The subject of this autoethnography is the self-reflection of my own media experience, which I experience daily with a smartphone. The aim of the work is to discover my intimate and individual media experience with the most used technology and to see how this professional self-reflection can lead to the development of media literacy. Current times and society are changing ever more rapidly due to technological developments, which is why we need to adapt to these changes individually throughout our lives. The first part of the thesis thus describes theoretical basis concerning media literacy and self-reflection in the context of post-modern times, the current approach to media education, the concept of dynamic lifelong learning and the new, transformative competences needed for a happy life in the 21st century. The second part of the thesis explains the qualitative methodological process of autoethnography and data collection, which took place over six months through a self-reflective journal. The final part of the work uncovers thematic categories gained from the data set, in which I deconstructed that a smartphone means for me above all security, health, ambivalence, self-fulfilment, but overall the satisfaction of these needs. I noticed that I changed the way of thinking, my opinions, behaviour, emotions,...

Critical media literacy (Kellner & Share, 2005) may better equip children to interpret videogame content and to create games that are nonviolent and socially just. Videogames are growing in popularity in classrooms. Yet educators and parents have concerns about the violent and stereotypical content they include. An earlier study based on the curriculum Beyond Blame: Challenging Violence in the Media (Webb, Martin, Afifi, & Kraus, 2009) examined the value of a media awareness curriculum. In this mixed-method study, I explored the effectiveness of a critical media literacy program that incorporated collaboratively creating nonviolent or sociallyjust games in teaching fourth-grade students the factors of awareness of violence, marketing, and critical media literacy. Qualitative data collected from teacher reflection notes, student journals, Scratch projects, and interviews revealed the positive effects of the program. Quantitative data supported these conclusions. This highlights the need for schools to engage students in computer programming as a means to learn academics, while educating students in critical media literacy to better enable them to navigate wisely the media saturated world in which they live. In learning programming, students engage in collaborative work, their interactions helping them to collectively create meaning for the symbols they create. Set in a framework of critical media literacy and symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969; Mead, 1934), this study provides an innovative model for teaching computer programming and critical media literacy skills to students.

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.

Advances in communication technology have allowed for new ways for high school teachers to incorporate these technologies into their classroom practice. However, most teachers are uninformed about media literacy pedagogy. This study investigated how using a collaborative professional development group influenced teachers' understanding and use of media literacy concepts in their current practice. A professional development group with teachers from different content areas met for five months to study the theory and methodology of media literacy. This collaborative group provided opportunities for teachers to develop and share analytical and productions skills in media literacy, as well as design lessons utilizing media literacy principles appropriate to each teacher's field of study in order to facilitate better student understanding and application of media literacy as well as discipline-specific knowledge and skills. Results indicate positive development for the participants in using media literacy in their current instruction if adequate time and technology resources are available and that professional development groups for teachers of various content areas are an effective way to introduce them to media literacy.

This qualitative research project describes the experiences of students in BYU's Hands on a Camera Project as they were introduced to co-learning pedagogies. Hands on a Camera is a media literacy service-learning project where university students are placed in public schools to teach K-12 students documentary production and media literacy. The project consists of a preparation phase and a teaching phase. In the research project, students were required to complete peer-learning and peer-teaching assignments during the preparation phase as in order to prepare for the teaching phase. This ethnographic study describes student experiences—positive and negative—with peer learning during both phases of the project.

This qualitative action research project examined the experiences of high school students in a technology education course as they were taught accepted technology education standards in conjunction with storytelling principles through writing and producing their own short films. The data from the project demonstrate that incorporating the principles of storytelling into technology education can be effective in helping students not only become skilled with the tools of technology, but also become media literate and articulate in creative expression.

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.

Barthelsson, Marie & Zetterman, My (2009). ”Man vill ju inte se helt knäpp ut liksom – en kvalitativ studie av en grupp ungdomars relation till bilder på internet. (You Don't Want to Look All Crazy – a Qualitative Study of a Group of Young People and Their Relations to Pictures on the Internet). Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärarutbildningen 90 hp, Malmö högskola. Syftet med följande arbete är att kartlägga en grupp ungdomar i gymnasieålders vanor vad gäller att ladda upp bilder på nätet samt att undersöka deras medvetenhet om konsekvenser av detta. I vilken utsträckning och i vilka forum laddar unga idag upp bilder? Hur uppfattar de att de förhåller sig till den information de sprider på nätet och den bild av sig själva de bygger upp där? Hur förhåller de sig till andras bilder av sig själva? Vilken roll spelar uppladdningen av bilder för identitetsskapande och det sociala samspelet med andra?Arbetet bygger på ett litteraturbaserat teoriavsnitt där teorier om identitetsskapande, socialisation, självporträtt och media literacy lyfts fram. Med hjälp av gruppintervjuer har vi sedan undersökt i vilken utsträckning ungdomar laddar upp bilder och deras kommentarer kring olika aspekter av användandet av internet.Resultaten pekar på att de intervjuade ungdomarna idag är medvetna om konsekvenser av att ladda upp bilder men upplever att de positiva effekterna är viktigare. Internet spelar stor roll för ungdomarnas sociala liv och är fullt implementerat i deras vardag som en artefakt för social samvaro och medel för att uttrycka sig själv. Vidare kan konstateras att ungdomarna upplevt att de fått väldigt lite information från skolan om upphovsrätt och internetkunskap. Det finns också en tydlig vilja för ungdomarna att dra gränser mellan sitt egna liv på internet och vuxnas liv på internet. Vi menar att som lärare är det av stor vikt att säkerställa hög media literacy hos sig själv samt att känna till de forum där elever uttrycker sig själva och socialiserar med andra.

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This study investigated the impact of a media literacy education plan on the reading test scores of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) at an urban high school in Central Florida. A team of 9th and 10th grade teachers created a professional learning community and developed a treatment to enhance language arts instruction with various forms of media. This media literacy education plan included four lessons utilizing media such as television commercials, magazine photographs and the Internet; the lessons were taught during the four months leading to the administration of the 2007 FCAT. Data were gathered from the 2006 and 2007 FCAT scores of students in a control and treatment group. Using these pre test and post test data, statistical analysis comprised two independent t-tests and one repeated measures ANOVA. The data revealed statistical significance at the 9th and 10th grade level, but did not show statistical significance at any particular reading level (Levels 1-5). Implications from this study included strong professional learning communities produce effective teachers and that student achievement increases when a media literacy education plan is included in English Language Arts instruction. Furthermore, this study illustrates the need to embrace modern media as viable classroom instructional tools. Recommendations were made for further research utilizing different materials, different forms of media, different student populations. This study also concluded that further qualitative research be conducted. Ultimately, this study makes a strong argument for the inclusion of media and media literacy education in the secondary English Language Arts classroom.