Learn About Media & Technology

As patrons spend more than eight hours a daily with digital media, librarians and educators must be knowledgeable about how television and video influences human development.

Librarians can be responsive to parents' major concerns about film and video as they affect young children. They can help ntegrate media literacy across the whole K-12 curriculum.

Librarians are at the forefront of media literacy education and understand the pedagogical value in encouraging learners to ask questions about what they watch, see and read. They appreciate how books, fiim and videogames may reinforce or challenge gender stereotypes.

In Chapter 4, you'll learn how librarians use popular film trailers to promote close reading and active interpretation of media, helping people become more metacognitive about the choices they make as media consumers. They know how to help educators avoid the misuse of media in the classroom. Academic librarians help learners interrogate the authority and authenticity of media messages while advancing the digital literacy competencies of college and university students

Best Practices in Using Film & Media for Learning

Librarians and educators work together to maximize the power of film and media for learning. Are your learners merely getting entertained by film and media OR are the learning from and with it?

Be aware of the media environment that learners experience at home by gathering information about their media uses, attitudes and technology habits at least once a year
Use this data to make wise choices of film and media content, considering student interest as you select topics and areas of focus for inquiry learning
Select shorter media texts to ensure you have enough time for discussion and reflection after viewing
Incorporate close analysis of media texts into learning activities and ask critical questions to help students identify author, purpose and point of view
Offer a structured note-taking tool to help students document what they are seeing, hearing and learning while viewing
Encourage diverse interpretations of media texts
Model the critical viewing process by viewing, pausing, commenting and questioning, making your interpretations explicit
Use repeated viewing experiences to explore both the content and form of film and video
Encourage older learners to comment responsibly on a media text while viewing using a backchannel tool like “Today’s Meet” or even a shared Google Doc
Encourage learners to suggest examples of film and video related to the topic or issue under examination and have them created a curated list of videos
Never screen media in a classroom that you have not yourself personally viewed beforehand.

Learn more about other best practices on the uses of film and media for learning in libraries:

Hobbs, R., Deslauriers, L. & Steager, P. (2019). The Library Screen Scene: Film and Media Literacy in Schools, Colleges and Communities. New York: Oxford University Press.

When Grade 3 students got to meet filmmaker Raouf Zaki and view and discuss his film, "Santa Claus in Baghdad," they also got an opportunity to learn vital media literacy competencies that expand their knowledge and understanding of the peoples and cultures of the Middle East.

In the film, a little boy becomes obsessed with the notion that a visiting uncle from America--whom he confuses with Santa Claus--will bring him toys. The child's father sells some more prized family possessions and buys a model car for him.

Learning about the Middle East with Media