Vibe Coding with AI
As AI tools make it possible to create apps, games, and interactive experiences without ever writing a line of code, a new practice called “vibe coding” is raising big questions for educators, technologists, and learners alike. Popularized by New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose, vibe coding invites anyone with an idea to build software by describing it in plain language, but it also stirs…
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Favorite Podcast Share Out
What are your favorite podcasts and who are your favorite podcasters? How do you share these with others? Finding, sharing, and filtering high quality podcasts is a valuable activity, especially when we engage in this process with others who share common interests like “media literacy.” But it can also be inspiring and invigorating to share favorite podcasts about our personal hobbies and niche…
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The Cure That Endures
Renee Hobbs addresses the South American Business Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina In today’s media-saturated world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, misled, or emotionally drained. With AI-generated content, influencer marketing, and algorithmic persuasion shaping our daily experiences, many of us struggle with confusion, cynicism, and disconnection. In this compelling keynote, media literacy…
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Searching With AI
With AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude reshaping how people search for information, traditional search engines like Google face new competition—and new scrutiny. But as more users turn to generative AI for answers, critical questions arise: How reliable are these AI "searches"? What happens when algorithms hallucinate facts, reflect hidden biases, or omit information entirely? Join the…
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Privacy, Power, and Platforms
As surveillance technologies expand and authoritarian impulses rise both in the U.S. and globally, digital privacy is no longer a niche concern—it’s an urgent classroom conversation. Join us for this timely Media Education Lab webinar where we’ll unpack the forces shaping our digital lives and explore how educators can help students understand, critique, and protect their privacy. Together, we’ll…
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Beyond the Algorithmic Feed
Social media is being rebuilt from the ground up. Instead of reinforcing echo chambers through centralized algorithms, emerging federated platforms like Bluesky aim to create more user-centric, customizable, and humane spaces for online interaction. Join us for "Beyond the Algorithmic Feed," a MediaEd Club conversation exploring the architecture and ethics of decentralized social networks. Before…
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Civic Engagement and the Impact of Artificial Intelligence
The Civic Engagement lecture series is an ongoing series with an overarching goal to highlight individuals who use their time and talent to create space for others to be civically engaged in unique ways. The April panel, Civic Engagement and the Impact of Artificial Intelligence, will focus on the opportunities and challenges of generative AI as a tool for public information. DATE: Monday, April…
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From Stone Age to AI
From the first campfire stories to the algorithms shaping our digital lives, information networks have always played a central role in how we understand the world and each other. In "Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI," Yuval Noah Harari explores how networks of…
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Media Literacy: Critical Thinking for an AI World
MEDIA LITERACY Critical Thinking for an AI WorldStarting April 12, 2025 Work with a team of Palestinian and American educators to create a media literacy program for Palestinian young adults to build resilience and critical thinking skills WHY IT MATTERSIn today's digital age, navigating the complexities of media is crucial for everyone. Media literacy plays a crucial role in building resilience…
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Bioneers 2025
Misinformation, “Truthiness,” and Critical Thinking: Seeing Through the Madness by Enhancing Media Literacy for All One of the most disconcerting trends in modern political discourse is the increasing feeling that there is no “shared reality” between opposing sides on many issues. In a world facing so many wicked problems simultaneously, the growing inability to collectively discern fact from…
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Free Speech in an Era of Digital Platforms
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 TIME: 10:00-11:00 AM ESTLOCATION: Online. Free …
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Media Literacy is for Everyone
In response to the enthusiasm and excitement around our last event in October, we are excited to officially invite you back to Rhode Island PBS for the next event in the recurring series, “Media Literacy is for Everyone”. DATE: Tuesday, February 11 TIME: 5:00 - 7:00 PM ESTLOCATION: Rhode Island PBS, 50 Park Ln, Providence, RI We're dedicated to the process of building relationships, identifying…
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Digital Authorship Graduate Course
Digital Authorship (EDC 534) is offered in the Spring of 2025 semester by Professor Renee Hobbs. It is one of four required courses in the Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy. The course is offered fully online in an asynchronous format for Anytime Learning.DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS JANUARY 20, 2025 ABOUT THE COURSE: The course examines how AI tools can be used for creative expression and…
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Book Party, Media Literacy in Action, 2nd Edition
Join Renee Hobbs for a book party to celebrate the publication of Media Literacy in Action, 2nd edition!DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 2025TIME: 12 PM - 1 PM ESTLOCATION. Online. REGISTER HEREHelp students…
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Together We Rise: The Next 100 Days
Together We Rise: The Next 100 Days Co-Creating Connections and Possibilities in a Time of Transition The program continues! Join us for reflection and fellowship. This weekly webinar addresses themes of social connection, political transition, stress reduction, and media literacy. Sessions include guest speakers, guided discussions, and mindfulness practices. We are co-constructing the support…
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Participatory Storytelling and News
Participatory storytelling is reshaping news and public discourse, driving both polarization and civic engagement. Join us for “Participatory Storytelling and News” as we unpack insights from Kate Starbird’s research on misinformation and modern media ecosystems. Drawing on the Tech Policy Press December 2024 podcast interview with Starbird, this session explores how educators can better…
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AI ChatBot Ethics
AI-powered chatbots are reshaping how we interact online, but they also raise pressing ethical and practical concerns—especially for parents and teachers. Join us for AI ChatBot Ethics as we examine how children and teens engage with these tools, from companionship to questionable information sources. Drawing on the BBC TechLife podcast “Dating a Chatbot” and recent high-profile stories, we’ll…
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BlueSky Educational Networking
Thousands of educators are using the social media platform BlueSky to connect, share ideas, and collaborate. With so many social networking platforms now available, where should innovative teachers and educators connect? Especially since November 2024, one answer is BlueSky, thanks in part to the #EduSky…
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Building Resilient Communities: Using Media Literacy to Fight Extremism, Hate and Violence
This session, part of UNESCO Global MIL Week and co-organised by the Media Learning Association and Media Education Lab, will be dedicated to exploring media literacy as a proactive tool for resisting harmful communication, preventing extremism, and fostering stronger,…
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Digital Ubuntu/Empathy of Teenagers
In the third interactive session, co-hosts Aurra Kawanzaruwa and Yonty Friesem will share case studies of digital empathy/Ubunto with teenagers. Participants will discuss how can media education and digital citizenship across the globe support adolescent search for identity and human connections to society. What are the concepts of Ubuntu/Empathy when teens are engaged online? As teens get more…
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Digital Ubuntu/Empathy of Children
In the second interactive session, co-hosts Aurra Kawanzaruwa and Yonty Friesem will share case studies of digital empathy/Ubunto with children. Participants will discuss how can media education and digital citizenship across the globe support children's rights and connections. What are the concepts of Ubuntu/Empathy when children are engaged online? As children get more and more surrounded by…
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MediaEd Club: The Rise of Chicago's Queer Country Music Scene: ‘Country Music is the People’s Music’
In this session of the MediaEd Club, Shelby Hawkins will lead a conversation about building and finding community through public service, and how media can be used as a tool to bring people together. In this conversation, Shelby will delve into the media segment The Rise of Chicago's…
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Understanding young people’s emotions: A practical guide to countering disinformation with FAKE kNOw MORE
Join a webinar with guest speaker Aleksandra Monkos, who will unveil the core concepts behind FAKE kNOw MORE – an international project aimed at empowering educators in formal and non-formal settings working with young people aged 10-15 from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Attendees will discover how to use tools like activity scenarios, videos, and the card game 'Octogram,' all designed to build…
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Media Literacy Practices with Resilience
Join a session with guest speaker Maria Leonida, film director and media tutor, to discuss how various visual expression techniques can be used in media literacy education. Aiming at a variety of audiences, with higher or lower language skills, with a transgenerational and transdisciplinary attitude, Maria Leonida proposes deconstructing film and audiovisual language to self-contained units with…
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Media literacy, Moral Panic and Video Games - Learning Through Play
A cultural phenomenon, a 350 billion-dollar-a-year industry, a vehicle for developing participatory culture and core skills of the XXI century - media and digital literacy among them; a sport? Or the worst thing that's ever happened to the kids since TV? On July 23rd, we'll discuss the unique medium and experience of video games, learning through learning (and the difference between game-based…
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MediaEd Club: The Future is Analog
In this session, Francia Garcia Hernandez will guide a discussion on the future of technology based on the thought-provoking book "The Future is Analog" by David Sax.Amid the increasing use of AI and predictions about the digital future, this book offers some lessons drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic that can guide individuals in using…
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Perception, Fear, and Media: Roots of Polarization
Perception, Fear, and Media: Roots of PolarizationA 2-Week Deep Dive Micro-Credential Course for Emerging and Established LeadersBuilding upon the success of the February's MediaEd Institute, we are thrilled to offer a new online professional learning experience for educators who want to advance their…
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Media Club: Gen Z, Digital Media and Transcultural Lives
In this session, Kiran Vinod Bhatia and Manisha Pathak-Shelat will share the methodological approach and key arguments proposed in their book Gen Z, Digital Media and Transcultural Lives: At Home i…
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Perspectivas: Literacidad (alfabetización) Mediática en el Mundo
Perspectivas: Literacidad (Alfabetización) Mediática Alrededor del MundoTe damos la bienvenida a la primera serie de webinars en español organizada por el Laboratorio de Educación Mediática, Media Education Lab por su nombre en inglés. Nuestra organización se dedica a promover la educación para la alfabetización literaria mediante la investigación académica, colaboración interdisciplinaria y…
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Exposing the Hidden World of Media Market Research
Join us to learn more about market research and how it constructs a picture of the viewer for Hollywood DATE: Monday, April 29 TIME: 12 - 1 PM ESTLOCATION: Online. Click here to register Within the media industries, Nielsen audience measurement helps guide executives in crafting programming, building…
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Hypertext Writing as a Creative and Research Practice
Today, when artificial intelligence seems to be getting better at writing and doing research for us, it is essential to recognize the advantages of the unique messiness that defines human thinking. Organizing our thoughts, especially in writing, can be tough. Relying on such tools as ChatGPT to produce flowing and seemingly logical texts might seem like an attractive solution to us – and to our…
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Ripplers are Courageous
Join us for informal discussion about the ongoing progress that occurring as people from across Rhode Island, the USA, and the world implement COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS and education programs to their community, workplace, library or school. DATE: Thursday, April 25, 2024TIME: 7 PM ESTLOCATION: Online via Zoom. …
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Postcolonial Media Studies
In this 8th and final webinar, we discuss ‘Postcolonial Media Studies: Possibilities, Challenges and Limits of an Emerging Discipline’. Speakers Radhika Parameswaran’s and Sangeet Kumar’s talk will explore how the emerging sub-discipline of postcolonial media studies can illuminate different aspects of our discipline. We will explore the possibilities and limits of postcolonial theoretical…
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Innovative Mobile Communication in Crisis
Read here about our full webinar series on Inequalities and Media Education.This 6th webinar is on innovative mobile communication in crisis and is titled, ‘Adapting Mobile Communication for Flooding in a Colonia in Texas, U.S.A.’ Professor Keri K. Stephens will discuss an innovative project providing…
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What Conspiracy? Media Education in/and the Mirror World
Read here about our full webinar series on Inequalities and Media Education. One of the most striking outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the spirited and public opposition to vaccinations and vaccine mandates. The gradually fraying line between virtual and offline “real” worlds increasingly…
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The AI Challenge: Tool Or Tyrant?
Read here about our full webinar series on AI in the Classroom In this webinar, we will discuss how Artificial Intelligence (AI), and especially generative AI (ChatGPT, Dall-E, etc.) is catalyzing a vast transformation of our society. We are seeing the first few effects, such as computer programmers who are twice as…
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MediaEd Forum
Join us for the 17th MediaEd Forum!We've changed the name of the Northeast Media Literacy Conference (now in its 17th year) to reflect the growing global diversity of our online knowledge community!Conference Theme: Confronting the ChallengesFriday & Saturday, January 12-13, 2024 ONLINE VIA ZOOM…
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Media Literacy Matters
Renee Hobbs is thrilled to be a featured presenter at the European Digital and Media Literacy Conference in Brussels, which puts the many faces of digital and media literacy in the European spotlight during the Belgian EU presidency. February 27 - March 1, 2024Brussels, BelgiumThe conference is focused on showcasing and exchanging initiatives, tools, projects and practices that can be integrated…
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Learning, Design, and Play: How to Make Games and Teach Them
“Learning, Design, and Play: How to Make Games and Teach Them” focuses on ways of designing games around particular learning goals and how youth learn through playing games. A panel of designers and expert game facilitators with a variety of gaming contexts join researchers from the Literacy Research Association's Critical Gaming Literacies Study Group for this one hour event. Panelists will…
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Connectivity & Digital Disruption: The Digital Divide
Read here about our full webinar series on Inequalities and Media EducationIn this fourth webinar, we will explore the concepts of digital divides from both U.S. domestic and global digital divides. Susan Wiesinger and Ralph Beliveau discuss their new book, Digital Literacy: A Primer on Media, Identity,…
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Media Literacy in Action, 2nd edition 2025
The blurring of entertainment, information, and persuasion is reshaping work, life, and citizenship. As a result, our relationship to media has never been so important nor so complex. By asking critical questions about what they watch, listen to, read, and use, students can be better prepared to be responsible communicators who can use a variety of formats and genres for self-expression and…
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The Routledge Handbook of Media Education Futures Post-Pandemic.
Our team from the Media Education Lab is proud to announce the publication of The Routledge Handbook of Media Education Futures Post-Pandemic.This handbook showcases how educators and practitioners around the world adapted their routine media…
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Exploring the Roots of Digital and Media Literacy through Personal Narrative
Explore the multidisciplinary nature of media literacy education It's been said that the lack of scholarship about the history of media literacy has been a source of some of the conflicts and debates among scholars and practitioners. Media literacy stands at the intersection of the fields of media studies and education, and these scholars have divergent perspectives on the past, present and…
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Teachers Guide, Media Literacy in Action
This Teacher’s Guide will help you get the most out of the new textbook by Renee Hobbs, as it offers practical guidance on using this textbook in the classroom. Whether you are an experienced teacher or teaching media literacy for the first time, this guide…
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Set Your Motivation
The Digital Learning Horoscope is a 48-item Likert scale instrument that assesses teachers’ perception of the value and relevance of six conceptual themes, namely: attitudes toward technology tools, genres and formats; message content and quality; community connectedness; texts and audiences; media systems; and learner-centered focus. …
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Internet: Indispensable or Evil?
OverviewIn these four lessons, students use the episode Adam Ruins the Internet (Season 2, Episode 12) as a starting point to discuss the role of the Internet in modern culture and learn about media policies that shape people’s online…
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All About Media
It's never too early to be smart about media!Give emerging readers the tools to learn about media, evaluate it, and understand it. Readers will learn essential critical thinking concepts along with important topics such as understanding how to find sources and how to properly source, privacy and Internet safety, evaluating ads and news reports, and determining the differences between facts,…
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