What is the most effective curricular and pedagogical approach to use in increasing media literacy among students? This is the challenge that I and most media educators must address today. This thesis charts my exploration of that question and demonstrates the results of a unit of instruction created to enhance the critical media literacy of students by focusing on positioning theory, spectatorship, and considering teen representation in mass media films. In creating curriculum, I needed to define the end goal of the instruction. My research led me to critical media literacy and its focus on moving beyond media textual analysis to exploring the power systems and meaning-making of media texts that could increase understanding of the world and oneself. In this research, the critical media literacy objectives were addressed through a focus on teen representations in film. Students viewed and responded to teen representations in a variety of films, and then were placed in the role of media creators to create teen films that showed the teen experience from their own perspectives. This shift, from media consumer to creator, was designed to help students understand the role and power of media authorship, allowing them to consider how media messages could be constructed and transmitted. Positioning theory suggests that individuals take certain roles and enact certain storylines in their social interactions with others. In order to achieve my critical media literacy goals, I needed to encourage the students to break from the positioning patterns of a traditional classroom, wherein the instructor holds the knowledge and is the arbiter of media values to the students. This shift was promoted in an effort for the students to gain more autonomy in media production and to develop media reading skills based on their own perspectives and not simply by looking at a text through the instructor's eyes. The research presented here shows the success and limitations faced in a secondary film class with a shift in curriculum, based on critical media literacy, and pedagogy, based on positioning theory, and allows me as an educator to uncover new ideas that can help me and other media educators meet the changing needs of the subject and students today.

This research synthesis investigates the effects that popular culture and new forms of mediation have had on the teaching and learning of English. Further, it examines some key aspects worth consideration when applying these types of texts in an educational context. The English syllabus for upper secondary school advises teachers to make use of the outside world for resources, and teach the students how to access, gather, analyze and use information found in different types of texts. After initial struggles, due to teachers’ reluctance, popular culture and modern media has found its way in to most classrooms and studies have shown different effects that the introduction of these texts have had on teaching and learning of English. Firstly, there has been a shift in how many teachers approach texts by letting students take more responsibility by participating in the selection process of different texts. Moreover, some studies have shown the effects popular culture and digital media have had on the acquisition of literacy skills. Study results suggest that primarily, students critical skills have developed, and that “out of school literacies” have helped students develop more traditional literacy skills such as reading and writing. However, this research synthesis concludes by saying that more research measuring the acquisition of traditional English using popular culture and digital media skills over longer periods of time involving more students would allow one to answer more accurately what effects they have had.

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Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ett bildningsideal liksom didaktiska och ämnesdidaktiska perspektiv utveckla förståelse för medielärares förhållningssätt till utmaningar som uppstår i undervisningen utifrån mediaämnenas sammansatta karaktär. Detta besvarades utifrån tre frågeställningar. 1. Hur beskriver medielärare sin undervisning och didaktik? 2. Hur beskriver medielärare sin undervisning relaterat till medieämnenas sammansättning av olika perspektiv? 3. Hur kan medielärares beskrivningar förstås utifrån ett bildningsideal?Studien har en teoretisk ansats utifrån begreppen didaktik och bildning. Lärarnas beskrivningar utgår från semistrukturerade intervjuer som har analyserats tematiskt. Det som framkommer i studien är att medielärare har en tydlig praktisk didaktik och att ämnesinnehållet ofta kretsar kring kommunikation på olika sätt. De olika perspektiven som ingår i medieämnena, samhälleliga, estetiska, språkliga, etiska och tekniska, har lite olika tyngd och det framgår särskilt om lärarna återfinns på det estetiska- eller på det samhällsvetenskapliga programmet. Medielärarna skulle kunna utveckla sin undervisning och bli mer medvetna på olika sätt utifrån dessa perspektiv. Framför allt skulle en större medvetenhet kring de etiska och språkliga perspektiven vara önskvärt. Studien kommer fram till att det är förtjänstfullt att förstå medielärare utifrån ett bildningsideal. Bildningsbegreppet skulle kunna bidra till att ge medielärare ett holistiskt perspektiv i sin analys av den didaktiska praktiken och ge en bra balans i medielärares undervisning utifrån medieämnenas mångfald av aspekter. Att analysera medieämnena utifrån bildningsbegreppet skulle även kunna bidra till att förtydliga och konkretisera de aspekter som förespråkare för Critical Media Literacy anser vara viktiga för mediedidaktik. / The purpose of this study is, based on an educational, bildung, ideal as well as didactic and subject-didactic perspectives, to develop an understanding of media teachers' approaches to challenges that arise in teaching based on the composite nature of media subjects. This was addressed through three research questions: 1. How do media teachers describe their teaching and didactics? 2. How do media teachers describe their teaching in relation to the nature of media subjects’ different perspectives? 3. How can media teachers' descriptions be understood from an educational, bildung ideal perspective? The study has a theoretical approach based on the concepts of didactics and education. The teachers' descriptions are based on semi-structured interviews that have been thematically analysed. The findings of the study indicate that media teachers have a clear practical understanding of their didactics, and the subject matter often revolves around communication in various ways. The different perspectives included in media subjects, societal, aesthetic, linguistic, ethical, and technical, have varying degrees of importance, particularly depending on whether the teachers are found in the aesthetic or social science program. Media teachers could enhance their teaching and become more aware in various ways based on these perspectives. Specifically, a greater awareness of ethical and linguistic perspectives would be desirable. The study concludes that it is rewarding to understand media teachers from an educational, bildung ideal perspective. The concept of education, bildung could help provide media teachers with a holistic perspective in their analysis of didactic practice and achieve a good balance in media teachers' teaching based on the diversity of aspects within media subjects. Analysing media subjects from an educational, bildung perspective could also help to clarify and concretize the aspects that proponents of Critical Media Literacy consider important for media didactics.

本研究以回答「何謂好圖畫書」為主軸，透過兩階段進行探究：一為透過訪談方式，了解圖畫書文化迴路中發行者、創作者、消費者與經營者角色對「何謂好圖畫書」的見解，以及對現在台灣圖畫書市場的看法與建議，二為研究者實際進入幼兒園，以階段一的發現以及相關文獻資料的搜集，選定一本現在圖畫書較少見的題材與幼兒一同閱讀，進而探討台灣圖畫書市場有何可能的發展空間。最後，本研究共提出四個研究主張： 一、 批判媒體識讀的必要性 圖畫書的意義透過生產、消費、規制、再現與認同五個狀態彼此滲透循環而成，因此我們不應單純將圖畫書視為文字與圖畫的集合體，而是必須抱持批判的角度閱讀文本，找尋可能隱藏在文本中的真實。 二、 圖畫書多元主題的必要性 圖畫書受到商業利益考量、家長對孩子的教育觀等環境因素影響，具有「殘缺文本」的存在，即某些主題的圖畫書在市場中較為少見與處於弱勢，然而為刺激幼兒的批判閱讀能力，我們有必要提供豐富多元的文本給幼兒。 三、 不過度依賴書單的單一訊息 書單提供消費者消費的便利性，然而消費者也因此對書單過度依賴，所以閱聽人使用書單時應注意使用方式，否則容易喪失培養自我閱讀品味的機會。 四、 反對崇尚智識取向的圖畫書 台灣家長選書時，常受到「能否帶給孩子知識」的智識取向影響，然而這樣的思維容易讓孩子錯失閱讀多樣文本的機會，由於閱聽人可透過閱讀與批判的過程為文本賦予新意，因此圖畫書無好壞之分，端看讀者如何使用它。 / The purpose of this study is to answer ”What means good picture book?” and the concrete research concerns in this study include: (1) through in-depth interview with producer, author, consumer, and business operator in circuit of culture to understand how do they think about “good picture books ”, and their suggestion to Taiwan picture book industry, (2) choose one picture book which is rare in Taiwan picture books industry and study with children. There are four main findings from this study as follows: 1. The necessity developing critical thinking skills in media literacy Picture books are made through representation, regulation, consumption, production, and identity, so we can not only see picture books as a combination of words and pictures but try to find out the reality which hides in texts. 2. The necessity of providing multi-thesis picture books It exists “mutilated text” in picture book industry because of commercial profit and parents’ educational idea, but we have to provide children multi-thesis picture books to stimulate their critical thinking skills. 3. Do not rely on booklist too much We have to know that booklists make us choose picture books easier but may also make customers rely on it too much. 4. Do not advocate “knowledge-based” picture books If Taiwanese parents always choose “knowledge-based” picture books because they think those make children learn much more knowledge, children will loose their chance to meet multi-thesis picture books. In fact, texts do not really matter, but the key is how we read it with critical thinking skills in media literacy.

No description available.

The possibility of co-creation exists for all media, but game design has developed a culture that is unusually open to co-creation. This dissertation investigates significant cases of co-creation in mainstream games in order to explore how games can be co-created as alternative or critical media by their players. The core argument in the dissertation is that players co-create the design of a game only if certain conditions are met, namely: (1) player creation of a text or communication infrastructure that modifies the properties of the game and from which play emerges; (2) that this is done for a considerable group of players who share a particular practice of play; (3) that this is done not only by playing the game but by changing how others play it in a distinct creative activity, and (4), with the potential to subvert or contest the original design of the game. This situation where player creators have influence over the design of the game (but little power to enforce their interests) is problematic from the perspective of alternative or critical media, as alternative, local, production is seen as one reason for why a medium can have an alternative message. The industrial production of games as cultural commodities does limit the potential of co-creative game design for subversion because it reduces the level of participation in the creation process, thus keeping player creators relatively disempowered. Player creators do have influence on the design of the game, while at the same time having very little power to enforce their interests and design visions. The influence of player creators comes from the consumer power of millions of players who use co-created assets and who want to them to continue exiting, and this creates a mutually dependent relationship (and even partnership), between co-creators and commercial owners. The dissertation concludes that co-creative game design, despite limitations related to the industrial production of games as cultural commodities, is already happening, and shows a potential for turning games into alternative media.

Current health literacy research is reconceptualizing health literacy and social learning. Theorists are situating health literacy in the contexts of digital media and critical sociocultural theories (e.g., Wharf Higgins & Begoray, 2012), based on the proposition that literacy is a complex and layered human involvement in socio-political contexts (e.g., Gee, 2000; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; Levin-Zamir, Lemish, & Gofin, 2011; Nahachewsky & Ward, 2007). Research with adolescents in various contexts around the world has indicated that an empowerment approach to literacy education is effective for health literacy interventions (King, 2007). This study responds to the need to design and facilitate high school curriculum to empower adolescents to develop health literacy, and the study responds to the research participants’ choice of mental health as the topic of an interdisciplinary curriculum. Situated in the traditions of qualitative case study research methods, and positioned to engage the online social media contexts in which adolescents participate, this study explored how Critical Media Health Literacy (Wharf Higgins & Begoray, 2012) is expressed by a particular group of Burmese adolescents. The data reveal how the theoretical concept of Critical Media Health Literacy, when operationalized as a unit of analysis for the case study and a theoretical framework for the data collection methods of the case study, can be facilitated in a way that engages the research participants in specific skills’ practice and in cognitive, emotional reflection on their own health and literacies capacities. Data collection methods involved face-to- face interviews, online social media blogs, web page designs, and face-to-face group discussions. The analysis found optimism, anxiety, and taking action were major themes shaping the conditions for the adolescents’ development of health literacy, showing health literacy to be integral with media literacy and critical capacities, and indicating the concept of Critical Media Health Literacy has relevance for curriculum that engages adolescents who are situated in Burma/Myanmar to take action to improve the health of themselves and others in their social contexts. The findings indicate that this population and the applicability of Critical Media Health Literacy for high school curriculum in this setting requires further exploration to understand why social determinants of health are perceived as inevitable, how social pressures related to health are negotiated, and how digital structures influence the criticality of literacies of adolescents in Burma/Myanmar. Theoretical frameworks for further research are proposed for an exploration of the systems of relations in socio- political and economic contexts that influence the development and enactment of Critical Media Health Literacy and health promoting performances of adolescents in Burma/Myanmar. / Graduate / 0998 / 0573 / 0708 / beercm@gmail.com

Current health literacy research is reconceptualizing health literacy and social learning. Theorists are situating health literacy in the contexts of digital media and critical sociocultural theories (e.g., Wharf Higgins & Begoray, 2012), based on the proposition that literacy is a complex and layered human involvement in socio-political contexts (e.g., Gee, 2000; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; Levin-Zamir, Lemish, & Gofin, 2011; Nahachewsky & Ward, 2007). Research with adolescents in various contexts around the world has indicated that an empowerment approach to literacy education is effective for health literacy interventions (King, 2007). This study responds to the need to design and facilitate high school curriculum to empower adolescents to develop health literacy, and the study responds to the research participants’ choice of mental health as the topic of an interdisciplinary curriculum. Situated in the traditions of qualitative case study research methods, and positioned to engage the online social media contexts in which adolescents participate, this study explored how Critical Media Health Literacy (Wharf Higgins & Begoray, 2012) is expressed by a particular group of Burmese adolescents. The data reveal how the theoretical concept of Critical Media Health Literacy, when operationalized as a unit of analysis for the case study and a theoretical framework for the data collection methods of the case study, can be facilitated in a way that engages the research participants in specific skills’ practice and in cognitive, emotional reflection on their own health and literacies capacities. Data collection methods involved face-to- face interviews, online social media blogs, web page designs, and face-to-face group discussions. The analysis found optimism, anxiety, and taking action were major themes shaping the conditions for the adolescents’ development of health literacy, showing health literacy to be integral with media literacy and critical capacities, and indicating the concept of Critical Media Health Literacy has relevance for curriculum that engages adolescents who are situated in Burma/Myanmar to take action to improve the health of themselves and others in their social contexts. The findings indicate that this population and the applicability of Critical Media Health Literacy for high school curriculum in this setting requires further exploration to understand why social determinants of health are perceived as inevitable, how social pressures related to health are negotiated, and how digital structures influence the criticality of literacies of adolescents in Burma/Myanmar. Theoretical frameworks for further research are proposed for an exploration of the systems of relations in socio- political and economic contexts that influence the development and enactment of Critical Media Health Literacy and health promoting performances of adolescents in Burma/Myanmar. / Graduate / 0998 / 0573 / 0708 / beercm@gmail.com

No description available.