Professor Renee Hobbs returns to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, her alma mater, to speak about digital and media literacy education for the HGSE Language and Literacy and Technology in Education students. She defines digital literacy and shows examples from K-12 and informal learning. Hobbs explains why reflection on teacher motivations is a transformative practice for educator professional development.

1. Digital and Media
Literacy Education
Renee Hobbs
Professor, Department of Communication Studies
Director, Media Education Lab
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
EMAIL: hobbs@uri.edu
TWITTER: @reneehobbs
WEB: www.mediaeducationlab.com

3. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Medium Theory. Media & technology are immersive cultural
environments; media structures re-shape human perception & values.
Active Audience Theory. Audiences are active; meaning-making is
variable; lived experience & social context are key dimensions of
interpretation.
Communication & Education. Institutions of education, communication
practices & democratic values are interconnected.
Inquiry Learning. People learn best from experiences that engage them
in active work that promotes intellectual curiosity and collaboration.
Critical Pedagogy. Awareness, analysis, and reflection enable people to
take action to make society more just and equitable.
Theoretical Framework

5. expanding the concept of text

6. ACCESS
expanding the concept of literacy

7. expanding the concept of literacy
open access
multitasking
transmediation
curation
play
data ownership
identity
representation
privacy
addiction

8. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Define and operationalize digital and media literacy with examples from
K-12 and informal learning contexts
Describe some of the approaches to professional development we’re
exploring in K-12 and higher education
Consider why an examination of teacher motivations for digital learning
is essential for implementing curricular reform
Share an example of how teacher motivations shapes innovation in
digital literacy
Goals for Today’s Talk

9. Stakeholders in Digital Literacy
TECHBUSINESSACTIVIST
GOVERNMENTLIBRARY
EDUCATIONCREATIVE

10. Rhetoric
Literacy
Visual Literacy
Information Literacy
Media Literacy
Computer Literacy
Critical Literacy
News Literacy
Digital Literacy
Defining Digital Literacy in Historical Context

11. A Lifelong Process

12. A Lifelong Process

13. A Lifelong Process

14. Digital Literacy Competencies
Access, Use and Share
 Keyboard and mouse skills
 Be familiar with hardware, storage and file
management practices
 Understand hyperlinking & digital space
 Gain competence with software applications
 Use social media, mobile, peripheral & cloud
computing tools
 Identify information needs
 Use effective search and find strategies
 Troubleshoot and problem-solve
 Learn how to learn
 Listening skills
 Reading comprehension

15. Access: Read & Comprehend

16. Digital & Media Literacy Competencies
Analyze & Evaluate
 Understand how symbols work: the
concept of representation
 Identify the author, genre, purpose and
point of view of a message
 Compare and contrast sources
 Evaluate credibility and quality
 Understand one’s own biases
and world view
 Recognize power relationships that shape
how information and ideas circulate in
culture
 Understand the economic context of
information and entertainment production
 Examine the political and social
ramifications of inequalities in information
flows

17. Analyze a YouTube Video

18. Digital Literacy Competencies
Create & Collaborate
 Recognize the need for communication and
self-expression
 Identify your own purpose, target
audience, medium & genre
 Brainstorm and generate ideas
 Compose creatively
 Play and interact
 Edit and revise
 Use appropriate distribution, promotion &
marketing channels
 Receive audience feedback
 Work collaboratively
 Comment, curate and remix

19. Learn about Primary Source Materials
by Creating a Music Video

20. Digital Literacy Competencies
Reflect
 Understand how differences in values and
life experience shape people’s media use
and message interpretation
 Appreciate risks and potential harms of
digital media
 Apply ethical judgment and
social responsibility to
communication situations
 Understand how concepts of ‘private’ and
‘public’ are reshaped by digital media
 Appreciate and respect legal rights and
responsibilities (copyright, intellectual
freedom, etc)

21. Digital Literacy Competencies
Take Action
 Acknowledge the power of
communication to maintain the status
quo or change the world
 Participate in communities of shared
interest to advance an issue
 Be a change agent in the family &
workplace
 Participate in democratic self-
governance
 Speak up when you
encounter injustice
 Respect the law and work to change
unjust laws
 Use the power of communication and
information to make a difference in the
world

22. Act: Create a Public Service
Announcement

23. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Define and operationalize digital and media literacy with examples from
K-12 and informal learning contexts
Describe some of the approaches to professional development we’re
exploring in K-12 and higher education
Consider why an examination of teacher motivations for digital learning
is essential for implementing curricular reform
Share an example of how teacher motivations shapes innovation in
digital literacy
Goals for Today’s Talk

24. www.harrington.uri.edu

25.  Project-based
learning
 Real-world client
 Intensive faculty
involvement
 Digital literacy
competencies are
embedded
 Student work is
gifted to client

26. Media Smart Libraries
Children’s Librarians & Children’s Media Professionals
In Partnership with the Providence Children’s Film Festival and the
Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services

27. Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy
A 12-credit graduate program that enables educators, librarians and media
professionals to acquire the knowledge and skills required for full
participation in a read/write culture where active participation in a
knowledge community requires the skillful use, creation and sharing of
digital texts, tools and technologies.

28. Summer Institute in Digital Literacy
July 26 – 31, 2015
Providence RI

29. 70% rated it the best professional
development of their career, giving it
a 10 on a 10-point scale

30. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Define and operationalize digital and media literacy with examples from
K-12 and informal learning contexts
Describe some of the approaches to professional development we’re
exploring in K-12 and higher education
Consider why an examination of teacher motivations for digital learning
is essential for implementing curricular reform
Share an example of how teacher motivations shapes innovation in
digital literacy
Goals for Today’s Talk

31. LOVE HATE
PRINT VISUAL SOUND DIGITAL
Educators’ attitudes about media, technology and
popular culture shape their work with learners

32. Empowerment

33. Protection

36. How do Teachers Make Sense of
Digital Media and Learning?
Exploring the
relationship
between teacher
motivation and
likelihood to use
digital media
and technology
in the classroom

37. Motivations
for Using Media & Technology
in Education
12

38. TECHIE
You’re the educator who loves tablets, apps, programs, plug-
ins, widgets, websites, and other types of educational
technology because you have a passionate curiosity about
new tools. You see much potential to engage students with
the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives.
TRENDSETTER
You’re tuned into pop culture and curious about kid culture.
Maybe your own most-loved popular culture isn’t too far
removed from that of your students. You are inquisitive about
the trends and hot topics that make up a crucial component
of the fabric of your students’ everyday lives. You want school
culture to meet kids where they live with the popular culture
they know and love.

39. DEMYSTIFIER
As a teacher, you “pull back the curtain” to help students see
how various forms of information and knowledge are
constructed. You emphasize the practice of critical thinking,
helping students ask good “how” and “why” questions.
WATCHDOG
You are a natural critical thinker, aware of how economic
systems and institutions influence our everyday lives,
particularly through the media we use. You want your
students and your peers to be more mindful of the ways that
things are bought and sold. Who owns and controls the
media content that we see, hear, read, and play with? You feel
responsible for giving your students a “wake-up call” about
the economic and institutional inner-workings of the
technology and the world that surrounds them.

40. ACTIVIST
As an educator, you want to make society more just and
equitable by promoting democratic participation. You use
media in the classroom as a catalyst for students to
understand how they might have a voice in improving the
quality of life in their communities and in the world.
TASTEMAKER
You want to broaden your students’ horizons. You want them
to have exposure to the kinds of media experiences that put
them in touch with historical, aesthetic, and critical
appreciation. You know that a key component of students’
future interactions will require them to draw from a variety
of cultural sources both classical and popular.

41. ALT
You are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,” teacher. You’re always
ready to challenge students with alternative ways of finding,
using, thinking about, and making media in the classroom.
Whether you use open source programs on school computers,
encourage students to start alternative clubs or magazines, or
introduce students to media that’s “off the beaten path” of
mainstream and mass media, you are likely a key proponent
of broadening students’ understanding of the many different
ways that people can communicate in the world.
MOTIVATOR
You are an inspiration, a catalyst for your students’ creative
energy. Students who have never felt comfortable speaking
up in class, participating in activities, or contributing to class
dialogue find it easier to speak their mind when you’re
leading the classroom. You see your role as helping students
be the best they can be.

42. SPIRIT GUIDE
You are a listener. You have a dedication to the social and
emotional well-being of your students, and want to make
sure that everything you do in the classroom connects to their
immediate needs to understand themselves and their lives.
Students likely find you trustworthy, and may even confide in
you in ways that they do not for other teachers. You know
media is just one facet of student life, and you want to engage
with it to help them through the highs and lows of life in all of
its challenges and opportunities.
PROFESSIONAL
You have high standards for your students’ work, and you may
be seen as the go-to media professional in your school. You
know how to push your students to understand and emulate
the professional conventions that is important to being taken
seriously in the world of media creation. To help students
enter the real world of media creation, you bring other
authors, professionals, and media-makers into your classroom
to enrich the learning experience.

43. PROFESSOR
You balance your interest in media and technology with a
clear connection to academic standards. You want to be sure
that media and technology are not used in the classroom for
their own sake, but to gain content knowledge. Multimedia
presentations, engaging websites, and educational technology
serve the purpose of helping you deliver the core content and
skills students need to master.
TEACHER 2.0
You understand that participation in digital media and
learning cultures requires flexibility to new formats, modes of
expression, and participation in and out of school. You use
online or interactive versions of classic literature to explore
meaning behind texts. Teacher 2.0 teachers always trying new
things in the classroom and finding new ways to connect
learning to children’s culture.

47. Instructional Practices of
Digital and Media Literacy are
Linked to Teacher Motivations
Find, comprehend and
interpret content
Gain knowledge
and information
Examine the quality of
information resources
Share ideas through
dialogue & discussion
Create, build or
make something
Reflect on expected and
unanticipated consequences
Plan and implement action
to effect social change
Critically analyze how
messages are constructed

49. Motivations
for Using Media & Technology
in Education
12

50. Why reflection is a transformative practice

51. Self-reflection on one’s own motivations
may increase focus and creativity

52. Collaborative reflection may promote respect
and cultivate shared values

53. Respect for teacher motivations may expand the
diversity and range of instructional practices and tools

54. Sensitivity to teacher motivations may contribute to the
design of PD with greater impact

55. WATCHDOG ACTIVIST

59. Hobbs, R. & Moore, D.C. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Digital media and popular culture in elementary school. Thousand
Oaks CA: Corwin/Sage.
Hobbs, R. (2013). The blurring of art, journalism and advocacy: Confronting 21st century propaganda in a world of online
journalism. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 8(3), 625 – 638.
Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning, Media and
Technology, 38(2), 182-197.
Hobbs, R. & RobbGrieco, M. (2012). African-American children’s active reasoning about media texts as a precursor to media
literacy. Journal of Children and Media 6(4), 502 – 519.
Hobbs, R. (2013). La tension dialectique entre les perspectives de l’empowerment et de la protection dans les programmes
americans d’education aux medias. Jeunes et Medias 4: 19 – 31. Publibook, Paris France. [Translation: The dialectic tension
between empowerment and protection in media literacy education in the United States.]
Babad, E., Peer, A., & Hobbs, R. (2012). Media literacy and media bias: Are media literacy students less susceptible to non-verbal
judgment biases? Psychology of Popular Media Culture.1(2), 97 – 107. DOI: 10.137/a0028181
Cappello, G., Felini, D. & Hobbs, R. (2011). Reflections on global developments in media literacy education: Bridging theory and
practice. Journal of Media Literacy Education 3(2), 66 – 73.
Hobbs, R. (2011). The state of media literacy: A response to Potter. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 55(3), 419 –
430.
Hobbs, R. and RobbGrieco, M. (2010). Passive dupes, code breakers, or savvy users: Theorizing media literacy education in
English language arts. In D. Lapp and D. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts. Third edition.
New York: Routledge (pp. 283 – 289).
Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. Washington, D.C.: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and
Aspen Institute.

60. PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING
Define and operationalize digital and media literacy with examples from
K-12 and informal learning contexts
Describe some of the approaches to professional development we’re
exploring in K-12 and higher education
Consider how an examination of teacher motivations for digital learning
supports teacher reflection – a vital element of curriculum reform
Share an example of how my motivations influenced the development of
a interactive multimedia website for exploring contemporary propaganda
Goals for Today’s Talk

61. Digital and
Media Literacy
Education
Renee Hobbs
Professor, Department of Communication Studies
Director, Media Education Lab
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
EMAIL: hobbs@uri.edu
TWITTER: @reneehobbs
WEB: www.mediaeducationlab.com