How important is media literacy to students?

The other day, casually enough, I asked a little girl about her views on media. Her eyes twinkled as she spoke of her favourite TV anchor and then went on to imitate various Radio Jockeys. To the young mind, media stands for glamour, larger than life events, a world of movie actors, sports stars, and all popular celebrities making a statement on TV, print, radio and of course who can doubt the influence of Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels. Taking the cue from her, I asked a couple of my students how they viewed media and I was hailed by a plethora of views and statements. Some spoke of world news, awareness of the issues of developing economies, others spoke on fashion and sports beat, cookery shows, some even spoke of advertisements and their impacts. I mused over their responses and as I looked at them I knew that in the near future some of them will grow into media personalities, content creators, journalists and ad makers.

The next trail of thoughts focuses on the other children who may very well grow up into non-media professionals; do they have a responsibility towards media? As I voiced it out to them, the unanimous answer was ‘yes’! As the very word suggests it is a ‘medium’, therefore, an aggregator, a platform of constant change. Since it tends to be the most effective trendsetter, there is a great need of media literacy for all; even those not planning a career in media. Media literacy becomes a moral obligation for education institutions to help the young minds develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them and the impact of these techniques.

The main objective is that the future generation should be able to analyse, interpret and understand the content published by the media and not get misled. It often happens that a popular Facebook post or a viral video becomes the base of information which may have been created by someone who may not have the correct or complete information and we tend to overlook the real information; the authenticity of the source is missed. This is exactly what media literacy will help in addressing. The students will be more informed in terms of deciphering the right content.

Today families, schools, and all community institutions share the responsibility for preparing young people for a living and learning in a global culture that is increasingly connected through multimedia and influenced by powerful images, words and sounds.

At Ambassador School, we promote Media Club and we wish to evolve in aspects of advertising, agenda-setting, critical inquiry, propaganda, media ownership, film literacy, television, radio, the Internet, magazines, newspapers, and so much more. We have launched our in-house newspaper, Ambassador Times and have invited parents to contribute in content creation. We are in the process of inducting student journalists for the same. The most important benefit is that it kindles the power of inquiry. Students become more aware, have better navigational skills, analyse the content and extract what is relevant.

When translated into classroom learning as intra-curricular approach it helps in sharpening the ability of students to apply their critical thinking to new situations and motivates them to perform better in other subjects. Personality development and confidence building are the natural takeaways from media literacy programme. The power of media literacy is its ability to inspire independent thinking foster critical analysis and make wise choices.

Ms. Sheela Menon is the Principal of Ambassador School, Dubai and the Council Secretary for the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).

Ms. Sheela Menon holds a Post Graduate Degree in Economics and a professional Degree in Education from one of the top educational institutes of India including a course in teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is currently pursuing Masters in Business Administration. She has more than 20 years of rich experience in both teaching and leadership roles from diufb00erent parts of the country. She aligns strongly with school’s vision, mission and core values which helps her understand the goals and objective of the organization and is fully committed to achieving academic excellence. She was instrumental in winning a number of accolades and prestigious awards for the schools where she was employed including for self and organization. She brings with her the expertise of setting up of a new school and benchmarking performances.

Her areas of competency include curriculum designing from Kindergarten to senior school, Personality Development Programmes for staufb00 and Student Development Plans. She has a keen interest in educational technology. E–learning and development of 21st-century skills sets are areas that she is currently focusing on. She is driven by the fact that children need to be competent and current in this competitive ever-changing world. Innovation is the key point of learning and she is a great motivator to her teachers and encourages them to think-out-of-the-box in order to bring out the best learning outcomes. She maintains an excellent rapport with all the stakeholders. She has excellent communication skills and connects well with parents across various cultures. A warm and humane personality, she is much loved by her students and admired by her colleagues.