Manifesto

• asked for 1500 words on ‘purpose of media education’ (Jan 2011)

• started with ‘names’: Jenkins, Buckingham, Bazalgette, Gauntlett

• opened up to contributions- got over 50

• diverse: geographically, across sectors, in definition of media ed and approach to task

• but heavy on rhetoric, little on pedagogy

a manifesto for media educationgrand rhetoric and messy reality

so...

...from my research

“Most parents would rather their children had a traditional education, with children sitting in rows, learning the kings and queens of England, the great works of literature...”

rhetoric v reality

ICT in schools- the reality?

digital natives?online

participants?connecting creatively?

‘de-schoolers’ (digital optimists)

‘old-schoolers’ (anti-progressivism)

v

MY RESEARCH

Media Studies in UK at 14-19

68,000 take Media Studies GCSE at 16700,000 take Maths and English

26,000 take Media Studies A level at 1889,000 take English

total cohort: 280,000

UK media education: some principles

• engagement with young people and popular cultural forms

• mixture of analytical and practical

• mixture of exams and coursework

• encourage and assess a range of skills

• stress on active learning and group work

• ‘creativity’ and critical reflection

• encourage use of web 2.0 free tools (especially blogging)

quantitative data in progress

listening to teacherslistening to students

qualitative data in progress

emerging issues

• perception of media studies: ‘inferiority complex’

• learning experience compared with other subjects

• group work and peer learning

• technology in education: anxiety v opportunity

blog grab

blogging- positives

• “you don’t lose your work”

• “you can access it anywhere”

• “you can embed and link to other media”

• “it looks good”

• “you can go back and improve it”

• “you can work together on it”

• “it’s more like how I use the internet”

• motivation to work harder

• formative tool- including peer assessment

• can reach a wider audience

blogging- negatives

• “people could copy you”

• “it’s too much like my internet use”

• school places so many barriers in the way

“one of the best things about the blog- you see the process of how you did it. If it was written (essay) work, you’d see the planning work and then you’d do it and then it would be done and you wouldn’t see it again, you’d carry on with other stuff, but because it’s on a blog, you can keep looking at it. It’s kind of like a story, because you see it from the start to the end and that makes you feel proud and helps you look back and say ‘that’s what I was doing, I’ve done that’... (Scott, age 16)

avoiding assumptions about digital aptitudes and web emancipation but opening up use of what’s there

a manifesto for media educationgrand rhetoric and messy reality

petefraser@me.com