2.1 What MIL attempts to achieve
2.2 Critical thinking
2.3 Behavioural change
2.4 Self-evaluation test
This module briefly discusses the didactics and pedagogics of media and information literacy (MIL). Devices, applications, and media environments, such as social media, creep into everyday life. Instead of sending invitations to social gatherings via mail, people organise events by creating a Facebook event. Actively living pensioners share their vacation pictures with their grandchildren through a WhatsApp group instead of traditional face-to-face gatherings. Overall, we increasingly live our lives through various media, tools and apps.
The mediatisation of everyday life encompasses all of this. MIL education aims to find a positive way for the individual (and society) to ameliorate these rapidly expanding phenomena.
The values of MIL education are usually drawn from the tradition of so-called critical pedagogy that focuses on empowering and emancipating the pupil, downplaying the role of the teacher as an “all-knowing authority” in the classroom rather to more of a fellow investigator and maybe a bit more advanced co-learner.
2.1 What MIL attempts to achieve
Respect and enhance the autonomy and ability of the learner to define themselves, their identity, and their values.
In the practical aspects of teaching and education, this means, for example, designing learning situations and activities that aim to critically examine various ways of media influence, as well as taking ownership and learning the use of different communication tools and production methods. Good media and information literacy education does not impose but instead enables.
Consider the learners’ communities, different value systems, and experiential worlds, and strengthen collaboration skills and positive social interaction.
When applied to everyday life, this includes situations and activities that practice and support positive self-expression, as well as compassionate and accepting encounters with diversity. Media and information literacy education provides space.
Foster participation, activity, and capability as citizens in a democratic society.
In teaching, this involves situations and activities that bravely address socially relevant and current issues, dissipate boundaries between, for example, school and the rest of society, and use public spaces for educational activities. It doesn’t isolate, for example, the school from the broader society but actively participates as a part of it. Media and information literacy education is activating and empowering.
Actively contribute to the holistic well-being of both the individual and the community.
In practice, this means all situations and activities that support the learner’s own thinking and reflection on values, as well as mentor well-being and life models that support a good life without moralising, blaming, or pressuring.
2.2 Critical thinking
2.2.1 Critical thinking in MIL
One pedagogically challenging task of media education is to support the development of critical thinking – both in general and in relation to various media content.
The best way to understand “critical thinking” is as synonymous with a careful, reason-based evaluation. In a nutshell, critical thinking is a) the ability to be aware of and question underlying assumptions, b) the ability to carefully compare various sources of information, and c) the attitude of striving for an impartial, objective overview.
Teaching critical thinking that can be generalised to all areas of life is very difficult. Carefully evaluating thinking is a cognitively demanding operation, and in different areas of life, we deal with very diverse types of information and rules of good reasoning.
For this reason, critical thinking tends to “encapsulate” and apply to a limited number of areas of life with weak transfer effects.
2.2.2 Teaching critical thinking to children
In the case of children and young people, this manifests as difficulties in generalising critical thinking skills from one media type or environment to another. Overall, children and young people tend to stop and evaluate the reliability of news only if it “looks” unreliable.
Despite over 70 years of research on critical thinking, it remains somewhat open to how critical thinking skills can be best taught. Key components in teaching critical thinking include:
- Attitude and willingness to be critical,
- Contextualisation skills and the ability to seek and combine relevant information,
- The ability to question and refrain from judgment, and
- Skills in consistent reasoning and clear thinking.
According to research, effective methods for teaching critical thinking that transfer across contexts include: a) enabling reflective discussion, dialogue, and debate, and b) seeking topics and problems from the “real world” and close to learners’ own experiences. In addition to these, c) the educator’s mentor-like and thinking-facilitating pedagogical approach plays a crucial role – that is, an inquisitive, conversational, opinion-challenging, and participation-activating way of teaching.
2.2.3 Things to consider when teaching critical thinking
Psychological safety, where one is allowed to be wrong and make mistakes without facing a psychological threat, is crucial for critical thinking learning. Such an atmosphere is a prerequisite for all learning. In this environment, it is also possible to support a child’s or young person’s healthy self-esteem as a critical thinker.
Consider, though, that self-esteem carries risks if interpreted as overconfidence and excessive self-assurance. One of the major pitfalls in media education is the so-called Dunning-Kruger effect or superiority bias.
The superiority bias refers to our tendency to be somewhat blind to our own expertise: if we know little about a topic, we think we know everything about it, and if we know a lot, we are very uncertain about our own knowledge. Evaluating our own competence and expertise is always difficult, and our metacognition is almost always somewhat biased.
From a pedagogical point of view, this means we should emphasise self-reflection and provide learning tasks that highlight the limits of our ability to evaluate sources in media and information literacy teaching. Without undermining the students’ certainty that the rational method of examining facts leads to well-documented arguments, acknowledging the basic human experience of being able to err and believe in something that is untrue –in other words, knowing that we can’t always trust our feelings and intuitions about things– is the cornerstone of critical thinking learning.
2.3 Behavioural change
MIL education aims to introduce rational, ethical, and critical behaviour so that every individual becomes a responsible digital citizen. However, most MIL interventions until today, even the ones that promote critical thinking, do not emphasise the crucial importance of the capability of a person to recognise, evaluate and change their behaviour – and thus change some “bad habits” (for example, too much screen time, ignorance of netiquette, or even cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying or addiction to malevolent models of living)
Teachers should be able to encourage children to practice mindful media consumption by fostering behavioural change. Discuss content sources, evaluate information credibility, and prompt reflection on the emotional impact of media. Model responsible digital habits and guide discussions on healthy screen time and discerning online choices.
The ability to change media behaviour is crucial in cultivating responsible digital citizenship. It empowers children to navigate the vast media landscape mindfully, fostering resilience against misinformation and enabling them to engage with digital platforms as informed and discerning users.
2.4 Self-evaluation test
1. What is the primary goal of media and information literacy education in relation to the individual and society?
a) To restrict media usage among children and young people
b) To prioritise the role of the teacher as an authoritative figure
c) To empower and emancipate learners while fostering positive values
d) To promote blind acceptance of media content
2. Which of the following is NOT a value associated with media and information literacy education?
a) Empowering learners
b) Encouraging isolation from broader society
c) Strengthening collaboration skills
d) Fostering positive self-expression
3. According to the above text, what is critical thinking synonymous with?
a) Blind acceptance of information
b) Careful, reason-based evaluation
c) Avoidance of questioning underlying assumptions
d) Encouraging overconfidence in one’s knowledge
4. Effective methods for teaching critical thinking include:
a) Encouraging reflective discussion and dialogue
b) Limiting topics and problems to abstract concepts
c) Avoiding discussions on real-world issues
d) Promoting blind acceptance of information
5. Why is psychological safety crucial for critical thinking learning?
a) It encourages blind trust in one’s own expertise
b) It prevents learners from making mistakes
c) It fosters an atmosphere where mistakes are allowed without psychological threat
d) It promotes overconfidence in evaluating sources
Answers
1 – C
2 – B
3 – B
4 – A
5 – C
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