Artistic Thinking: Week 5

What is the role of art education and art educators in teaching students to be media literate digital citizens?

I believe that Art education and Art educators have an important, necessary role in the creation of media literate digital citizens. Art education, through visual literacy and media literacy, promotes the development of individuals who are able to critically analyze their world and who practice ethical online behavior. As Art educators, we already teach our students to look closely at their work and to analyze the works of others and so are positioned to apply these same practices to promote conscious citizens in the digital realm.

When watching the documentary Consuming Kids, I was struck at how corporations blatantly and unapologetically manipulate children through tactics that should be obvious to adults. However as another documentary –Killing Us Softly 3 (2000)– points out, adults are exposed to over 3000 ads per day and, as this fact comes from over a decade ago, it is easy to assume that the number has only gone up. As adults are as immersed in advertising as children, how can we constantly be on guard and stay aware of the ways in which we are being manipulated? In Consuming Kids, advertisers do little to take responsibility for their actions, choosing instead to place blame on consumers claiming that they have no self control as can be seen in their obese children and pets. Yet pet food is marketed to consumers with as unrealistic imagery as any other product. For example, a healthy indoor cat requires only a ¼ of a cup of food twice daily, yet advertisers insist on showing images of cats eating from large food bowls that are overflowing with kibble.

Now with the availability of new technologies marketing has moved into non-traditional and unregulated medias. Susan Linn, Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, describes “Commercials [as] so 20^th century” (Consuming Kids, 2008), as she explains how advertisers use ads as entertainment and entertainment as advertising in the creation of ad-games. Today’s educators wish to implement more new technology into their teaching and, thus, the ability for advertisers to reach into classrooms becomes easier. Without critical literacy and the promotion of ethical online behavior, students will be unprepared to fully understand and negotiate a digital media landscape that will attempt to tell them what they should want and who they should desire to be.

Rosen (2010) explains that adults must first understand underlying messages contained within media and learn how to teach children how to assess, analyze, and synthesize them (Media Literacy among 21^st-century Kids chapter, para. 3). As Art educators already teach students to look closely at artworks for meanings and many already promote teaching visual literacy in the Art classroom, Art educators have provided students with the tools and confidence needed to understanding their consumer wants and give students the ability to link advertising tactics to human emotional responses. In the Art classroom, analysis tactics such as VTS and denotation/connotation are as effective with media images as with traditional artwork. Art educators know the importance of critical analysis through questioning and Rosen (2010) provides six principles to help facilitate critical analysis of media: (1) Media messages are created, (2) media images and texts are not always accurate and should be looked at with a critical eye, (3) media messages have a point of view and are not always representations of reality, (4) various forms of media send different messages, (5) media are targeted to populations of people, and (6) most media is created for commercial purpose (Creating a Media-Literate Child section, para. 3).

            As students are taught to look critically at their world, so they become more aware of their behavior within the world. However, Brooks-Young (2010) cautions educators from assuming that students will transfer this awareness to the online world and encourages the active teaching of acceptable and ethical online behavior (Respecting the Privacy of Others section, para. 4). I believe the role of Art educators should include educating 21^st century students to be responsible, caring digital citizens. Brooks-Young (2010) encourages three rules for promoting digital citizenship: (1) respect yourself, (2) respect others, and (3) respect outside limits, such as, rules and laws (Ethical Use of Technology section, para. 1).

            Ironically, the challenge to teaching ethics is in the creation of ethical behavior in adults and teachers. We often hear about employers who do not hire potential employees due to information found publically online and employees who are fired due to information posted online. As educators we serve as role models for children and as such should provide positive models for ethical online behavior. Unfortunately as many adults –who are digital immigrants– are learning to negotiate this new digital world, they are unprepared and unable to model ethical behavior for their children. I have seen family members misuse the social networking site Facebook as a place to “vent” about people they know, not realizing that they are in fact slandering these people in a public place. It becomes difficult to expect children to ethically utilize technologies and participate in digital media as respectable, conscientious citizens when adults are unable to model appropriate online behaviors. As Brooks-Young reminds educators, students need to be taught that the internet can create a false sense of security as users cannot see or hear their readers, students should not assume that they are some how invisible, and that the internet should always be considered a public place (The Myth of Online Privacy section, para. 2).

            As Art educators are already equipped with the tools to creating a media literate generation of students, I believe our role should expand to include the teaching of ethical online behavior. The subject of ethical digital behavior can be broached through discussions about image copyright and fair-use, but should not stop there. Art conversations that move into the online forum through the implementation of classroom blogs and online discussion boards, open the door to teaching ethics and the creation of digital citizens who are knowledgeable and caring.

References:

Barbaro, A. (Producer & Director).  (2008). Consuming kids: The commercialization of childhood [Motion Picture]. USA: Media Education Foundation.

Brooks-Young, S. (2010). Chapter 10: Digital citizenship. Teaching with the tools kids really use. (Kindle Edition). Available from http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Tools-Kids-Really-ebook/dp/B00486THRE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1296870495&sr=8-2

Churches, A., Crockett, L., & Jukes, J. (2010). The digital diet: Today’s digital tools in small bytes. Canada: 21^st Century Fluency Project.

Jhally, S. (Producer and Director). (2000). Killing us softly 3: Advertising’s image of women with Jean Kilbourne [Motion Picture]. USA: Media Education Foundation.

Rosen, L. D. (2010). Chapter 7: Media literacy among 21^st-century kids. Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the way they learn. (Kindle Edition). Available from http://www.amazon.com/Rewired-Understanding-iGenerationLearnebook/dp/B003QP3NAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digitaltext&qid= 1295657170&sr=1-1