A critical media education approach: using the concept of production (a.k.a. institutions or industry) to teach about social media.
Category Archives: Media Studies
Teaching social media: a critical media education approach
How should educators respond to the opportunities and challenges posed by social media? Why we need to look beyond educational technology, and develop a critical media education approach.
The strangulation of Media Studies
With only a couple of specifications awaiting final approval, the government’s reform of the examination system in England and Wales has now almost concluded. So where do the reforms leave Media Studies?
Can we still teach about media bias in the post-truth age?
In the wake of the Brexit referendum campaign, the victory of Donald Trump, and the attacks on the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, many have argued that we are entering a ‘post-truth’ era. In this context, is bias still a useful and meaningful concept in media literacy education? And if so, how should we teach it?
Self, self, self: representing the self in the age of social media
How should we understand the rise of the ‘selfie’? Is this just a manifestation of mass narcissism, or do these new forms of self-representation provide other social and cultural possibilities?
Learning media theory: what is it good for?
Why and how should media educators address ‘theory’ in the classroom? How do we learn – and use – theory? And what’s the point of learning theory anyway?
Teaching Media Studies: the travesty of theory
What’s wrong with the government’s attempt to impose a narrow, canonical approach to theory in Media Studies teaching.
Reading Rihanna: the burden of representation
Rihanna’s latest video, and the debate that it has provoked, raises some challenging questions about how we understand the concept of representation, and how we might teach about it.
Mapping and measuring media literacy
Policy-makers seem unduly preoccupied with measuring ‘levels’ of media literacy right now. Here’s a more constructive approach to defining and assessing media literacy, based on some in-depth research.
Examining Media Studies
The government is apparently ‘rationalising’ qualifications in secondary schools. What are the dangers and opportunities here for media teachers?
David Buckingham 