Rogers Michael Kazibwe Greg.

University

SUBJECT:

Media Education

TARGET GROUP: Primary School teachers (30) AGE: 22 35 FORMAT: Workshop- Dynamic and active participation

MATERIALS TO BE USED: Video clips, newspaper cuttings, radio recorded programs, Internet and other media available PLANNED LESSONS/ PRESENTATIONS: 12

METHODOLOGY: Presentations of prepared slides Appropriate video presentations Participants acting out roles in short skits Small Group discussions Small groups reporting their discussion to the main group Drawing resolutions GENERAL OBJECTIVES/PURPOSE: To equip the teachers with the skills to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell media to us every day. To awaken in them the ability of critical thinking skills to bear on all media, music videos, internet, television, radio To arouse the teachers skills to question what lies behind media productions; the motives, the money, the values and the ownership and to be aware of how these factors influence content. To encourage teachers to develop media literacy programs for their pupils and parents. Since teachers have a great influence on their pupils and parents; after the lessons they will be able to guide their pupils on media use, its content and impact on the pupils day to day living. At the end of each lesson participants will discuss in groups the way forward and resolutions that will be presented to the entire group and discussed.

LESSON ONE: What is Media Education? Specific objective: By the end of the lesson, participants will be able to define media education. Presentation of You Tube Video clips on the importance of media education

Content: Definition: Media Education is the process through which individuals become media literate able to critically understand the nature, techniques and impacts of media messages and productions. Media education acknowledges and builds on the positive, creative and pleasurable dimensions of popular culture. Media education incorporates production of media texts and critical thinking decoding, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating media to help us navigate through an increasingly complex media landscape. The landscape includes not only traditional and digital media, but also popular culture texts such as toys, fashion, shopping malls Media education is not about having the right answers, but rather, its about asking the right questions. This is because media issues are complex and often contradictory and controversial, the educators role in not to impart knowledge, but to facilitate the process of inquiry and dialogue. Media Education encourages a probing approach to the world of media: Who is this message intended for? Who wants to reach this audience and why? From whose perspective is this story told? Whose voices are heard, and whose are absent? What strategies does this message use to get my attention and make me feel included? As teachers, they should be able to critically analyze the media, its content composition,

presentation and intended recipients.

Participants will know that the terms media

education, media study and media literacy are almost used interchangeably. LESSON TWO: Key concepts of media Education Specific objective: By the end of the lesson, the participants will be able to explain concepts that are the foundation for analyzing mass media. 1. Media are constructions:

All media products are carefully constructed. They are created with a purpose and from a particular perspective, using specific forms and techniques. Therefore, media literacy works towards deconstructing these products, taking them apart to show how they are made and exploring the decisions and factors behind them. 2. Audiences negotiate meaning:

We all bring our own life experience, knowledge and attitudes to media encounter. Each person makes sense of what he or she sees and hears in different ways. Media literacy encourages us to understand how individual factors, such as age, gender; race and social status affect our interpretations of media. 3. Media have commercial implications:

Most media production is business and must, therefore, make a profit. In addition, media industries belong to a powerful network of corporations that exert influence on content and distribution. Questions of ownership and control are central because a relatively small number of individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media. 4. Ideological messages underpin all media:

Explicitly or implicitly, the mainstream media convey ideological messages and notions of values, power and authority. In media education, what or who is absent may be more important than what or who is included.

With the above key concepts the participants will be in position to identify media constructions, deconstruction, how the audience derives meaning from the texts, intentions of the media house in constructing specific media, and the ideology of the message.

LESSON THREE: Motives for teaching media education to children Video clips on the importance of teaching media to children (You Tube) Specific Objective: By the end of the lesson the participants will be able to tell the importance of teaching media education to children. Media education encourages children to question, evaluate, understand and appreciate the multimedia culture in which they are living. Media education helps them to become active and discriminating media consumers and users. Media education brings the world into the classroom, giving immediacy and relevance to traditional subjects such as History, Geography, Civics etc. It serves as a perfect bridge for subject integration and interdisciplinary studies. Media education embodies and furthers current pedagogy, which emphasizes studentcentred learning, the recognition of multiple intelligences, and the analysis and management rather than just the simple storing of information. The teaching of media education is grounded in the sound pedagogical approach of starting learning where children are at. Media music, comics, television, video games, the internet and even advertisements, are part of life that all children enjoy. Media creates a shared environment and are, therefore, catalysts of learning. Media education encourages children to use multimedia tools creatively, a strategy that contributes to understanding by doing and prepares them for a workforce that increasingly demands the use of sophisticated forms of communication.

With changes in the political landscape, media education engages children in real-world issues. It helps them to see themselves as part of the society and future leaders of tomorrow.

In a diverse and pluralistic society, media education helps children understand how media portrayals can influence how we view different groups in society: it depends childrens understanding of diversity, identity and difference.

Media education helps childrens growth and social development by exploring the connections between popular culture music, radio, television programming, movies and advertising and their attitudes, lifestyle choices and self-image.

Media education helps children critique media representation, teaching them to distinguish between reality and fantasy as they compare media violence and real-life violence, media heroes and real-life heroes, and media role models and real-life roles and expectations.

LESSON FOUR: Impact of media on a person Four participants mention what they have learnt from a short a short film (video clip) of Nuns of the Run. Specific objective: By the end of the lesson, the participants will be able to realize the potency of the media. The participants are asked and encouraged enumerate the diverse types of media that they know and listen, read, or watch. Participants are also asked to the mention the popular personality of the enumerated media outlets and why they are considered popular. What makes the participant like such a personality more than another? What attracts them to those personalities? In so doing the participants will be mentioning what makes them enjoy the shows of different personalities. These could involve how the personalities present themselves, the way they talk, dress, present their show or programs etc During the lesson, the participants will discover that sometimes they are attracted to given media program by simply identifying with the presenter as a role model and not the content of the program. The participants will learn that we are always influenced by the media in a number of decisions. The media works as our reference when we need to make critical decisions of life. Because TV personality X has such a view, the one who takes him/her as a great personality will adapt that view. They will learn that media affects people directly or indirectly and sometimes bleeds addiction. The example of soap operas where people literary can not miss any series of the show. When time comes for the show, individuals give up all their doing in order to follow program. That media create bonds or clusters among its users. People will discuss what they watched, listened to everyday at the workplaces, schools. Children discuss the films that were captivating to them. In turn, they would also like to act out role models of their personalities in a given film.

The participants will learn that childrens violence at school is a result of what they watch and they want to try it out on their friends. Teachers have a great role in directing children as to which programs are suitable for them. LESSON FIVE: Media as Entertainment Specific objective: Participants discover that media present themselves to us in various forms but entertainment is the most method. They are also asked to list the forms of media entertainment that they prefer to listen to, watch or read. They are asked why people like to watch soap operas, films, listen to radio music or programs or internet movies and music. This is to draw responses that media entertainment satisfies their desires when bored, tired exhausted in thoughts; that listening to music or program, watching films or reading magazines, newspapers fulfills their aspirations, fills in the missing linking in their lives. Through discussions the participants discover that media entertainment arouses the users senses, rejuvenates their thinking, energies them to carry on work, studies. Participants will also discover that especially radio is used as a secondary activity. That we listen to radio as we do something else, radio accompanies us in order to fulfill the primary activity. For instance, some students listen to radio as they read in their private rooms. Through discussion the participants will discover that children have vast amounts of information thrust upon them, much of it from media sources, much of it verbal or written, much of it visual, much of it manipulative. If a child is helped to critically analyze all the information, it is his/her task to make sense of it all, to construct reality from this information. Participants will also discover that it through entertainment that most people interact with the media either through music, films, games, playsthat through infotainment, an individual is informed and at the same time entertainment; that through edutainment, an individual is educated and entertained by the media. They will also discover that most of us a prone to searching for fulfillment when things do not move in our favour and that we always find solace in the media. That the media is addictive that some people cannot do anything without it. Children are very vulnerable and they need guidance in media entertainment use. 7

LESSON SIX: Impact of Television Programs Specific objective: Participants will acquire skills of critically analyzing Television programs. The media has a huge effect on popular culture. Television programs underscore stereotypes of various groups of people. By looking at the media critically, the participants develop an awareness of the messages that are portrayed through the media. Television is a powerful source of social learning that shapes attitudes, social and consumer behaviour, and peoples worldviews. The critical study of televisual texts remains an important component of media education. Participants will discover that the teaching on analytical skills aims to develop new strategies for thinking about the meanings of the media transmit and the meanings viewers construct for themselves That the study of TV and other mass media, new interactive media, and popular culture is important not only because of their profound influence and pervasiveness, but because of the ways the media easily become naturalized. The world of the children cannot be understood without considering the profound influence of television programs When children gain the skills to critically analyze the media, they are empowered and become positive contributors to society, to challenge cynicism and apathy, and to serve as agents of social change. Participants will: analyze portrayals of different groups of people in the media, investigate social values presented in the media; analyze portrayals of children in the media; identify stereotypes presented through the media; investigate televisions influence on personal and societal values. Participants will make observations on TV programs presented to them as, realistic, somewhat realistic or unrealistic.

LESSON SEVEN: Media Advertising Specific Objective: By the end of the lesson, the participants will be aware of the impact of media advertising on us. That advertising is not evil, but its influence can be TV, radio and print advertisements will be demonstrated before the lesson begins.

Content: Everyday we are exposed to a particular lifestyle portrayed in movies, TV show, billboards and commercials. We see people dressed a certain way, living life to the fullest- in a particular way. Unfortunately, these characters are created to sell products or raise awareness. Often what is portrayed may not be aligned with reality and yet we may feel that: We long to have the kind of life they live. We wish our lives were just as exciting. We wish we had such close relationships and friends. We wish we would run into that kind of luck we see on TV. We wish we can live just as recklessly, perhaps promiscuously without consequences. We wish we could be as happy as the people we see. We wish to look the way they look, have the body shape as they do. Media has a way of creating a longing for things we do not have, whether or not they are realistic or not. Unfortunately, the way a particular product brings completely happiness and satisfaction as seen on the joyous beautiful actors having fun is not true to reality. Mainstream media and advertising often leaves us unsatisfied. Rather than being content with reality, we desire for that which we do not have. Advertising strongly abuses these emotional feelings to get us to buy a product or use a service, but simply watching a particular lifestyle a TV program can bring about these feelings. All media advertising is not necessarily deceptive. When advertising highlights benefits of a product or a service and matches them with our needs it is beneficial to society. It plays an important role in helping our economy function. It is a tool for economic growth and way to inform the public. It helps increase competition, make productions efficient, lowering prices, creating jobs and improving overall livelihood. 9

LESSON EIGHT: The Influence of Media on Children Specific Objective: The participants will discover how children are treated as commodities by the media. Content: Every single day millions of children are constantly bombarded by media. Television, Internet, Movies, Video Games, Music, Videos are some of the many forms of media that continues to feed particular messages and ideas into the children. The media influence us not just one-on-one when we watch them. They also influence us by influencing our families. They also influence us by influencing our communities. Thats one of the reasons its hard to tell if you have ever been affected because its not just a simple one-to-one relationship. We are being influenced in multiple directions all at the same time. One research in US found out that in 1930s, when television sets first became available to American, families who were able to afford one only had one for the entire house. Now televisions have become a common household item. Today most people have televisions and some families with at least 3 television sets, VCRs, DVD players, CD and cassette players, video game consoles and a computer with an Internet connection. Children in such families have limited access to the media and spend a lot of time before the facilities. Parents are less able to monitor what their children see and hear if there are TV sets in their bedroom and parents are less able to have consistent rules for children who have TVs in their bedrooms. By engaging in so much media, children are less inclined to do their activities or engage in outdoor play such as playing sports, enjoying an hobby or reading a couple of good books. This can also lead to obesity and poor academic performance. As teachers you ought to know and assist children whose performance is declining. Children need to be helped on the best ways to use the media. Children should be encouraged to read, listen or watch programs that their brain to grow, that help to stimulate their imagination and thinking skills. For instance, books of fairy tales help children to become brilliant, to focus, and learn more vocabulary; they learn to understand images, how to properly speak and they help to stimulate their imagination and thinking skills. 10

LESSON NINE: Media and Consumerism in children Specific objective: The participants will discuss the various ways the media treats children as consumers. Video clips of ads targeting children are shown to the participants. Content: A 9 year old girl is coming home from school. Her older brother is playing football and her parents wont be home until 6 oclock. She switches on the TV, finds MTV, gets some Coca-Cola from the fridge and sits down in front of the computer. She clicks on an icon and is transported to her favourite website which is of video games. Later on she is busy playing the game. A couple of hours later she switches to a commercial television channel to watch the daily sitcom that she likes. So far, however, she has only seen commercials on this channel. We need to reflect on the role of the media on children in relation to other socialization factors such as family, school, peers , when it comes to media and consumerism in children. We realize that the media play a significant role in childrens socialization as consumers. Today, the forms of advertising are changing rapidly. In particular, the forms of advertising and marketing that have children as their target group are changing as part of the new digital media culture. Advertising has slowly and methodically infiltrated into the world of children driven by corporate interests to create a lucrative consumer market. Children influence their parents to purchase household items. There is a current trend to promote consumerism to children. Children are exposed to a flurry of images, sound bites and mental chaos through numerous media sources; a world that denies children an opportunity for peace, tranquility and reflection. Children have become increasing dependent on television, computers and all forms of electronic media that deliver digital messages as the means of occupying their time. The media use children in different advertisements to influence children who can exert pressure on their parents and end purchasing the products that they want. As teachers you need to guide children on how to view and consider adverts with a keen eye.

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LESSON TEN: TV violence: Consequences and the Media violence Specific objective: The participants explore the absence, or unrealistic portrayal, of consequences to violence in the media. Content: The lesson begins with what would happen if? Discussion of consequences to violent acts that might occur in real life. Participants then write down of what they consider as TV depictions of violent acts to what would actually happen in real life. Then they begin to question depicted consequences of media violence based on feelings, responsibilities, injuries and results of actions. Participants demonstrate an awareness of the different types of violence that appear in childrens television programs; an understanding of the unrealistic portrayal of consequences of violent acts in the media; an understanding of their own reactions to various types of violence. Participants are asked whether their pupils play video games. What happens in these games? Do the pupils get to use weapons? Have special powers? How do they win? Does someone die? They are asked to imagine that they are also playing a video game. (some might volunteer to perform this scenario as a skit.) In your game you have chosen two characters to fight against each other. You play until one of your characters dies and the other character wins. Then, because you really like these characters, you select them again, and play another game. How is this video game fight different from real fighting? (You can hurt or even kill a character, but, with the press of a button, the person comes back to life and is not even injured.) What would happen to you, if someone started to hit you? (You might cry, you could be injured, you might have to go to the hospital, and you could even die.) In real life, when something happens, there are consequences. But when people are attacked in video games, they are always able to come back and play again because there are no consequences no one has to go to the hospital; no one is upset; no one has to pay for everything that has been

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destroyed; and no one is put in jail. TV programs do not usually show the real consequence, or effects, of violence, so it is easy for you to assume the punches do not hurt and bullets do not kill Where else can we find violence with no consequences? (It is in Movies, comic books, videos) Discussion session When we see violence on TV or in movies or video games, we should always think about the consequences or what we see. We ask ourselves: o How do people involved in the conflict feel? o What are the responsibilities of the people who have acted violently? o What injuries have occurred? o What are the results of the violence on others?

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LESSON ELEVEN: Media and Gender stereotypes Specific objective: To encourage participants to develop their critical skills with regard to culturally inherited stereotypes and to the images presented in the media film and television, rock music, newspapers and magazines. Content: Participants take a look at their own assumptions about what it means to be a man, and what it means to be a woman. The brainstorming and discussion sessions are meant to encourage them to ask gender specific questions as a step in the self-reflective process. Participants will see how believing in stereotypes can lead to violence towards oneself and others. They discuss the characteristics of male and female stereotypes in our society; identify ways in which their own lives have been affected by these stereotypes; and identify the aspects of these stereotypes that are related to violence. Masculine and feminine images that are portrayed in the media project their own psychological mystiques. As we advance in age, our cultures influence us through these images usually without us realizing it. Let us now examine what acting like a man and being ladylike means in our society. What are the gender stereotypes, and how do these stereotypes affect our relationships with others? Participants are asked to do define stereotype, give typical examples. Stereotypes are so engrained in our consciousness that many of us think that gender roles are natural, so we do not question them. Even if we do not consciously subscribe to them as part of our own belief system, our cultures bombard us with messages about what it means to be men and women today. Gender roles are learnt and not genetic. To be like and man or lady like can easily be created by the media. We see the media depicting women in the sales adverts exposing their bodies and we take it that that is a work of the women! The media creates this stereotype and the men are regarded as strong, energetic and they will feature in the media that shows off the muscularity of the men. 14

LESSON TWELVE: The Family and the media Specific objective: By the end of the lesson the participants will be able to assist parents regulate/control media use in their families. Content: Discussion session on how to assist the parents. Proposals are drawn. Many people unknowingly let media merchants-the creators and marketers of television programs, movies, videotapes, music and computer games abuse them. They do so when they allow such outsiders to intrude into their family affairs and exploit the negative side of their human nature. Although the entertainment media can be informative and beneficial, we need to recognize that the evil media exist, and we must learn how to make use of the good and avoid the bad. We should realize that too much of even a good thing can be bad. How great is the medias influence on the family? We can imagine how much time children spend watching TV or videos, listening to music or to the radio, tapes and CDs, playing video games or using the computer. Parents need to regain control of the use of the media in the family. They need to establish principles of media use for the family as the best way of using them rather than letting them use us. Some principles can include: Establish and follow family rules they should be realistic and followed, for instance, children watching television only after completing homework and household chores. Teach the children media literacy skill parents talk about what they want their family members to watch and listen to. They point out the impact of television and music on their attitudes, thinking and emotions. Talk about media violence and destructive sexuality Parents explain to the children the differences between manufactured horror and real-life suffering. Talk about the many sensational portrayals of violence with no ill consequences to the heroes and villains in contrast to more realistic programs that honestly show the inevitable consequences. 15

REFERENCES: Lembo, R., Thinking through Television, University press, Cambridge, 2000. Miles, R.M., Seeing and Believing: Religion and values in the movies, Bacon Press: Boston, 1996. World Advertising Center, Advertising and Marketing for Children, Copenhagen Business School, 2003. Srampickal, J. & Perumpally L., Lets Do Media Education, Media House, Delhi, 2009

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