This course explores the practical intersection of media and education by examining their interplay within three prominent domains of cultural practice - the relationship between media and mass education, the role of media in classroom teaching, and the pedagogies of media literacy. Seminars will focus discussion on the history, genres, pedagogical design and evaluation issues that emerge in each domain. Students will be expected to work in teams designing, producing and evaluating communications in each field of educational practice: educational media; media in education; and media literacy.

View the course outline.

1. Introduction: Defining Learning
• Seminar Readings
• Prensky, Marc. Excerpt ("The Great 'How Do People Learn?' Debate?"). Pp. 77-82 in Digital Game-Based Learning. [Handout].
2. Historical Perspectives: Democracy and Mass Education is Changing
• Core Readings:
• Kellner, Douglas. "Media Literacies and Critical Pedagogy in a Multicultural Society".
• New London Group. "A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures".
• Seminar Readings:
• Postman, Neil. "The Necessity of Gods" and "Some Gods That Fail". Pp. 3-36 in The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School.
• Williams, Raymond. "Education and British Society". Pp. 145-176 in The Long Revolution.
• Additional Sources:
• Innis, Harold. "Appendix II: Adult Education and Universities". Pp. 203-214 in The Bias of Communication.
3. Media as Mass Educator
• Core Readings:
• McLuhan, Marshall. "Classroom Without Walls".
• Huston, Aletha C. and John C. Wright. "Television and Socialization of Young Children". Pp. 37-60 in Tuning in to Young Viewers: Social Science Perspectives on Television. Ed. Tannis MacBeth.
• Seminar Readings:
• Hendershot, Heather. "Sesame Street: Cognition and Communications Imperialism". Pp. 139-176 in Kids' Media Culture. Ed. Marsha Kinder.
• Goldfarb, Brian. "Media and Global Education: Television's Debut in Classrooms from Washington, DC, to American Samoa". Pp. 25-56 in Visual Pedagogy: Media Cultures in and beyond the Classroom.
• Additional Sources:
• McLuhan, Marshall. "Television: The Timid Giant". Pp. 268-294 in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.
4. Interactive Media Design
• Core Readings:
• Greenfield, Patricia. "Video Games." Pp. 97 - 125 in Mind and Media.
• Kline, Stephen. "Learners, Spectators, or Gamers? An Investigation of the Impact of Digital Media in the Media-Saturated Household". Pp. 131-156 in Toys, Games, and Media. Ed. Jeffrey Goldstein, David Buckingham, and Gilles Brougere.
• Seminar Readings:
• Willis. Design Principles.
5. The Crisis of Literacy
• Core Readings:
• MacBeth, Tannis. "Indirect Effects of Television". Pp. 149 - 219 in Tuning in to Young Viewers: Social Science Perspectives on Television. Ed. Tannis MacBeth.
• Seminar Readings:
• Postman, Neil. "The Inculabula of Childhood" and "Childhood's Journey". Pp. 37 - 64 in The Disappearance of Childhood.
• Jordan, Amy, Kelly Schmitt, and Emory Woodard IV. "Developmental Implications of Commercial Broadcasters' Educational Offerings." Pp. 145 - 160 in Children in the Digital Age. Ed. Sandra Calvert, Amy Jordan, and Rodney Cocking.
6. Media, Concepts, Learning
• Core Readings:
• "Review and Analysis of Vygotsky's Though and Language".
• Seminar Readings:
• Gee, James Paul. "Situated Meaning and Learning" and "Telling and Doing". Pp. 73 - 138 in What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.
7. Media Play and Learning
• Core Readings:
• Prensky, Marc. "Part Two: How Games Teach and Why They Work". Pp. 104 - 199 in Digital Game-Based Learning.
• Seminar Readings:
• Smith, Peter K. "Play, Ethology, and Education". Pp. 3 - 21 in The Future of Play Theory. Ed. Anthony D. Pellegrini.
• Grugeon, Elizabeth. "From Pokémon to Potter: Trainee Teachers Explore Children's Media-Related Play, 2000 - 2003". Pp. 73 - 89 in Toys, Games, and Media. Ed. Jeffrey Goldstein, David Buckingham, and Gilles Brougére.
8. Education and Risk Communication
• Core Readings:
• Kline, Stephen. "Countering Children's Sedentary Lifestyles: An Evaluative Study of a Media-Risk Education Approach". Childhood 12(2): 239 - 258.
• Seminar Readings:
• Pechmann, Cornelia. "Does anti-smoking Advertising Combat Underage Smoking? A Review of Past Practices and Research" In Social Marketing. Eds. Goldberg et al.
9. Media Literacies: Origins and Debates
• Core Readings:
• Hobbs, Renee. "The Seven Great Debates in the Media Literacy Movement".
• Seminar Readings:
• Hobbs, Renee. "Does Media Literacy Work? An Empirical Study of Learning How to Analyze Advertisements".
10. Popular Culture and Literacy
• Core Readings:
• Goodwyn, Andrew. "The Relationship between English and Media Education" and "The Story So Far". Pp. 1 - 27 in English Teaching and Media Education.
• Seminar Readings:
• Buckingham, David. "Why Teach the Media?", "New Media Childhoods", and "Media Literacies". Pp. 3 - 52 in Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture. [Reserve].
11. Critical Literacies Perspectives
12. Literacy and the Citizen Consumer
• Core Readings:
• Kline, Stephen, Kym Stewart, and David Murphy. "Media Literacy in the Risk Society: An Evaluation of a Risk Reduction Strategy".