Closing keynote address by Renee Hobbs at the Youth 2.0 conference, University of Antwerp, March 22, 2013

1. When Literacy Goes Digital:
Meeting the Needs of the
Youngest Learners with
Digital and Media Literacy
Renee Hobbs
Professor and Founding Director
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: reneehobbs
Web: http://mediaeducationlab.com

2. What do we need to know and be able to do when it comes to
supporting and extending the use of print, visual, sound and
digital texts, tools and technologies among children & youth?

3. Empowerment and protection are two sides of the same coin

4. Developmental Characteristics
of Adolescence
Love Experience for its
Own Sake
Take Risks in Pursuit of
Experience
Go After Novelty,
Complexity and Intense
Situations

5. Searching for the Sensational

6. Escaping to Alternative Worlds

7. Playing with Identity

8. Speaking Out as a Civic Actor

9. Developing Emotional Reasoning

10. Understanding & Using Social Power
Fitting In
Standing Out

11. Talking to Anyone about Anything
LINK
... and keeping secrets
from parents and adults

12. Transgressing Social Norms

13. Human Development & Socialization are Lifelong Processes

14. Human Development & Socialization are Lifelong Processes

15. Human Development & Socialization are Lifelong Processes

16. Missing Perspectives
CHILDREN TEACHERS

17. Tis education forms the common mind,
Just as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.
--Alexander Pope

18. A university-school partnership program designed to strengthen
children’s ability to think for themselves, communicate effectively,
and use their powerful voices to contribute to the quality of life in
their families, their schools, their communities, and the world.
Increase school relevance by connecting classroom to
contemporary culture

19. +
The Vision
1 Summer Program for Children
2 Staff Development Program for Educators
3 In-School Mentoring
4 Multimedia Curriculum Development
5 Video Documentation and Research
6 Parent and Community Outreach

20. Urban charter school
• 70% of families receive free or
reduced lunch
• Median income: $35K
• Teachers: 90% White
• 85% African-American
• 60% of Grade 3 students met state
standards for reading
• 9 – 11 year olds (N = 115)
Suburban public schools (2)
• 10% of families receive free or
reduced lunch
• Median income: $120K
• Teachers: 95% White
• 78% White, 15% Asian
• 88% of students met state standards
for reading
• 9 – 11 year olds (N = 256)

21. Children can categorize visual media by purpose and target audience

22. Active Reasoning as a
Precursor to Media Literacy
Some children describe their
favorite TV shows, videogames
and music using active
reasoning:
• Identify the genre
• Describe a compositional
element
• Link an emotional response
to a compositional element
• Identify a social function of
media use
• Describe message or
meaning

23. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Downloaded music from the Internet
Created a personal webpage
Gotten information from the Internet
Visited Facebook
Used a digital camera to take a photo
Uploaded a photo
Used a computer program to create or design pictures
Made an avatar of myself
Create a profile for myself on Facebook
Created a blog
Used instant messaging or chat
None of these
RBCS
WES
Children ages 9 - 11 engage in a wide variety of online activities

24. Many children ages 9 – 11 experience “accidental transgression”

25. LINK
Children benefit from literacy activities
that promote critical thinking, creativity
and intercultural social interaction

27. Very young children explore an expanded
conceptualization of authorship
in relation to print, visual, sound and digital media
LINK
LINK

28. When kids create, they fuse elements from media and personal life
.
LINK

29. Why don’t more elementary educators use digital
and media literacy pedagogy?

32. Mass media, celebrities
and popular culture
inflect children’s online
activities
LINK

33. Messy engagement results when teachers interact with
children about the media and technology they use at home
LINK

34. Both teachers and school leaders have concerns about mayhem
and loss of control that may interfere with digital media projects
“unpredictable” and “exhausting”
 Not clearly linked to
academic standards
 Not easy to assess
student learning
outcomes
 Not text-based
 Organizational and
management
challenges

35. Teachers can create structured learning experiences that
provide a balance between order and chaos
LINK

36.  They develop a well-structured activity with a clear audience and
purpose
 Activate creative & independent thinking from learners
 Carefully monitor small groups
 Learn basics of technology use
 Dedicate substantial amounts of time
When teachers see the value of creating with media and
technology in school…

37. They take advantage of
unpredictable moments
in social interactions
with children.
They address the
socialization processes
involved in building
character.
When teachers see the value of talking about media and
technology in school…
For dialogue to be
authentic, high levels of
trust and respect are
required.

38. LOVE HATE
PRINT VISUAL SOUND DIGITAL
Teachers’ attitudes about media, technology and popular culture
shape their work with children and youth

39. THE 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.
THE 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.

40. THE 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.
THE 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.

41. THE 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.
THE 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.

42. THE 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.
THE 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.

43. THE 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.
THE 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.

44. THE 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.
THE 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 advance your lessons, goals, and
learning target. Multimedia presentations, engaging websites,
and educational technology serve the purpose of helping you
deliver the core content and skills students need to master.

45. www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com
Book and Website Launch, June 2013

46. Exploration of digital and media
literacy pedagogy with younger
children helps us understand the
complex interaction between home
and school in both the processes of
development & socialization
Sensitivity to teacher motivations
may help researchers and teachers
better collaborate to develop
innovative digital and media literacy
learning experiences – both in and
out of school

47. Access,
Use & Share
Create &
Collaborate
Analyze &
Evaluate
Apply Ethical
Judgment
The future of literacy

48. When teachers feel respected and trusted, they make time and
space in the curriculum to explore innovative approaches to
teaching and learning

50. www.mediaeducationlab.com

51. Hobbs, R. & Moore, D. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Teaching digital media and popular culture in elementary
school. Thousand Oaks: Corwin/Sage.
Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with digital media literacy. Learning,
Media and Technology, 38(2), 1 – 28.
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.
Grafe, S., Hobbs, R., Boos, M., Bergey, B. (2012). Teachers´ motivations for media education in Germany and in the
United States. Paper presentation at Digital Media and Learning(DML) Conference, Los Angeles.
Hobbs, R., Ebrahimi, A., Cabral, N., Yoon, J., & Al-Humaidan, R. (2011). Field-based teacher education in elementary
media literacy as a means to promote global understanding. Action for Teacher Education 33, 144 – 156.
Hobbs, R., Yoon, J., Al-Humaidan, R., Ebrahimi, A. & Cabral, N. (2011). Online digital media in elementary school.
Journal of Middle East Media 7(1), 1 – 23.
“Messy Engagement and Strategic Risk Taking as an Instructional Strategy in Informal Learning,” Paper
presentation, International Communication Association (ICA), Phoenix, AZ. May 28, 2012.
Hobbs, R. , Cohn-Geltner, H. & Landis, J. (2011). Views on the news: Media literacy empowerment competencies in
the elementary grades. In C. Von Feilitzen, U. Carlsson & C. Bucht (Eds.). New questions, new insights, new
approaches. The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. NORDICOM. University of
Gothenburg, Sweden (pp. 43 – 56).

53. Renee Hobbs
Professor and Founding Director
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island USA
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: reneehobbs
Web: http://mediaeducationlab.com