Where can I view the 2011 conference digital posters?
You have three ways to take part in this new presentation format. Posters will be showcased on a rotating basis throughout the conference in the Nicholas Moore Room (Lobby). Poster authors will also present their work during the sessions listed below. Following the opening of the conference, all digital posters will also be available indefinitely for review at http://tinyurl.com/namle2011posters.

Where can I learn more about using digital posters in my own work?
To find out how digital posters offer new ways of thinking and presenting in research and teaching, join us for “Digital Posters: New Opportunities for Elaboration and Dissemination” on Sunday, July 24 from 1:30-2:00 pm in the Nicholas Moore Room (Lobby).

Saturday, July 23rd (Nicholas Moore Room)

Sunday, July 24th (Nicholas Moore Room)

Monday, July 25th (Nicholas Moore Room)

Meet the author of Media Literacy, Social Networking, and the Web 2.0 Environment for the K-12 Educator.

Belinha S. De Abreu, Ph.D., is a media literacy educator and an assistant teaching professor at Drexel University. Her research interests include media literacy education, new media, visual and information literacy, global perspectives, critical thinking, teacher training, and the impact of learning as a result of media and technology consumed by K-12 students. Dr. De Abreu’s work has been featured in Cable in the Classroom and The Journal of Media Literacy. She has most recently published “Changing Technology= Empowering Students through Media Literacy Education” in the Hong Kong publication New Horizons in Education (2010).

Presenters: NAMLE Board

Objectives:

Begin planning for the 2013 Conference.

Presenters: Madeline Di Nonno, Executive Director of SEE JANE and The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Speaker

• Madeline Di Nonno, Executive Director of SEE JANE and The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media: Madeline Di Nonno brings over 25 years experience in media, marketing and business development in the entertainment, digital media and consumer packaged goods industries. The Institute is the leading resource for gender in media research, trends and education for the entertainment industry and the public. SEE JANE is a program of the Institute that utilizes research, education and advocacy to engage the entertainment industry and recognize the need for gender balance and varied portrayals of females and male characters into movies, TV, and other media aimed at children 11 and under. They work cooperatively and collaboratively with entertainment creators to encourage them to be leaders in creating positive change.

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Objectives:

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Description

Participant Involvement

Presenter(s)

Presenters: Anthony Barra, Temple University. Presider: Gretchen Schwarz

Objectives: This session considers the multiple literacies and specific genre-knowledge required of expert bloggers. Reflective activities utilize talk and writing to connect content to real-world practice.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education, Educational Administration & Policy

Description

Blog-hosting sites (e.g., WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr) offer educators hip, high-quality alternatives to the more schoolish (and expensive!) technologies that typically mediate online, class discussion, such as Blackboard, Moodle, or WebCT. While promising, these pedagogical tools are not foolproof, as they require students and teachers alike to enact multiple literacies and specific genre-knowledge.

Having switched from Blackboard to WordPress, I am uniquely positioned to address the pros and cons of teaching through a blog. Additionally, I have studied the collaborative, class-blog as a genre in hopes of making explicit the tacit rules and conventions that underlie successful blogging. In this session, I review critical findings from that study, while guiding participants to consider pragmatic and imaginative infusions of blogging into their own practice.

Using Bawarshi’s (2000, 2003) concept of genre-function as my unit of analysis, I examine three concurrent influences that work together to shape blog-based communication. The three planes of influence are: mode (i.e., the tools through which language travels), tenor (i.e.,who is taking part), and field (i.e., what takes place communicatively).

The class-blog creates a virtual classroom that enables multiple means of communication in both real and asynchronous time. At the modal level, a teacher or student’s ability to inhabit this space in purposeful (and creative) ways is influenced by the sophistication of his or her blog literacy. To expertly navigate the site, users invoke a range of tools, which mediate communication, yet can be manipulated and mastered in countless ways. In this session, participants are introduced to and will discuss means of manipulating WordPress’s primary tools.

Participants will also consider how tenor is enacted by blog-users, who present (and perform) themselves across a range of actions, including screenname and avatar choice, the degree to which they choose participation or silence, the content they raise, ignore, or comment upon, the modalities they enact, and the tone and style of their language.

Field is examined through the discourse analysis of a class-blog’s most dynamic site of action: the discussion thread, which consists of a headline, anchor post, and comments section – as well as the intentions and desires of the participating bloggers. These close readings examine the conventions and critical features of discussion threads with special emphasis on the importance of directionality (i.e., voicing that agrees with, extends, or challenges previous utterances) and thread appropriacy (i.e., the degree to which a headline, anchor post, and discussion corresponds with the users’ desires). I argue that such features deserve explicit teaching and conscious reflection and suggest procedures for doing so.

Throughout the session, participants will reflect, through writing and talk, on key concepts, before leaving with the following resources:

- pragmatic, ready-to-implement strategies for launching a class-blog and for guiding the development of students’ (and their own) blog-as-genre literacy

- the results of their brief reflective inquiry (tailored towards their own concerns and goals)

- a practical list of 25 pedagogical uses for a class-blog

- a flexible heuristic (checklist-style) for reducing stress and increasing success.

Participant Involvement

I will frame the session in a reflective inquiry approach, posing an essential question – “What should online class discussion look and sound like?” – for participants to consider at the start, middle, and end of the session. Through writing, talk, and a brief Q&A session, all participants will leave with a considered sense of blogging’s impact on the essential question.

Presenter(s)

• Anthony Barra, Temple University: As a high school English teacher, Anthony Barra co-founded the Cricket/Haiku-based Coolest Club in Town and musical supergroup, Chicks & Dudes. These days, he pursues his literacy doctorate and runs a beach-front restaurant with his wife. While he delights in the company of his newborn daughter, he is most proud of his presidency of the Italian-American Federation of Coffee Enthusiasts, in spite of its modest membership of one. His theoretical home-base is genre theory.

Presenters: Joanne Falinski, Independent Consultant; Lizabeth Fogel, The Walt Disney Company. Presider: Faith Rogow

Objectives: This session describes how digital storytelling in a participatory culture builds multiliteracies – visual literacy, technological literacy and media literacy – as well as traditional literacies. Presenters share students’ multimedia compositions, discuss positive outcomes and challenges, and describe the process of supporting students in the creation of their digital stories.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling

Description

What does it mean to be literate in our society? According to Jason Ohler (2008), children are growing up as creators of stories and media in a new storytelling era, not just as consumers of media. Given opportunities and support, each child has an ability to create rich stories in their own language using media. Digital storytelling, the blending of images, music, narrative and voice (Leslie Rule, Digital Storytelling Association), is an important pedagogical tool because it combines traditional literacies – reading, writing, speaking and listening – with new literacies – visual literacy, technological literacy and media literacy.

Our children live in a “participatory culture,” an environment which supports collaboration, artistic expression and civic engagement (Jenkins, 2006). Teachers need to create spaces for students to experience a participatory culture in classrooms while they use their increasingly sophisticated visual literacy skills to design digital stories (and other multimedia compositions) using simple and inexpensive technology. Authentic encounters with technology generate a high degree of student enthusiasm and motivation as well as unlimited possibilities for the learning of multiliteracies (Burn and Reed, 1999; Davis, 2004).

Unfortunately many classroom teachers do not know how to implement a digital storytelling model with elementary-aged children. This session will focus on a yearlong digital storytelling project implemented with fourth grade students enrolled in a dual language program. Presenters will discuss the project, and share examples of students’ multimedia compositions. Participants will learn about the positive benefits for all students, particularly English language learners, by hearing students talk about their literacy learning through digital storytelling. This session will show educators the importance of including digital storytelling into their language arts curriculum to support elementary students’ learning of 21st century standards.

References:

Burn, A., & Reed, K. (1999). Digi-teens: Media literacies and digital technologies in the secondary classroom. English Education, 33(3), 5-20. doi:10.1111/j.1754-8845.1999.tb00720.x

Davis, A. (2004). Co-authoring identify: Digital storytelling in an urban middle school. THEN: Technology, Humanities, Education, & Narrative, 1 (1), 1. Available: http://thenjournal.org/feature/61

Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st

century. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from

http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

Ohler, J. (2008). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning and creativity. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Participant Involvement

We believe in active participation in our workshop sessions and attempt to model the creation of a participatory culture whereby we are all learners whose voices are respected and valued. We view ourselves as facilitators of a conversation about digital storytelling in the elementary school and are eager to hear of participants’ experiences, ideas and questions. Throughout the workshop, we will encourage reflection and response on the part of the participants, and invite questions and comments.

Presenter(s)

• Joanne Falinski, Independent Consultant: Joanne Falinski has been an elementary teacher, a supervisor of instruction, an elementary principal in suburban and urban school districts and a teacher educator at Pace University. Currently she works with New York charter schools as an independent consultant. Her area of expertise is literacy learning and language arts curriculum development, and her current research interest is writing and technology, specifically the use of digital storytelling with dual language students in elementary schools. Joanne completed her doctorate in educational administration at Syracuse University.
• Lizabeth Fogel, The Walt Disney Company: Lizabeth Fogel is responsible for insuring the educational validity and integrity of new products and services developed by The Walt Disney Company. She manages relationships across all of the internal business units, advising and guiding them in the use of learning content.Prior to joining Disney, Lizabeth taught at the elementary and university levels for over fifteen years. She holds master degrees in elementary education, developmental psychology and a doctorate in educational psychology-organizational leadership from Pepperdine University.

Presenters: Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Education for the 21st Century. Presider: Jessica Brown

Objectives: This interactive presentation synthesizes the work of neurologists, physicists, linguists and communications theorists to go beyond literal definitions of media literacy and find new language to discuss the field and its future.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education, Educational Administration & Policy, Media Industry, Health Professions, Non-Profit Sector, Faith-based Organizations

Description

In his new book, What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelly, the former editor of Wired Magazine, describes what he calls “the technium.” This coined word refers to the”greater, global, massively interconnected system of technology vibrating all around us. It “extends beyond hardware to include culture, art, social institutions and intellectual creations of all types.” Kelly says provocatively “of the spheres of influence upon the technium, the human mind is only one.” This presentation will go beyond standard notions of media literacy as a practice to media literacy as a way of knowing and integrate fields as diverse as neurology, physics, linguistics and philosopy to create a synthesis of media theory since McLuhan that can guide us a teachers and learners in this new age.

Participant Involvement

There will be questions and answers and small group activity so each group can compare notes and contribute to the larger whole.

Presenter(s)

• Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Education for the 21st Century: Dr. Renee Cherow-O’Leary is President of Education for the 21st Century, a consulting firm in New York City. She is a former Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, Research Director at Children’s Television Workshop and National Coordinator for Media Literacy at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Renee presents on issues of media and education throughout the world.

Presenters: Hans C. Schmidt, Penn State University – Brandywine. Presider: Theresa Redmond

Objectives: This poster session illustrates survey research results of the extent to which students are exposed to several basic elements of media literacy education at the high school and university levels.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education, Educational Administration & Policy

Description

In light of the centrality of media in today’s society, there has been a growing recognition of the need to help individuals of all ages develop competencies necessary to be full participants in the modern world of media convergence. This study considers the extent to which students are exposed to several basic elements of media literacy education at the high school and university levels. A survey (N=409) was conducted to compare student exposure to media literacy curricula at both the high school and university levels.

Data suggest that media literacy competencies were addressed more often in high school than in college. Results might be divided into three categories of competencies associated with media literacy: learning about media use, learning about media creation, and learning about media analysis (Wulff, 1993).

Regarding the first category, questionnaire data demonstrated that students reported using video and Web-based media in high school (77.4%) more often than in college (73.4%). Specifically, more student participants reported taking courses in high school that involved video use (68.7%) and Web use (86.0%), than students reported taking courses in college that involved video use (61.9%) or Web use (84.8%).

The trend was even more dramatic for the second category of media literacy competencies. When considering student exposure to courses that involved media creation, students reported creating video and Web-based media in high school (48.3%) more often than in college (31.1%). Specifically, students reported taking courses in high school that involved video creation (53.4%) or Web creation (43.1%) more frequently than students reported taking courses in college that involved video creation (29.0%) or Web creation (33.1%).

The third category considered learning about media analysis. Here the trend was reversed, and students reported taking fewer courses in high school regarding media analysis (43.4%) than in college (57.6%).

Thus, while 14.2% more students reported exposure to course content regarding media analysis in college than high school, 24.4% fewer students reported exposure to video creation and 10.0% fewer students reported exposure to Web creation in college than in high school.

Accordingly, data demonstrate that students are exposed to less media-related coursework in college than they are in high school. Especially, data show that students in college are involved in media creation activities much less frequently than students in high school.

These findings give cause for alarm. All three categories of competencies are interrelated: fully developing any one requires possessing other competencies as well. Furthermore, this trend is alarming because students who learn about media creation in high school may lose these competencies if they are not reinforced in college. Thus, despite the efforts of educators at the K-12 level to promote media literacy and engage students in the type of new media creation that will be important for the future, these competencies may be lost by students who are not encouraged to use them during their college years.

Participant Involvement

Attendees will have the opportunity to view my digital poster. Attendees will also have the opportunity to interact with me personally and discuss this study’s findings.

Presenter(s)

• Hans C. Schmidt, Penn State University – Brandywine: Hans Schmidt (Ph.D., Temple University) is an assistant professor of communications at Penn State University - Brandywine. He researches and teaches media, media literacy, and journalism.

Presenters: Michael Schoonmaker, Syracuse University. Presider: Faith Rogow

Objectives: This research showcases digital video stories made by 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th graders in an urban school district that demonstrate how media production can be used as an agent of effective reform giving students a voice in the process of education.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education, Educational Administration & Policy

Description

This research presentation will highlight the first year findings of a two-year research study at Syracuse University titled “Smart Kids Visual Stories” involving digital video stories made by 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th graders of an urban K-8 school that demonstrate how media production can be used as an agent of effective reform giving students a voice in the process of education. A joint effort between faculty and students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the School of Education, this research seeks to create a “media intervention” in what recent scholars have termed “the wasteland of the adolescent years of schooling” (Smyth & McInerney 2007). In spite of significant research, money, policy initiatives and interventions that have addressed educational failure in urban schools, this failure endures, shaping for the worse the lives of urban youth, particularly poor, Black, Latino and immigrant students. Though our work to date confirms that the “deficit approach” —an approach emphasizing how the problems of urban communities are the barriers to school reform— in urban education predominates, a new wave of scholars, national and international, offer more collaborative, student-centered approaches. We join this wave. Starting from the presumption that urban adolescents have knowledge and competence about the nature and quality of urban education and that students must be collaborators in urban school reform, the Smart Kids team from S.U. has worked with urban students to help them share their perspectives through digital video. Our initial work with one struggling K-8 school has expanded to six additional schools in the district. This project has allowed students to draw on and strengthen their everyday literacies through work with S.U. students and professors. Miller and Borowicz (2005) found that digital video functioned to “awaken something in students that traditional academic tools of books and paper do not.” Giving people cameras to represent their lives promotes “critical group discussion about personal and community issues and assets” (Wang, Morrel-Samuels, Hutchison, Bell & Pestronk 2004). Our project gives urban high school students access to these tools so they can articulate a public voice and share insights on urban education reform in ways that are meaningful to them. This project presumes that students are competent. Further, it assumes that the task of schools is to find ways to tap into that competence – media production being one of them. The deficit approach to urban education, which frames students as problems that the educational system must overcome, ignores students as resources in a joint/collaborative effort for educational reform. Media production in the hands of K-12 students can be part of this.

Participant Involvement

Attendees will be presented background and video highlights of the project to date and encouraged to interact with questions and examples of their own from K-12 settings.

Presenter(s)

• Michael Schoonmaker, Syracuse University: Michael Schoonmaker has served as chair of Syracuse’s TRF Department since 2000. He began his career at MTV, supervising production elements in all areas. He later joined NBC’s Olympic Unit, where he supervised production elements NBC’s Emmy Award-winning coverage of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He is author of the book Camera in the Classroom: Educating the Post-TV Generation, a guide for K-12 teachers who wish to integrate film and video into their curricula.

Presenters: Cary Gillenwater, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Presider: Gretchen Schwarz

Objectives: This research project explores the use of hybrid texts, e.g. graphic novels, in an AP English classroom. The findings are the result of analysis of observations, interviews, and think-aloud activities and are founded on theories and research in visual and media literacy.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling

Description

The paper proposal I am submitting for the 2011 NAMLE conference will be based upon findings from my dissertation research. The purpose of my dissertation research is to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon of the use of graphic novels, what I term hybrid texts, in the classroom, particularly in the Advanced Placement English classroom. The reason for the choice of the advanced placement classroom was due to the fact that much of the research on the use of hybrid texts is focused on students considered struggling or “non-readers” and how to bridge these students to traditional literacy methods (e.g. Freeman, 1998; McTaggart, 2005; and Versaci, 2001). While this research is both important and commendable, to my knowledge, exploration of the use of hybrid texts with students considered successful/advanced readers, i.e. students that do not need a bridge to traditional literacy, is practically non-existent as is finding a teacher that uses them at this level. Nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to locate a teacher who does use hybrid texts in his advanced placement 12th grade English classroom, and on two separate weeks during the past fall semester, I was able to conduct multiple observations in his AP English classroom as well as interact with him and his students both one-on-one and in the classroom around two different hybrid texts – Daredevil: Born Again and Superman for All Seasons.

My research was prompted by four primary research questions focused on pedagogy, curriculum, visual literacy, and students’ literacy experiences. The paper I propose for consideration at the 2011 NAMLE conference will be the result of analysis of my findings from the observations, interviews, and structured think-aloud activities that were conducted during each visit. Initial analysis of the data suggests for example a distinct and potentially calculated absence for these students of any engagement with image based texts for much of their schooling, an absence that these students began to recognize and question during the course of the semester. The research also suggests that a teacher’s passion for a text makes a significant difference to students’ own engagement with texts, and that such texts as graphic novels may be more relevant to 21st Century Literacy skills than traditional texts.

My paper is founded on theories, claims, and research in a diverse array of fields, including reading education, arts education, and visual and media literacy. My choice of qualitative research was based on the knowledge that this methodology promotes a deep understanding of a phenomenon and allows for multiple perspectives to be voiced (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2008). Understanding was the primary goal of this study; nevertheless, I believe this research has the potential to contribute new information to scholarship on literacy.

Participant Involvement

My pedagogical approach is heavily discursive. I believe that the best way to understand a phenomenon is to engage in conversation about it. I prefer to engage in dialogue with those that are skeptical, as that often yields new knowledge and understanding.

Presenter(s)

• Cary Gillenwater, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Cary Gillenwater is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His dissertation is on the phenomenon of using graphic novels in an AP English classroom and the possible curricular, pedagogical, sociocultural, and literary implications of its usage for the teacher and the students. Cary taught middle school Language Arts for five years in North Carolina and prior to teaching worked in Hollywood, CA in the film and television industry.

Presenters: David Cooper Moore, Powerful Voices for Kids/Media Education Lab at Temple University; John Landis, Russell Byers Charter School; Kate Spiller, Independence Charter School; Laura Stephenson, Temple University. Presider: Cathy Leogrande

Objectives: This panel offers three perspectives on curriculum development for summer and in-school learning and professional development for educators in an urban elementary setting.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Educational Administration & Policy

Description

As the digital and media literacy movement continues to grow throughout the country at the institutional and community level, it has become more important than ever to explore innovative ways to integrate digital and media literacy pedagogy in K-12 education. For three years, the Media Education Lab at Temple University has worked with the Russell Byers Charter School in Center City, Philadelphia, PA, to run Powerful Voices for Kids, an innovative media literacy initiative that addresses the need for a holistic approach to media literacy education by offering summer learning, in-school and after-school enrichment, staff development, and community engagement.

The mission of Powerful Voices for Kids is to strengthen children’s abilities to think for themselves, communicate effectively using language and technology tools, and use their powerful voices to contribute to the quality of life in their families, their schools, their communities, and the world. Our work so far has enrolled students, teachers, parents, community leaders, and undergraduate and graduate students in media and education to help change how the Philadelphia educational community thinks about media and technology integration. In two years of summer instruction and three years of collaboration with the Russell Byers Charter School, Powerful Voices for Kids has run two summer programs, three intensive workshops for educators, assessment with a variety of research tools, and year-round in-school mentoring. Students in our summer program have completed dozens of multimedia final products including video games, comic books, short documentary and fiction films, and written work.

In this panel discussion, Temple University graduate student and media literacy researcher Laura Stephenson will explore the various components of a comprehensive media literacy integration program with three key Powerful Voices for Kids staff members. David Cooper Moore is Program Director in charge of curriculum development and is currently developing a curriculum model suitable for scaling up the Powerful Voices for Kids program in other local schools. John Landis was the first Powerful Voices for Kids In-School Mentor at our site school. He has since been promoted to a full-time position as Technology Coordinator and is responsible for technology integration, staff development, and integrating digital and media literacy concepts into classroom content. Kate Spiller, a former Powerful Voices for Kids summer instructor, will be the second In-School Mentor for our second location at Wayne Elementary School in Radnor, PA.

Topics in this discussion will include many of the most challenging aspects of systematic media literacy integration in elementary education, including the complexities of university-school partnerships, envisioning media literacy learning for younger children, using controversial popular culture and current events material in the classroom, and combining media analysis and high-end media production. The group will also discuss the role of digital citizenship and online ethics in teaching digital media to children between the ages of 5 and 12. The group will discuss experiences with a wide range of developmental needs and challenges to foster a thoughtful conversation on what digital and media literacy looks like from early childhood through adolescence.

Participant Involvement

This panel discussion encompasses all levels of school involvement in media literacy learning, including student engagement, professional development for teachers, and enrolling school administration in integrating media literacy enrichment in a K-6 environment. Participants will have opportunities to expand upon the moderator’s own inquiry and ask questions of Powerful Voices for Kids administration and instructors and Russell Byers Charter School staff members about their experiences in bringing media literacy education to Philadelphia schoolchildren.

Presenter(s)

• David Cooper Moore, Powerful Voices for Kids/Media Education Lab at Temple University: David Cooper Moore is the Program Director for the Powerful Voices for Kids program, a collaboration between the Media Education Lab at Temple University and the Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia, PA. Along with administration of the summer media literacy enrichment program, David is responsible for developing a curriculum model for scaling up Powerful Voices for Kids in more area schools. He has worked with the Media Education Lab for three years on the creation of multimedia resources and curriculum development for organizations including PBS Teachers and the McNeil/Lehrer Student Reporting Labs. He is currently completing his MFA degree as a graduate student in Temple University’s Film and Media Arts program.
• John Landis, Russell Byers Charter School: John Landis is the Technology Coordinator for the Russell Byers Charter School (RBCS) in Philadelphia, PA. He has worked with Powerful Voices for Kids, a university-school partnership between the Temple Media Education Lab and RBCS, for two years. John began his tenure with Powerful Voices for Kids as a summer instructor and subsequently became the first In-School Mentor in the fall of 2009. He was then promoted to a full-time position at RBCS as Technology Coordinator, where he is responsible for guiding media literacy integration into classroom projects, technology integration, and professional development for classroom teachers.
• Kate Spiller, Independence Charter School: Kate Spiller is a media literacy advocate. She has previously worked at the Media Education Lab as the office manager and acted as the moderator for My Pop Studio, where girls ages 9-14 can engage in media literacy lessons in a play-and-learning online experience.  She was a lead instructor for Powerful Voices for Kids in the summer of 2010 working with first grade students. Recently, she was a teaching assistant for fifth grade at Independence Charter School for English and Social Studies, as well as starting a media literacy club for students in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. Her main areas of interest within media literacy are gender identity, nutrition, self-image, and representations of sexuality.
• Laura Stephenson, Temple University: Laura Stephenson is a PhD candidate in Temple University’s Mass Media and Communications program in the School of Communications in Theater. She received her B.A. in Sociology from Stanford University in 1997 and her M.A. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000. Her current research interests include children and media, media literacy, and parental mediation. Laura has worked with the Media Education Lab as a Research Assistant on research and assessment of learning outcomes in the Powerful Voices for Kids program and recently moderated a panel on teaching about stereotypes through media production for educator workshop in collaboration with PBS affiliate WHYY and the Independent Television Service.

Presenters: Douglas Lare, East Stroudsburg University; Eric Sheninger, New Milford High School, New Jersey; Greg Farley, Drew University and Monmouth University, New Jersey; Jay Starnes, Wallenpaupack High School, Pennsylvania. Presider: Alton Grizzle.

Objectives: Panelists discuss why media literacy has failed to impact school curriculum over the last 30 years, what new strategies might be followed that will influence Pk-12 curriculum over the next 10 years, and what role should NAMLE and higher education play in developing an effective Pk-12 media literacy curriculum.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education, Educational Administration & Policy

Description

This panel will focus on several key questions. Despite what may seem like obvious relevance, why has media literacy failed, for the most part, to impact school curriculum over the last 30 years? Furthermore, what new strategies might be followed that will influence Pk-12 curriculum over the next 10 years. Finally, what role should NAMLE and higher education play in developing an effective Pk-12 media literacy curriculum?

The panel brings a wide range of experience and expertise to these questions. Eric Sheninger has modeled effective use of technology as a principal, yet has struggled to bring his teaching staff on board. Jay Starnes has attempted to open his high school to the possibilities current technology offers, but has met high teacher resistance. He has developed compromise strategies that seem to be working. Gerald Zahorchak brings a very broad perspective and a unique angle as to how media literacy might more effectively influence current curriculum in a high stakes testing environment. Greg Farley has successfully introduced diverse technologies to a school district, but is now struggling to make faculty and administrators understand that media literacy involves more that the tools used to deliver the material. The facilitator, Douglas Lare, has experiences in both higher education and Pk-12 education and has successfully introduced media literacy to a wide range of students, teachers, parents and administrators.

Participant Involvement

The panel will each address the key questions, then an open discussion will follow.

Presenter(s)

• Douglas Lare, East Stroudsburg University:
• Eric Sheninger, New Milford High School: Eric Sheninger is the Principal at New Milford High School, located in Bergen County, NJ. He has emerged as an innovative leader in the use web 2.0 technology to engage students, improve communications, and help educators grow professionally. Eric is a Google Certified Teacher, ASCD 2011 Conference Scholar and was named to the NSBA 20 to Watch list in 2010 for technology leadership. He now presents and speaks nationally to assist other school leaders in effectively utilizing technology.
• Greg Farley, Drew University and Monmouth University: Dr. Greg Farley was a teacher, coach and supervisor prior to becoming the Director of Technology at Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District in 2009. Dr. Farley designs and teaches courses in the graduate education programs at Drew University and Monmouth University and conducts workshops and lectures on technology integration and 21st century literacies at school districts and universities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Dr. Farley’s dissertation focused on the observation and evaluation of K-12 teachers in cyberschools.

Presenters: Scott Moran, City and Country School. Presider: Gretchen Schwarz

Objectives: This presentation uses the Greek gods as a model for using Social Networking to enhance social learning and media literacy. Participants will examine issues of citizenship, critical thinking, multiple literacies, collaboration and socialization.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling

Description

The purpose of this session is to demonstrate how using a social network to explore a social studies topic can heighten student interest, deepen learning, stimulate meaningful peer communication, and heighten new media literacy. We will share the use of “A Social network of the GreekGods” as implemented in our 7th grade classroom, and highlight its potential for expanding learning both in and out of the school.

The teacher set up a secure network using Ning.com, which functions much like a miniature Facebook. In this network, each student assumed the persona of a god or goddess. The students were given writing assignments, artistic (2D, 3D and still and video) and musical challenges, and various other activities to complete in the voice of “their” god or goddess. All work was posted, shared,read and commented on by the students’ peers, also in the voice of their personas. The resulting correspondences revealed the students’ cognizance of their writing as “published,” and the material was subsequently substantive content-wise and structurally. The social network quickly became a vibrant community of gods and goddesses driven by the area of their study, the increasing ability to take on multiple perspectives, and the overwhelming desire of adolescents to participate in all things social by nature.

This network is a platform of learning that has multiple values. In addition to all that it offers in the realm of social studies and language

arts, it broaches other important and relevant topics, such as social learning, cooperation, digital citizenship, media literacy, research, safety and etiquette. An additional benefit is that the nature of the activity itself is close enough to activities the students are participating in outside of school on their own terms (ie. Facebook, YouTube, etc.) so as to allow for honest dialogue about Internet etiquette & safety, but far enough removed so as to not be an incursion on their privacy.

Presentation PDF

Participant Involvement

I will begin by giving an assignment to the group that will mimic some of the interaction that took place in the Social Network of the Gods. We will then discuss and I will show them how those sorts of activities translated into the social network and other media, as well as discussions about media literacy and use that grew out of those interactions. We will finish with a brainstorming session for what might be added to this endeavor.

Presenter(s)

• Scott Moran, City and Country School: Scott Moran is the Director of the Middle & Upper School at City and Country School in New York City. He has been experimenting with the use of Web 2.0 technologies to deepen learning for several years. The god/goddess social network developed from a blog to a social network as a result of this experimentation.

Presenters: Chris Sperry, Projct Look Sharp. Presider: Jasmine Hood

Objectives: This workshop explores Project Look Sharp’s Tips for Media Decoding through modeling the process, naming strategies, discussing concerns, reflecting on pedagogy, and sharing resources.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education

Description

I have spent the last 30 years practicing the integration of media analysis (and production) into my social studies, English, and art classes at the secondary level. My work with Project Look Sharp over the last 15 years has enabled me to examine and reflect on how K-12 educators facilitate the analysis of media messages in different subject areas and at different grade levels. While the decoding process is as much art as craft, there are specific patterns in decoding, both successful and problematic, that need to be codified if our field is to progress. We need to give educators the language, practice and skill in assessing, probing, and developing student meaning-making while simultaneously teaching and reinforcing core content. Educators need to become aware of traditional practices that undermine the effectiveness of the decoding process including our tendency to deliver information rather than draw out student understanding, to insert our own perspectives rather than enable students to develop and defend their own positions, and to use media to instruct and entertain rather than to teach critical thinking.

This workshop intends to lay out some of the key language, concepts and concerns regarding the process of classroom media analysis (see Tips for Media Decoding at www.projectlooksahrp.org). I will model both positive and problematic examples of media decoding and involve participants in reflecting on and discussing both technical aspects of the process and pedagogical implications for education. I plan to show short video clips of classroom practice for analysis and include student reflections on the process. Participants will have access to follow-up resources including materials on the Project Look Sharp web site and excerpts from Cyndy Scheibe and Faith Rogow’s new book that spell out the constructivist decoding process at different grade levels and for different subject areas. We will offer the opportunity of follow-up networking on this work.

Participant Involvement

I will use the interactive modeling of media decoding to engage participants in developing language, observing and critiquing practice, and reflecting on pedagogy. I will do this through in-person modeling and short video clips. I will use audio, video, print, slide and web formats including a variety of different media forms (film, TV, paintings, etc.) The media documents, lesson plans, articles and handouts on the process will be available (free of charge) to participants at www.projectlooksahrp.org.

Presenter(s)

• Chris Sperry, Projct Look Sharp: Chris Sperry is Director of Curriculum and Staff Development for Project Look Sharp. He has taught social studies, English and media studies for over 30 years. He is the author of numerous curriculum kits including Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns and Media Construction of the Middle East. He received the 2005 Leaders in Learning Award for Media Literacy and the 2008 National Council for the Social Studies Award for Global Understanding.

Presenters: Robert Kenny, Florida Gulf Coast University.

Objectives: This presentation discusses ELCOT (Experiential Learning Centers of the Future), a project that will become the catalyst for school media centers to reinvent themselves in what is known as the ‘post Gutenberg’ era. Presider: Chad Harriss

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education

Description

In the 21st century, digital tools have enabled information to be generated faster and to a much greater degree than was ever possible in the past. If Tom Pettitt and Henry Jenkins are correct, the future holds that many more digital participatory interactions will be created for students to help them appropriate, remix, network, and navigate across multiple media forms to communicate and learn. The post Gutenberg phenomenon demands a response from educators, librarians, media specialists, and educators The decreasing amount of time dedicated to formal instruction, due to the increasing amount of classroom time dedicated to preparing students for standardized testing require schools to find ways to offer students an opportunity to engage in meaningful informal learning activities and develop the skills necessary to gather information and to apply critical thinking processes. Facilitating education in a digital world means, not only changing the form in which learning opportunities are offered, but also enabling and empowering students to survive and prosper in digitally interactive learning environments.

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the ELCOT Project (Experiential Learning centers of the Future) in which the organizers plan on bringing together a community of educators, educational researchers, librarians and IT experts to consider how digital learners will continue to be attracted to utilize libraries and media centers for informal learning and what information, communications, and technology (ICT) skills will be necessary for these students to be successful in the future. We will explore what and how we need the goals and objectives of the future needs to be to meet the needs of the PK-12 student population.

We will introduce our blueprint that describes how PK-12 libraries and media centers can participate in this evolution of participatory learning and evolve into interactive learning centers. We will discuss our immediate and long term research efforts and public vetting process that we hope will result in the adoption of practical recommendations as well as serve as a catalyst for others to begin their own conceptualization processes and implementations. We believe this is project that will set the stage for others to follow and for us to be able to design and develop a real and virtual working prototype for educators to visit and interact with on a continuing and scalable basis to perpetuate the vision.

Participant Involvement

Participants will hear what has been done with the project to date and will offer suggestions and participate in the public vetting process.

Presenter(s)

• Robert Kenny, Florida Gulf Coast University: Dr. Robert Kenny is a faculty member in the College of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. He has extensive experience in education, instructional/educational technology, and working with K-12 schools, local community organizations, and industry to integrate media and technology He is nationally certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Dr. Kenny has published several articles in various journals and has presented at regional, national and international conferences and has several funded grants with the objective to integrate digital media tools into various classroom settings.

Presenters: TBA. Presider: Amy Peterson Jensen.

Objectives: The finalists for the NAMLE Research Awards will present their research papers. Reviewers will offer responses to the research. The purpose of the NAMLE Research awards is to encourage emerging and established researchers to strive for excellence; to receive constructive critiques from other researchers; and to increase the prestige, caliber, and recognition of laudable research in the field of media literacy education. This session is sponsored by the Journal of Media Literacy Education.

Audience: All conference event

Description

Participant Involvement

Presenter(s)

• Amy Jensen, Brigham Young University

Presenters: Lynne Azarchi, Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum; Paula Rodriguez Rust, Spectrum Diversity, LLC. Presider: Greg Richards

Objectives: Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum piloted an innovative program to teach middle schoolers about media literacy, bullying prevention, and respect for diversity. This session provies a hands-on interactive demonstration to enable participants to duplicate certain aspects of the program.

Audience: PK-12 Schooling, Higher Education, Non-Profit Sector

Description

DESCRIPTION: In 2009-2010, Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum of Trenton, NJ (Lynne Azarchi, Executive Director) piloted an innovative, intensive program, “Youth and Mentors,” to teach middle school students about media literacy, bullying prevention and respect for diversity. One hundred middle school students from four schools representing diverse areas of Mercer County, New Jersey took part in the program. Students from each school visited the museum twice for a total of eight hours of activities and interaction in small groups with students from other schools with different racial, and socioeconomic profiles. The curriculum was developed by Dr. Paula Rodriguez Rust of Spectrum Diversity LLC, and college students were selected and trained to lead the small group discussions.

In addition to developing media literacy skills and raising students’ awareness about bullying and prejudice, the program also developed students’ leadership and intervention skills to empower them to create positive changes in their school communities. Although some portions of the program focused on general skills (critical evaluation of media messages, recognizing stereotypes, etc.) other portions of the program focused on specific aspects of media literacy and specific forms of diversity (e.g., the impact of playing violent video games on subsequent behavior, socioeconomic diversity, cyber safety, and sexual orientation/gender identity, i.e., LGBTIQ, diversity).

Students completed two pre-assessments and two post-assessments to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum, and the results show dramatic attitudinal improvements in students’ attitudes, levels of knowledge and behavioral intentions. For example, after the program, 46% of students disagreed more with the statement “television and movies are a good way to learn about how other people live,” and 53% agreed more that “what we see on TV and in movies is controlled by a few big corporations” and more strongly rejected the idea that stereotypes on TV “just reflect the way different people are in real life” than they had before the program. Students were also more likely to say that they enjoy having friends from diverse backgrounds, more likely to recognize that using the phrase “so gay” as a put-down is offensive to gay people, and were more likely to say that they would feel empathy for a peer who was excluded by others. When asked about behavioral changes, 74% of students said that since participating in the program they had “been less influenced by advertisements that are trying to sell me something,” and 91% said that they had “been more careful what I say in txt, IM, or online messages.”

The curriculum was designed with portability in mind so that it could be replicated in modified form by other institutions and schools. The proposed presentation outlines the structure, method, and goals of the Youth and Mentors program, provides findings demonstrating program effectiveness and introduces some of the unique small group activities and curricular materials. Participants will have the opportunity to watch video clips of the program, participate in a hands-on demonstration of at least one of the educational activities developed for the program, and review findings pertaining to program effectiveness.

Participant Involvement

In addition to the information that will be presented, attendees will engage in a hands-on interactive demonstration of one of the unique activities designed for the Youth & Mentor program, and will have an opportunity to examine curricular materials used in the program and will be invited to ask questions.

Presenter(s)

• Lynne Azarchi, Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum: Conceived and created youth tolerance museum on campus, the only one of its kind in the US, partnering with The College of New Jersey. Each year, more than 2500 elementary and middle school youth interact with 400 education and psychology undergraduates, supervised by their professors. Other Kidsbridge programs include: at-risk youth life skills programs and annual competition for youth community service. MBA from Columbia University. More than 25 years in nonprofit and association management. www.kidsbridgemuseum.org
• Paula Rodriguez Rust, Spectrum Diversity, LLC: Dr. Rodríguez Rust is a professional sociologist with thirty years of experience teaching about diversity, social relations, and violence and prejudice. She received her doctorate at the University of Michigan, with subspecialties in social psychology, prejudice and group relations, survey methodology and statistical analysis. She taught at the university level for twelve years, receiving tenure at Hamilton College, and continuing at the State University of New York. Dr. Rust left higher academia to focus on community-based diversity education and violence prevention.

Presenters: Dan Gillmor, Arizona State University. Presider: Mark Hannah

Objectives: Journalism education has only begun to change to meet the realities of the emerging media landscape. One mission it should undertake is to bring “news literacy” to the widest possible audience. In an era of unlimited sources of information — much of which we create ourselves — and increasing confusion about what we can trust, journalism educators may be ideally suited to helping people throughout their communities be better media consumers and creators.

Audience:

Description

Participant Involvement

Presenter(s)

• Dan Gillmor, Arizona State University: