The Impact of Digital Literacy in Education (Part 2)

One way that educational institutions are seeking to accommodate the needs of the Millennial learner is through the use of media literacy tools such as multimedia textbooks.   Media literacy means that educators look at the Millennials not just as consumers of knowledge, media, and technology but as creators.  According to Considine et al. (2009) “this is crucial when working with the Millennials who are accustomed to living in a multimedia landscape” (p. 475).  Allowing learners the ability to interact with multimedia texts and express themselves through activities that promote engagement and creation are options that some educational institutions are currently undertaking as there seems to be “a gap between what college teachers expect and what college students expect”  (Pratt & Pratt, 2009, p. 1). One such educational association is the National School Board Association.

           

The National School Board Association has become advocates for incorporating multimedia texts in the curriculum.  This organization believes that the Millennial learners use words, images, audio, and videos to express themselves, and tools such as wikis, blogs, chat rooms, and instant messaging appeal more to these learners than traditional text-based materials  (Considine et al., 2009).  Further evidence revealed by Considine et al. (2009) suggest that the reason these learners perform relatively low in reading and overall academics is due to the lack of engaging educational content. However, creating and accessing interactive and engaging content is often done in an online environment and part of the issue the Millennial generation has comes from a lack of ability to analyze and authenticate materials found online or in other media formats  (Williams & Rowlands, 2008).  In order to assist them with the development of these skills and strategies  Duncan, D’Ippolito, Macpherson, and Wilson (as cited in Considine et al., 2009) suggest a media literacy model such as T.A.P.,Text, Audience, and Production  should be considered. 

T.A.P. is broken down into three areas:

Text, Audience, and Production

In the text section questions are asked to help the learners examine and identify what type of text they are using (novel, journal, etc…), another way to look at this is what is the genre.  The audience section focuses on who the intended audience is and what their characteristics are.  In media literacy one of the guiding principles is grounded in constructivism, that is the assumption is that the meaning does not reside in the content but is rather constructed by the individual audience member (Considine et al., 2009).  The production leg of the T.A.P. triangle asks the learner questions “that enable them to critically analyze the creative process and institutional context in which the content was created, distributed, marketed, and consumed” (Considine et al., 2009, p. 477).  According to Considine et al., (2009) using a model like T.A.P. allows an instructor to engage their learners and it allows the learners to learn how to analyze content that is interesting and immediate. Since media and technology are seamlessly incorporated into every other facet in the Millennials lives, educators should take a close look at the educational materials they use both inside and outside the classroom.

--CJ Bracken

Instructional Designer, JSRCC

References

Considine, D., Horton, J., & Moorman, G. (2009). Teaching and reading the millennial generation through media literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 52 (6), 471-481.

Novotney, A. (2010). Engaging the millennial learner. Monitor on Psychology, 41 (3), 60-61.

Pratt, D., & Pratt, D. (2009). Managing millennial students in the college classroom. Proceedings of the ATE annual meeting, Dallas, TX.  Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/7/7/7/4/pages277745/p277745-1.php

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9 (5), 1-6.

Price, C. (2010). Why don't my student think I'm groovy: The new R's for engaging millennial learners. Teaching of Psychology, 9, 29-34

Williams, P., & Rowlands, I. (2008). The information behavior of the researcher of the future. London: British Library and Joint Information Systems Committee.

Wilson, M., & Gerber, L. E. (2008). How generational theory can improve teaching: Strategies for working with the "millennials". Currents in Teaching and Learning, 1 (1), 29-44.