Media and Information Literacy for Teachers

The rapid growth of media and information and communication technologies and the attendant convergence of communication and information make it imperative that MIL be seen as vital to the empowerment of people and an important prerequisite for harnessing ICTs for education and fostering equitable access to information and knowledge. This has led to media and information literacy (MIL) being increasingly important to teaching and learning.More than half of the Indian population is young adults, their average age is 27 years, the youngest in the world. The Indian media market is targeting its content mainly for young adults, and its influence among them is enormous. The Indian media industry is largely privately owned and profit-oriented, and it has nearly 800 million television viewers, 430 million copies of print media circulated in 2017-18, and 749 million internet users in 2020. Mobile telephony has made great strides and has close to 92% mobile penetration in India. The aggressive news channels, vibrant regional language journalism and glamorous film industry are the hallmarks of the Indian media scenario.When taken together, the number of televisions, radio stations, newspapers, cell phones, access to and use of the Internet, libraries, billboards, and video games, determine a large percentage of what we learn about ourselves, our country, our culture and the world around us.Media and other information sources are central to democracy and good governance both as a platform for democratic discourse and as providers of information and knowledge. Therefore, as citizens, people need skills to engage with the media, and ultimately with their political processes and governance. Media and information literacy offers these necessary skills.In many aspects, traditional literacy has been redefined. It is no longer sufficient for students or citizens to only learn reading, writing and arithmetic. While the importance of these fundamental numeracy and literacy skills cannot be underestimated, the inclusion of media and information literacy in the curriculum means that young people must also understand the role and functions of media and other information sources. They must also possess basic skills to analyze and use for self-expression, for becoming independent learners, and for participating in the governance and democratic processes of their societies.This MOOC Course will present MIL as a teaching and learning process rather than solely as a discipline. Therefore, it will broadly introduce teachers to key issues and concepts of the field which will be dealt with in more detail in other modules, offering them the opportunity to develop an understanding of the difference between “teaching about” and “teaching through” the media. The aim is for teachers themselves to become media and information literate, and to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for integrating MIL into the primary and secondary school curricula.This course is being developed based on UNESCO’s Curriculum on Media and Information Literacy for Teachers.