Frameworks & Competencies

Pedagogies / Theoretical Frameworks:

Though literacy and critical analysis of all forms of media, but especially those that exist in virtual spaces or are of a digital context, will continue to rise in their importance for all students, finding the appropriate manner through which various age groups and grade levels interact with these topics is just as crucial. Children may possess awareness of when a situation online is unsafe or inappropriate for them, but not all children will understand discussions or techniques for advocating for these things in scenarios that are more neutral. Driving the design and approach of this workshop unit is the idea that by engaging with youth around familiar topics like grammar, syntax, and language arts, the aspects of some forms of media will come under the kind of scrutiny that kids are already engaged in that will more meaningfully invite their participation as makers as well as message interpreters. And by pivoting the exploration of the unit around their own creative work as podcast hosts and producers, their experiences of problem-solving may inform their ability to deconstruct other pieces and forms of media so they can discern and decode appropriately as they age. As Casinghino states, “it is essential that students have opportunities to develop their capacity to problem solve and address creative and critical tasks in team situations” to build literacy skills (2015, p69). Given that the target audience of youth for these workshop sessions are elementary grades 2-5, the unit makes adjustments in approach and pedagogy to ensure that engagement and creativity are the drivers while literacy skills and analysis are supported secondarily. Casinghino offers other kinds of creative explorations and project-based learning experiences that uplift the constructivist dynamic embedded within digital media literacies, like producing public service announcements on safe driving. 

The shared and overlapping research and recording phases of the project also activate on both a Participatory Media and Critical Media Literacy lens, and the social component to the loop of design-record-feedback between students allows for the development of needed cultural and social competencies as they navigate implementation of multiple perspectives or narrative elements into their episodes. Participatory Media Literacy specifically holds bearing for the ways this workshop unit intends to demonstrate students as being active participants even when they are consuming the completed or in-progress episodes of others, and as agents of change when it comes to the presentation and representation of narratives they include in their stories or reportings via podcast. Because the prompt is simply to produce an episode of a podcast, and by not winnowing the available topic or subject areas for youth to center their stories around, exploration of ethical decision-making in addition to notions around privacy, safety, or anonymity (using pseudonyms for “characters” based on real people, for instance) will emerge naturally as students assemble their episodes. These considerations are emergent as the technology empowering this form of storytelling continues to evolve, and represents a uniquely 21st Century approach to learning. Jenkins wrote about such dimensions of literacy, stating: 

Because the context of this workshop unit is within an afterschool program situated in an informal community-based space, the learning standards that dictate the design of formal classrooms is much less present. Instead, the unit focuses on shifting dispositions and behaviors around these technologies and their uses so that youth are empowered to interact with digital media and to see it as a tool for their own personal growth and expression.

Media Literacy Competencies:

In developing the dimensions of this storytelling unit, a number of core media literacy standards and competencies have been implemented. They work within the unit as necessary checks and filters to ensure that the experience of learning and experimenting is not only rich on its own, but deeply informative for youth on how media works. Because this area of study and curriculum is still relatively new in education, they also act as feedback loops for the iteration of this form of learning engagement so that educators can thoughtfully incorporate these critical principles into their usual settings, contexts, and audiences so that they support learning in other areas as well. Two organizations that have helped to shape a larger framework around media literacy are the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). 

Of their ten core principles and secondary characteristics of NAMLE’s Media Literacy Education approach, those that are embedded in this unit are (NAMLE, 2023): 

1. Expands the concept of literacy to include all forms of media and integrates multiple literacies in developing mindful media creators and consumers1.1: Like print literacy, which requires both reading and writing, the unit encompasses both analysis and expression1.2: This unit intersects with other literacies, such as information, digital, and social1.4: The unit values inquiry of contemporary media texts that are culturally relevant in both the learning environment and the everyday lives of learners

2. Envisions all individuals as capable learners who use existing knowledge, skills, beliefs, and experiences to create meaning from media experiences2.1: This unit teaches that all messages are constructed and prepares youth to engage in critical analysis and reflection of those experiences2.2: This unit acknowledges that people use their individual skills, beliefs, and experiences to construct personal meanings 

3. Promotes teaching practices that prioritize curious, open-minded, and self-reflective inquiry while emphasizing reason, logic, and evidence3.2: The unit uses co-learning and constructivist pedagogies in which teachers learn from learners and vice versa3.3: The unit asks learners to consider how emotions evoked through media experience can be examined within frameworks of reason, logic, and metacognition3.5: The unit prioritizes media creation as an essential learning practic in building media literacy skills

4. Encourages learners to practice active inquiry, reflection, and critical thinking about the messages they experience, create, and share4.2: The unit teaches learners that each medium has unique language codes, conventions, and constructions used to convey meaning 

5. Necessitates ongoing skill-building opportunities for learners that are integrated, cross-curricular, interactive, and appropriate for age and developmental stage

6. Supports the development of participatory media culture in which individuals navigate myriad ethical responsibilities as they create and share media6:1: This unit helps learners to express their ideas through multiple forms of media and encourages learners to continually reflect on the impact of their own and others’ creations

7. Recognizes that media institutions are cultural institutions and commercial entities that function as agents of socialization, commerce, and change7.1: The unit acknowledges that all media experiences have a particular perspective, context, and purpose and helps learners to ask questions about the substance, source, form, and significance of these aspects 7.2: The unit acknowledges that all media messages contain values and points of view 

Of their seven core standards and secondary characteristics of ISTE’s Standards for Students approach, those that are embedded in this unit are (ISTE, 2017): 

1. Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals1c: Feedback to Improve Practice

2. Digital Citizen: Students recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model digital citizenship in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical2a: Digital Footprint2c: Intellectual Property

3. Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others3a: Effective Research Strategies3b: Evaluate Information3c: Curate Information 3d: Explore Real-World Issues

4. Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful, or imaginative solutions4b: Design Constraints4c: Prototypes4d: Open-Ended Problems

5. n/a (Computational Thinker)

6. Creative Communicator: Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, and formats, and digital media approaches appropriate to their goals6b: Original and Remixed Works

7. n/a (Global Collaborator)

Between the two organizations and their sets of standards, many of which overlap in their concerns or purposes, there are a few that stand out. Each of them has a particular prominence within this unit around storytelling, with podcasts as the digital medium of choice, and in the context of tinkering. Students will be exploring the existing landscape of podcasts and a host of conventions to reference and take inspiration from as they construct their own episodes, and standards reflecting the importance of a loop between consuming and producing loom large here. Figuring out how to parse from them and curate information and narrative flair for the sake of telling an efficient and effective story for listening is an exercise both critical and expressive in nature. And lastly, utilizing the technology’s many features and abilities to remix around conventions and styles of podcast storytelling, like genre, align well with several of the standards that sees learners as constructors and innovators at the same time.