Media Literacy’s many tasks – promoting critical engagement with digital platforms
Channel: Australian Media Literacy Alliance
Date: 2021-05-03

In recent times, media literacy education has been called upon to respond to a range of complex social and cultural problems. In the aftermath of the storming of the United States Capitol, some media literacy advocates called for an expansion of media literacy in schools and in the community, while others cautioned that media literacy cannot operate in isolation from digital platforms and policy reform.  In Australia, disinformation has been prolific in response to disasters like COVID-19, and the Summer 2019/2020 bushfires. Meanwhile, the availability of an ever increasing number of digital platforms continually seems to expand media literacy’s focus and the need for educators to expand their knowledge and skill set – whether this be about new platforms like Tik Tok, or dominant visual platforms like Instagram. This panel will canvass Media Literacy education’s many tasks and the panellists will provide insights about their own research and experiences to inform a public discussion about the role of media literacy interventions in these complex times.

Facilitator: Professor Michael Dezuanni, Program Leader, Digital Inclusion and Participation, Digital Media Research Centre, QUT.

THE PANEL
Media literacy after dark: how hyperpartisans pervert critical engagement (Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology)
The state of play of media literacy education in Australian Schools (Moneth Montemayor, Australians Teachers of Media)
Using critical frameworks for thinking about Tik Tok (Aleesha Rodriguez)
First Draft’s vaccine misinformation Hub and Dashboard for media literacy (Anne Kruger, First Draft News)