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ARTICLE

CTF Co-Sponsors First National Media Education Week (CTF Report)

Winston Carter
Fall 2006

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Media are a powerful force in the lives of youth. In particular, digital media have changed the way they communicate, play, and learn. Young people are immersed in media, moving beyond geographic and regulatory boundaries as they access, absorb, create, repurpose, and distribute media content.

To be media literate in this complex new environment, young people need to develop a range of critical  thinking, communication, and information  management skills.  Media  education is an essential tool to help them  acquire these skills.

In order to highlight the importance of media and Web  literacy as key learning areas in  the new media  environment, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) has partnered with Media Awareness Network (MNet) to create  Canada’s first National Media Education Week, November 19-24, 2006.

To  mark  National  Media  Education  Week, MNet and  the  CTF are working with partners in  the  education,  library,  broadcasting, NGO, and government sectors to develop and promote media education programs and activities as well as professional development opportunities.

Proposed activities, leading up to and during National Media Education Week, include:

  • Launch event for the week
  • Web-based professional development tools for teaching media literacy
  • Conference presentations and panel discus- sions
  • Academic institutes and symposiums
  • Web-based teleconference for media educators
  • Distribution of a flyer, poster, and booklet promoting media education
  • Articles in educational publications and mainstream magazines
  • Public service announcement (PSA) campaign for broadcast and print
  • Information evenings and workshops for parents
  • National multimedia student contest

The CTF Web site has a portal (http://www.ctf-fce.ca/nationalmediaeducationweek/default.htm) to act as working tool to provide resources and information on the week’s activities for participants and interested stakeholders.

The National Media Week Advisory Committee is composed of Media Awareness Network, Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA), Canadian Association of  Media Education  Organizations (CAMEO), Association  for  Media  Literacy  (AML),  Nova Scotia  Teachers  Union,  and  Alberta  Teachers’ Association.

To find out how you can incorporate media education in your classroom, visit the MNet Web page for teachers at http://www.media-awareness. ca/english/teachers/index.cfm or visit the National Media Education Week portal page: http://www. ctf-fce.ca/nationalmediaeducationweek/default.htm