Media Literacy Presented to Faculty
Imagine being a student in today’s world, at any level, and being fed a deluge of information from thousands of multimedia channels. What information is the “right” information and how are students perceiving it through various media?
Internationally recognized media literacy expert, Andrea Quijada, will visit Main Campus on May 21 from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Student Resource Center, Room 204, to give valuable insight on how our educators can aid our students in the critical thinking, understanding and perception of all media.
“I define media literacy as the ability to access, analyze and create media through a very thorough process of understanding different perceptions and modes of delivery,” Andrea says.
Andrea is a seasoned expert in the realm of media literacy. She is the former director of the Media Literacy Project, a nonprofit focused on the development of programs that work to build youth leadership, elevate media justice issues and connect media policy to our daily lives to strengthen New Mexico communities.
“I’m excited and honored to be able to speak to the faculty members at CNM,” she says. “My goal is for educators to be able to take some of what I say and apply it in ways that are meaningful to the students that they’re working with.”
Andrea says that media literacy has always been an important component in being a successful student and it continues to become more relevant within our technologically and commercially driven society.
For example, in her TED talk, Andrea used a picture in an ad that shows a mother and daughter shopping together with text that says “Reading. Writing. Color Coordinating.” She says that the sub-textual meaning behind this ad can be interpreted in many ways.
“The subtext is essentially our interpretation, and students will always bring their own opinions into the classroom,” Andrea says. “They can each have their own understanding of the ad from ‘Oh how cute, she’s dressed just like her mom,’ to ‘Huh, are they telling us that it’s more important for girls to be worried about what they’re wearing than doing math?’”
According to Andrea, students today spend upwards of seven hours a day interacting with multimedia. She says that teaching media literacy in the classroom will help students make choices about how to use and not use the media being presented, which ultimately impacts the actions that they choose to take.
Andrea says while growing up she wanted to be Wonder Woman, so she could use the golden lasso of truth to be able to separate facts from fiction when analyzing media.
“Now that I’ve grown up, I still don’t have bracelets that can deflect bullets, but I did get that golden lasso,” she says. “Now let’s make sure that each student gets one so that those seven and a half hours that they interact with media become a daily opportunity to connect school to their 21st century real lives.”
Andrea’s talk will be on CNM’s Main Campus on Tuesday, May 21 from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Student Resource Center, Room 204. For more information, including how to register through the employee training system, visit CNM's Cooperative for Teaching and Learning.
Watch Andrea's TED X talk.