Media Literacy is for Everyone 2025
Join us for hands-on training designed for students, teachers, and community leaders alike. Together, you’ll get the tools to engage your community in media literacy education and worthwhile dialogue, including a guide with a mission statement, format suggestions, and activity ideas to share with your partners in this endeavor, whether that be your principal, faculty sponsor, students, or…
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In Our Media Literacy Era: Fandom, Politics, and the Power of Critical Support
This Media Literacy Week, we’re talking fandom, politics, and critical thinking, all through the lens of Taylor Swift. The Media Education Lab and Swifties4Hope team up to explore how the worlds of fandom and politics overlap and diverge. Together, we’ll reflect on how we can support our favorite political candidates passionately while still thinking independently.Since our girl knows Aristotle,…
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Courageous Conversations are coming to PBS LearningMedia
We’re excited to announce a collection of free classroom resources created by Courageous RI, an initiative of the Media Education Lab. This collection of lesson plans, hosted on PBS LearningMedia and produced by Ocean State Media, features videos of Rhode Island students engaging in real, courageous conversations about issues that matter to them and their peers.Political violence and…
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Youth, Media, Identity & Expression
Youth Media, Identity, and Expression: Exploring Voice, Culture, and EmpowermentHow are young people using media to express who they are — and how can we better support those expressions across educational and cultural spaces?DATE:  Friday, October 3, 2025TIME:  12 PM ESTLOCATION: Zoom. Register.  In this interactive…
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Media Literacy: Critical Thinking for an AI World
MEDIA LITERACY Critical Thinking for an AI WorldStarting April 12, 2025 Work with a team of Palestinian and American educators to create a media literacy program for Palestinian young adults to build resilience and critical thinking skills  WHY IT MATTERSIn today's digital age, navigating the complexities of media is crucial for everyone. Media literacy plays a crucial role in building resilience…
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Power Up 2025
Calling all youth leaders and changemakers! Join us for a virtual, youth-led, global event as we confront one of the most pressing challenges of our time: misinformation. Dive into the complex realities of media manipulation and discover what each of us can do to promote and defend trustworthy information.This free event offers you the chance to:Engage with Experts: Meet and learn from leading…
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Free Speech in an Era of Digital Platforms
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 TIME: 10:00-11:00 AM ESTLOCATION: Online. Free  …
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Media Literacy is for Everyone
In response to the enthusiasm and excitement around our last event in October, we are excited to officially invite you back to Rhode Island PBS for the next event in the recurring series, “Media Literacy is for Everyone”.  DATE: Tuesday, February 11 TIME: 5:00 - 7:00 PM ESTLOCATION: Rhode Island PBS, 50 Park Ln, Providence, RI We're dedicated to the process of building relationships, identifying…
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Digital Authorship Graduate Course
Digital Authorship (EDC 534) is offered in the Spring of 2025 semester by Professor Renee Hobbs. It is one of four required courses in the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy. The course is offered fully online in an asynchronous format for Anytime Learning.​DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS JANUARY 20, 2025 ABOUT THE COURSE: The course examines how AI tools can be used for creative expression and…
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Book Party, Media Literacy in Action, 2nd Edition
Join Renee Hobbs for a book party to celebrate the publication of Media Literacy in Action, 2nd edition!DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 2025TIME: 12 PM - 1 PM ESTLOCATION. Online. REGISTER HEREHelp students…
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Together We Rise: The Next 100 Days
Together We Rise: The Next 100 Days Co-Creating Connections and Possibilities in a Time of Transition The program continues! Join us for reflection and fellowship. This weekly webinar addresses themes of social connection, political transition, stress reduction, and media literacy. Sessions include guest speakers, guided discussions, and mindfulness practices. We are co-constructing the support…
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Navigating Politics in the Digital Age
Rhode Island College is hosting a crucial discussion on the importance of media literacy and how to stay informed in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. Panelists will discuss how understanding media bias and verifying information are essential skills for navigating today's information landscape. This event is a must-attend for anyone looking to make informed decisions and critically…
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Meet the Youth Media Contest Winners
Join a webinar featuring Courageous RI Youth Media Contest winners from across the U.S. and around the world, who will showcase their winning work and describe the role of young people in preventing violent extremism as they see it. DATE: Monday, August 19TIME: 12 - 1 PM EST LOCATION: Online.…
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Understanding young people’s emotions: A practical guide to countering disinformation with FAKE kNOw MORE
Join a webinar with guest speaker Aleksandra Monkos, who will unveil the core concepts behind FAKE kNOw MORE – an international project aimed at empowering educators in formal and non-formal settings working with young people aged 10-15 from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Attendees will discover how to use tools like activity scenarios, videos, and the card game 'Octogram,' all designed to build…
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MediaEd Club: Elvin Explores North Lawndale
In the July meeting of the MediaEd Club, Jay Simon will present his coloring book series "Elvin Explores North Lawndale" Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, with a read-along and an artist talk with a Q&A. Jay will provide an in-depth explanation of the origin story, background context and storyline for each coloring book. He will also go in-depth with what the future holds for the Elvin Explores series and…
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Media Club: Gen Z, Digital Media and Transcultural Lives
In this session, Kiran Vinod Bhatia and Manisha Pathak-Shelat will share the methodological approach and key arguments proposed in their book Gen Z, Digital Media and Transcultural Lives: At Home i…
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Confronting Propaganda
Join the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights, and Genocide Education (Chhange) for our 42nd Annual Colloquium featuring plenary speakers Renee Hobbs and Consolee Nishimwe. DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 2024TIME: 9:15 am - 12:30 pmLOCATION: Brookdale Community College, Collins ArenaRegistration fee: $10 per personEach year, the Colloquium, Chhange’s signature program, attracts up to 2,500 middle school…
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Using Media Literacy to Confront Glamorous Illusions
  The Blank Space of Vaping PreventionUsing Media Literacy to Confront Glamorous IllusionsStep into the "Blank Space" where vaping's glamorous illusions take center stage. In this keynote address, we unravel the urgent and insidious dangers of vaping, as influenced by the deceptive allure perpetuated through social media influencers. Envision a new era in tobacco prevention, where we will…
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Filmbuilding: Co-Creative filmmaking across distances and differences
Read here about our full webinar series on Youth Media.In the second webinar, Tom Flint will survey an educational initiative called Filmbuilding which explores the co-creative aspects of movie-making for meaningful bridge-building in a time of growing uncertainty. Utilizing readily accessible technologies, participants come together across distances and differences to create film projects that…
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How Mini-Podcasts Build Media Literacy and Active Listening Skills
DATE: Thursday, March 14 TIME: 10:00am - 11:00amLOCATION:…
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How to be a Courageous Citizen in a World of Weaponized Words
DATE: Mar 12, 2024 TIME: 9:00 - 9:30 AM Eastern Time (US and CanadaLOCATION:…
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Planning the BFF Camp
Read here about our full webinar series on Youth Media.In the first webinar of the series, Larisa Ozeryansky will present the initial plans for a July 2024 residential media education workshop for young adults with refugee background in Norway. Larisa is a PhD candidate in Transnational Migrant Health and Media, from the University of Washington, currently working on her dissertation as a…
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Ripplers are Courageous
Join us for informal discussion about the ongoing progress that occurring as people from across Rhode Island, the USA, and the world implement COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS and education programs to their community, workplace, library or school. DATE: Thursday, April 25, 2024TIME: 7 PM ESTLOCATION: Online via Zoom.  …
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Participatory Action Research and Media Literacy
Read here about our full webinar series on Inequalities and Media Education.In this 5th webinar, we will explore how participatory action research can be used for knowledge production with marginalized communities. Authors, Koen Leurs, Çiğdem…
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MediaEd Forum
Join us for the 17th MediaEd Forum!We've changed the name of the Northeast Media Literacy Conference (now in its 17th year) to reflect the growing global diversity of our online knowledge community!Conference Theme: Confronting the ChallengesFriday & Saturday, January 12-13, 2024 ONLINE VIA ZOOM…
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Media Literacy Matters
Renee Hobbs is thrilled to be a featured presenter at the European Digital and Media Literacy Conference in Brussels, which puts the many faces of digital and media literacy in the European spotlight during the Belgian EU presidency. February 27 - March 1, 2024Brussels, BelgiumThe conference is focused on showcasing and exchanging initiatives, tools, projects and practices that can be integrated…
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How Media Literacy Week Promotes Community
DAY: Monday, December 18th, 2023TIME: 12 pm EST | 6 pm CET | 1030 pm ISTLocation: Register for Webinar Here. In this webinar, Pamela Morris and her colleagues and students will review and reflect on their experience in developing Media Literacy Week in Columbus, which was sponsored locally by Indiana…
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Artivism and the Fight Against Marginalisation in the Global South
Read here about our full webinar series on Inequalities and Media Education In this first webinar, we aim at reflecting on the potential of media activism and artivism to create more sustainable connections between Global South communities and to promote a dialogue to challenge colonial legacies and…
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Introducing the Media Dictionary
Media Dictionary is an audiovisual, multilingual, and digital community media initiative that was initiated in 2021 with the primary objective of engaging with diverse communities across India on issues related to media literacy in local languages and dialects. More than 50 volunteers have posted more than 1,000 videos in 35 languages and…
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MEDIA CLUB - Childscape, mediascape: Children and media in India
In this session, Usha and Sumana will talk about the need for a more diverse approach to studying children’s media cultures that is both transdisciplinary and multi-sited, recognizing the complex and varied ways in which young people live with/in media. You can download the book chapter here. Date: Monday, July…
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Media Literacy in Action, 2nd edition 2025
The blurring of entertainment, information, and persuasion is reshaping work, life, and citizenship. As a result, our relationship to media has never been so important nor so complex. By asking critical questions about what they watch, listen to, read, and use, students can be better prepared to be responsible communicators who can use a variety of formats and genres for self-expression and…
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The Routledge Handbook of Media Education Futures Post-Pandemic.
Our team from the Media Education Lab is proud to announce the publication of The Routledge Handbook of Media Education Futures Post-Pandemic.This handbook showcases how educators and practitioners around the world adapted their routine media…
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Teaching Media Production Online During a Pandemic
Teaching Media Production Online: Best Practices and Challenges During the Covid Pandemic How are media production teachers coping with remote video production with students? Starting in mid-March, US schools moved to remote instruction due to COVID-19 pandemic. Media production teachers had to shift their teaching to online without the possibility to use their high-end equipment in school.…
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Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age
Winner of the American Association of Publishers 2021 PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Sciences Media literacy educators have always…
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Building Citizenship Skills Through Media Literacy Education
Hobbs, R. (1998). Building citizenship skills through media literacy education. In M. Salvador and P. Sias, (Eds.) The Public Voice in a Democracy at Risk. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, pps. 57 -76. Read online: http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/building-citizenship-skills-throug…
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The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy
The definitive international reference on a topic of major and enduring importance Dynamic, multidisciplinary, and global in scope, media literacy is one of today’s fastest growing fields of applied communications. Media literacy encompasses a truly vast range of issues, including participatory culture, digital learning, civic engagement, the impact of media on children, the…
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Create to Learn
Create to Learn helps learners create multimedia texts as they develop both critical thinking and communication skills. Written by Renee Hobbs, one of the foremost experts in media literacy, this book introduces a wide range of conceptual principles at the heart of multimedia composition and digital pedagogy. Its approach is useful for anyone who sees the profound educational value of creating…
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Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning
Today, it's more important than ever before to understand the scope of your rights and responsibilities as a digital author. That's why Renee Hobbs wrote the book, Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning.…
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The Library Screen Scene
PUBLISHED JULY 15 from Oxford University Press order your copy now!In the past two decades, several U.S. states have explored ways to mainstream media literacy in school…
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Teaching Truth, Lies, and Accuracy in the Digital Age
This pedagogy article describes a semester-long undergraduate course designed to deconstruct information disorder in the post-truth era by looking at economics, ideology, and power relations. Applying a project-based learning model allowed students to enhance their digital and media literacy skills by inquiring about the accuracy of a variety of sources centered on a single story, '…
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Resistance and Learning in Media & Gender Literacy Classes
Resistance is a known component of social justice classes, and it is often seen as impeding learning. The current case study explored possible scenarios of resistance in classrooms where media representations of gender are discussed, and teachers’ reactions to such resistance. Methods used for collecting data included observations in U.S. high school classes as well as interviews with teachers…
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Civic media as a cultural dialogue: Arab and Jewish teachers & documentary filmmaking in Israel
Eighteen Arab and Jewish teachers of civic education and communication studies took part in a national professional development for peace education at the Israeli Center for Educational Technology from 2016 to 2018. They created documentaries as a way to have a cultural dialogue. While learning to produce a documentary as a form of reflection, the participants deepened their dialogues and…
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Digital Authorship: Issues and Implications for Educators
In this essay, the term digital authorship in examined in relation to literacy learning. We reflect on two critical issues that are sometimes overlooked features of digital literacy in relation to the pedagogical practices of digital authorship. Teachers who are advancing literacy in the context of digital authorship are attentive to the different stages of the creative process and have a solid…
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Exploring the Roots of Digital and Media Literacy through Personal Narrative
Explore the multidisciplinary nature of media literacy education It's been said that the lack of scholarship about the history of media literacy has been a source of some of the conflicts and debates among scholars and practitioners. Media literacy stands at the intersection of the fields of media studies and education, and these scholars have divergent perspectives on the past, present and…
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The Routledge Companion to Media Education, Copyright and Fair Use
The Routledge Companion to Media Education, Copyright and Fair Use Edited By Renee Hobbs Media educators rely on the ability to make use of copyrighted materials from mass media, digital media and popular cultlure for analysis and production activities. With chapters written by leading scholars and practitioners from the fields of media studies, education, writing and rhetoric, law and…
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Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action
Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, a policy paper by Renee Hobbs, was commissioned by the Knight Foundation, building upon recommendations that digital and media literacy be strengthened in order to get citizens more engaged in their…
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Teaching and Learning in a Post-Truth World
It's time for schools to upgrade and reinvest in media literacy lessons. Renee Hobbs, director of the Media Education Lab at the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island, cautions us to stop using the term "fake news" with students and be more precise about the types of disinformation prevalent in content today, from hoaxes and satire to clickbait. In this…
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Digital Literacy in Higher Education: A Report
 Digital Literacy in Higher Education: A Report documents the key ideas that emerged from the Winter Symposium on Digital Literacy in Higher Education, a gathering of 56 higher education faculty held in January 12 – 13, 2017, including participants from the fields of…
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Media Literacy Smartphone
Learn how to use the Media Literacy Smartphone with learners of all ages! Download the free Learning Guide to bring the power of media literacy analysis to your learners!These easy-to-use cards, shaped…
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Teachers Guide, Media Literacy in Action
 This Teacher’s Guide will help you get the most out of the new textbook by Renee Hobbs, as it offers practical guidance on using this textbook in the classroom. Whether you are an experienced teacher or teaching media literacy for the first time, this guide…
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Courageous Conversations
Bring media literacy and active listening to middle school, high school, college and adult learnersWith support from talented educators and experts who participated in the program, we’re proud to bring you the Courageous Conversations Curriculum. This book contains a collection of materials to help you bring media literacy and active listening into your middle school, high school or college…
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Media Literacy in Action
THE SECOND EDITION HAS ARRIVED!The blurring of entertainment, information, and persuasion is reshaping work, life, and citizenship. As a result, our relationship to media has never been so important nor so complex. By asking critical questions about what they watch, listen to, read, and use, students can be better prepared to be responsible communicators who can use a variety of formats and…
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Set Your Motivation
The Digital Learning Horoscope is a 48-item Likert scale instrument that assesses teachers’ perception of the value and relevance of six conceptual themes, namely: attitudes toward technology tools, genres and formats; message content and quality; community connectedness; texts and audiences; media systems; and learner-centered focus. …
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Copyright
It's more important than ever before to understand the scope of your rights and responsibilities as a digital author. That's why Renee Hobbs wrote 2 books about copyright! Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital…
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Mind Over Media: Analyzing Contemporary Propaganda
  www.mindovermedia.us Mind Over Media is the winner of the 2021 PROSE Awards for Social Sciences by the American Association of Publishers, the membership organization of the scholarly and academic press. ORDER THE BOOK!…
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Grandparents of Media Literacy
The Grandparents of Media Literacy is the website companion to a book edited by Renee Hobbs entitled Exploring the Roots of Digital and Media Literacy through Personal Narrative, which was published by Temple University Press in 2016. Read the book online. The Grandparents of…
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Teach the Conspiracies
 Workshop: Teach the Conspiracies Read and Annotate the PDF: Teach the Conspiracies by Renee Hobbs Flipgrid: Explore a Conspiracy Theory and Comment View: Can You Win an Argument with…
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Create to Learn Online
When students create media to represent their learning, they really learn! At the Create to Learn Online website, you can access more than a dozen free and low-cost digital tools for creating podcasts, videos, infographics, animations, videos, remix and more. Plus, you can view and upload multimedia work samples and access study notes and PPT slides…
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Assignment: Media Literacy
After 25 years, it's still the most popular resource from the Media Education Lab!This is the 18-unit curriculum created by Renee Hobbs and colleagues in 1998!  You will be pleased to see how timeless and relevant these lessons continue to be!You can download the PDF files with lesson plans and reproducibles for each unit and use the videos to teach media literacy in conjunction with social…
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Digital Learning Anytime and Real Time
Since the start of the pandemic, educators all over the world have been learning on the fly how to use the power of digital texts, tools, and technologies for “remote emergency instruction.” As teachers quickly discovered, conducting nearly nonstop Zoom meetings, in an effort to replicate in-classroom learning in an online environment, is both ineffective and exhausting. In this series of…
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THE HIVE
When teachers and library media specialists use a student-centered approach to media production, learners create to learn, developing cognitive, social, and socioemotional competencies through creative media production that can support academic achievement across the subject areas. This model consists of six stages where students collaboratively learn to produce media messages. Based on five…
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Librarians on YouTube
Librarians are often challenged to connect with their communities (learners, fellow educators, and the public) with limited time, among competing priorities, and especially recently, across distance. Among many creative approaches to engagement, YouTube offers a fresh approach for librarians to build connections beyond the physical spaces of the library and outside of formal learning environments…
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Nonviolent Communication for Talking about Coronavirus
NEW FROM THE MEDIA EDUCATION LAB! This helpful guide, created by Elizaveta Friesem, helps learners to practice talking about their feelings and needs in ways that promote compassion, empathy and genuine understanding. The work builds upon the work of Marshall Rosenberg's 2005 book, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life.…
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Internet: Indispensable or Evil?
OverviewIn these four lessons, students use the episode Adam Ruins the Internet (Season 2, Episode 12) as a starting point to discuss the role of the Internet in modern culture and learn about media policies that shape people’s online…
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Digital and Media Literacy: A Process of Learning
Digital and Media Literacy: A Learning Process …
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PBS News Hour Student Reporting Labs
Student Reporting Labs connect students with a network of public broadcasting mentors, an innovative journalism curriculum and an online collaborative space to develop digital media, critical thinking and communication skills while producing original news reports for PBS NewsHour Extra. Click here to access the COMPLETE …
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All About Media
It's never too early to be smart about media!Give emerging readers the tools to learn about media, evaluate it, and understand it. Readers will learn essential critical thinking concepts along with important topics such as understanding how to find sources and how to properly source, privacy and Internet safety, evaluating ads and news reports, and determining the differences between facts,…
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Digital and Media Literacy Education
A Review by John Robinson ORDER THE BOOK NOW How can teachers use digital and media to support academic achievement in all subjects and content areas? The answer to that question is essentially what Renee Hobbs tackles in her book Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom.…
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Discovering Media Literacy
Visit the website Discover Media Literacy to see lesson plans for staff development programs with teachers, along with videos and student work samples linked to our book!…
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Summer Institute in Digital Literacy
A PREMIERE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Overview. This six-day institute focuses on how literacy is changing as a result of emerging media and technologies. We'll consider the implications of this cultural and technological shift for teaching and learning. Join us in exploring innovative approaches now being used by K-12 educators, librarians, and college and university faculty. You…
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Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action
This plan offers specific steps for policymakers, educators, and community advocates to develop a community education movement for digital and media literacy.  Whether it’s touch screen computers, smart phones, or user-generated news sites, access to information does not automatically translate into knowing how to use these tools in effective ways that help people in their everyday lives.WHY IT…
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Access, Analyze, Act: a Blueprint for 21st Century Civic Engagement
In 2008, the Media Education Lab team created a curriculum called Access, Analyze, Act: A Blueprint for Civic Engagement, designed to help teachers use social media in civic engagement. The complete materials include 12 lesson plans and 3 videos for teacher education.…
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Tuning in to Media: Literacy for the Information Age
PART 1: Analyzing NewsPART 2: Analyzing EntertainmentPART 3: In the Classroom  Winner of a Parent's Choice Award, Tuning in to Media offers a compelling look at the powerful and pervasive role that mass media play in our society.  Examines the media coverage of the L.A. riots.Showcases elementary, middle school and high schools.Watch teachers apply media literacy in the classroom. "Especially…
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Media Literacy and Cultural Understanding of People in the Middle East
Using a university-school partnership model, we provide a variety of forms of teacher education programs, in-school mentoring, and programs that bring together mediamakers, graduate students, teachers and children to understand how to use the power of media and technology to promote global understanding. Watch the YouTube video overview below and then read the two scholarly articles we wrote…
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Digital Workshops for the Digital Nation
Parents and teachers can now develop more confidence in understanding the complex digital culture that children and young people are growing up with, thanks to the Digital Workshops, a new initiative developed by Renee…
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Iranian Youth and Media Literacy
Curriculum Resources from the Youth Media Workshop for Iranian American Youth, held in Philadelphia from August 3 - 7, 2009 at the Asian Arts Initiative. See the lesson plans and reflections. Developed by Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, this program was also co-sponsored by: …
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Students Taking Action, Not Drugs (STAND)
The STAND (Students Taking Action, Not Drugs) project invites young people to use the power of mass media to design, create and deliver meaningful messages to help other teens resist drug use. This online curriculum includes nine lesson plans to help your students make public service announcements (PSAs) that can be aired or displayed to a large national audience. The STAND project combines the…
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