Media Literacy Institute 2025
In the AI age, media literacy education has never been more important. This course addresses the pressing need for students to develop media literacy skills, including critical thinking and deeper insights about the media messages they consume and produce each day. Media literacy promotes inquiry into stereotypes, representation, biases, ethical challenges, and other concerns that must be…
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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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Exploring “Media Quiteracy”
Exploring “media quiteracy”: Why digital disconnection belongs in the media literacy curriculumIn this webinar, we’ll explore the ideas that valuable learning can happen through the action of refusing to take up new media, and that non-use of media technologies can be a legitimate enactment of media and digital literacy. This, though, can be antithetical to many media literacy education…
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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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April Virtual Round Table
Join us for our first ever graduate symposium virtual round table! Our graduate symposium consists of students from around the world, who are conducting graduate research on media literacy. After refining their research focus with our executive director, Yonty Friesem, as a part of an informal, six-month virtual media literacy course, they are now ready to share their research with the Media Ed…
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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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Privacy Literacy: Slaying the Literacy Hydra
Read here about our full webinar series on Leading from the Library.In today's complex information ecosystem, librarians are increasingly tasked with addressing a multitude of literacies – from media to AI – as we strive to educate our user populations and demonstrate our value. This growing list of literacies can feel daunting and maybe…
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Power Up 2025
Calling all youth leaders and changemakers! Join us for a virtual, youth-led, global event as we confront one of the most pressing challenges of our time: misinformation. Dive into the complex realities of media manipulation and discover what each of us can do to promote and defend trustworthy information.This free event offers you the chance to:Engage with Experts: Meet and learn from leading…
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February Virtual Round Table
Join us for our first ever graduate symposium virtual round table! Our graduate symposium consists of students from around the world, who are conducting graduate research on media literacy. After refining their research focus with our executive director, Yonty Friesem, as a part of an informal, six-month virtual media literacy course, they are now ready to share their research with the Media Ed…
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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 will include guest speakers, guided discussions, and mindfulness practices. We are co-constructing the…
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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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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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Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age
Winner of the American Association of Publishers 2021 PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Sciences Media literacy educators have always…
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The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy
The definitive international reference on a topic of major and enduring importance Dynamic, multidisciplinary, and global in scope, media literacy is one of today’s fastest growing fields of applied communications. Media literacy encompasses a truly vast range of issues, including participatory culture, digital learning, civic engagement, the impact of media on children, the…
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Create to Learn
Create to Learn helps learners create multimedia texts as they develop both critical thinking and communication skills. Written by Renee Hobbs, one of the foremost experts in media literacy, this book introduces a wide range of conceptual principles at the heart of multimedia composition and digital pedagogy. Its approach is useful for anyone who sees the profound educational value of creating…
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Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning
Today, it's more important than ever before to understand the scope of your rights and responsibilities as a digital author. That's why Renee Hobbs wrote the book, Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning.…
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The Library Screen Scene
PUBLISHED JULY 15 from Oxford University Press order your copy now!In the past two decades, several U.S. states have explored ways to mainstream media literacy in school…
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Teaching Truth, Lies, and Accuracy in the Digital Age
This pedagogy article describes a semester-long undergraduate course designed to deconstruct information disorder in the post-truth era by looking at economics, ideology, and power relations. Applying a project-based learning model allowed students to enhance their digital and media literacy skills by inquiring about the accuracy of a variety of sources centered on a single story, '…
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Resistance and Learning in Media & Gender Literacy Classes
Resistance is a known component of social justice classes, and it is often seen as impeding learning. The current case study explored possible scenarios of resistance in classrooms where media representations of gender are discussed, and teachers’ reactions to such resistance. Methods used for collecting data included observations in U.S. high school classes as well as interviews with teachers…
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Civic media as a cultural dialogue: Arab and Jewish teachers & documentary filmmaking in Israel
Eighteen Arab and Jewish teachers of civic education and communication studies took part in a national professional development for peace education at the Israeli Center for Educational Technology from 2016 to 2018. They created documentaries as a way to have a cultural dialogue. While learning to produce a documentary as a form of reflection, the participants deepened their dialogues 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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Courageous Conversations
Bring media literacy and active listening to middle school, high school, college and adult learnersWith support from talented educators and experts who participated in the program, we’re proud to bring you the Courageous Conversations Curriculum. This book contains a collection of materials to help you bring media literacy and active listening into your middle school, high school or college…
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Media Literacy in Action
THE SECOND EDITION HAS ARRIVED!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…
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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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Copyright
It's more important than ever before to understand the scope of your rights and responsibilities as a digital author. That's why Renee Hobbs wrote 2 books about copyright! Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital…
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Mind Over Media: Analyzing Contemporary Propaganda
  www.mindovermedia.us Mind Over Media is the winner of the 2021 PROSE Awards for Social Sciences by the American Association of Publishers, the membership organization of the scholarly and academic press. ORDER THE BOOK!…
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Grandparents of Media Literacy
The Grandparents of Media Literacy is the website companion to a book edited by Renee Hobbs entitled Exploring the Roots of Digital and Media Literacy through Personal Narrative, which was published by Temple University Press in 2016. Read the book online. The Grandparents of…
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Create to Learn Online
When students create media to represent their learning, they really learn! At the Create to Learn Online website, you can access more than a dozen free and low-cost digital tools for creating podcasts, videos, infographics, animations, videos, remix and more. Plus, you can view and upload multimedia work samples and access study notes and PPT slides…
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Assignment: Media Literacy
After 25 years, it's still the most popular resource from the Media Education Lab!This is the 18-unit curriculum created by Renee Hobbs and colleagues in 1998!  You will be pleased to see how timeless and relevant these lessons continue to be!You can download the PDF files with lesson plans and reproducibles for each unit and use the videos to teach media literacy in conjunction with social…
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Digital Learning Anytime and Real Time
Since the start of the pandemic, educators all over the world have been learning on the fly how to use the power of digital texts, tools, and technologies for “remote emergency instruction.” As teachers quickly discovered, conducting nearly nonstop Zoom meetings, in an effort to replicate in-classroom learning in an online environment, is both ineffective and exhausting. In this series of…
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The Media Straight Up! Media Literacy Guide for Middle School
THE MEDIA LITERACY GUIDECreated by Renee Hobbs and the Media Education Lab and co-sponsored by Drug Free Pennsylvania. Access the PDF from the Pennsylvania Department of Drug Prevention Programs. Renee Hobbs and a team of Pennsylvania educators developed The Media Straight Up to…
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A Starter Guide for Engaging Online Meetings
We share the key insights we learned about online meetings into a crisp synthesis that helps everyone get started with the essential features of great online meetings!Check it out: https://bestonlinemeetings.com
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Librarians on YouTube
Librarians are often challenged to connect with their communities (learners, fellow educators, and the public) with limited time, among competing priorities, and especially recently, across distance. Among many creative approaches to engagement, YouTube offers a fresh approach for librarians to build connections beyond the physical spaces of the library and outside of formal learning environments…
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Nonviolent Communication for Talking about Coronavirus
NEW FROM THE MEDIA EDUCATION LAB! This helpful guide, created by Elizaveta Friesem, helps learners to practice talking about their feelings and needs in ways that promote compassion, empathy and genuine understanding. The work builds upon the work of Marshall Rosenberg's 2005 book, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life.…
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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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