Response to the Article Critique Questions

In my article critique assignment, I analyze an article about digital literacies: “Digital Media Literacies: rethinking media education in the age of the Internet” by David Buckingham (2007). Thanks for the feedback from my classmates! I will combine some of your questions and answer it in this blog post.

I would like to answer questions from Lingjun and Katrina:

1. (For general learning) "Based on the research, how to create effective learning experiences through media production?" (Lingjun)
2. "Do you foresee any challenges when we adopt media production in schools' curriculum - starting with abilities of teachers in the classroom to facilitate this learning?" (Katrina)

Based on the questions, I want to discuss how to create effective learning experiences through media production and the challenges of putting media production in the formal curriculum. 

In the article, the author first tries to define digital literacy. Based on previous studies,  Buckingham (2007) acknowledges the technical part of digital literacy, which includes the skills to access, operate and create content using digital tools. Additionally, the author (2007) argues that digital literacy has a critical aspect. Users should realize the social and cultural context of the media products and be able to critically analyze them (Buckingham, 2007). Based on the research, I think to create an effective learning experience, firstly, students, as well as the instructors, should have access to the required media tools and master adequate skills in media production.

The author (2007) mentions four basic aspects of media literacy: representation, language, production, and audience. I think in the process of media production, students can also keep these aspects in mind and view the media work critically. They can ask questions for themselves such as:

Which group does the media product represent? 
Who is the audience? 
What language style should I use in the product? 
Is there any commercial component/purpose in my work? 

In my opinion, thinking about media work from different aspects can help students better understand the goal of their production, especially the social and cultural implications of their media works. Thus, students can better link the media work to the learning goal of the specific course. Besides, to improve the learning experience, instructors should also be aware of students' personal backgrounds and provide individual guidance if possible. As the author (2007) raises in the article, students have different levels of access to digital products and different cultural understanding of the tools due to their different social background. Understanding the background of students can help teachers give useful advice and instructions to the media works.

Buckingham (2007) also mentions an important concern of media production: collaboration. He thinks that the school setting provides opportunities for students to product media works collaboratively. He also admits that when using digital tools, students tend to complete the work individually or divide the group task into several individual tasks. To create effective learning experiences, instructors can also encourage the collaboration of students, not only for completing the work but also for communicating their thoughts on the task/course.

For the challenges of putting media production in the formal curriculum, as Katrina mentions, the first challenge may be whether the instructors are qualified to give guidance on media production. Developing digital literacy is a goal for both students and instructors. The second challenge is still about students' different background and understanding of digital tools. Schools and instructors should realize students' varied understanding of the task and help students to make progress based on their own learning context.

These are my thoughts based on the original article. Thanks again for your thought-provoking questions!


References

Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital Media Literacies: rethinking media education in the age of the Internet. Research in comparative and international education, 2(1), 43-55.