Why is maker education a suitable approach for giving learners the 21st century skills they need to cope with the digital transformation? This article provides an answer and represents a defense of maker education in the field of educational science. Taking a human-media-machine interaction model as the basis for discussion, this article…

Developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) add urgency to the claim that democracy requires media literate citizens. The purpose of this paper is to support media engagement by youth in a context characterized by the spread of misinformation through the very technologies that promise to democratize public debate. Rejecting…

The article presents findings from a review of scientific articles about media and information literacy interventions targeted at children and adolescents. More specifically, the review centers on the quantity and quality of child participation in the design of such interventions. The findings indicate that designs with high levels of child…

With strict no-cell phone policies in classrooms becoming commonplace, national and international electioneering campaigns eroding trust in social media platforms, and content posted years prior affecting students' acceptance into the colleges of their choice, it is little wonder that educators often think twice about bringing participatory…

Digital conversation spaces have the potential to generate powerful collective intelligence, but only when users are thoughtful, reflective, and have experience interacting with diverse ideas. To be able to engage in online conversational spaces in this way, though, is not inherent or natural: it must be practiced. This article will argue that it…

Smartphones are regular classroom accessories. Educators should work with children to understand the capacity of smartphones for learning and civic engagement, rather than being a classroom distraction. This research supports a collaborative project the authors engaged in with students in two states to discover what the perception of smartphone…

Students graduating from K-12 education need media literacy skills to engage, participate, and learn in a world in which literacy must keep pace with rapidly changing technologies. Given the significant roles school administrators play in providing leadership and vision to their schools, this narrative study addresses the research question: What…

"New media" does not change the essence of what media literacy is, nor does it affect its ongoing importance in society. Len Masterman, a UK-based professor, published his ground-breaking books in the 1980's and laid the foundation for media literacy to be taught to elementary and secondary students in a systematic way that is…

The proliferation of digital and networking technologies enables us to rethink, restructure, and redefine teaching and learning. Transmedia storytelling takes advantage of the rapid convergence of media and allows teachers and learners to participate in rich virtual (and physical) environments that have been shown to foster students' real…

This study of media literacy education at all levels of the educational system considered faculty perceptions of student media literacy competencies, the extent to which media literacy is addressed in class, and the extent to which faculty members consider media literacy education to be important. Data suggest that despite the research and policy…

This article discusses how online fanfiction communities, their members, and their literacy practices are portrayed within popular and news media discourses. Many media literacy scholars believe these youth media subcultures practice complex and sophisticated forms of "new media" literacy. However, when educators attempt to incorporate…

Media Literacy Education has definitely come a long way. The author remembers mentioning Media Literacy at a Prix Jeunesse presentation in New York City in the early-mid 1990s-- all the participants looked at him as a weirdo and politely ignored his comment on the necessity for TV producers to include or at least reflect upon media…

This essay reviews the progress achieved in media literacy education over the past decade and emphasizes the importance of assessment, interdisciplinarity in furthering developing the field. The author says that it's nearly impossible to predict what may be possible for the future of the field over the next 10 years. In another publication, she…

When the author started working with teachers and students on classroom multimedia productions a little over 10 years ago, he had not yet encountered the term "media literacy", nor did he realize he had joined a long standing international movement of media literacy educators. Serendipitous exposure to "old-media" texts by Neil Postman and Noam…

Media literacy education in the United States is actively focused on the instructional methods and pedagogy of media literacy, integrating theoretical and critical frameworks rising from constructivist learning theory, media studies and cultural studies scholarship. This work has arisen from a legacy of media and technology use in education…