriculum.
Sources:
Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward critical media literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. (3 ed., Vol. 26, p. 369). City: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/2005_Kellner-Share_TowardsCriticalMediaLiteracy.pdf
Morrell, E., & Duncan-Andrade, J. (2005). Popular culture and critical media pedagogy in secondary literacy classrooms . (Vol. 12). Melbourne, Australia: Common Ground Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.ernestmorrell.com/images/International.Journal.Learning.2006.pdf
Great article! We will be watching videos of students who have done exactly what the author proposes in this article in a few weeks. It is amazing, powerful and transferable to different contexts!
ReplyDelete