This presentation was given by Prof Renee Hobbs as part of the MEDEAnet webinar on “Conversation with Prof Renee Hobbs”" on 5 December 2013. MEDEAnet aims to promote media-based learning to organisations and practitioners through local training and networking events, online resources and knowledge sharing. MEDEAnet will also exploit best practices of the annual competition MEDEA Awards and extend its existing informal network and support the MEDEA Association, a membership organisation that ensures the sustainability of the MEDEA Awards. More info: http://www.medeanet.eu/

1. Conversation with Renee Hobbs
Thursday, December 5, 2013
10 a.m. EST / 4 p.m.CET
Twitter: @reneehobbs
Web: www.mediaeducationlab.com

2. www.mediaeducationlab.com

3. Who’s Here Today?
Poll

4. Copyright and Fair Use
for Digital Learning
•
•
•
•
Hobbs, R. (2010). Copyright clarity: How fair use supports digital learning. Beverly
Hills: Corwin/Sage.
Hobbs, R. and Donnelly, K. (2011). Towards a pedagogy of fair use for multimedia
composition. In Martine Courant Rife, Shaun Slattery, and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss
(Eds.) Copy(write): Intellectual property in the writing classroom. West
Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press (pp. 275 – 294).
Hobbs, R. (2012). Exemption to the Prohibition of Circumvention of Copyright
Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies. To the Copyright
Office, Library of Congress. Reply Comments of Professor Renee Hobbs on Behalf
of the Media Education Lab at the Harrington School of Communication and Media
at the University of Rhode Island.
Hobbs, R. (2013). The blurring of art, journalism and advocacy: Confronting 21st
century propaganda in a world of online journalism. I/S: A Journal of Law and
Policy for the Information Society 8(3), 625 – 638. (Moritz College of Law, The Ohio
State University)

5. News Media Production in School
•
•
•
•
•
Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom.
Beverly Hills: Corwin/Sage.
Hobbs, R. , Cohn-Geltner, H. & Landis, J. (2011). Views on the news: Media literacy
empowerment competencies in the elementary grades. In C. Von Feilitzen, U.
Carlsson & C. Bucht (Eds.). New questions, new insights, new approaches. The
International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. NORDICOM. University
of Gothenburg, Sweden (pp. 43 – 56).
Babad, E., Peer, A., & Hobbs, R. (2012). Media literacy and media bias: Are media
literacy students less susceptible to non-verbal judgment biases? Psychology of
Popular Media Culture.1(2), 97 – 107. Doi: 10.137/a0028181
Hobbs, R., Clay, D., Clapman, L. & Cheers, I. (2010). PBS News Hour Student
Reporting Labs. [News reporting and production curriculum.] PBS News Hour:
Washington, D.C. Available: http://studentreportinglabs.org
Hobbs, R., Donnelly, K., Friesem, J. & Moen, M. (2013). Learning to engage: How
positive attitudes about the news, media literacy and video production contribute
to adolescent civic engagement. Educational Media International. DOI:
10.1080/09523987.2013.862364

6. Digital & Media Literacy with
Young Children
•
•
•
•
•
Hobbs, R., Ebrahimi, A., Cabral, N., Yoon, J., & Al-Humaidan, R. (2011). Field-based
teacher education in elementary media literacy as a means to promote global
understanding. Action for Teacher Education 33, 144 – 156.
Hobbs, R. & RobbGrieco, M. (2012). African-American children’s active reasoning
about media texts as a precursor to media literacy. Journal of Children and Media
6(4), 502 – 519.
Hobbs, R. & Moore, D.C. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Digital media and
popular culture in elementary school. Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin/Sage.
Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and strategic risk taking in informal learning with
digital media literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 1 – 28.
Hobbs, R. & Moore, D.C. (2013). Powerful Voices for Kids. Professional
development website with video content for K-6 educators. Online:
http://www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com

7. Which Topic is Most Relevant to You?
Poll

8. Powerful Voices for Kids is a
comprehensive curriculum and
professional development
program for K-6 digital and media
literacy education.

9. www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com
www.powerfulvoicesforkids.com

10. Media Literacy Learning Process
CREATE
ACCESS
ACT
REFLECT
ACCESS
ANALYZEE
REFLECT

11. LOVE
PRINT
HATE
VISUAL
SOUND
DIGITAL
Teachers’ attitudes about media, technology and popular culture
shape their work with children and youth

12. Exploring Teacher Motivations for
Using Media & Technology
TAKE THE QUIZ:
http://quiz.powerfulvoicesforkids.com

13. THE TECHIE
You’re the educator who loves tablets, apps, programs, plugins, widgets, websites, and other types of educational
technology because you have a passionate curiosity about
new tools. You see much potential to engage students with
the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives.
THE TRENDSETTER
You’re tuned into pop culture and curious about kid culture.
Maybe your own most-loved popular culture isn’t too far
removed from that of your students. You are inquisitive about
the trends and hot topics that make up a crucial component
of the fabric of your students’ everyday lives. You want school
culture to meet kids where they live with the popular culture
they know and love.

14. THE DEMYSTIFIER
As a teacher, you “pull back the curtain” to help students see
how various forms of information and knowledge are
constructed. You emphasize the practice of critical
thinking, helping students ask good “how” and “why”
questions.
THE WATCHDOG
You are a natural critical thinker, aware of how economic
systems and institutions influence our everyday
lives, particularly through the media we use. You want your
students and your peers to be more mindful of the ways that
things are bought and sold. Who owns and controls the
media content that we see, hear, read, and play with? You feel
responsible for giving your students a “wake-up call” about
the economic and institutional inner-workings of the
technology and the world that surrounds them.

15. THE TEACHER 2.0
You understand that participation in digital media and
learning cultures requires flexibility to new formats, modes of
expression, and participation in and out of school. You use
online or interactive versions of classic literature to explore
meaning behind texts. Teacher 2.0 teachers always trying new
things in the classroom and finding new ways to connect
learning to children’s culture.
ACTIVIST
As an educator, you want to make society more just and
equitable by promoting democratic participation. You use
media in the classroom as a catalyst for students to
understand how they might have a voice in improving the
quality of life in their communities and in the world.

16. THE TASTEMAKER
You want to broaden your students’ horizons. You want them
to have exposure to the kinds of media experiences that put
them in touch with historical, aesthetic, and critical
appreciation. You know that a key component of students’
future interactions will require them to draw from a variety
of cultural sources both classical and popular.
THE ALT
You are an inventive, perhaps “DIY,” teacher. You’re always
ready to challenge students with alternative ways of
finding, using, thinking about, and making media in the
classroom. Whether you use open source programs on school
computers, encourage students to start alternative clubs or
magazines, or introduce students to media that’s “off the
beaten path” of mainstream and mass media, you are likely a
key proponent of broadening students’ understanding of the
many different ways that people can communicate in the
world.

17. THE MOTIVATOR
You are an inspiration, a catalyst for your students’ creative
energy. Students who have never felt comfortable speaking
up in class, participating in activities, or contributing to class
dialogue find it easier to speak their mind when you’re
leading the classroom. You see your role as helping students
be the best they can be.
THE SPIRIT GUIDE
You are a listener. You have a dedication to the social and
emotional well-being of your students, and want to make
sure that everything you do in the classroom connects to their
immediate needs to understand themselves and their lives.
Students likely find you trustworthy, and may even confide in
you in ways that they do not for other teachers. You know
media is just one facet of student life, and you want to engage
with it to help them through the highs and lows of life in all of
its challenges and opportunities.

18. THE PROFESSIONAL
You have high standards for your students’ work, and you may
be seen as the go-to media professional in your school. You
know how to push your students to understand and emulate
the professional conventions that is important to being taken
seriously in the world of media creation. To help students
enter the real world of media creation, you bring other
authors, professionals, and media-makers into your classroom
to enrich the learning experience.
THE PROFESSOR
You balance your interest in media and technology with a
clear connection to academic standards. You want to be sure
that media and technology are not used in the classroom for
their own sake, but to advance your lessons, goals, and
learning target. Multimedia presentations, engaging
websites, and educational technology serve the purpose of
helping you deliver the core content and skills students need
to master.

19. Which Motivation Do You Identify With?
Poll

20. DISCUSSION:
How does reflection on teacher motivations
help improve teaching and learning with digital
media and technology?

21. Working with K-2 Students
Learning to be an
active viewer
Learning to
recognize how
messages are
constructed
Video
Video
Treating visual
texts as texts

22. Developing Student Voice
Engaging with the
messy realities of
popular culture

23. Making Sense of
Popular Culture
Using media
production activities
to deepen critical
analysis of media
and popular culture

25. Renee Hobbs
Professor and Founding Director
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
USA
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs
Web: http://mediaeducationlab.com
Web: http://harrington.uri.edu