Teaching Media Literacy in this day and age is a moving target. As soon as your curriculum’s scope and sequence is ready, technologies shift and so must your objectives. A few years ago, I conducted a media literacy workshop which focused on adverstising, print media, and movies. Now, you need to focus more on online social networks, and Web 2.0 technologies, since that is where most of the students are spending their time. With the advent of the DVR, commercials are irrelevant.
So, it was with great pleasure that I came across NBC’s iCue (Immerse, Connect, Understand, Excel).
From the FAQs:
iCue is a free, online, collaborative learning environment for students ages 13 and up. It includes discussion forums, games and activities, and hundreds of current and historic videos from NBC News.
On May 1, 2008, iCue rolls out with a politically-themed collection of games and activities highlighting Decision ‘08. Join in political debate and challenge your knowledge of the candidates, political process and issues in this election and in past elections. Over the course of the summer of 2008, iCue will be rolling out course collections to support students learning U.S. History, U.S. Government and Politics, and English Language and Composition. These courses have been modeled on the Advanced Placement course outlines, but all students taking these courses in high school or college will find lots of resources to support their classroom instruction.
Hopefully, this tool will find its way into the classroom. However, teachers and students must evaluate the content to determine if there is any bias in the presentation of the material.
