ETEC 641 Integrating Media Literacy into Today’s K-12 Curriculum

3 credits 42.0 hours
600 level graduate course

Media education adds value to just about every curriculum in the K-12 classrooms. Media education has become a growing priority in today’s classroom because of the extent of the media’s importance in people’s lives. However, many teachers are unaware of the necessity and the techniques for making media literacy an integral part of the K-12 educational experience. On average, children in their middle and high school years spend 6-10 hours a day engaged either actively or passively in a ‘media related’ activity. Because students, regardless of their learning style, attend more fully to activities and ideas that they connect with, the media is often used to influence them from a very young age. This makes it necessary for teachers to ‘train’ their students to analyze messages and understand the techniques utilized to influence them via a broad range of sound and visual communication technologies. Integrating Media Literacy into Today’s K-12 Curriculum will teach educators how to incorporate media literacy into the classroom curriculum, regardless of the subject taught. This course will provide educators with the resources necessary to help students hone their critical thinking skills in a functional context so that they are able to recognize various marketing approaches, identify propaganda, understand stereotypes, critically evaluate media conveyed messages, and use the media as a tool for life-long learning.

Open to graduate students from the Division of Continuing Studies.
This course is not repeatable for credit.
This course may not be audited.
This course cannot be taken pass/fail.