In 2021, Illinois mandated media literacy instruction in public high schools (Public Act 102-055). Motivated by this mandate, this study examines how educators across Illinois are navigating the realities of teaching media literacy in their classrooms. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews with teachers from diverse districts, the analysis reveals how structural and contextual divides shape media literacy education. Three themes stand out: the gap between teachers’ and students’ media worlds, the influence of socio-economic context on whether instruction is functional or analytical, and the ways political climates shape what is taught and what is left out. These divides complicate the promise of media literacy by producing uneven understandings of media across classrooms. The presentation will explore these dynamics and consider how bottom-up approaches and attention to resource disparities can strengthen media literacy outcomes.
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Date: Monday, December 1, 2025
Time: 12 pm EST | 6 pm CET | 10:30 pm IST
LOCATION: Register here for the webinar series.
Sakshi Bhalla
Sakshi Bhalla is a PhD student at the Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she holds the Illinois Distinguished Fellowship. Her research examines political information, its political economy, and spillovers onto political behavior in democratic contexts, with a focus on India and the United States. She employs a range of methods, including econometric, spatial, and qualitative approaches.
Prof. Michelle Nelson
Michelle Nelson, PhD is a Professor in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research and public engagement relate to persuasion and media/advertising literacy where she has developed and taught advertising literacy to children, adolescents, and teachers. She is a founding member of IMEDIA (Initiative for Media Education Inquiry and Action) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Michael A. Spikes
Michael A. Spikes, Ph.D., is a lecturer and director of Teach for Chicago Journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. An expert in the field of news media literacy as an intervention for countering misinformation, he has trained educators globally, and has played key roles in implementing Illinois’ first in the nation media literacy requirement for high schools. He is a board member of the Illinois Press Foundation, the Illinois Journalism Education Association, and the Digital Inquiry Group. His work and insights have been featured in outlets like NPR, Reuters, and the Los Angeles Times.