Ventura County Office of Education update for Feb. 26 — Media Literacy: Teaching a Critical Survival Skill for the Information Age

An informed population is one of the keys to a healthy democracy, but these days it’s harder than ever to know if you’re getting an accurate, unbiased account of important events. Thanks to the internet and social media, we’re deluged with so much information that separating news from opinion and fact from fiction can feel impossible. If it’s confusing for adults, imagine what a challenge it is for kids to make sense of it all.

Schools are increasingly recognizing that being an intelligent consumer of news is a skill that needs to be taught. Often called “media and information literacy,” its purpose is to teach students to think critically about the information that comes rushing at them minute-by-minute on their phones and computer screens. It also helps them navigate thorny issues like copyright, plagiarism and online safety. In this edition of Focus on Education, we look at what educators in Ventura County and beyond are doing to help our kids become well-informed citizens of our digital world.

Stan Mantooth

Ventura County Superintendent of Schools

A Stanford University study recently found that middle school, high school and college students are “easily duped” when asked to identify legitimate sources of news. For example, eighty percent of middle-schoolers didn’t understand that articles labeled “sponsored content” on news websites are paid advertisements and not objective journalism. The study’s authors reached this alarming conclusion: “Overall, young people’s ability to reason about the information on the internet can be summed up in one word: bleak.”

It’s a problem that Cathy Reznicek, an Educational Technology Specialist at the Ventura County Office of Education, is working to address. She says, “The rise in the amount of media we consume on digital devices came fast, and educators haven’t caught up. It’s at the point where it’s critical right now.”

Reznicek says today’s students face challenges in conducting research that older generations didn’t have to contend with. “If you get a book at a library, it’s a relatively safe bet that there was some scrutiny as to what was written in the publishing process,” she says. “Online, anyone can publish anything and you don’t have those checks and balances.”

In the Oak Park Unified School District east of Thousand Oaks, students are learning media literacy skills as early as elementary school. The district started incorporating media literacy into the curriculum about three years ago and they even have a “teacher on special assignment,” Keenan Kubrick, who works on building digital skills at all grade levels.

Kubrick says all of the district’s teachers undergo special training each summer to help them build media literacy into their classroom curricula. While elementary students get dedicated instruction on the topic, in the higher grades it’s embedded into the students’ other work. “For instance, if they’re writing essays in English class, one of the essays might have a media literacy component in it. Or if they’re doing research for a science class, they learn how to be sure the information is accurate and useful,” Kubrick says.

This June, experts in media and information literacy from across California will come together in Camarillo for a summit presented by the Ventura County Office of Education. One of those experts is Glen Warren, the Director of Literacies, Outreach & Library Services at the Encinitas Unified School District near San Diego (he likes to be known as the L.O.L. Director).

Warren is a big advocate of teaching media literacy skills by letting students research topics they choose themselves. It could be video games, skateboarding or movies – whatever they are passionate about. “This is the heart and soul of relevance,” he says. “Because it answers the question, ‘how does that relate to me?’.” Warren calls it “desired learning” and says it builds skills that students can then apply to the “required learning” they have to complete in their classes.

He also says students need to be more aware that they’re creating a digital footprint that will follow them throughout their lives. “Our students aren’t just creating things that get posted on the refrigerator door,” he says. “It’s now going out for the whole world to see. And with that comes the need to understand safe and ethical use.”

These are among the topics to be discussed at the Media & Information Literacy Summit, which will take place at the VCOE Conference and Educational Services Center on June 15. The purpose of the Summit is to give teachers and school administrators resources and lessons they can use to help students decode media messages and critically evaluate information.

While the Summit is geared toward educators, it’s open to anyone interested in issues surrounding information literacy. More information and online registration is available here.