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Category Archives: media literacy

The power of kid-powered tablets

19-Jun-13

This article about tablets in school has something to teach us about tablets at home too. Tablets – iPads, Kindle Fires, Meeps, Nabis, iTouches (see this) – and even the apps on them aren’t the main event. They can be seen as the means to an end: creativity, communication, learning, fun (author and game designer [...]

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Learning life, communication & app development all at once

05-Mar-13

One of the most interesting comments I heard from in the “Making Apps with Youth” session here at the SxSW EDU conference was from Kurt Collins, tech strategist and lead developer at Youth Radio in Oakland (he also started a nonprofit called the Hidden Geniuses Project aimed at “teaching young black men how to code”). [...]

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Self-definition in social media: I am not my online profile

02-Jan-13

Think about it. Media literacy no longer protects “only” the quality of the information we take in. It now protects our relationships and even our identities – on several levels. It’s an understatement to say we need to be media literate more than ever now. I’ve posted plenty about the relationships part (social literacy), so [...]

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Mining Minecraft, Part 1: Little gamers’ digital play through a teacher’s eyes

12-Dec-12

Editor’s note: This week, my holiday gift to you, dear readers. Below you’ll find Part 1 of a three-part series of guest posts by teacher Marianne Malmstrom about what students learning in digital environments can teach all of us – parents, educators, risk prevention experts, and anybody else who works with young people. Editing this [...]

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Good move: Game company takes down cruel ad campaign

07-Dec-12

This was good to see: What looked like a truly anti-social media company, game developer Square Enix, saw irresponsibility for what it was and quickly reversed a stupid marketing decision. I’d like to take it as a sign that – in this very social media environment where users are co-producers with the providers of their [...]

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Digital citizenship in process: Notes from the Baku IGF

05-Dec-12

I’m sure we’re all pretty aware that the Internet and social media are global, but do we think enough about how digital citizenship has to be global too, then – how, by definition, it’s more a process than a static concept that can be taught? “Digital citizens” of all ages all over the world are [...]

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Substantive followup to ‘Kony 2012′: Support Hope North

08-Oct-12

This article was originally published March 14, 2012, then my service’s server crashed, losing months of data. So reposting 10/8/12. Leaving all criticism in the dust because it’s more distraction than action, here’s the natural response to “Kony 2012,” the most viral digital-video campaign in history (so far): “This Thing That Happened” about Hope North, [...]

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The latest on 0-to-8-year-olds’ media use

31-Oct-11

Passive consumption – watching TV and DVDs – is still by far the dominant form of media use among little children in these digitally charged times. US children 0-8 spend an average of 1:40 watching television or DVDs in a typical day, “compared to 29 minutes reading or being read to, 29 minutes listening to [...]

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Education’s job in a networked world

17-Oct-11

I can’t presume to know education’s main job in today’s very different media environment, but I think Prof. Michael Wesch at Kansas State University is on to something. It goes beyond teaching media literacy in information-saturated lives, which itself is well past the 19th-century model of filling students’ heads with information and having them “learn” [...]

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