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Critical media literacy in teacher education, theory, and practice.

Jeff Share , Jeff Share University of California Los Angeles
Tatevik Mamikonyan Tatevik Mamikonyan School of Education, University of California Los Angeles
and Eduardo Lopez Eduardo Lopez University of California Los Angeles
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1404
Published online: 30 September 2019
This version: 20 September 2023
Previous version

Democracy in the digital networked age of “fake news” and “alternative facts” requires new literacy skills and critical awareness to read, write, and use media and technology to empower civic participation and social transformation. Unfortunately, not many educators have been prepared to teach students how to think critically with and about the media and technology that engulf us. Across the globe there is a growing movement to develop media and information literacy curriculum (UNESCO) and train teachers in media education (e-Media Education Lab), but these attempts are limited and in danger of co-optation by the faster growing, better financed, and less critical education and information technology corporations. It is essential to develop a critical response to the new information communication technologies, artificial intelligence, and algorithms that are embedded in all aspects of society. The possibilities and limitations are vast for teaching educators to enter K-12 classrooms and teach their students to use various media, critically question all types of texts, challenge problematic representations, and create alternative messages. Through applying a critical media literacy framework that has evolved from cultural studies and critical pedagogy, students at all grade levels can learn to critically analyze the messages and create their own alternative media. The voices of teachers engaging in this work can provide pragmatic insight into the potential and challenges of putting the theory into practice in K-12 public schools.

critical literacy
critical pedagogy
media education
media literacy
critical media literacy
social justice
politics of representation
cultural studies
teacher education

Updated in this version

The authors made minor revisions to this text to reflect more recent scholarship. The reference list and further readings have similarly been updated.

Introduction

It is a formidable challenge to prepare critical educators to work inside a system in which every brick in the wall has been laid to transmit the information, skills, and ideas necessary to reproduce the social norms, inequities, ideologies, and alienation that are undermining the quality and sustainability of life on this planet. However, education can be a powerful tool to challenge these problems and create opportunities for students to work in solidarity with others to create a more socially and environmentally just world. To support these changes, we need teachers ready to engage students in critical inquiry by posing questions about systemic and structural issues of power, hierarchies of oppression, and social injustice. In the current media and information age, information communication technologies (ICTs) are available to either continue the control and degradation or to deconstruct the systems of oppression and reconstruct a more just and sustainable society.

Digital technology is opening opportunities for individual participation and alternative points of view, while at the same time a handful of enormous media and technology corporations have become the dominant storytellers, often repeating the same story at the expense of countless different perspectives and creative ways of thinking. Many of these storytellers are actually story-sellers, more interested in peddling ideas and products than informing, enlightening, inspiring, or challenging. While young people are using more media, they are also being used more by media companies. Giant transnational corporations are targeting youth as one of the most valuable markets for building brand loyalty and selling to advertisers. Researchers found 8- to 18-year-olds in the United States spend well over 10 hours a day interacting with various forms of media, such as music, computers, video games, television, film, and print ( Rideout et al., 2011 ). Another investigation discovered that 95% of American 13- to 17-year-olds have access to a smartphone and 97% say they are online daily and 46% use it constantly ( Vogels et al., 2022 ).

Not only is the amount of time with media increasing but the quality of that engagement is also changing by becoming more commercial and rarely critical. Researchers at Stanford University administered six tasks to 3,466 high schools across 14 states in the US to judge their ability to assess online information. In one task, students were asked to evaluate the credibility of a website that claimed to “disseminate factual reports” and 96% failed to learn about the site’s ties to the fossil fuel industry. In a different task, over half of students believed an anonymously posted video purporting to show voter fraud in the US was real, even though it was filmed in Russia ( Breakstone et al., 2021 ). In another study, Vosoughi et al. (2018) examined approximately 126,000 stories tweeted over 4.5 million times between 2006 and 2017 . The researchers were interested in understanding what accounted for the differential diffusion of verified true and false news stories. They found that false news stories spread “farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth because humans, not robots, are more likely to spread it” (p. 5). In analyzing the tweets, the authors concluded, false stories were 70% more likely to be retweeted because people found them not only more novel but the stories also inspired emotional responses of fear, disgust, or surprise.

The concern about “fake news” has encouraged many people to recognize the need for critical readers and writers of media. Some have suggested that we simply need better cognitive skills to determine truth from lies. However, making sense of the media and our information society is far more complicated than a reductionist idea of simply finding the truth. Rather than judging information as either true or false, students need to learn to search for multiple sources, different perspectives, and various types of evidence to triangulate and evaluate findings. In order to best evaluate and understand the information, they also need to question the influence of media in shaping the message and positioning the audience. Since all knowledge is an interpretation ( Kincheloe, 2007 ), interpreting the meaning of a message is a complex process that requires skills to probe empirical evidence, evaluate subjective biases, analyze the medium and construction of the text, and explore the social contexts.

This is an opportunity for educators to guide their students to think critically with and about the ICTs and media that surround them. Morrell et al. (2013) argue that the technology itself will not bring about transformative educational change. “That change will only come through teachers who draw on critical frameworks to create learning communities where the use of these tools becomes an empowering enterprise” (p. 14). Therefore, the changes in media, technology, and society require critical media literacy (CML) that can support teachers and students to question and create with and about the very tools that can empower or oppress, entertain or distract, inform or mislead, and buy or sell everything from lifestyles to politicians. Now more than ever, teachers should encourage students to be reading, viewing, listening to, interacting with, and creating a multitude of texts, from digital podcasts to multimedia productions.

Teacher Education

Even though youth are immersed in a world in which media and technology have entered all aspects of their lives and society, few teacher education programs are preparing teachers to help their students to critically understand the potential and limitations of these changes. It is crucial that new teachers learn how to teach their K-12 students to critically read and write everything, from academic texts to social media.

This means that schools of education responsible for training the new wave of teachers must be up to date, not just with the latest technology, but more importantly, with critical media literacy (CML) theory and pedagogy in order to prepare teachers and students to think and act critically with and about media and technology. In Canada, where media literacy is mandatory in every grade from 1 to 12, most new teachers are not receiving media literacy training in their preservice programs ( Wilson & Duncan, 2009 ). Researchers investigating media education in the United Kingdom and the US have found that many teachers are unprepared to teach media education and that professional learning opportunities are limited ( Butler, 2020 ; Kirwan et al., 2003 ). The progress has been slow, especially considering that inclusion of media literacy in formal public education has a history dating back to the 1980s in Australia, Britain, and Canada. However, nonformal media education has been occurring in many parts of the world for decades ( Hart, 1998 ; Kaplún, 1998 ; Kubey, 1997 ; Pegurer Caprino & Martínez-Cerdá, 2016 ; Prinsloo & Criticos, 1991 ).

While it is difficult to know for sure who is and who is not teaching critically about media and technology ( Mihailidis, 2008 ), there seems to be an increased interest in media literacy in the United States. In 2022 , the National Council of Teachers of English published a position statement recommending implementation of media education in English Language Arts along with two special issue journal publications ( Lynch, 2021 ; Kist & Christel, 2022 ) devoted to critical media literacy, arguing that “media education must be an essential component of the professional identity of teachers” ( National Council of Teachers of English, 2022 ).

As technology and media continue to evolve and increasingly enter public and private spaces, more educators are recognizing the need for training new teachers about media literacy ( Domine, 2011 ; Goetze et al., 2005 ; Hobbs, 2007a ) and some are even addressing the need to teach about CML ( Flores-Koulish et al., 2011 ; Funk et al., 2016 ; Robertson & Hughes, 2011 ; Trust et al., 2022 ). Researchers Tiede et al. (2015) studied 64 universities or colleges of teacher education in Germany and 316 U.S. public educational institutions that provide teacher training and graduate studies, concluding that very few offer more than media didactics (basic educational technology that teaches with media, not about media). From their data in the United States, they report, “media education, with emphasis on the instructional practices associated with the critical evaluation of media, culture, and society, were scarce, representing only 2% of all study programs in teacher training programs” (pp. 540−541). In Germany, the percentage increases to 25%, but “media didactics tends to be emphasized to the disadvantage of media education in both countries” (p. 542).

In 2011 , the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published a curriculum guide online in 11 languages for training teachers in media education ( Grizzle & Wilson, 2011 ), declaring that “teacher training in media and information literacy will be a major challenge for the global education system at least for the next decade” ( Pérez-Tornero & Tayie, 2012 , p. 11). 1 In Europe, Ranieri and Bruni (2018) analyzed the successes and challenges of training preservice and in-service teachers about media and digital literacy. An initiative called e-Media Educational Lab, funded by the European Commission, provided blended training to 279 preservice teachers and 81 in-service teachers in six countries. Based on surveys and fieldnotes, Ranieri and Bruni (2018) reported that the preservice and in-service teachers found critical media analysis and media production to be very important; they described their intent to transfer their media competency to their classrooms and expressed a desire to learn more practical ways to help their students develop media competencies.

UNESCO’s approach to media education combines media and information literacy (MIL) to include many competencies, from learning about and using information communication technologies to thinking critically about ethics and democracy. Carolyn Wilson (2012) explains, “MIL is both a content area and way of teaching and learning; it is not only about the acquisition of technical skills, but the development of a critical framework and approaches” (p. 16).

Combining information technology with media-cultural studies is essential, but still infrequent. Within the current wave of educational reform that prioritizes the newest technology and career readiness over civic engagement and critical inquiry, schools are more likely to adopt only information technology or information literacy and not critical media education. In the United States, few universities offer more than a single course in media literacy and most do not even offer that ( Goetze et al., 2005 ; Meehan et al., 2015 ).

Schwarz (2001) asserts that because of the power of emerging literacies, “teacher education needs media literacy as an essential tool and an essential topic in the new millennium” (pp. 111−112). She calls for integrating media literacy across all subject areas of teacher education, “from methods courses and educational psychology to foundational courses and student teaching” (p. 118). This interdisciplinary approach for media education could be easier now for K-12 teachers in the United States since the Common Core State Standards require literacy to be taught and technology to be used across the curriculum ( California Common Core State Standards, 2013 ; Moore & Bonilla, 2014 ; Trust et al., 2022 ).

Two studies with a total of 31 preservice teachers found a discrepancy between their positive attitudes for teaching media literacy and the lack of attention and support in their teacher education programs to prepare them to teach MIL ( Gretter & Yadav, 2018 ). Based on interviews with these preservice teachers, Gretter and Yadav (2018) report that they associated MIL with critical thinking skills and expressed concerns about not knowing how to teach MIL because their teacher preparation program encouraged “teaching with technology and not necessarily about technology” (p. 115). These preservice teachers complained about “a lack of preparation to help them transfer their knowledge of digital media to MIL pedagogies that would benefit students” (p. 111). This highlights the importance of preparing educators with the theory and conceptual understandings as well as the pedagogy and practical applications for how to teach their students to critically analyze and create media.

Teaching Teachers Critical Media Literacy

Transforming education to critically use media, technology, and popular culture for social and environmental justice is the overarching goal of a critical media literacy (CML) course in the teacher education program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The authors of this article have been involved in designing and teaching this course to in-service and preservice teachers. Through combining theory from cultural studies and critical pedagogy with practical classroom applications of digital media and technology, this course prepares K-12 educators to teach their students how to critically analyze and create all types of media. In 2011 , this four-unit course on CML was officially approved and became a required class for all students working on their teaching credential at UCLA.

The teacher education program at UCLA is primarily a two-year master’s and credential program that accepts about 130 candidates annually. The program is committed to developing social justice educators to work with and improve the schooling conditions of California’s ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse children. While most of the students go through the two-year program, additional pathways for earning a teaching credential and master’s degree have been offered, such as a master’s-only program for in-service teachers with two years or more of full-time teaching experience.

The CML class is taught in separate sections, usually divided by subjects, with 25−50 students per section. Most of the candidates taking the class are student teaching at the same time, except for the master’s-only candidates, who were teaching full-time while attending the class once a week in the evening. The class includes lectures, discussions, and activities interwoven into each session during the 10-week quarter.

Beginning with a theoretical overview, the course explores the development of media education that is defined less as a specific body of knowledge or set of skills and more as a framework of conceptual understandings ( Buckingham, 2003 ). Much of the theory behind CML has evolved from cultural studies, a field of critical inquiry that began in the 20th century in Europe and continues to grow with new critiques of media and society. From the 1930s through the 1960s, researchers at the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research used critical social theory to analyze how media culture and the new tools of communication technology induce ideology and social control. In the 1960s, researchers at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham added to the earlier concerns of ideology with a more sophisticated understanding of the audience as active constructors of reality, not simply mirrors of an external reality. Kellner (1995) explains that cultural studies has continued to grow and incorporate concepts of semiotics, feminism, multiculturalism, and postmodernism. Incorporating a dialectical understanding of political economy, textual analysis, and audience theory, cultural studies critiques media culture as dynamic discourses that reproduce dominant ideologies as well as entertain, educate, and offer the possibilities for counter-hegemonic alternatives ( Hammer & Kellner, 2009 ).

Critical media literacy includes three dimensions ( Share & Gambino, 2022 ). The first involves the content students learn about systems, structures, and ideologies that reproduce hierarchies of power and knowledge concerning race, gender, class, sexuality and other forms of identity and environmental justice, as well as general understandings about how media and communication function. The second dimension engages the skills to critically think and question media representations and biases, to deconstruct and reconstruct media texts, and use a variety of media to access, analyze, evaluate, and create. The third involves developing a disposition for empathy, critical consciousness, and empowerment to take action to challenge and transform society to be more socially and environmentally just. This third dimension is based on Freire’s (2010) notion of conscientização , a revolutionary critical consciousness that involves perception as well as action against oppression. These three dimensions of critical media literacy pedagogy are supported through an inquiry-based democratic approach that follows ideas of transformative educators like John Dewey and Paulo Freire. We incorporate feminist theory and critical pedagogy to analyze relationships between media and audiences, information and power ( Carlson et al., 2013 ; Garcia et al., 2013 ). When we first began teaching the course, we used a simple framework with five core concepts and key questions from the Center for Media Literacy. 2 To emphasize the critical potential of these ideas, while providing an accessible tool for teachers to use in the classroom, the following critical media literacy framework was developed, with six conceptual understandings and questions, as shown in Table 1 ( Kellner & Share, 2019 ).

These six conceptual understandings and questions are referred to regularly and are addressed in all lesson plans. It is important for teachers to understand the concepts and questions because theory should inform practice for all three dimensions. However, it is better for K-12 students to learn to ask the questions rather than memorize the concepts, since the questions, with appropriate guidance, can lead students on a path of inquiry where they are more likely to make meaning themselves, related to the conceptual understandings.

The CML framework is designed to help teachers and their students question the role of power and ideology that socialize and control society through making some people and ideas seem “normal” and “natural” while the rest are “othered” and “marginalized” ( Hall, 2003 ). This critical framing supports teachers and students to deepen their explorations of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, overconsumption, environmental exploitation, and other problematic representations in media. Candidates analyze and discuss current media examples, while also learning how to use various ICTs to create their own media with alternative counter-hegemonic representations. Using an inquiry process and democratic pedagogy, problems are posed to the students to collaboratively wrestle with, unpack, and respond to through media production.

Critical media literacy promotes an expansion of our understanding of literacy to include many types of texts, such as images, sounds, music, video games, social media, advertising, popular culture, and print, as well as a deepening of critical analysis to explore the connections between information and power. In our digital networked media age, it is not enough to teach students how to read and write just with print while their world has moved far beyond letters on a page. Literacy education in the 21st century requires breaking from traditional practices to include all the varied ways people communicate with media, technology, and any tool that facilitates the transfer of information or connects people. This calls for new skills and understandings to decode and analyze as well as to create and produce all types of texts. The California Teaching Performance Expectations also require teacher education programs to expand this view of literacy and integrate media and technology into coursework in order to “deepen teaching and learning to provide students with opportunities to participate in a digital society and economy” ( California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2016 , p. 9).

Each class starts by reviewing and applying the conceptual understandings and questions. Since one goal of the course is for candidates to understand that literacy includes reading and writing all types of texts, we encourage students to analyze as well as produce media. A series of assignments requires candidates to work together to create various types of media projects such as visual posters, photographs, podcasts, memes, digital stories, and social media. The candidates are also expected to work collaboratively on a CML lesson plan and learning segment that they write up, present a summary of to the whole class, and when possible, also teach it. For a detailed description of this course, see Share (2015) and visit the UCLA Library Critical Media Literacy Research Guide for links to articles, videos, and websites used in the course. 3

Table 1. Critical Media Literacy Framework

Conceptual Understandings	Questions
1. Social constructivism All information is co-constructed by individuals and groups of people who make choices within social contexts.	WHO are all the possible people who made choices that helped create this text?
2. Languages/semiotics Each medium has its own language with specific grammar and semantics.	HOW was this text constructed and delivered or accessed?
3. Audience/positionality Individuals and groups understand media messages similarly and differently, depending on multiple contextual factors.	HOW could this text be understood differently?
4. Politics of representation Media messages and the medium through which they travel always have a bias and support and challenge dominant hierarchies of power, privilege, and pleasure.	WHAT values, points of view, and ideologies are represented or missing from this text or are influenced by the medium?
5. Production/institutions All media texts have a purpose (often commercial or governmental) that is shaped by the creators and systems within which they operate.	WHY was this text created and shared?
6. Social and environmental justice Media culture is a terrain of struggle that perpetuates or challenges positive and negative ideas about people, groups, and issues; it is never neutral.	WHOM does this text advantage and disadvantage?

From a desire to explore if and how former students are applying the skills and knowledge gained from the critical media literacy (CML) course into their teaching practice, we created an online survey for students who had taken the course. Through purposeful sampling, we sent out the survey to the 738 students who had taken the CML course and ended up with 185 usable responses (25% response rate), 153 preservice and 32 in-service teachers. Of the 185 respondents, 53 taught elementary school and 132 were secondary-level teachers. The breakdown of the middle school and high school teachers was: 38 science, 34 math, 33 social sciences, 28 English, and several reported teaching a combination of subjects as well as some who taught other areas such as music, visual arts, Spanish, English language development, or adult education. The span of experience was wide; some just started teaching and some had been teaching over seven years, yet most of the teachers (52%) had been teaching between two and three years.

The mixed method survey included 20 questions. The first eight sought to identify participants’ teaching background. The remaining 12 questions inquired about their experiences teaching CML skills and concepts to their K-12 students. Ten quantitative questions used a Likert scale with a choice of responses, including very frequently, frequently, occasionally, rarely, and never, as well as an option to choose not applicable. The final two qualitative questions were open-ended in which respondents could type their thoughts about any “memorable moment(s) teaching critical media literacy” and “any additional comments.” During the analysis phase, we found it helpful to combine the categories very frequently and frequently and refer to them as VF/F.

Voices From the Field

Using mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative data, we analyzed the survey responses to explore teachers’ ideas about what they had been doing with their students. The overall feedback suggested that the majority of the respondents had brought aspects of media literacy education into their K-12 classrooms, and sometimes even incorporated CML. One of the most recurring patterns we noticed was that these teachers had been expanding the traditional concept of literacy by engaging their students with various types of media.

Teaching With Media

In reply to the first question, most of the respondents reported having integrated media into their class activities: 64% VF/F, 30% occasionally, 6% rarely, and no one responded never ( N = 185). The responses to Question 1 were very similar for elementary and secondary teachers, with only a 1% to 5% difference. Where we saw greater variation was when comparing the subject matter of secondary teachers. The English and science teachers had the highest percentages (75% and 76%) of VF/F responses to Question 1 about integrating media into class activities. Math teachers, by contrast, reported the lowest percentage, with 44% reporting VF/F and 15% rarely integrating media into the curriculum (see Figure 1 ).

Figure 1. Responses from secondary teachers to Question 1 about how often they integrated media into class activities.

While these responses demonstrated an overall high amount of media integration, it was not clear how the teachers integrated media and what students were doing with the media. The responses from Question 5 (“my students have created the following media”) provided more information about the students’ interactions with media, showing that the vast majority of respondents (92%) had their students create some type of media (see Figure 2 for a list of the various media students created).

Since the question only asked teachers to check the box for the type of media their students created, we did not know how often this occurred or with what degree of analysis. Questions 1 and 5 indicated that teaching with media occurred with over 90% of the respondents.

Figure 2. Responses to Question 5 about the different types of media that all 185 respondents report their students have created. They were asked to choose all that apply.

Teaching About Media

The second question tried to find out more about those interactions with media by asking respondents to rate how often they had given their “students opportunities to engage in media analysis.” For Question 2, about one-third of all 185 respondents, 32%, reported VF/F, 43% occasionally, 21% rarely, and 4% never. When comparing responses from Questions 1 and 2, the respondents seemed to have been doing more teaching with media (Question 1) than teaching about media (Question 2) (see Figure 3 ). A similar finding was mentioned in the research conducted in Germany and the United States by Tiede et al. (2015) .

Figure 3. Comparing all responses from Question 1 about integrating media into class activities (teaching with media) with Question 2 about engaging in media analysis (teaching about media).

A more nuanced perspective of Question 2 is possible when comparing the responses about media analysis from different content area secondary teachers. In response to Question 2, the teachers who reported VF/F were the following: 63% of English teachers reported giving the most opportunities for their students to engage in media analysis, as compared to almost half as often by 32% of science teachers and about five times less often by 12% of math teachers (see Figure 4 ). Since literacy is a primary goal of English instruction, it is not surprising that English teachers reported the highest levels of media analysis ( Hobbs, 2007b ).

It is important to recognize that teaching about media can be a highly complex and multifaceted undertaking, especially when done through a CML lens. For example, the second conceptual understanding encourages students to analyze the codes and conventions of the media text and the medium through which they travel by asking how the text was constructed and delivered or accessed. This, in itself, can have many layers and yet is just one of six questions intended to help students think critically about media. Livingstone (2018) asserts, “media literacy is needed not only to engage with the media but to engage with society through the media .” As Luke and Freebody (1997) argue, it is not enough to only have a psychological approach to literacy, as if reading and writing is just an individual cognitive process. We need to also bring a sociological lens into the process of questioning the contexts, the dominant ideologies, and the systems that make some things seem “natural” or “normal.” The CML framework is a holistic tool for thinking about and questioning the dynamic role media play in our relationships with ourselves, each other, and society. Responses and comments to other questions in the survey provide more insight into how some teachers have engaged their students in various types of media analysis.

Figure 4. Comparing responses from different content areas about Question 2 regarding how often secondary teachers gave their students opportunities to engage in media analysis.

Evaluating Information and Advertising

In the qualitative responses to Questions 11 and 12, teachers mentioned embracing basic media literacy principles in the ways students were evaluating the credibility of information and advertising as well as creating different types of media. The popularity of the term “fake news” and the growing amount of disinformation have increased the challenge to distinguish misinformation and propaganda from journalism and scientifically researched facts ( Rogow, 2018 ). An elementary teacher who reported “frequently” integrating media into the classroom, asserted:

Though my students are younger and some of these concepts are more difficult to teach than others, I find it important to bring up especially in terms of making sure they don’t believe every YouYube video they watch. We’ve had many meaningful discussions about what can be created for a video shouldn’t just be accepted as the truth. For example, the ‘mermaid’ documentary that came out a few years ago had all of my students convinced that they had found a mermaid. It led to an interesting discussion on hoaxes and further reading about Bigfoo[t] and other such stories.

Since all media contain bias because they are created by subjective humans, it is important for teachers to help their students to recognize the bias and also be able to judge the credibility of information. A high school math teacher wrote:

It has not happened until this school year, when I began teaching Statistics. I introduced some pictographs for students to analyze and an article for students to read about how a website stated that if polls were unskewed, Trump would be leading the polls for election. I had students read and discuss about the validity and why/why not it is trustable.

Several respondents mentioned having their students study political advertising, and since all U.S. elections are now multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns (e.g., Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign won the top prizes at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Awards), there is little distinction between selling products, ideas, and political candidates.

Analyzing advertising is an important aspect of media education because advertising is the motor that drives commercial media and has become so common in our lives that there are few spaces that are completely ad-free ( Jhally, 2003 ). Several respondents reported about their students investigating advertisements for false health messages, misleading packaging, political campaigns, tobacco, alcohol, and different perspectives. One secondary English teacher wrote, “My students took pictures of advertisements that surrounded their neighborhood and we analyzed them for patterns, themes, and purposes.” A high school science teacher reported, “I had many times this past year where students were able to reflect on marketing strategies and how they affect the viewer’s perspective of their life and themselves. Students made great connections.”

During the critical media literacy (CML) class, students scrutinize consumer culture and the role advertising plays in creating anxieties, shaping desires, and normalizing representations about all things, from consumption to gender, race, and class. Candidates in the CML class learn about these ideas through readings, by analyzing advertisements, and also by creating ads for different target audiences. When asked about the media their students had created, one third reported their students created advertisements.

Creating Different Types of Media

When students are taught print literacy, they are instructed how to decode letters on a page and how to write with those letters to construct words, sentences, and paragraphs. The same process of teaching reading and writing should be applied to visual images, movies, songs, video games, social media, and all the various multimedia texts that students are encountering daily. In responses from the survey, teachers reported about having their students write and create many different types of texts beyond print (see Figure 2 ).

One English teacher wrote that having students create media was “very successful. They loved being able to create memes, posters, Prezis, etc. to present their work.” An elementary teacher shared about students “creating podcasts/npr style news stories regarding UN sustainability goals.” Several respondents commented on their students designing commercials or challenging ads by producing spoofs that parody the ads. One middle school teacher shared, “students analyzed ads for nicotine and alcohol products, then used the practice with critical media skills to create ‘anti-ads’ with Google drawings.”

During the first year of teaching, a high school science teacher reported about a memorable moment when “creating a multi-lingual, easy-to-understand and scientifically supported pamphlet on the hazards in LA’s environment.” A high school Spanish teacher wrote about his students creating critical memes in Spanish, like the ones they created in the critical media literacy (CML) class. During the session exploring racism and media, candidates challenge racist representations through creating racial myth-busting memes. As a strategy to demonstrate the value of media production, the CML class has students create various media in almost every session, and these activities are often the favorite lessons mentioned in the end of course evaluations.

Increasing Engagement

While engagement is not a learning objective, all teaching benefits from students being engaged in their learning. One of the patterns that emerged from the responses was teachers’ observations that student engagement increased. An eighth-grade English teacher wrote that after incorporating media literacy, the students’ “entire attitude toward learning shifted. Especially the hard to reach students.” An elementary teacher reported, “Media literacy has made great contributions in my class with science research in the past. The simple act of using google images, google maps and finding credible sources has sparked learning and interest in my class.” Another elementary teacher shared about using critical media literacy (CML) to analyze food justice issues: “They were instantly engaged and students who had a difficult time writing and with critical thinking then did not.”

A secondary science teacher reported, “Students spent the entire class engaged in discussion when I intended for it to only be an introduction to the unit.” Another high school science teacher wrote, “When I did teach a class specifically geared towards media literacy, it was great because students were engaged. They were quick at analyzing images and creating their own.” A third science teacher wrote, “using critical media literacy made engaging my students in abstract chemistry concepts more meaningful and engaging.” Engagement tends to increase when students are genuinely interested and intrinsically motivated, something that often comes out of personal connection, a sense of meaningfulness, and an authentic belief in the value of the learning ( Dewey, 1963 ). These are all elements of good CML pedagogy. A high school science teacher described the feelings of students and their parents as they responded to their CML work: “My favorite moments are students exuding pride and passion over the work they are creating that speaks to their perspectives and experiences; parents proud of their students’ media creations.” Feelings of pride and passion are important for all students to experience; they help lower students’ affective filters for learning ( Krashen, 1995 ) and increase intrinsic motivation to want to learn.

Critical Media Literacy

As we analyzed teachers’ written responses, we saw a number of comments in which they were taking basic media literacy concepts to deeper levels of criticality. Several mentioned how useful the class was to understanding critical theory and be able to see how it can be enacted in their K-12 classroom. Similar findings were mentioned after Joanou (2017) analyzed data about a critical media literacy (CML) class taught to master’s-level practicing K-12 educators. Joanou (2017) reported, “critical media literacy helps bridge the gap between theory and practice” (p. 40). The use of media texts and popular culture can provide relevant examples for entry into abstract concepts that are often politically and emotionally charged, and sometimes too sensitive or too distant to begin discussing on a personal level.

Teaching about the connections between information and power reflects a key goal of CML ( Kellner & Share, 2007 ) and our respondents demonstrated this through their qualitative comments about recreating counter-narratives, analyzing the politics of representation, making critical connections between history and current events with media texts, and engaging in political, social, and environmental media activism. Questions 3 and 4 attempted to assess the frequency in which teachers were bringing critical aspects of media education to their students.

Question 3 asks teachers to rate how often: “My students have engaged in media analysis by exploring media representations of ideology, race, class, gender, sexuality, environmentalism, and/or other social justice issues.” Elementary and secondary teachers reported almost identical frequencies in response to Question 3: 22% in both groups reported VF/F while 42% (elementary) and 45% (secondary) stated occasionally. When asked Question 4 about making connections between information and power, the differences increased: 39% of the secondary teachers responded doing this VF/F while just 23% of the elementary teachers reported doing this VF/F.

In-service teachers reported higher frequencies for Question 3: 54% of in-service teachers reported VF/F while preservice teachers reported 14% VF/F. For Question 4: 56% of in-service teachers reported VF/F compared with 30% of preservice teachers who reported VF/F.

When comparing responses separated by subject matter with secondary teachers, 33% of English teachers and 30% of social science teachers reported VF/F for engaging in critical media analysis, as seen in Question 3 about exploring media representations. This is considerably higher than the 16% of science teachers and 9% of math teachers reporting VF/F. The math and science teachers reported the highest percentages for rarely or never having their students explore media representations of social justice issues (see Figure 5 ). The literature supports similar findings. Garii and Rule (2009) reported that student teachers had a difficult time integrating social justice into math and science content due to several factors. In their research with novice elementary teachers, Garii and Rule discovered that the candidates were not confident in their ability to teach math and science and had limited and unsophisticated knowledge of the content. They also viewed math and science “to be a set of routinized, algorithmic practices that lead to a single, correct answer and neither science nor mathematics are assumed to be closely connected to real-world issues and concerns” (p. 491). Given that they are struggling to learn and understand the content, math and science candidates turned to classroom textbooks to guide instructional practices. Incorporating nontraditional practices or making connections to students’ lives becomes a challenge because they disconnect social justice from their teaching and focus on teaching to the content ( Garii & Rule, 2009 ).

Figure 5. Responses to Question 3 from secondary teachers about how often they engaged their students in critical “media analysis by exploring media representations of ideology, race, class, gender, sexuality, environmentalism, and/or other social justice issues.”

One of the more significant findings of the study is the number of respondents reporting they “noticed that using critical media literacy encourages critical thinking among students” (Question 9). Of the preservice respondents, 61% reported VF/F, and for the in-service teachers, the percentages jump to 81% who reported VF/F. In both cases, the majority of respondents expressed their feelings that CML promotes critical thinking most of the time (see Figure 6 ). A middle school social science teacher wrote that after teaching CML, “students were deeper thinkers and our discussions were so much richer. Students were highly engaged and more invested in the classroom.” When comparing grade levels for Question 9, we see 78% of elementary teachers reported that using CML VF/F encourages critical thinking, and 61% of secondary teachers reported VF/F. This large percentage of elementary teachers reporting about CML encouraging critical thinking shows great promise for the potential of CML in the early grades.

Figure 6. Comparison of preservice and in-service teachers’ responses to Question 9 about how often they have noticed CML encourages critical thinking among their students.

Creating Counter Narratives and Supporting Students’ Voices

Many of the responses regarding transformative education centered on guiding students to create counternarratives and supporting student ideas and voices. Respondents mentioned activities that enabled their students to recreate media texts with a critical lens. These counternarratives included recreating superhero comic books, news, advertisements, digital storytelling, national holiday observances, and poems. A high school English teacher noted, “after analyzing recent and popular superhero comic books, my students used the comic medium to tell an autobiographical story wherein they exhibited power in the face of oppression.” A middle school English teacher reported:

The most memorable lesson I’ve taught involving critical media literacy was a unit based on perseverance and the power of the human spirit in regards to power structures and oppression. After analyzing multiple types of media, students created their own VoiceThread using spoken word in order to share their own messages of perseverance. It was incredibly powerful to hear their messages.

For most respondents, the notion of enabling their students to share personal stories using multimedia tools meant that they were integrating critical media pedagogy into their teaching practice. Traditionally, personal and experiential knowledge as a form of literacy is not often valued; thus, it is a critical pedagogical orientation to encourage students to recreate media texts that reflect their intersecting realities and challenge the pervasive dominant ideologies. Students’ personal histories become scholarly pursuits when digital storytelling encompasses media production skills taught through a critical media literacy (CML) framework. Vasquez (2017) asserts, “students learn best when what they are learning has importance in their lives, using the topics, issues, and questions that they raise should therefore be an important part of creating the classroom curriculum” (p. 8). A middle school math and technology teacher commented about incorporating CML into her master’s inquiry project:

The project we ultimately created was a digital storytelling project, in which students interviewed their parents or someone they admire and created some sort of media project around that story to tell counter-narratives to the dominant story told in media about people of color.

Guiding students to create counternarratives can be an empowering instructional strategy that nurtures their personal realities and supports their voice. Considering the context of urban education, it becomes particularly important for low-income students and students of color, who have been historically denied the power to be heard, to engage in their learning as empowered subjects through creating digital counter-narratives.

Politics of Representation

A major difference between critical media literacy (CML) and the more common media literacy practiced in the United States is the rigorous examination of the politics of representation; an analysis of how historically disenfranchised social groups are represented in media ( Funk et al., 2016 ). Many of the respondents discussed analyzing issues related to representations of different identities with their students. A high school visual arts teacher reported that through “using current events in the media, students created headline news with people of color perspective.” The majority of the responses highlighted engaging in discussions related to gender and a few responses about race. One elementary teacher noted:

My grade level did a Critical Media Literacy unit and after it was over, a week later, a student showed me a box of Chips Ahoy cookies and said that it was made to be sold to boys and girls. She compared it to a rainbow pop tarts box made for girls and a basketball cereal box made for boys that we had discussed during the CML unit.

A high school social science teacher reported:

My 11th and 12th grade Sociology class created representation boards. Each group was assigned an identity (‘white male,’ ‘Asian male,’ ‘black female,’ etc.). When each group was done, we compared the images and discussed the similarities between representations of race and gender. It really opened their eyes.

The politics of representation explores the complexities and intersections of identity markers, such as ethnicity, culture, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, and ableism. Several candidates alluded to the intersectionality between race and gender in their responses, mostly engaging their students in discussions related to the unequal representation and socialization of gender roles. They also noted that discussing stereotypical gender roles challenged their students’ internalized notions of gender. Responses such as the following highlight the shift in their students’ perspectives about gender: An elementary teacher wrote, “We’ve had some successful discussions around gender stereotypes and I’ve heard the language change in the classroom and students be more thoughtful about others’ choices.” Another elementary teacher reported, “My students showed greater acceptance. After teaching a lesson invoking gender all my male students felt accepted to choose any color paper—the favorite was pink for the rest of the year.”

Making Critical Connections

In response to the open-ended questions, an array of items was mentioned that demonstrate critical engagement, from teaching about racism and whitewashing, to numerous examples of analyzing gender and sexism, as well as projects on environmental justice and climate change at all grade levels. Some respondents discussed their transformative practice through the way their students analyzed and created media to make critical connections between historical and current events.

A high school social science teacher stated, “I had students create videos explaining the situation in Ukraine and relating it to the Cold War. In United States history, I often had students look at political cartoons and think about current examples of imperialism and how they’re represented in media.” Similarly, another social science teacher described a memorable moment of teaching critical media literacy (CML) as: “When students could make the connection between yellow journalism in Spanish-American War and media sensationalism during the War on Terror.” An elementary school teacher wrote:

My students began to think critically about history after showing them the spoken word poem ‘History Textbooks,’ which talked about world history being American Propaganda. Through this poem, they began questioning: who gets to write history and whose stories are told? It was a really powerful lesson we returned to over and over again throughout my course.

Analyzing media texts by acknowledging their historical continuity is vital because marginalization and exploitation are historically bound. Discovering these historical connections helps teachers and students learn how dominance and ideology are perpetuated, transcending time and space. Bridging the gap between the past and the present enables students to identify the common thread of hegemony across various spheres of social life. This instructional approach of CML promotes critical thinking with a social justice emphasis.

Another topic on which respondents commented was using CML to teach about environmental issues, especially the climate crisis. This is an important area for CML, since so many media messages about climate change distort the scientific evidence and mislead the public ( Beach et al., 2017 ; Share & Beach, 2022 ). A high school science teacher reported, “My class analyzed the politics behind climate change denial and how climate change is represented in the media. It was very easy for my students to see the connection between the message and its creators.” Exploring the connection between media ownership and media messages, another high school science teacher commented that a memorable moment was having a “discussion with students about where they were getting their information about environmental issues, and talking about who owns and controls Univision.”

In addition to becoming more aware, being engaged in critical analysis and creating counternarratives, some respondents noted that their students had engaged in political, environmental, and social media activism. A high school science teacher mentioned:

My class was looking at environmental justice and one student took that information and used it for an English project she was working on and that project transformed into a petition to the city council to plant more trees as her contribution to offsetting pollution in the inner city.

Another science teacher reported about how his “students created social media campaigns to raise awareness about animals affected by climate change. Different groups created the ‘Puffin Dance’ and #peekatmypika to help their campaigns get going.” A kindergarten teacher wrote about her students creating a video with opinion posters for change they shared with their school community.

Activism can be enacted in multiple ways; some efforts are more explicit, like petitions and protests, while others are more subtle, such as creating alternative media. Teacher responses reflect their students’ activism related to social, environmental, and political issues materialized through local and issue-specific efforts.

In analyzing the responses, we found many encouraging and hopeful comments about how critical media literacy (CML) has helped teachers rethink their pedagogy and increase student engagement. However, the responses also highlight challenges for implementing CML, such as limited resources, support, and clarity about how to integrate it into the curriculum. An elementary teacher wrote about the scarcity of technology at the school and how that “makes it difficult to do anything around critical media.” From the answers to Question 7 (incorporating CML into my teaching is difficult), secondary teachers reported more difficulty teaching CML (35% VF/F) than elementary teachers (26% VF/F). This is another place where the potential for CML in the lower grades surfaced, since they seem to have less difficulty incorporating it than secondary teachers. The design of most elementary classrooms, which requires the same teacher to cover all subject matter to the same group of students throughout the day, opens the potential for integrating CML pedagogy through thematic teaching, project-based learning, or problem-posing pedagogy.

A first-year middle school social science teacher shared wanting to use more CML, but had little departmental and administrative support. An elementary teacher shared about an administrator who “is reluctant to have me teach how to be critical of all media.” Three responses focused on wanting more resources, instructional strategies, and school-appropriate material in order to be able to implement CML in their classrooms. These qualitative statements of lack of support can be seen in the quantitative responses to Question 10 in which respondents rated the statement: “I feel supported by people at my school when teaching critical media literacy”: 36% VF/F, 24% occasionally, 18% rarely, 6% never felt supported, and 17% not applicable.

The group that shared the most challenges for implementing CML consisted of five teachers who taught secondary math and science. Their qualitative responses broadly discussed the difficulty of integrating CML into their content and finding only limited application. One of these responses from a high school math teacher mentioned:

I remember how when I was in the [CML] class, it seemed all over the place. I was unable to fully find the purpose of the class and how we can use it in a math class. In a traditional math class, such as Pre-Calculus or Calculus, it was rather difficult to find ways to incorporate the idea of CML.

This same person also commented that once he began teaching statistics, he was able to find ways to integrate CML. Of the 34 math teachers who answered Question 7, 59% of them reported that incorporating CML into their teaching was difficult VF/F. This is about double the VF/F responses from the other subjects.

A high school math teacher saw the value in teaching students CML but limited its application to challenging students’ misinformation about math and who is or is not a mathematician:

Critical Media Literacy is pretty important for students, especially in an age where they’re exposed to various forms of media, a lot of which is very skewed in one way or the other, and usually takes a reductionist viewpoint of the issues it addresses. I try to use CML to help students understand the misinformation about mathematics, the nature of mathematics, and challenge stereotypes of who is or isn’t a mathematician (examples: Not all mathematicians are white or Asian, there are Latino and African/African American mathematicians, there are mathematicians from faith backgrounds, mathematics isn’t just about calculations, etc.).

Two additional respondents also acknowledged the benefits of CML but felt challenged by the additional work needed to integrate it into the curriculum. A high school science teacher shared:

When I took the Critical Media Literacy class, it felt like it was more geared towards the humanities and not necessarily for the sciences. While it would be great to come up with lessons that connect chemistry and critical media literacy, it is immensely time-consuming when I can’t find other people to brainstorm with.

Another secondary science teacher also felt CML was important but struggled to find ways to integrate it into the classroom:

It was a great shared learning space and I got a ton of inspiration from taking the class; however, it has been difficult to use CML when direct instruction does focus on the explanation of scientific concepts. That’s not to say it is impossible, it just does take one more step of planning and student buy in.

Researchers in Canada found that after teaching CML concepts and skills in a Language Arts methods course, their preservice teachers felt enthusiastic about teaching media literacy, but challenged when designing CML lessons ( Robertson & Hughes, 2011 , p. 51). Robertson and Hughes (2011) list five reasons why teaching CML was so challenging for their students: (1) when these preservice teachers were K-12 students, most did not experience CML lessons; (2) the majority of their mentor teachers did not teach CML or know much about it; (3) critical analysis practices are not easy; (4) few resources are available; and (5) some schools have little technology and technical support. These are many of the same challenges that our teachers reported.

Intent and Importance of Incorporating Critical Media Literacy

Numerous teachers wrote about how meaningful, vital, transformative, and important this class was for them. A high school science teacher shared that the critical media literacy (CML) class, “was transformative! I’m still working on ways to fully integrate what I learned, but I have had my students creating media ever since.” A middle school English teacher commented about how the CML class “gave us techniques, projects, lessons that we can incorporate in our classrooms. Teaching students how to be critical of information related through the media is highly important because student[s] gain that critical awareness necessary for a technology-based society!”

A desire to bring more CML into the classroom surfaced throughout many of the qualitative responses. When asked to indicate any additional comments, 16 out of 64 respondents (25%) expressed their intention to integrate concepts related to media literacy or CML. A high school math teacher who wrote about having students create ads to represent data in graphs stated, “I wish I could incorporate more. I’ll keep trying.” A kindergarten teacher commented, “I wish I had more time to engage my students in this topic. As I grow in experience and expertise, I incorporate it more and more. Teaching in urban areas is a challenge but I do find the ideas of the course to be valuable in the classroom.”

The data and voices of these teachers raise practical, theoretical, and policy implications for future work in supporting teachers in adopting a pedagogical approach that can ignite engagement, make learning relevant, and deepen critical thinking with media, technology, and all information. In order for this to happen, teacher education programs need to address some of the challenges and limitations highlighted in the study.

The teachers surveyed reported challenges for implementing critical media literacy (CML) such as limited access to resources, lack of support, and a struggle to understand how to integrate it into the curriculum. This was especially evident for the math and science teachers. CML courses need to help teachers in all content areas rethink the silo approach to separate subject matter instruction and recognize the ways literacy is used in all areas and how information is connected to students’ lives through issues of power, privilege, and pleasure. To help teachers integrate CML into the curriculum, it is important for them to see content and grade-level examples while also receiving ongoing support and resources.

One way to support teachers in various subject matter is to create groups or projects modeled after the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) or the Center X professional development projects. 4 The SHEG is a research and development group that provides free online resources and lesson plans for history teachers to support students in developing historical thinking skills. In a similar way, the Center X projects provide resources, lesson ideas, and professional development to support working teachers and administrators, while also creating curriculum, providing trainings, and engaging in research. The creation of a CML project or research and development group could provide ongoing professional development for new and experienced teachers in order to sustain CML implementation and support the growth of CML as an important field of investigation.

In-service teachers in our survey reported higher rates of integration of CML, perhaps because experienced teachers have figured out issues of classroom management, lesson planning, and how to balance work and life expectations. As a result, they are better situated to build and expand their curricula and teaching practices to bring CML into their classrooms. While creating a site modeled after the SHEG or Center X projects will require a significant investment of time and money, a more immediate and economical way to provide support for preservice teachers could be through integrating CML across various teacher preparation courses, especially in methods classes. This integration would require working with teacher educators to explore the CML theoretical framework and co-construct new practices and curricula for integrating these ideas throughout different content areas.

Despite the challenges reported by our teachers, the data also suggest promising possibilities for CML. While we do not claim causality between their teaching and the CML course, the data provide a window into how our preservice and in-service teachers have supported critical engagement with the information, entertainment, and social media embedded in the lives of students.

The similarities between elementary and secondary teachers suggest that CML can be just as appropriate for lower grades as it is commonly assumed to be for older students. The work in critical literacy by Comber (2013) and Vasquez (2014) offers support for the notion that young children can engage deeply in critical thinking and social justice education. The elementary teachers in our study demonstrate these ideas through the work they have done to engage their young students with media analysis and critical media production from kindergarten on up. While some teachers reported deep levels of critical analysis more often than others, many expressed their belief in the importance of CML and their desire to teach about social justice. Vasquez (2017) reminds us that critical literacy should not be a topic to teach: “Instead it should be looked on as a lens, frame, or perspective for teaching throughout the day, across the curriculum, and perhaps beyond. What this means is that critical literacy involves having a critical perspective or way of being” (p. 8). Developing social justice educators who internalize a critical way of looking at the world and questioning systems of power is the project for which CML provides a pragmatic framework and pedagogy.

It is impressive to see the majority of teachers reporting that using CML encourages critical thinking, something more important than ever in the age of fake news and alternative facts. There is hope in the teachers’ voices as they describe the activities they have been doing with their students, the successes they have encountered, and the challenges they have struggled to overcome. The comments about their intentions to teach CML and the importance they attribute to teaching these concepts provide encouragement for teacher educators to embrace CML. More than anything, the data demonstrate the potential for teaching CML in elementary and secondary settings with preservice and in-service teachers and in all content areas, even though some are more challenging than others. The use of media and technology offers opportunities for teachers to build on students’ prior knowledge, create a bridge to connect the outside world with school learning, and provide the raw material to examine everyday experiences of power, marginalization, and resistance.

Simply integrating media into the curriculum is not enough to develop critical literacies given the changing and multiple literacies associated with new digital information and communication technologies and practices. In the contemporary moment, there is a pressing pedagogical need to navigate the increasingly consequential artificial intelligence (AI) systems that collect, collate, process, predict and disseminate information determined by algorithms. Data from the survey suggest that our teachers are teaching more with media than critically analyzing it. Further studies are needed in order to better understand how to develop teachers’ CML frameworks and support more implementation.

Preparing educators to teach CML is not easy, and unfortunately, few institutes of higher education are attempting the challenge. However, it is possible, and in fact, it can be highly rewarding. By listening to the voices of teachers who have taken a CML course, we see the potential. As one high school science teacher commented, “CML changed me, changed my teaching, continues to change my students.”

While information communication technologies are integrating into all aspects of our lives, we are also witnessing increasing divisions between the haves and have nots, out-of-control climate change, and the weaponization of information and media. In order to create a socially just democratic society and sustainable planet, we must have people who can critically read and write the word and the world ( Freire & Macedo, 1987 ). The need for CML has never been greater. A high school English teacher wrote, “there is no literacy without media literacy. There is not critical pedagogy without critical media literacy.” It is our hope that this article serves as a resource to continue exploring the potential that CML offers to transform students, schools, and society.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the following educators who helped us design and teach this critical media literacy course: Shani Byard, Peter Carlson, Steven Funk, Antero Garcia, Mark Gomez, Clifford Lee, Elexia Reyes-McGovern, and Martin Romero. We are grateful to Megan Franke for her guidance with the creation of the survey. We also appreciate the assistance of Jarod Kawasaki, Jose-Felipe Martinez, and Brandon McMillan with helping to organize the survey data.

Media and Information Literate Citizens: Think Critically, Click Wisely!

how critical thinking related to media and information literacy

Second edition of the UNESCO Curriculum on Media and Information Literacy for Educators and Learners “Media and Information Literate Citizens: Think Critically, Click Wisely!” was translated into Russian by the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE).

The updated edition of the UNESCO Curriculum on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) presents a comprehensive competency framework of MIL and offers structured pedagogical suggestions to educators and learners. It features various detailed modules covering the range of competencies needed to navigate today’s communications ecosystem. This resource links media and information literacy to emerging issues, such as artificial intelligence, digital citizenship education, education for sustainable development, cultural literacy and the exponential rise in misinformation and disinformation. In addition, the UNESCO MIL Curriculum outlines transformations of media and information environment taking place during the last decade and requiring an entirely new understanding of media and information and the ways that it spreads and where it comes from.

The publication is designed to serve as the definitive global framework for teaching the key twenty-first century skills in the coming years. It also provides a solid foundation for UNESCO’s renewed focus as we work with governments, media, civil society and online platforms to bring the issue to the heart of the global education agenda.

Publication year: 2022

Skills for Life: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking

News Media and Fact-Checking: Evaluating News Media

Evaluating News Media
Fact-Checking, Bias, and Misleading Information
Tools,Tips, and Source Evaluation Models
Videos, Tutorials & Modules, and Podcasts
Social Media Accounts
Information Cycle Hand-Out (George Mason University LIbraries) "The Information Cycle is the process through which information is produced, circulated, used, and changed in stages over time. "

CRAAP Test (Miriam Library at CSU Chico, 2010) "When you search for information, you're going to find lots of it . . . but is it good information? You will have to determine that for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help. The CRAAP Test is a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need. "
How to Spot Fake News (FactCheck.org & IFLA) PDF handout developed by the International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions, referencing FactCheck.org.
News Literacy Project Educator Tools "The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit, is building a national movement to advance the practice of news literacy throughout American society, creating better informed, more engaged and more empowered individuals — and ultimately a stronger democracy."
"Filter Bubbles" TED Talk (Eli Pariser) How social media algorithms distort what we see.

► ► ► Red Flags ► ► ►

It's suspicious if a news source does not publicly state their editorial policies or commitment to ethical journalism.

Specific examples of editorial guidelines and standards of journalistic practice:

BBC Editorial Guidelines
The Guardian News & Media Editorial Code
New York Times Standards and Ethics
NPR [National Public Radio] Ethics Handbook

With more news articles and media being created algorithmically (aka by "artificial intelligence"), it's increasingly important to know whether this information has been generated by a program or was written by a journalist. While some trustworthy sources use this technology, they also should be explicit and explain how they use these tools as part of their editorial guidelines. And when there is an author or byline, you should be able to click on the name of the author and read about their background and credentials as a journalist.

You should be able to know all about the organization responsible for this content and be able to read about their contributors and/or staff members.

News and information about current events comes in many formats at various stages of the information cycle, from live-streamed videos to long-researched publications. These are some basic definitions of news media terms to frame and contextualize what's being communicated and by whom, what it means to be factual, and how information can be distorted or misunderstood.

Why News Literacy Matters

Source: Stony Brook University Digital Resource Center's Glossary (Accessed December 2023)

Accountability: "Taking direct responsibility, by name, for the truthfulness and the reliability of the report. Examples include bylines in print and digital journalism and sign-offs in audio and video reports."

Balance: "Equality between the totals of the two (or more) sides of the account. Balance is a more technical term than fairness. It's a quantitative measurement that can be used as a tool to achieve fairness, especially in cases where the facts are in dispute or the truth is still developing."

Bias: "A predisposition that distorts your ability to fairly weigh the evidence and prevents you from reaching a fair or accurate judgment... Media Bias is a pattern of unfairness or willful inaccuracy over time by a specific journalist or news outlet. It cannot be proven by a single isolated incident. Audience Bias is a News Literacy term describing the tendency of individuals to see bias in news media reports because they are unconsciously viewing journalism through their own biases."

Cognitive Dissonance: "A psychological theory that holds people are so powerfully motivated to reduce their discomfort that they will dismiss, block or warp incoming information that does not conform with their beliefs, viewpoint or understanding of the truth."

Confirmation Bias: "Pursuing information that reassures or reflects a person’s particular point of view."

Context: "Background or ancillary information that is necessary to understand the scope, impact, magnitude or meaning of new facts reported as news ... the circumstances that form the setting for an event or statement ... ideas or facts that give greater meaning to a news report so that it can be fully understood and assessed."

Fairness: "Marked by impartiality and honesty. Free from self-interest, prejudice or favoritism. In controversial matters, fairness demands a courageous weighing of evidence to assure the report is fair to the facts."

Journalist: "A journalist’s primary mission is to inform the public while employing journalistic methods such as verification to uphold journalistic values in order to maintain independence and accountability."

News: "Timely information of some public interest that is shared and subject to a journalistic process of verification and for which an independent individual or organization is directly accountable."

News Literacy: "The ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television or the Internet."

Propaganda: "Information, ideas or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution or nation. It is often biased and misleading, in order to promote an ideology or point of view."

Raw Information: "Information that has yet to be examined or verified. It is unfiltered information that bypasses traditional gatekeepers and mediators."

Reliable Information: "Allows the news consumer to make a decision, take action or share responsibly with others. It has all three of these characteristics: Verification, Independence and Accountability."

Transparency: "When reporters share how they know what they know, what they don’t know and why."

Truth: "Events as they actually happened, phenomena as they actually exist, the universe as it actually exists, independent of what we have so far been able to learn of it. The term stands in contrast to Scientific Truth and Journalistic Truth, which describe human approaches to learning truth."

Verification: "The investigative process by which a news organization gathers, assesses, confirms and weighs evidence in service to the search for truth."

Check, Please! Starter Course Based on Mike Caulfield's SIFT method, these lessons show participants how fact and source-check information. It's broken up into five modules, estimated to take 30 minutes, each.

Digital Resource Center Materials from the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University for instructors. "With funding from the McCormick and MacArthur Foundations, the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook has built a feed of fresh materials, a searchable archive of past materials, a semiprivate forum for professional discussions, a publishing platform, a teacher-training course and a new course-development template."
Hapgood (Mike Caulfield) "Mike Caulfield is a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, where he studies the spread of online rumors and misinformation. Creator of the SIFT methodology, he has taught thousands of teachers and students how to verify claims and sources through his workshops."
Pew Research Center News Habits & Media "Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions."
Journalism websites curated by Northwestern Libraries Includes links to tools for journalists, international outlets, reporting ethics, and more.
AllSides Exposes people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other.
News Literacy Project (Instagram)

News Databases & Websites

Library Databases

Access with your OnePass, these include full-text articles, including the most recent articles from these publications' print editions.

A spreadsheet of the complete list of the 3,500+ publications available in this database, including descriptions and countries of publication (as of December 2023)

News Websites

Next: Fact-Checking, Bias, and Misleading Information >>
Last Updated: Jul 12, 2024 1:54 PM
URL: https://guides.library.berklee.edu/media-literacy

International Media and Information Literacy e-Platform

Module 1: Introduction to Media & Information Literacy and Key Concepts

Unit 1: Understanding Media and Information Literacy – An Orientation
Unit 2: MIL, Civic Participation and Right to Information
Unit 3: Interacting with media and other content providers such as libraries, archives and internet communications companies
Unit 4: MIL, digital skills, cultural participation/creativity and entrepreneurship
Unit 5: MIL, Teaching and Lifelong Learning

Download Module 1 in PDF

If it were possible to define generally the mission of education, it could be said that its fundamental purpose is to ensure that students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community and economic life.

Background and Rationale

The intersection of news media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the attendant convergence of content and systems means that people are increasingly living in a mediated world. This is a world where person to person communication and the transmission of content occurs increasingly via technological platforms. This reality brings with it many opportunities as well as challenges making media and information literacy (MIL) vital to empower people. The opportunities include more access to information and avenues for self-expression, lifelong learning, participation, creativity, dialogue, cultural exchange and transparency, which when put together contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The challenges include privacy and data infringement concerns, rising misinformation, surveillance, mounting online hate speech and violent extremist content, frequent attacks on women and further exclusion of marginalized groups.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the changes in flows of information, digital technology, mediating institutional providers and media development. On one hand, many of the prospects and efforts to tackle the virus exist in the overall ecology. Yet, the efforts are also hindered by the ‘disinfodemic’, which is the confusing content mix, often overshadowing information with misinformation – and enabled by digital communications.

MIL as an umbrella term that encompasses various competencies that enable individuals and groups to navigate the turbulent seas of today’s information and communications environment. It covers a large spectrum of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. MIL enables citizens, including youth, to acquire competencies to understand their information needs, better search, find, critically evaluate, use, and contribute to information and media content wisely. Thereby, MIL enables the purposeful and creative use of digital technology and empowers all users through enhancing their knowledge of their online and digital rights, as well of the ethical issues surrounding access to and use of information. Media and information literate citizens are equipped to engage more effectively in dialogue, freedom of expression, access to information, gender equality, diversity, peace, and sustainable development.

MIL is an important prerequisite for balancing citizens’ power against that of content providers, and for harnessing ICTs for education and fostering equitable access to information and freedom of expression. For people to effectively participate and succeed throughout all stages of life, it is urgent that MIL is integrated at all levels of society and in formal, non- formal and in-formal education.

According to the recent statistics of the ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, 2019, 1.3 billion (3/4) of the world’s 1.7 billion households, representing 4.9 billion people, have a television; and 0.6 billion (1/3) of all households, representing 1.9 billion people, have access to a computer; As of January 2021, 59.6 percent of the world’s population or 4.66 billion people are using the Internet30; in the middle of 2020, there were an estimated 105 mobile- cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Added to this there are over 2.5 billion radio receivers. The World Association of Newspapers reports 640 million users worldwide paid for print and digital news each day in 2018. The UNESCO Institute of Statistics estimates that close to 1 million new books are published annually in the world. At the end of 2019, over 69 per cent of the world youth population (aged 15-24 years) was using the Internet. According to a UNICEF- ITU joint report in 2020, 1.1 billion - or 1 in 3 children and young people aged 25 years or less - have Internet access at home. The number of businesses adopting artificial intelligence grew by 270% in four years, between 2015 and 2019 (Gartner, 2019).

When put together, the number of television and radio stations, newspapers, cell phones, access to and use of the Internet, books, libraries, billboards, and video games determine much of what we learn about ourselves, our country, our cultures and the world around us. In this connected world, being media and information literate means that we can rethink what is called citizenship and lifelong learning, and consider concepts such as global citizenship education, education for sustainable development, and digital citizenship.

Content providers such as libraries, archives, museums, media, digital communications companies are central to sustainable development, democracy and good governance, both as a platform for democratic discourse and enablers of digital creativity and entrepreneurship. If the content providers and digital tools are going to support democracy and sustainable development, citizens need to understand how to use them critically, know how to interpret the messages they receive, create and share. Equally, if the ecosystem is to reinforce digital creativity and entrepreneurship, in addition to the competencies mentioned above, people should also understand how to identify opportunities for entrepreneurship in this arena, and grasp the benefits of the intersection of critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration for social change.

While the importance of fundamental numeracy and literacy skills cannot be underestimated, the inclusion of MIL in curricula and development programmes means that young people must also understand the functions of content providers and have the skills to seek, evaluate, use and create content to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. They must also possess basic skills for critical thinking, to analyse and use them for self-expression, for becoming independent learners, producers, informed citizens, professionals, and participants in the governance and democratic and economic processes of their societies (cf. Report of National Forum on Information Literacy, 2005).

This module is built on four pillars: critical thinking, self- expression, participation, and creativity. It will consider MIL as relevant to and overlapping with a variety of disciplines/ fields, and will explore such questions as:

What is information within the wider mix of content?
What are the media and the digital communication companies?
What are digital technologies?
Why teach about all of these?
Why are they important?
What is media literacy?
What is information literacy?
What is digital literacy?
Why media and information literacy?

The module will present MIL as teaching/learning and social and economic engagement processes rather than solely as a discipline. Therefore, it will broadly introduce learners to key issues and concepts of the field which will be dealt with in more detail in other modules, offering them the opportunity to develop an understanding of the difference between ‘teaching about,’ ‘teaching through’, and engaging in society with MIL as a tool.

The aim is for educators, learners, community leaders, and peer educators themselves to become media and information literate, and to develop the competencies necessary for integrating MIL at all levels and for all types of education.

Media and Information Literacy in the Prescribed Curriculum: A Systematic Review on its Integration

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Published: 09 September 2023
Volume 29 , pages 9445–9472, ( 2024 )

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Elizabeth-Guadalupe Rojas-Estrada ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4104-5830 1 ,
Ignacio Aguaded ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0229-1118 1 &
Rosa García-Ruiz ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1445-6968 2

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The curricular integration of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is crucial for cultivating informed, critical, and engaged citizens in contemporary society. It assists in addressing the challenges of the digital era and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by the ever-changing media landscape. Thus, the present systematic literature review uses the PRISMA guidelines to examine three dimensions in the process of integration of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in the prescribed curriculum: formulation, implementation, and evaluation and challenges. Starting with the search criteria, 131 studies were found in the Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, Dialnet and Google Scholar databases, published between January, 2013, and March, 2023, written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish. The findings suggest that the will of the political sphere and the activism of the triad composed by passionate teachers, civil society, and academia, are key factors for promoting the introduction of MIL in formal education. Likewise, it is underlined that the evaluation of this education policy requires special attention, in order to guarantee the analysis of its reach, effectiveness, and capacity to adapt against the challenges that emerge in the media ecosystem. Thus, the intention is to provide up-to-date information for the creation of policies, research studies, and curricular content on this subject.

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1 Introduction

Being a competent citizen on matters of media and information requires more than just learning to operate an array of devices and programs. This educational endeavor needs to accept that our students and professors live in a world that is increasingly mediatized and uncertain, which demands the renovation of the strategies necessary to subsist within it (Sivrić, 2022 ). Media and information literacy (MIL), defined as a series of survival tactics, conceives the imperative development of protection, evaluation, and participation skills to face the challenges and phenomena that emerge from this new media ecosystem (García-Ruiz, 2014 ). However, many of these tactics are not translated into education systems, despite the fact that one of the factors that promotes curricular change is the obligation to satisfy the needs of those who are to be educated. For fundamental elements such as media and creativity to become important in the prescribed curricula, the effective coordination between research, politics, and practice is indispensable (Henriksen et al., 2016 ).

Nevertheless, some states and experts act by following a narrow view that prioritizes technology in search of progress and modernity, at the same time that it ignores the analysis of the media culture of the learners (Mateus et al., 2019 ), and the dual role played by content consumers and producers in digital environments. In this context, it is important to create a social and political consensus that allows the re-assessment of MIL as an indispensable right for civic practice (Francisco-Amat et al., 2022 ). In this way, the introduction of MIL in formal education is an opportunity for cultivating the critical sense against the contents, the functions and structure of media –traditional and emerging-, and for promoting creativity with respect to the possibilities of self-expression and self-representation they offer for (future) citizens (Bozdağ et al., 2022 ). More specifically, this task requires making advances in the creation of policies that guarantee their presence in formal education contexts, promote research, and teacher training in this area, as well as the dialogue among professionals of the education-communication interface, with other key entities (De-Pablos-Pons & Ballesta-Pagán, 2018 ) . Thus, the purpose of the present work is to examine the process of integration of MIL in the prescribed curriculum, to obtain a general overview about the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of this education policy.

2 Previous studies

The historical description by Fedorov ( 2014 ) indicates that the state of media education is contingent upon the historical and sociocultural conditions of each nation. In their work “Curricula for Media Literacy Education According to International Experts”, Fedorov et al. ( 2016 ) identified diverse obstacles that make their implementation difficult, among which we find the resistance from public administrations, the overload in the study plans, and the lack of teacher training. On the other hand, László Hartai ( 2013 ), in his dissertation entitled “Media education in formal education”, examines the findings from the project European Media Literacy Education Study (EMEDUS) to determine how the teaching of media in national curricula from the European Union member states was addressed. In this context, the author points the existence of a trend in which MIL is incorporated as a tool for the education of responsible, critical, and creative citizens.

The systematic review conducted by Zhang et al. ( 2020 ) analyzes the objectives, types of integration, and ways to assess MIL in the curricula of nine European countries and China, through the evaluation of 98 articles published between 1990 and 2011. The authors pointed out some discrepancies between the legislative definitions formulated for this type of education, and underlined that the cross-cutting approach was the predominant model of integration in these countries. As for Latin America, the most current systematic review shows that specific MIL courses do not exist in that region. However, it is revealed that the detection of dimensions of media competence in the curriculum texts is one of the objects of study that prevails in scientific production (Rojas-Estrada et al., 2023a ).

On the other hand, the report by Kajimoto et al. ( 2020 ) on MIL policies and practices in the Asian context, indicates that the media panorama, the infrastructure, and the legal frameworks related to media, have an effect in the manner in which it is discussed, integrated, and taught. Another substantial report on the subject, the one by Cunliffe-Jones et al. ( 2021 ) analyzes the curricula from seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the skills necessary to deal with information disorder. Among the findings, it was underlined that despite the worry expressed by the political sphere related with “fake news” and their effects on society, the principles of media education were hardly observed in the curriculum texts. Based on the studies described, there is evidence that there is an increasing interest on the integration of MIL in formal education. However, there is a need for the precise systematic description of the processes that have been implemented for their inclusion in the prescribed curricula, which summarizes the objectives and aspirations of the education system, so that the actors responsible for this endeavor have up-to-date information.

3 Methodology

To examine the process of MIL integration into the prescribed curriculum, a systematic literature review was performed, a method that allows identifying, analyzing, and interpreting scientific production in a specific field determined by systematic processes (García-Peñalvo, 2022 ). The protocol utilized followed the PRISMA declaration guidelines 2020 (Page et al., 2021 ) and was divided into five phases: “research questions, eligibility criteria and sources of information, search strategy, study selection process, and coding and data synthesis” (Valverde-Berrocoso et al., 2022 , p. 100–101). To guarantee transparency and access, the review and analysis protocol were registered at Figshare (Rojas-Estrada et al., 2023b ).

3.1 Research questions

The six research questions (Table 1 ) that guided this review were divided into three dimensions: (1) Formulation, it analyzes the origin of the proposal, the interest groups involved in the process of integration, and their actions, (2) Implementation, it determines the modalities and resources created for its execution in school centers, and (3) Evaluation and challenges, it detects the processes of evaluation on the implementation of MIL, as well as the challenges around key actors, the integration process, the content, the approach, and other factors.

3.2 Search strategy, eligibility criteria and sources of information

Appendix A shows a general overview of the search process (date, string, and domains selected) conducted in the search engine Google Scholar and four databases: Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, acknowledged for indexing publications of high-quality and impact; ERIC (ProQuest), a specialized reference source in the educational field; and Dialnet (Plus), renowned for its extensive collection of studies published in the Ibero-American context. The search was executed using a scheme of two sets of terms with Boolean operators: «Media literacy» OR «Media Education» OR «Media Competence» OR «Media and Information literacy» OR Educommunication AND «Curriculum».

The inclusion criteria for the present review were the following: (1) theoretical or empirical articles, books, book chapters and meeting proceedings in which the descriptors defined are found in the title, abstract, or keywords; (2) which address the integration of MIL in the prescribed curricula in any country; and (3) published between January, 2013, and March, 2023, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Turkish. The objective of this selection is to broaden the geographical coverage of the research, enabling the inclusion of studies that explore the Turkish experience, and those from Ibero-America, a region distinguished by its deeply rooted tradition in the field of media education (De-Oliveira-Soares, 2019 ). Notably, these regions have not been addressed in previous reviews. Through this strategic integration, it is intended to explore the possibilities and challenges enabled by implementing this policy across distinct political, cultural, and educational contexts.

On the other hand, the articles excluded (Table 2 ) were related with studies on: (1) specific subjects, such as the curricular integration of digital literacy or digital knowledge (exclusion by subject), (2) the design or evaluation of curricular proposals that integrate MIL (exclusion by type of curriculum), and (3) the embedding of MIL in the curriculum in higher education, teacher training, or adult education (exclusion by level).

3.3 Study selection process coding and data synthesis

Figure 1 shows the initial literature search, which identified 2896 studies. After the elimination of 406 duplicates, the remaining studies were examined in two stages: (1) the first stage was comprised by a systematic reading of the titles and abstracts of 2490 publications, which resulted in the exclusion of 2305 records, and (2) the second stage consisted on the complete reading of 156 manuscripts, which resulted in the exclusion, by consensus, of 34 records. Posteriorly, the application of the snowball method of the citations from the studies identified in the databases allowed the shaping of the final sample ( n = 131). Lastly, the chosen texts were exported from EndNote to a spreadsheet, and an analysis worksheet was created that included seven categories (Appendix B) for the collection of data.

Source : Developed by the authors

Flow diagram of the search process with the PRISMA protocol.

4.1 Where did the proposal to integrate MIL into the prescribed curriculum emerge?

After the analysis of the MIL integration process in the prescribed curriculum, it was observed that these processes were subject to a series of interrelated economic, political, and cultural conditions. Nevertheless, four key aspects were found, related with the origin of the diverse proposals studied:

1. The lobbying by civil organizations, “passionate teachers” or scholars. Most of the studies ( n = 101) pointed to the transcendental role of the professors-civil society-academic community triad for forming lobby groups able to have an influence on decision makers through the prudent exercise of activism and the identification, with scientific foundations, of the media challenges within the frame of education. The groups directed by ecclesiastical representatives, educators, experts in media education, and community leaders, represent the first attempts to establish MIL as a curricular activity in the United States of America (Prykhodkina, 2020 ), Australia (Dezuanni, 2019 ), Czech Republic (Junová, 2016 ; Römer, 2021 ), France (Jehel, 2019 ), Israel (Turin & Friedman, 2019 ), Hungary (Neag, 2016 ), South Korea (Yoon et al., 2019 ), United Kingdom (Buckingham, 2015 ), India (Jayachandran, 2018 ), Poland (Ptaszek & Lysik, 2019 ), Ireland (O’Neill, 2019 ); Croatia (Kanižaj, 2019 ), and Canada (Hoechsmann & Wilson, 2019 ). Also, the review showed that these types of groups worked as a “lever” to generate political will, open spaces for dialogue, and place the need to embed MIL in the education system into the public agenda.

2. The political will to create spaces of dialogue and/or specialized organizations. Almost three quarters of the sample ( n = 87) placed the arrival of new public administrations as strategic moments for mobilizing or guaranteeing the presence of MIL in curriculum texts. In this context, the studies pointed to the importance of spaces for dialogue that seek to coordinate efforts between the political sphere and other interest groups to formulate public policies in matters of media and information (e.g., Hipfl, 2019 ; Karaduman, 2013 ; Ptaszek & Lysik, 2019 ; Silajdžić et al., 2022 ; Supa et al., 2021 ). More specifically, many Turkish authors (Asrak-Hasdemir, 2016 ; Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ; Kazan & Balkin, 2018 ; Untila-Kaplan, 2019 ) pointed out, as the starting point of the process of integration, the organization of an event by the Radio and Television Supreme Council [Radyo ve Televizyon Üst Kurulu- RTÜK) to debate basic matters of press, radio, television, and internet. In light of this space, and the activism of scholars, the RTÜK became the main promoter of media education under a process (Table 3 ) that included the signing of a cooperation protocol with the Ministry of Education [Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı- MEB] in 2006 (Untila-Kaplan, 2019 ).

In addition, the authors underlined the importance of establishing public entities, departments, or organizations that include the active promotion of MIL within their functions, such as the cases of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) in the United Kingdom (Buckingham, 2015 ); the Municipal Secretariats in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, with their projects Media Education and Educommunication, respectively (De-Oliveira-Soares, 2018 ); or the National Radio Broadcasting Council [Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji–KRRiT] in Poland, in charge of organizing campaigns and courses on MIL for different audiences (Brosch, 2017 ).

3. The adoption of legal materials, recommendations and instruments from the European Union. More than half of the studies ( n = 79) recognized the impact of the European Union (EU) in the development of integration processes. Specifically, Slovakia (Šupšáková, 2016 ), Poland (Ptaszek & Lysik, 2019 ), Hungary (Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ), the Czech Republic (Jirák & Zezulkova, 2019 ), Finland (Palsa & Salomaa, 2020 ), Türkiye (Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ), Georgia (Levitskaya & Seliverstova, 2020 ), Montenegro (Ružić, 2016 ), Ireland (O’Neill, 2019 ), and Ukraine (Lokshyna & Prykhodkina, 2020 ) coincided in that the political instruments emitted by the EU for its members and candidate countries persuaded the public policy makers with respect of the curricular inclusion of media education. Among them, they particularly recognized the following:

Recommendation 2006/962/EC which focuses on key competences for lifelong learning.

The document entitled “A European approach to media literacy in the digital environment”.

Directive 2007/65/CE, which recognizes the MIL educational activities conducted by member states.

The Bologna European Process that prompted the adaptations of education systems to European education standards.

Along the same line, Spain, which has recently incorporated MIL in the primary education, secondary education, and baccalaureate curriculum (i.e., Royal Decree 217/2022, Royal Decree 157/2022, Royal Decree 243/2022) and within the framework of reference of teacher’s competence in digital matters (i.e., Resolution from May 4th, 2020), has also demonstrated the influence of this organization (Ramírez-García et al., 2014c ).

4. The execution of large scale projects promoted and/or financed by foreign entities. This category implies a reduced number of studies ( n = 39) that recognize the support from international entities for consolidating projects that include in their objectives the development of critical skills associated with communication media. Table 4 specifically shows the process of integration of three countries that reflect the extent of this synergy: (1) Montenegro, which obtained funding from the Foundation Open Society Institute (Perović, 2015 ), (2) Ukraine, whose model of integration was designed within the framework of the Learn and Distinguish initiative promoted by the International Research Exchanges Board (IREX), in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Science (Lokshyna & Prykhodkina, 2020 ), and (3) Georgia, which envisages the support from the Microsoft corporation to improve the technological infrastructure in classrooms within the curricular reform framework from the “New School Model” (Levitskaya & Seliverstova, 2020 ).

Lastly, the countries that did not include a specific course or that do not explicitly mention MIL in their study plans showed two key aspects that represent opportunities for its integration:

The influence of principles and materials created by the UNESCO, found in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Silajdžić et al., 2022 ), different Latin American (Saez, 2019 ), and Asian (Lin et al., 2013 ) countries, and Francophone countries from Western Africa such as Cameroon, Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast (Corroy & Apo, 2019 ).

The identification of public policies on media and information matters that allow working on projects and initiatives with respect to operational, social, and critical skills that define media competence, such as the case in Argentina with the section “Education, New technologies, and Media” of the National Education Law, which points out the importance of providing new education strategies based on the use of different media (Saez, 2019 ); Ecuador, with article 74 about common responsibilities in Organic Law on Communication, which dictates the promotion of educommunication (Andrade-Vargas et al., 2019 ); Portugal, with the publication of a new national policy on digital citizenship that includes MIL as an essential element (Tomé & De-Abreu, 2019 ); or the Republic of Cyprus, with article 18D from the Law on the Corporation of Radio Broadcasting that allows the Radio and Television Authority to implement education programs to improve the levels of MIL (Themistokleous, 2023 ).

4.2 Who are the actors involved in the curricular integration of MIL and through what actions?

As for the key actors, we refer to political, social, and civil entities that perform individual or coordinated actions, to integrate MIL into curriculum texts. The following were identified after the analysis:

1. Political actors. In first place, we find the council and bodies associated with communications, which include, among their functions, the active promotion of MIL and the coordination of work with other state entities in this area. The predominant actions identified in the group of interest were: to promote campaigns whose objective is to increase MIL in the population; to provide didactic and digital materials to educators; to provide support to activities promoted by other groups; and to prepare the training of teachers in this area (Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ; Jirák & Zezulkova, 2019 ; Neag & Koltay, 2019 ; O’Neill, 2019 ; Themistokleous, 2023 ).

In second place, we find that the ministries of education in countries such as Iran (Azizi et al., 2021 ), the Czech Republic (Jirák & Zezulkova, 2019 ) and the Philippines (Labangon & Zabala, 2018 ) are the main custodians of MIL; while in others, they are in charge of coordinating efforts with other key actors with respect to the distribution of didactic material and training of teachers in this field (Cicha et al., 2021 ; Hipfl, 2019 ). Likewise, we find political entities such as the European Commission and specialized organizations such as the UNESCO, which promote initiatives and provide documentation related to the curricular integration of MIL (Bautista, 2021 ; Perović, 2015 ; Römer, 2021 ). Lastly, in Singapore, which has a recent history with MIL, we find the creation of a Media Literacy Council, composed by representatives of different interest groups (experts, educators, civil servants, etc.), dedicated to promoting MIL and the cybernetic well-being of citizens (Weninger, 2017 ).

2. Passionate teachers. Many authors (Jehel, 2019 ; Kanižaj, 2019 ; Ptaszek & Lysik, 2019 ; Tsvietkova et al., 2020 ; Turin & Friedman, 2019 ) consider that the role of “passionate professors” in the process of curricular integration of MIL must be seen as an example of social activism, given that without teacher’s training, didactic materials, or governmental support, they have fought to introduce media into the curriculum, and inspired school communities. In this sense, David Buckingham defends their actions, when he states that “media educators have always had to fight to establish what today is still being seen as a dangerously new field” (Buckingham, 2015 , p. 83).

3. Academia and experts in media education. Other social actors identified include faculties and research centers that have been created specifically for this field, which, aside from promoting the introduction of MIL in schools, made sure to provide methodological support, research techniques, and advice to other key authors (Chen et al., 2018 ; Cheung & Xu, 2016 ; Kanižaj, 2019 ; Vrabec, 2016 ). Likewise, in this category, we find the contributions of media education experts, such as Làszlo Hartai, who led the movement that achieved the integration of this class subject in Hungary (Neag, 2015 ), and professor Jan Jirák, who along with his colleagues, organized a series of meetings to encourage the public administration to play a coordinated role in favor of MIL (Römer, 2021 ; Sloboda, 2018 ; Supa et al., 2021 ).

4. Civil society. The projects, events, and courses promoted by this link for education models, compensate for the slow process of curricular updates that allow the introduction of MIL, and the lack of teacher training on this subject (Neag & Koltay, 2019 ; O’Neill, 2019 ; Rek, 2019 ). Also, they contribute with the creation of didactic materials, awareness campaigns directed to the general population, public policy projects, and curricular proposals that integrate the use and analysis of media (Levitskaya & Seliverstova, 2020 ), as well as the funding of educommunication projects (Ružić, 2016 ).

5. The media industry. We also found that media and advertising companies joined together to advocate for MIL through campaigns, projects, and online courses that sought to mostly: i) foster internet security and the understanding of specific phenomena (disinformation, internet bullying, digital fraud, etc.), such as SingTel in Singapore (Sze & Sun, 2019 ); and ii) promote the critical analysis of media objects (Jehel, 2019 ; Voráč & Kopecký, 2021 ).

4.3 Under what modality has MIL been integrated in the prescribed curriculum?

After the analysis of the literature, five modalities of curricular integration of MIL were found, as shown in Fig. 2 . This figure provides a general overview of the different modalities according to country, to improve its visualization. The note under the figures provides a link that can be used to access additional information.

Source : Developed by the authors. To improve the visualization and to consult the interactive elements of the map that include additional information of each modality (name of the courses and school grades in which it is implemented), please click the following link: http://bitly.ws/E6D4

Map of the MIL curricular integration modalities.

1. Cross-cutting component. The experience of the Czech Republic (Jirák & Zezulkova, 2019 ), Slovakia (Kačinová, 2018 ), Georgia (Levitskaya & Seliverstova, 2020) , Ireland (O’Neill, 2019 ), Austria (Hörmann et al., 2023 ) and Ukraine (Kosheliuk et al., 2021 ) shows that MIL under this modality can be taught as: (1) a project (management of a school radio or newspaper), (2) a seminar or related academic activity, (3) a set of themes that are addressed in different school subjects, and (4) a combination of the previous options. For Jirák and Zezulkova ( 2019 ) the strength of this model is the fact that educators are able to flexibly react to the challenges of the media ecosystem. While the study by Cheung and Xu ( 2016 ) highlights the importance of clearly communicating the objectives in the courses into which it is embedded, as well as in the MIL course, to help educators understand that it is no simply a combination of two domains of knowledge. However, Hipfl ( 2019 ) warns that its implementation as a school project can result in the mistake of only teaching students how to create media objects, but not how to examine them critically.

On the other hand, it was identified that the curricular texts from Ontario (Ryan, 2020 ) and Finland (Kupiainen, 2019 ) planned the cross-cutting integration of MIL under umbrella term multiliteracy, a movement that conceives a greater closeness to the communication realities experienced by students, to give way to practices in agreement with the technological and diverse societies in which they live.

2. Optional class. According to the data collected, this modality is presently found in secondary education and/or middle school education in nine countries: Türkiye, Montenegro, Philippines, Israel, Hungary, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Iran, and Slovenia. Despite this proposal making it possible for students to identify and name MIL as a key concept (Mohebzadeh et al., 2020 ), its implementation comes with a series of challenges, as its independent status results in the students not being able to understand its connection and integration with other courses, while its optional character shortens its reach, as it is possible to traverse the system of formal education without having taken the course (Asrak-Hasdemir, 2016 ; Karaduman, 2013 ; Ružić, 2016 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ). In a more specific manner, it was detected that in Hungary and Israel, MIL was also embedded as a cross-cutting component in primary education and the first years of secondary education (Neag & Koltay, 2019 ; Turin & Friedman, 2019 ). The challenge of this proposal, according to Neag ( 2015 ), is the loss of continuity in teaching, which leads to the transit from a cross-cutting approach, to an optional class.

3. Associated with a specific course. Delving into this modality, the integration of MIL principles into the content of specific subjects were revealed in four countries: Croatia (Kanižaj, 2019 ) and South Korea (Yoon et al., 2019 ) have associated it with the mother tongue; Singapore (Weninger, 2017 ) to the introduction of the English course; while Australia maintains its paradigmatic proposal of “media arts” (Dezuanni, 2019 ). Based on the experience in Singapore, Lin et al. ( 2013 ) warns that under this type of integration, there is risk that learners will not be aware that they are being taught to become media literate.

4. Each state or region works on MIL. In Canada, the United States of America (Hobbs et al., 2022 ; Mohebzadeh et al., 2020 ), Germany (Schulenkorf et al., 2021 ) and India (Jayachandran, 2018 ), each of the states and regions that compose them differentially define and include MIL in the curriculum. Nevertheless, the creation of documents that seek to provide consistency to education standards at the national level is observed, which maintain connections with the MIL principles and objectives, such as the “National Common Core Standard Curriculum” in the United States (Ey, 2017 ; Hoffman, 2014 ), or the Federal Standards for Digital Education developed by the “German Conference on Education Ministries and Cultural Affairs” (Schulenkorf et al., 2021 ). For Schleicher and Rétfalvi ( 2015 ) this situation makes it possible for the content to be diversified, and for the possibilities to increase in the education terrain for media.

5. Principles or dimensions present in MIL in the curriculum, but without explicitly mentioning the concept. A third of the studies ( n = 43) had the objective of determining the presence of MIL in curricular texts through the detection of its dimensions, principles, or objectives. After analyzing these studies, conducted in 26 countries, it was observed that media competence was mostly associated with the contents in the following curricular areas:

Language: strengthening communication skills and the ability to effectively read and write (Andrade-Vargas et al., 2019 ; Corroy & Apo, 2019 ; Lew-Starowicz, 2019 ; Pérez-Rodríguez & Sandoval-Romero, 2013 ; Portugal & Aguaded, 2019 ); Critical analysis of the information that is transmitted through the media, considering both the degree of reliability, and the interests and values implicit to them (Pérez-Rodríguez & Sandoval-Romero, 2013 ); ability to express messages through the use of different languages and digital formats (Anderson & Helmane, 2019 ; García-Leguizamón, 2018 ); and the analysis of audiovisual reproductions to recognize the cultural diversity present in societies as a valuable resource (Caldeiro-Pedreira, 2013 ; Ramírez-García et al., 2014c ).

Technology: resolution of problems through the efficient use of technology (Anderson & Helmane, 2019 ; De-Oliveira-Soares, 2018 ; Lew-Starowicz, 2019 ; Neag, 2015 ; Pérez-Ortega, 2016 ; Ramírez-García et al., 2014a ) ; y el and the responsible use of media to interact with information and other social groups (Corroy & Apo, 2019 ; Mateus & Suárez-Guerrero, 2017 ).

Citizenship and ethics: reflect on the value of media within freedom of expression, democratic processes, and the active and responsible exercise of citizen participation (Anderson & Helmane, 2019 ; Andrade-Vargas et al., 2019 ; Cheung, 2015 ; Corroy & Apo, 2019 ; De-Oliveira-Soares, 2018 ; Lew-Starowicz, 2019 ; Medina-Vidal et al., 2017 ; Polizzi, 2020 ; Saez, 2019 ; Tomé & De-Abreu, 2019 ).

Foreign language: promotion of communication aptitudes and sociolinguistic ability (Andrade-Vargas et al., 2019 ; Ramírez-García et al., 2016 ).

Art: use of media as tools for critically transmitting one’s own culture, ideas, histories, and emotions (Andrade-Vargas et al., 2019 ; Medina-Vidal et al., 2017 ; Ramírez-García et al., 2016 ).

Physical education: critical evaluation of the impact of media and social networks on the perception of one’s body and personal identity, as well as the analysis of the particular effects such as sedentarism, stress, addiction to technologies, etc. (Cheung, 2015 ; Saez, 2019 ); and the promotion of an attitude of rejection towards unsportsmanlike gestures, signs, and symbols disseminated by the media (Ramírez-García et al., 2014c ).

Natural sciences: associating the content of the course with journalistic information about science and health subjects (Anderson & Helmane, 2019 ; Ramírez-García et al., 2014a ; Saez, 2019 ).

Mathematics: use of technological tools for the execution and verification of mathematical calculations, as well as reading, interpretation and critical analysis of figures and diagrams obtained from media objects (Andrade-Vargas et al., 2019 ; De-Oliveira-Soares, 2018 ; Ramírez-García et al., 2014b ).

4.4 What resources have been created for its implementation?

The integration of MIL in countries with optional classes tend to be accompanied by textbooks to direct its execution within the classroom (i.e., Israel, the Czech Republic, Türkiye). Likewise, the creation of websites by governmental agencies was observed, to provide information on activities, events, documents related with MIL, and to create awareness of its importance, such as the website “Medya Okuryazarlığı” ( medyaokuryazarligi.gov.tr ) hosted by RTUK in Türkiye (Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ), or “Mediamanual” ( mediamanual.at ) created by the Federal Ministry of Education in Austria (Hipfl, 2019 ). In other countries, due to the lack of didactic materials, teachers have created Facebook groups to share strategies, documents, and good practices related with media and information (Bautista, 2021 ; Vrabec, 2016 ). The use of foreign materials is also interesting, such as the “MediaLit Kit” from the Center for Media Literacy used in Montenegro (Perović, 2015 ), or the Finnish book “Hello Ruby” which is part of the resources in the model from Georgia (Levitskaya & Seliverstova, 2020 ).

4.5 What systems of evaluation were extracted from the literature with respect to the process of curricular integration of MIL?

Despite the recommendations by Celot and Pérez-Tornero ( 2009 ) who suggested the constant evaluation of how MIL is taught, and its impact, the articles reviewed described the persistence of a lack of systems of evaluation and/or collection of proof. Thus, there is a lack of assurance and knowledge on the quality, strengths, weaknesses, and reach of MIL in the countries in which it has been integrated (Beseda et al., 2016 ; Jirák & Zezulkova, 2019 ; Kanižaj, 2019 ; Radunović, 2014 ; Turin & Friedman, 2019 ). Therefore, given the lack of agencies responsible for this task, the state of media education is explored and studied by other key actors, such as civil society and academia (Voráč & Kopecký, 2021 ). Nevertheless, Jirák and Zezulkova ( 2019 ) consider that it is difficult to know the impact of these studies on the political sphere to improve the implementation of MIL.

4.6 What challenges were detected in the literature with respect to the curricular integration of MIL?

The challenges identified in the processes of integration were divided into five categories and describe a number of aspects that must be considered during the formulation of proposals for the curricular integration of MIL.

1. Integration into the education system. The analysis indicates that one of the challenges in the formulation of the proposal is to determine the modality of integration, the stage of education, type of school, and evaluation indicators. According to Borbás et al. ( 2016 ), media education must be taught continuously in the different stages of education. If the intention is to promote MIL in the upper levels of secondary education, or in baccalaureate studies, we must deal with the fact that students have already developed their own practices and perspectives with respect to the consumption and use of media. Also, the literature indicates that in the Czech Republic, Montenegro and Slovenia, MIL is not offered in technical or vocational schools, which contradicts the perspective that defines MIL as a fundamental right for every citizen (Rek, 2019 ). As for its evaluation, the experience in Türkiye and Hungary indicates that there are no specific evaluation mechanisms for this type of competence, which can decrease the student’s interest (Karaduman, 2013 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ). Other challenges identified in this category include:

The ambiguity about the MIL concept has resulted in an erroneous conception of its objectives and reach (Azizi et al., 2021 ; Brosch, 2017 ; Neag, 2015 ), which has led to educators seeking to develop the communication strategies of the learners through the improvement of their body language of mimicry (Avci, 2015 ), or students choosing this class subject thinking that it is focused on journalism or advertising (Perović, 2015 ).

The technological infrastructure and materials for executing the classes are limited to the conditions found in schools (Azizi et al., 2021 ; Junová, 2016 ; Perović, 2015 ; Saei et al., 2021 ).

The techno-determinist view has led many politicians and experts to sustain the myth that the “digital citizens” need more equipment, rather than critical education (Supa et al., 2021 ). This perspective results in MIL being subsumed under digital literacy, which leads to the prioritization of the teaching of how to use devices, and considering the media as simple didactic support (Bautista, 2021 ; Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ; Hoechsmann & Wilson, 2019 ; Jehel, 2019 ; Mathew, 2018 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ; Tibaldo, 2022 ).

2. Educators. For Perović ( 2015 ) it is crucial to understand that a positive change in education systems require educommunicators to become agents of change of the education system, and for this to take place, they need quality training and to be more critical. In this sense, the following challenges are detected:

The lack of teacher training promotes improvisation and impedes the curricular materialization of MIL (Azizi et al., 2021 ; Bautista, 2021 ; Junová, 2016 ; Karaduman, 2013 ; Mathew, 2018 ; Neag, 2015 ; Ružić, 2016 ; Schulenkorf et al., 2021 ; Sloboda, 2018 ).

The slow progress of universities for the incorporation of programs on the media/education interface, in higher and graduate education (Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ; Hipfl, 2019 ; Kazan & Balkin, 2018 ). In this sense, the literature centered on the China context reveals that the limited implementation of university programs focused on media education, and the lack of specialized professors, have contributed towards the low popularity of this type of education in lower levels of education (Cheung, 2015 ; Cheung & Xu, 2016 ; Han, 2022 ).

The lack of collaboration networks between professors and schools to exchange ideas, good practices, and collaboration among peers (Perović, 2015 ; Römer, 2021 ; Ružić, 2016 ).

3. Approach and content. In this category, we identified that the protectionist approach around media has extended to official documents and the public discourse, through the arguments that have been created about their harmful effects on the younger population (Avci, 2015 ; Cakmak & Tuzel, 2015 ; Mohebzadeh et al., 2020 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ). On the other hand, the rigidity of the curriculum and the traditional rationale of the education systems impede updating of contents in line with the changes raised in the media ecosystem (Beseda et al., 2016 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ; Sezgin, 2015 ; Neag & Koltay, 2019 ; Untila-Kaplan, 2019 ; Weninger, 2017 ). In this sense, the media education that is provided can become obsolete very rapidly, so that another challenge is the lack of relevant content that provides an answer to the communication realities experienced by students (Çarkıt, 2019 ; Perović, 2015 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ), as well as the social discrimination of gender in digital territories (Friedman et al., 2021 ; Karaduman, 2013 ).

4. Key actors. Within this category, we find the lack of coordination between the education system and the activities of the State, the media industry, and civil sectors, to promote MIL, which is due to the low funding available and the low visibility of MIL (Kanižaj, 2019 ; Labaš & Marinčić, 2017 ; Schleicher & Rétfalvi, 2015 ; Šupšáková, 2016 ). Likewise, a low interest was observed of parents to improve this competence, which restricts their participation in crucial activities (Han, 2022 ; Kanižaj, 2019 ). These situations are specially relevant, given that, as pointed out by Hobbs et al. ( 2022 ), to achieve the effective curricular integration of MIL, it is essential to understand the school environment as a “complex adaptive system” that requires the early, systematic, and continuous commitment of all the interest groups in order to persist.

Another challenge detected was the “period of regression”, in which the public sphere repeals the public policies on MIL. Despite the long tradition in this area, and the important theoretical leaders such Len Mastermann, the decision of British policymakers, and the new coalition that came to power in 2010, was to “discard” MIL (Wallis & Buckingham, 2021 ). This situation, largely illustrated in many studies (e.g., Lin et al., 2013 ; Ptaszek & Lysik, 2019 ) proposes the arrival of administrations that seek to “go back to basics” and to focus their attention on subjects such as literature and mathematics. Therein the importance of considering the political context in which these policies and the power dynamics are executed, and which have an influence on its construction.

5. External factors. The media system is one of the substantial areas regulated by laws that have an impact on media education, so it is important to address aspects such as the freedom of expression and the diversity of media. The experiences in Singapore (Weninger, 2017 ), and Hungary (Neag, 2015 ) describe the challenges of integrating MIL in public education under a context of strict media control, which could impinge the teaching of creative manners of expression.

5 Conclusions

Although the incorporation of MIL in formal education is influenced by multiple interrelated political, economic, historical, and cultural factors (Fedorov, 2014 ; Kajimoto et al., 2020 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ), it is necessary to underline the importance of generating dialogue between the political sphere and other groups of interest as the starting point. Under this collaborative view, the analysis suggests that the conversation between both poles must propitiate: (1) the recognition of the flaws in the legislative work in this area, (2) the creation or activation of state agencies dedicated to promoting teaching of media education as a fundamental right, and (3) the detailed establishment of the process for its implementation in formal and informal contexts.

Another important observation from the present review is the activist actions performed by the triad composed by passionate professors, civil society, and academia, to integrate MIL into the curriculum. In this sense, the construction and edification of education policies seems to be an endeavor of education authorities, but in terms of media and information, this task tends to be promoted by social movements that include the intromission of media education experts into the public sphere, the methodological and research support by academia, and the projects formulated by civil society. Therefore, the formulation of policies and curricular proposals in this field demands a participative approach, in order to favor legitimacy in the making of decisions and to ensure long-term continuity.

Likewise, the analysis highlights that most of the countries examined did not follow a conventional modality, with respect to the inclusion of MIL in the curriculum. However, two types of integration were identified that differed from those presented above (e.g., Kajimoto et al., 2020 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ): (1) each state or region works on MIL, and (2) the presence of MIL principles and dimensions without explicitly mentioning the concept. Both proposals provide evidence that public policy makers recognize the importance of incorporating media and information in study plans. Nevertheless, the nature of the education system, and the lack of a legislative definition, are factors that influence their adoption. Also, it is important to highlight the initiative of researchers to identify the presence of media competence in curriculum texts. This allows obtaining a diagnostic of its current state, defining media education as a “pending subject”, and bringing possible applications in the classroom, in countries in which it is not explicitly included.

On the other hand, the evaluation of this education policy requires greater attention, as this missing factor could result in the lack of information about the quality, reach, strengths, and weaknesses of MIL in education systems into which it is integrated, as well as its capacity to adapt to new technologies and trends in the field of communication media. Despite civil society and academic taking on an active role in the exploration and analysis of its state, an entity must exist that becomes responsible for this endeavor, as suggested in the work by Hartai ( 2013 ). Also, the analysis of challenges let us glimpse that simply being aware of the importance of media education is not enough, as it is also crucial to establish the conditions necessary for its implementation at the level of teacher training, infrastructure, materials, and legislation. On the contrary, the specific actions taken to address these challenges, with respect to media and technology, will be reduced to simple expressions of concern, which will result in a growing divide between the curriculum used to educate (future) citizens, and the world in which they must navigate.

Although the study was able to examine the origin, modalities, key actors, and challenges associated to the integration processes, there are still aspects that cannot be explained by any of the categories we coded. In this case, future reviews could broaden the reach of research studies with respect to regulatory aspects of these types of policies, the qualifications of educators who teach class under the optional class modality, the object of study of research conducted in parallel to the process of integration, and the evaluation procedure. The decision of only including studies written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish, could have been as a limitation of the study, when considering the experiences in countries where another language is spoken.

Data availability

The dataset generated during the current study is available in Figshare Repository. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23614791 .

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Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Huelva/CBUA. This work is conducted within the support of the Agora Research Group (HUM-648) at University of Huelva, the Euro-American Inter-university Research Network on Media Literacy for Citizenship (Red Alfamed) and the R + D Project “Alfabetización mediática y digital en jóvenes y adolescentes: Diagnóstico y estrategias de innovación educativa para prevenir riesgos y fomentar buenas prácticas en la Red”, financed by the Consejería de Universidades, Igualdad, Cultura y Deporte of Gobierno de Cantabria. E. G. Rojas-Estrada (CVU 1229049) is thankful to CONACyT (Mexico) for the scholarship granted under the “Doctorados en Ciencias y Humanidades en el Extranjero 2022” call.

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Elizabeth-Guadalupe Rojas-Estrada: Conceptualization; Literature search and Data analysis; Writing-original draft; Writing-Reviewing and Editing. Rosa García-Ruiz: Literature search and Data analysis; Writing-Reviewing and Editing; Supervision. Ignacio Aguaded: Data analysis; Supervision, Writing-Reviewing and Editing. All the authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Rojas-Estrada, EG., Aguaded, I. & García-Ruiz, R. Media and Information Literacy in the Prescribed Curriculum: A Systematic Review on its Integration. Educ Inf Technol 29 , 9445–9472 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12154-0

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Media literacy
Media education
Curriculum integration
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Information Literacy

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking defined, assistive technologies, critical thinking & information literacy.

Meta-cognitive Awareness Inventory

Research Help

Library Terms

Multilingual Glossary for Today’s Library Users - Definitions

Universal design for learning.

Reference Information
Find books and E-books
Find articles
Statistical Sources
Evaluate Information
Cite sources
Writing Style Manuals
Fake News and Information Literacy

Critical Thinking can be thought of in terms of

Reasonable thinking
Reflective thinking
Evaluative thinking
Mindful thought
Intellectually-disciplined thought

Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987

A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Summer 1987.

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

Critically Thinking

You’ve done some great work so far, thumbs up! Now we are going to look at information access and evaluation, another important skill for your research skills toolbox.

Information has many facets, and it’s important to understand how these components contribute to writing your research paper. sometimes, you are looking for snippets of information that capture your thoughts or ideas. but when you access and evaluate resources you need to think deeply and critically about the resource you want to use to support your argument in your writing assignment., information resources come in a variety of formats, such as books, e-books, scholarly and peer reviewed articles, articles from trade magazines, newspapers, and, depending on your topic, streaming videos; audio files or blog posts . but one thing they have in common is that they have identifiable attributes for you to consider. these attributes help you to determine if the resource is relevant to your topic., so what are these facets.

The date the source was published or created.
If the article is not been published recently, you must ask yourself why you want to use it as a source. Is the material dated? Or does it offer some insight that warrants being cited (i.e., is it a classic in the field? a neglected contribution to the literature?)
Is this part of a larger source?
For example, is it a chapter in a book or e-book? Article in a journal or newspaper?
What about that source tells you this?
Article in a newspaper or trade magazine
Book Review
Scholarly and peer reviewed article

There are a number of questions you should ask of these different formats. If your source is from a periodical, is that source considered credible, for example, a major newspaper such as the New York Times or Washington Post ? If your source is from a trade magazine, does it offer a skewed perspective, based on its position in industry or ideology? Does it show bias? If from a website, where does the site get its facts? Does it cite scholarly articles, clearly indicate its sources? Have other credible sources questioned its objectivity?

What do you know about the author ? ( Where they work , what they do , other sources they’ve created, their relationship to the subject or topic?
What else might you find out about the author/s?

Once you identify these aspects, you need to ask some critical questions to evaluate your sources.

What is your source about? What is the author’s argument? If you can’t tell from the information that’s been provided, context or clues within the source will help you make a reasonable guess.
What would you say about the language used in the source? Is it difficult to understand or fairly simple?
Who do you think is the audience for your source? Why?
What about the visuals in your source? For example, are the images used to support the message , provide evidence , or give you information about the author ? Are there images that distract ?
Remember that the PGCC Library Databases have been vetted by Teaching and Library faculty to ensure that the content meets the curriculum plan of the college. If you are using articles from a PGCC Library Database, you will never have to pay to access the article.

Now we are going to look at an article obtained from a library database about BLACKLIVESMATTER and see if we can consider access and evaluation of the article based on the criteria above. This article is from PsycArticles, a PROQUEST database.

The article title is : “Participation in Black Lives Matter and deferred action for childhood arrivals: Modern activism among Black and Latino college students”

What do we know about the author/authors?

If you click on the Hyperlink for the Author’s name, you’ll find other articles that have been published by the author.

The article is published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. If you click on the name of the Journal you will find out information about the journal.

The 9.3 (Sep 2016): 203-215; indicates that it is Volume 9; Issue 3 dated September 2016: pages 203-215.

How can we tell that this is a scholarly and peer reviewed article? What components of this article indicate that this is a research paper?

If you look at these components, you will find that they meet the test of a scholarly and peer reviewed research article. The article uses technical terminology, and it follows a standard research format—it has an abstract, a review of the literature, methodology, results, conclusion, and references.

So, after looking at this article, you have concluded that this is a peer-reviewed research article. Next you’ll need to evaluate the source. You’ll want to consider what this source is about . From reading the abstract above, can you consider through what lens or perspective might this author be writing?

First, look at the language in the article. Is it clear, concise and easily readable ? Based on the language, who do you think the AUDIENCE is for this source? Students? Researchers? Is it for the average reader or for someone who might want to write a research paper?

Now let’s look at the article’s presentation of data. You will find four tables that report on the study: Study Variables by Race; BLM and DACA involvement by Race, Ethnicity and Gender; Average level of political activism; Predicting BLM and DACA Involvement . Do these tables help you understand the impact of study better? Why or Why not?

Now let’s return to the language of the article and see if we can tell if this article pro-BLACKLIVESMATTERS or not? How can you tell? Are there clues in how the abstract is written that help you to infer the author’s position ? For example, does this statement from the article give you a perspective as to the direction of the article, “ Two 21st century sociopolitical movements that have emerged to counteract racial/ethnic marginalization in the United States are BLM and advocacy for DACA legislation. BLM activists seek legislative changes to decrease the negative (and often life threatening) effects of discriminatory practices in our justice and political systems ”.

Your analysis of the author’s attitude involves you interpreting the article’s tone—in the preceding sentence, the author does not use language to undermine BLM—it doesn’t say “claims to” or “reportedly” or “seemingly” in describing the impact of the movement. It does not use charged political rhetoric to suggest BLM’s worsens marginalization or to undercut its assertions about the level of discrimination.

Then you have judge the usefulness of the source:

If you are writing about the influence of the BLACKLIVESMATTER movement and activism , is this article good for your paper ? Why or Why not?

Let’s look at the abstract, where the article claims that “ Political activism is one way racially/ethnically marginalized youth can combat institutional discrimination and seek legislative change toward equality and justice. In the current study, we examine participation in #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) and advocacy for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as political activism popular among youth.”

First, determine whether the article may provide evidence to support your argument. This involves paying close attention to the article’s thesis and to its supporting evidence. What do you think the article is saying overall ? What is the takeaway ? How does it relate to your own argument? This involves considerable reflection on your part.

For example, does this statement argue your topic? “Finally, scholars suggest that experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination likely contributes to greater participation in political activism as a mechanism to mitigate future instances of discrimination (Hope & Jagers, 2014; Hope & Spencer, in press)”. That really depends on what your thesis is. You may find that this conclusion is too broad, and you may then refine your own position. In an engagement with scholarly articles, you may be forced to think more clearly about your own position.

Secondly , you must determine how much research has been done on this topic. Where does this article fit in the overall field of scholarship? You can’t simply assume that one article has vanquished all others from the field of intellectual battle. In this analysis, you must examine the article’s limitations: What wasn’t included or what was missing from the article? Have you seen other articles that challenge the author’s perspective? Do you want—for example—to see evidence of political activism actually leading to change? Or is the article’s claim too weak? After all, the sentence above simply says it’s one way to seek change, not the most effective.

Remember, research is a process. You want to find the best scholarly articles not only to support your own claims, but to challenge your assumptions and help refine your conclusions. As we’ve seen, that involves determining whether an article appears in a respectable scholarly journal—as citing weak and unprofessional sources destroys your credibility and offers no real challenge. Instead, you should exercise your analytical and argumentative skills on the best scholarship available.

Accessibility Masterlist

This MasterList, edited by Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D., is designed to serve as a resource for researchers, developers, students, and others interested in understanding or developing products that incorporate one or more of these features.

Each feature or approach is then listed below along with applicable disabilities to each feature are marked with the following icons:

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Voyant Tools (Corpus Analysis)

Voyant Tools is an open-source, web-based application for performing text analysis. It supports scholarly reading and interpretation of texts or corpus, particularly by scholars in the digital humanities, but also by students and the general public. It can be used to analyze online texts or ones uploaded by users. (Source: Wikipedia )

Voyant Tools (Corpus Analysis)

Critical Thinking & Information Literacy - Parallel Processes

Realize the task
Explore, formulate, question, make connections
Search and find
Collect and organize
Analyze, evaluate, interpret
Apply understanding
Communicate, present, share

Did you know that you can request a RESEARCH CONSULTATION appointment? This is a one-on-one assistance with your research related need.

Whether it's in-person, e-mail , phone, chat or text to 301-637-4609, you can ask a librarian for research help.

It's important to understand library terms in order for you to do your research. If you have questions about the terminology used in the tutorial you can check this Glossary of Library Terms.

Abstract : A summary or brief description of the content of another long work. An abstract is often provided along with the citation to a work.

Annotated bibliography: a bibliography in which a brief explanatory or evaluate note is added to each reference or citation. An annotation can be helpful to the researcher in evaluating whether the source is relevant to a given topic or line of inquiry.

Archives : 1. A space which houses historical or public records. 2. The historical or public records themselves, which are generally non-circulating materials such as collections of personal papers, rare books, Ephemera, etc.

Article : A brief work—generally between 1 and 35 pages in length—on a topic. Often published as part of a journal, magazine, or newspaper.

Author : The person(s) or organization(s) that wrote or compiled a document. Looking for information under its author's name is one option in searching.

Bibliography : A list containing citations to the resources used in writing a research paper or other document. See also Reference.

Book : A relatively lengthy work, often on a single topic. May be in print or electronic.

Boolean operator : A word—such as AND, OR, or NOT—that commands a computer to combine search terms. Helps to narrow (AND, NOT) or broaden (OR) searches.

Call number : A group of letters and/or numbers that identifies a specific item in a library and provides a way for organizing library holdings. Three major types of call numbers are Dewey Decimal, Library of Congress, and Superintendent of Documents.

Catalog : A database (either online or on paper cards) listing and describing the books, journals, government documents, audiovisual and other materials held by a library. Various search terms allow you to look for items in the catalog.

Check-out : To borrow an item from a library for a fixed period of time in order to read, listen to, or view it. Check-out periods vary by library. Items are checked out at the circulation desk.

Circulation : The place in the library, often a desk, where you check out, renew, and return library materials. You may also place a hold, report an item missing from the shelves, or pay late fees or fines there.

Citation : A reference to a book, magazine or journal article, or other work containing all the information necessary to identify and locate that work. A citation to a book includes its author's name, title, publisher and place of publication, and date of publication.

Controlled vocabulary : Standardized terms used in searching a specific database.

Course reserve : Select books, articles, videotapes, or other materials that instructors want students to read or view for a particular course. These materials are usually kept in one area of the library and circulate for only a short period of time. See also Electronic reserve.

Descriptor : A word that describes the subject of an article or book; used in many computer databases.

Dissertation : An extended written treatment of a subject (like a book) submitted by a graduate student as a requirement for a doctorate.

DOI : Acronym for Digital Object Identifier. It is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by the publisher to a digital object.

E-book (or Electronic book) : An electronic version of a book that can be read on a computer or mobile device.

Editor : A person or group responsible for compiling the writings of others into a single information source. Looking for information under the editor's name is one option in searching.

Electronic reserve (or E-reserve) : An electronic version of a course reserve that is read on a computer display screen. See also Course reserve.

Encyclopedia : A work containing information on all branches of knowledge or treating comprehensively a particular branch of knowledge (such as history or chemistry). Often has entries or articles arranged alphabetically.

Hold : A request to have an item saved (put aside) to be picked up later. Holds can generally, be placed on any regularly circulating library material in-person or online.

Holdings : The materials owned by a library.

Index : 1. A list of names or topics—usually found at the end of a publication—that directs you to the pages where those names or topics are discussed within the publication. 2. A printed or electronic publication that provides references to periodical articles or books by their subject, author, or other search terms.

Interlibrary services/loan : A service that allows you to borrow materials from other libraries through your own library. See also Document delivery.

Journal : A publication, issued on a regular basis, which contains scholarly research published as articles, papers, research reports, or technical reports. See also Periodical.

Limits/limiters : Options used in searching that restrict your results to only information resources meeting certain other, non-subject-related, criteria. Limiting options vary by database, but common options include limiting results to materials available full-text in the database, to scholarly publications, to materials written in a particular language, to materials available in a particular location, or to materials published at a specific time.

Magazine : A publication, issued on a regular basis, containing popular articles, written and illustrated in a less technical manner than the articles found in a journal.

Microform : A reduced sized photographic reproduction of printed information on reel to reel film (microfilm) or film cards (microfiche) or opaque pages that can be read with a microform reader/printer.

Newspaper : A publication containing information about varied topics that are pertinent to general information, a geographic area, or a specific subject matter (i.e. business, culture, education). Often published daily.

Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) : A computerized database that can be searched in various ways— such as by keyword, author, title, subject, or call number— to find out what resources a library owns. OPAC’s will supply listings of the title, call number, author, location, and description of any items matching one's search. Also referred to as “library catalog ” or “online catalog.”

PDF : A file format developed by Adobe Acrobat® that allows files to be transmitted from one computer to another while retaining their original appearance both on-screen and when printed. An acronym for Portable Document Format.

Peer-reviewed journal : Peer review is a process by which editors have experts in a field review books or articles submitted for publication by the experts’ peers. Peer review helps to ensure the quality of an information source. A peer-reviewed journal is also called a refereed journal or scholarly journal.

Periodical : An information source published in multiple parts at regular intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, biannually). Journals, magazines, and newspapers are all periodicals. See also Serial.

Plagiarism : Using the words or ideas of others without acknowledging the original source.

Primary source : An original record of events, such as a diary, a newspaper article, a public record, or scientific documentation.

Print : The written symbols of a language as portrayed on paper. Information sources may be either print or electronic.

Publisher : An entity or company that produces and issues books, journals, newspapers, or other publications.

Recall : A request for the return of library material before the due date.

Refereed journal: See Peer-reviewed journal.

Reference : 1. A service that helps people find needed information. 2. Sometimes "reference" refers to reference collections, such as encyclopedias, indexes, handbooks, directories, etc. 3. A citation to a work is also known as a reference.

Renewal : An extension of the loan period for library materials.

Reserve : 1. A service providing special, often short-term, access to course-related materials (book or article readings, lecture notes, sample tests) or to other materials (CD-ROMs, audio-visual materials, current newspapers or magazines). 2. Also the physical location—often a service desk or room—within a library where materials on reserve are kept. Materials can also be made available electronically. See also Course reserve, Electronic reserve.

Scholarly journal : See Peer-reviewed journal.

Search statement/Search Query : Words entered into the search box of a database or search engine when looking for information. Words relating to an information source's author, editor, title, subject heading or keyword serve as search terms. Search terms can be combined by using Boolean operators and can also be used with limits/limiters.

Secondary sources : Materials such as books and journal articles that analyze primary sources. Secondary sources usually provide evaluation or interpretation of data or evidence found in original research or documents such as historical manuscripts or memoirs.

Serial : Publications such as journals, magazines, and newspapers that are generally published multiple times per year, month, or week. Serials usually have number volumes and issues.

Stacks : Shelves in the library where materials—typically books—are stored. Books in the stacks are normally arranged by call number. May be referred to as “book stacks.”

Style manual : An information source providing guidelines for people who are writing research papers. A style manual outlines specific formats for arranging research papers and citing the sources that are used in writing the paper.

Subject heading : Descriptions of an information source’s content assigned to make finding information easier. See also Controlled vocabulary, Descriptors.

Title : The name of a book, article, or other information sources. Upload: To transfer information from a computer system or a personal computer to another computer system or a larger computer system.

Virtual reference: A service allowing library users to ask questions through email, text message, or live-chat as opposed to coming to the reference desk at the library and asking a question in person. Also referred to as “online reference” or “e-reference.”

Multilingual Glossary for Today’s Library Users

If English is not your first language, then this resource will help you navigate the definitions of library terms in the following languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Vietnamese.

Multilingual Glossary for Today’s Library Users - Definitions The Glossary provides terms an ESL speaker might find useful and a listing of the terms that are most likely to be used in a library.
Multilingual Glossary for Today’s Library Users - Language Table Here is a list of definitions that you can also find the translation in English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Vietnamese.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

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COMMENTS

Media and Information Literacy, a critical approach to literacy in the
Media and Information Literacy (MIL) emphasizes a critical approach to literacy. MIL recognizes that people are learning in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom through information, media and technological platforms. It enables people to question critically what they have read, heard and learned. As a composite concept proposed by ...
PDF It's Critical: The Role of Critical Thinking in Media and Information
an Council began a process of combining efforts in the field of media and information literacy. Instrumental in this work was the launch by UNESCO of the report Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers (2011). It has sparked a debate among stakeholders on differ - ent levels on how to understand and define the concept and how to im-
Critical Media Literacy in Teacher Education, Theory, and Practice
Similar findings were mentioned after Joanou (2017) analyzed data about a critical media literacy (CML) class taught to master's-level practicing K-12 educators. Joanou (2017) reported, "critical media literacy helps bridge the gap between theory and practice" (p. 40). The use of media texts and popular culture can provide relevant ...
The impact of media and information literacy on acquiring the critical
The impact of media and information literacy on acquiring ...
(PDF) Media Literacy and Critical Thinking
Abstract. The chapter begins by exploring the ways in which media literacy and critical thinking have been conceptualized. It draws parallels between media literacy and critical thinking and ...
Media Literacy and Critical Thinking : Is There a Connection?
A media literate person is expected to have the ability to "decode, evaluate, analyze and produce both print and electronic media" (Aufderheide, 2001, p. 79). Feuerstein (1999) writes "One purpose of (media literacy) M.L. programs is to promote the (critical thinking) C.T. of students towards media texts" (p. 45).
PDF Media Literacy in the LibrarY
With community partners, relate media literacy to the organization's area of interest. For example, if you are working with a genealogy group, explore how genealogy is discussed through advertising, in the news, and on social media. With staff, discuss the difference between media literacy and information literacy and why this
Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: Context and Practice
Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: Context and ...
PDF The critical effect: Exploring the influence of critical media literacy
accepted approaches to media literacy: protectionist, media arts education, the media literacy movement, and critical media literacy (Hobbs & Coiro, 2018; Hobbs & McGee, 2014; Kellner & Share, 2007; Potter, 2010). The first three, although concurrent and conflicting at times, represent critical approaches to media literacy (Higdon, et al. 2021).
Media and Information Literacy for Critical Thinking
This has created a serious gap in critical thinking; webbed with the challenges of fake news and hate speeches as elsewhere in the world. Martins believes that the Media and Information Literacy Coalition of Nigeria (MILCON) founded in 2017 with UNESCO's support can play a very vital role to address some of these challenges.
Media and Information Literate Citizens: Think Critically, Click Wisely!
The updated edition of the UNESCO Curriculum on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) presents a comprehensive competency framework of MIL and offers structured pedagogical suggestions to educators and learners. It features various detailed modules covering the range of competencies needed to navigate today's communications ecosystem.
Skills for Life: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking
Media literacy education is a tool for combating mis/disinformation in a time where there is so much uncertainty. The lack of credible news means that we are left with news stories driven by propaganda, misinformation, or manipulated content and even fiction or just fallacy. This impacts every person in every situation and influences the conversations, policy, and beliefs whether we are ...
News Media and Fact-Checking: Evaluating News Media
News Literacy: "The ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television or the Internet." Propaganda: "Information, ideas or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution or nation. It is often biased and misleading ...
Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: Context and Practice
Critical thinking skills and information literacy enhancement on high and medium category with N-gain score are 72.90% and 66.20% respectively and show a low correlation with a correlation ...
The relationship between media literacy and critical thinking: a
Media Literacy Skills Scale, developed by Erişti and Erdem (2017), and UF/EMI Critical Thinking Disposition Scale, adapted to Turkish by Ertaş Kılıç and Şen (2014), were used to identify ...
UNESCO's Innovative Tools for Media and Information Literacy
UNESCO's Innovative Tools for Media and Information ...
Connection between media information literacy and critical thinking
There are several ways in which media information literacy and critical thinking are connected: 1. Evaluating sources: Media information literacy involves evaluating the credibility and ...
Module 1: Introduction to Media & Information Literacy and Key ...
They must also possess basic skills for critical thinking, to analyse and use them for self-expression, for becoming independent learners, producers, informed citizens, professionals, and participants in the governance and democratic and economic processes of their societies (cf. Report of National Forum on Information Literacy, 2005).
Critical Thinking and Media Literacy in an Age of Misinformation
This paper will review the. literature on the importance of critical thinking and media literacy, the spread of misinformation, tools to be used in the classroom and an attempt to provide ...
Media and Information Literacy in the Prescribed Curriculum: A
The curricular integration of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is crucial for cultivating informed, critical, and engaged citizens in contemporary society. It assists in addressing the challenges of the digital era and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by the ever-changing media landscape. Thus, the present systematic literature review uses the PRISMA guidelines to examine three ...
What is critical media literacy in an age of disinformation?
Next, they discuss the "media literacy movement," which defines media literacy as consisting of "a series of communication competencies, including the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate" (The Alliance for a Media Literate America, quoted in Kellner & Share, 2007, p. 7). The fourth major approach is the one they ...
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on ...
The impact of media and information literacy on acquiring the critical
Students were able to understand the implication of exchanged media messages in social media sites; the researcher attributes this finding to the topics covered in the media and information literacy course and the continuous training during lectures on employing the skills of critical thinking which is the most important aim of this course.