Moving image production and the pedagogical development of media literacy

The chapter focuses on the film Perfect World (2005), a practice-as-research project undertaken by Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore: see entry listed in Compositions. Watch Perfect World, music video with ecological message: http://vimeo.com/1026553 Book: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Lights---Camera---Action-and-the-Brain--The-Use-of-Film-in-Education1-4438-3657-5.htmThis chapter states the case for the pedagogical value of moving image production in the development of media literacy. In the context of this chapter, the concept of media literacy is extended to encompass not just the ability to critically 'read' media texts but also involves the practices of 'making' media products and artefacts. Drawing on the experiences of two of the authors' involvement with the Bristol Natural History Consortium's Wild Ideas DVD as a case study, this chapter illustrates the pedagogical value of using media technologies to enable the learning of critical abilities, competencies and skills through the active production of media texts. In concluding, we propose that moving image production work not only contributes to the development of media literacy (a valuable life skill in its own right) but also contributes to personal and social development as well as potentially fostering other transferable skills and competencies for employability and citizenship

What has Harry Potter done for me?:children's reflections on their 'Potter experience'

This article reports findings from a small-scale focus group study funded by the British Academy which examines children’s literacy practices in relation to the seven Harry Potter novels. Drawing on Marsh and Shavelson’s (1985) notion of Academic Self-concept, and Barton and Hamilton’s (1998) view of literacy as context-specific social practices, we examine what young British Potter ‘enthusiasts’ perceive as the influence of the novels on their subsequent reading behaviours and academic development. Specifically, we consider whether these children feel that Harry Potter has helped improve their reading, whether they think the books have changed their attitudes to reading, the role of the films, and whether there are any gender tendencies. We conclude that these Potter enthusiasts view the series as formative in terms of their literacy, but regarding gender, intra-group variation is far greater than inter-group variation

Book Review: Children, Film and Literacy

We know today that media education can enhance literacy skills. However, there is too little literature about the connection between children’s development of literacy skills and film production. In her book, Children, Film and Literacy, Becky Parry demonstrates the powerful connection between the three. The book is an adapted version of Parry’s dissertation involving case studies of six UK primary school students using filmmaking practices to enhance their emerging literacy skills. She created and taught a special class with year 5 students at a primary school in Sheffield, UK (equivalent to fourth grade in the US). Parry used action research design to investigate how the six students understand and interpret narratives by creating different filmmaking activities. The book begins with four chapters devoted to literature review of (mainly British) media education, followed by research methods and the context of the study. Parry describes her findings and concludes with suggestions for incorporating filmmaking in primary schools. The literature review showcases how to use media production in the classroom and explains how film classes at the primary level can contribute to advancing the understanding and interpretation of narratives for diverse learners with different literacy skills. Parry connects multimodality (Kress, 1997) and cultural studies (Buckingham and Shefon-Green, 1994) to the current British literature on children, popular culture, an

Being together in classrooms at the interface of the physical and virtual: implications for collaboration in on/off-screen sites

This article contributes to thinking about collaboration in classroom/virtual environments by considering how children (aged 10-11) engage in the process of ‘being together’ at the interface of the physical and virtual. It argues that, if educators are to develop effective pedagogies that capitalise on opportunities for collaborative and participatory learning, there is a need for nuanced accounts of the ways that children and young people relate to one another across on/off-screen sites and for new ways of conceptualising their interactions. Using a four-part story based on an illustrative episode from a longitudinal classroom-based study, the article explores how a focus on what Schatzki terms a ‘practice meshwork’ can highlight how relationships are shaped by and shape diverse practices. In particular it explores how embodied relations with things in classrooms mediate ways of ‘being together’ around classroom/virtual environments It suggests that different timespaces are consequently evoked as children play together on and around screens in class. Drawing on these ideas, the article advances five propositions about ‘being that arise from seeing relationships as entangled with multiple practices. It ends by arguing that, in planning for and researching collaboration, it is important to acknowledge how these five dimensions interface

Designing connected play: Perspectives from combining industry and academic know-how. In: Chaudron S., Di Gioia R., Gemo M., Holloway D., Marsh J., Mascheroni G., Peter J., Yamada-Rice D. Kaleidoscope on the Internet of Toys - Safety, security, privacy and societal insights, EUR 28397 EN, doi:10.2788/05383

Academics, designers and producers tend to consider the evolving Internet of Toys (IoToys) from within their individual disciplines. On the one hand, academics bring a long history of researching and theorizing play and communication practices to the task of considering young children’s use of connected toys. On the other hand, designers and producers of connected toys have detailed understanding of the possibilities and affordances of technology, as well as the technical mechanics involved in toy production. In other words, they know what it is possible to make, and what it is not possible to make. Industry also has an eye on trends in digital toy production and content, and how these are likely to evolve. This is because the digital play industry track data on technology usage and media consumption, and so on. These are things that academics are often a step behind in understanding because of a tendency to consider children’s use of an end product. However, my work across academia and the commercial toy and digital content industry has taught me that the amount of expertise companies have of child development and theories around play and communication practices is extremely varied and start-up companies in particular have little resource to conduct in-house research. This means that some connected toys are not as well made for young users as they could be. However, these crossovers have also taught me that sometimes academics call for changes to designs that are not easily possible or commercially viable. Therefore, regular collaboration between academia and industry would aid production of the best possible connected toys and content for young children

Pedagogies of production: Re-imagining literacies for the digital age

This chapter reflects on the relationships between film, digital media, and new literacy and learning practices and explores the ways in which the study and production of audiovisual texts can be integrated into school settings. The chapter also considers the attendant new pedagogies to which film and media-making give rise, including the development of fluid and less hierarchical teaching practices that speak better to the everyday digital lives of children and young people in relation to the sociopolitical barriers to progressive education. Arguing in favor of more collaborative, social, and dynamic literacies inclusive of the moving image, the authors support the view that film is one of the foremost art forms of the last and the current century

Gameworlds

Game studies is a rapidly developing field across the world, with a growing number of dedicated courses addressing video games and digital play as significant phenomena in contemporary everyday life and media cultures. Seth Giddings looks to fill a gap by focusing on the relationship between the actual and virtual worlds of play in everyday life. He addresses both the continuities and differences between digital play and longer-established modes of play. The 'gameworlds' title indicates both the virtual world designed into the videogame and the wider environments in which play is manifested: social relationships between players; hardware and software; between the virtual worlds of the game and the media universes they extend (e.g. Pokémon, Harry Potter, Lego, Star Wars); and the gameworlds generated by children's imaginations and creativity (through talk and role-play, drawings and outdoor play). The gameworld raises questions about who, and what, is in play. Drawing on recent theoretical work in science and technology studies, games studies and new media studies, a key theme is the material and embodied character of these gameworlds and their components (players' bodies, computer hardware, toys, virtual physics, and the physical environment). Building on detailed small-scale ethnographic case studies, Gameworlds is the first book to explore the nature of play in the virtual worlds of video games and how this play relates to, and crosses over into, everyday play in the actual world

Orphaned Films: Digital Film Practices by Today’s Children

Today’s children start making digital films at a very young age by the use of smartphones, compact cameras and other mobile media devices. For these youngest filmmakers, filming is a form of play. In general, once the film has been recorded, the child loses interest in it. We propose to call children’s digital video recordings “orphaned films,” not only because they are generally destined for oblivion, but also because they are not claimed by their very own makers. Instead of studying these digital “home movies” within the tradition of domestic media practices, we take them as a starting point for discussing children’s contribution to media archaeology as a practice, that is, as a concrete engagement with media’s materiality and temporality. By probing the borders between recording and recorded, for instance, children intuitively create connections between the past, the present and the future of the moving image. They are resisting the planned obsolescence of today’s technological devices by repurposing them, by turning them into playful tools and by using them to explore not only the world around them but also the limitations and potentialities of the media.As crianças atuais começam a criar filmes digitais muito cedo, pelo uso de smartfones, câmeras compactas e outros dispositivos de mídia digital. Para estes jovens cineastas, filmar é uma forma de brincar. Em geral, uma vez que o filme tenha sido gravado, a criança perde interesse nele. Nós propomos chamar gravações de vídeos digitais feitas por essas crianças de “filmes órfãos”, não apenas porque são geralmente destinados ao esquecimento, mas também porque não são reivindicados por seus próprios criadores. Ao invés de estudar esses “filmes caseiros” na tradição de práticas de mídia domésticas, nós o tomamos como ponto de partida para discutir a contribuição de crianças à arqueologia da mídia como uma prática, ou seja, um engajamento concreto com a materialidade e temporalidade da mídia. Examinando as fronteiras entre gravação e produto gravado, por exemplo, as crianças intuitivamente criam conexões entre o passado, o presente e o futuro da imagem em movimento. Elas estão resistindo à obsolescência planejada dos dispositivos tecnológicos atuais de forma a reaproveitá-los, transformando-os em ferramentas lúdicas e usando-os para explorar não apenas o mundo a seu redor, mas também as limitações e potencialidades da mídia

Curating media learning: Towards a porous expertise

This article combines research results from a range of projects with two consistent themes. Firstly, we explore the potential for curation to offer a productive metaphor for the convergence of digital media learning across and between home / lifeworld and formal educational / systemworld spaces – or between the public and private spheres. Secondly, we draw conclusions from these projects to argue that the acceptance of transmedia literacy practices as a site for rich educational work – in media education and related areas – can only succeed if matched by a convergence of a more porous educator–student expertise

Digital play: a new classification

This paper draws on an ESRC-funded study of play and creativity in preschool-aged children’s use of apps in the UK. The main objectives of the study were to collect information about access to and use of apps in the home, establish the most popular apps and identify the features of those apps that are successful in promoting play and creativity. A mixed-method approach was used to collect data, including video filming of children using the most popular apps. In identifying play types that emerged in the analysis of data, the team utilised an established taxonomy, which outlines sixteen play types. This taxonomy was reviewed and adapted to analyse data from the project relating to digital play. Through this process, an additional type of play, transgressive play, was identified and added to the taxonomy. The paper outlines the implications of the revised taxonomy for future studies of play