Media Literacy Certification
Despite the significant role of media in US culture, students in US schools rarely are asked to interrogate media texts or to think critically about the role of media in contemporary culture. That reality, however, is changing. All 50 states now include media literacy skills in curriculum standards. Furthermore, professional organizations, such as the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of Teachers of Science, The International Reading Association, and the National Council for the Social Studies all have professional guidelines and research strands that emphasize media literacy education in both elementary classrooms and academic disciplines.
However, this growing emphasis on media and its role in literature, science, politics, health, and Information and Computer Technologies, is often problematic for educators. Most have had few opportunities to develop conceptual understandings of media or appropriate methods for teaching media texts. The three required courses in the media literacy specialization were developed to provide these opportunities.
Required Courses:
Teaching Multiliteracies (formerly Principles of Media Education) is focused on literacy learning and the multiple kinds of literacy that can be enhanced through a pedagogy of multiliteracies. This course focuses on mass media texts and on traditional multimodal school texts, such as textbooks, charts & graphs, visuals, and moving images. Required student projects include developing units of study for adult learners, adolescent learners, or children.
In Teaching Media Literacy with the Internet, students work with technology and Internet resources to teach media literacy. Over the eight-week term, students examine multimodal texts and multiliteracies, investigate media education projects, become familiar with age-appropriate Internet resources, and develop strategies for organizing media content to support curricular goals in media literacy. Student projects include developing units of study for adult learners, adolescent learners, or children.
Teaching Narrative across Media focuses on narrative patterns and genres as organizing structures for teaching media texts. Students in this course learn transmedia concepts and consider how those concepts can be used to help learners develop understandings of film, television, documentaries, news and so on. Student projects include developing units of study for adult learners, adolescent learners, or children.
Students can choose one elective course from the following list of online courses offered at UF:
• EDG 6931: Literacy and Technology
• EME 6205: Digital Technology
• ESE 6939: Instructional Design
• EDG 6931: Creating and Delivering Online Content
• EME 5405: The Internet in K-12 Instruction
• EDG 6931: Teacher Leadership and School Change
• EME 5207: Designing Technology Rich Curricula
For more information, contact
Dr. Barbara Pace, bgpace@coe.ufl.edu
School of Teaching and Learning
University of Florida
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