Identifying undergraduate media literacy skills: An exploratory study of faculty perceptions

Abstract

Given the complex nature of the multi-media landscape available to undergraduate students, understanding how and how well these users make decisions in comprehending and critiquing media information has implications on the tools and quality of teaching and learning in the academy. In this research study, a small sample of faculty members who use visual content in their teaching were interviewed to learn what attributes they identify as important media literacy skills for students. The results support a model of core skills associated with media literacy.Findings from this exploratory study will inform a larger scale research project that investigates the assessment techniques for media literacy skills and based on which, develops a practical framework for media literacy assessment.

Assessing Online Viewing Practices among College Students

“…Using CEAM, our goal was to identify trends in critical viewing practices among students enrolled in developmental writing and first-year composition courses at the college level. As discussed previously, scholars have suggested that evaluation and analysis are skills that fit naturally in humanities courses (Bordac, 2009;Silverblatt, 2014). In Fall 2015, a purposive sample was taken from students enrolled in the first-year composition sequence at a large public institution in central Texas that is designated as an Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).…”

“…CEAM measures college students' self-reported practices for critically evaluating and analyzing credibility, audience, and technical design elements of online media, such as news, advertisement, and entertainment media. As discussed previously, scholars have identified evaluation and analysis as the most important media literacy competencies within humanities courses and other disciplines (Bordac, 2009;Pernisco, 2014;Schmidt, 2013;Silverblatt, 2014). CEAM is a 27-item, 5-point Likert-type scale with responses ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree."…”

“…(Silverblatt, 2014, p. 424) The College Board identified English Language Arts as one subject area that is especially equipped to teach interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of media messages. Similarly, Bordac (2009) interviewed faculty members teaching humanities and social sciences who stress the importance of different types of analysis, including critical and contextual/situational analysis, as well as synthesis. Schmidt (2013) found that college educators identify analysis as the most important media literacy competency for college students in any discipline.…”

Understanding the relationship between new media literacy, communication skills, and democratic tendency: Model development and testing

“…This is why message or media literacy is seen as the central goal of basic communication courses (Ramsey, 2017). Academicians identified some CS skills including listening, asking probing questions, interviewing, and organizing and presenting thoughts as critical to media literacy (Bordac, 2009). Prior research indicates a positive correlation between interpersonal CS and critical thinking skills (Kim and Han, 2016).…”