Media Fluency

Media has become a staple in our lives and seems to be present in all aspects of life which is why media fluency is of such importance. Media fluency can be defined as, “interpret[ing] and make[ing] informed judgments as users of information and media, as well as to become skillful creators and producers of information” (Hardin, 2024). Media fluency is important because it teaches students how to analyze, interpret, and understand various sources of media to make sense of the world around them. 

Media fluency includes analyzing sources to identify if sources are reputable, accurate, show bias, or are up-to-date. It also includes identifying media and understanding its purpose of creation and the information that it conveys. Media fluency allows students to be able to identify reliable sources that can back up their writing or research. Additionally, media fluency gives students the skills needed to ethically review sources before using them to support research or before sharing them with others. 

Media fluency matters and should be taught in classrooms for many reasons. There are mass amounts of media available to students that are unreliable and misinformative. Being able to teach students skills to help them identify misinformation will aid them in choosing the media that is most efficient. Additionally, with the role of AI, it is important more than ever that teachers are teaching media fluency. Media fluency can be taught in various ways in the classrooms such as source accuracy verification, detection of bias, and information checking. However, also teaching students to be collaborative, curious, and critical thinkers is important (Niessen, 2013). Teaching these skills can be useful not only at school but also at home. While it is important that teachers incorporate media fluency into their curriculums at school, it is also important that parents support the same ideas at home. Parents can model how to practice media fluency when students are around, as well as, having conversations about the importance of media fluency.

Teaching media fluency has many positive impacts on teachers and students. Media fluency promotes global citizenship within students which helps to form responsible adult citizens. Additionally, it helps students to identify bias and learn that not all information that is represented in media sources is of importance. Ultimately, teaching media fluency to students will support student learning well into adulthood. 

It is of the utmost importance that parents and teachers review the importance of media fluency within the classroom. Media fluency allows students to efficiently review sources and media to become informed citizens who are prepared for learning into adulthood. Not only is teaching media literacy important for students today, but it is also important for the future of the world that people are able to identify accurate information.

References:

Hardin, G. (2024). Guides: Media and information fluency: Media and information fluency. Media and Information Fluency - Media and Information Fluency - Guides at University of North Texas. https://guides.library.unt.edu/medialiteracy/media-information-fluency 

Niessen, S. (2013). What is Digital Fluency? https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/42835630/What_is_Digital_Fluency_-final_draft-libre.pdf?1455889799=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DWhat_is_Digital_Fluency.pdf&Expires=1744584253&Signature=CviV0DIr7YF2tJzo7f-jrPXZoIsCWsmH9i2XrKiTzJKFhZl4GNtCxFIDdpQ9gZCAspYLtUMeNu~Nf~gs7cEkunUJKFHVe3cDe5qj20uH1r5BilSkYhU61yvSmT~zSHErlZaChxVFZNIkYX2rcWXXTaTFpn023TsMBLSnW~z6eY6dXDI~9RIRGPeAt-cQWBg9vUzQMnVIVjCwW~E-eAwAXB-pd2hDbei-7Y2~2xcAfPF6hwtr9Y1ojg2ysPHXjPKRaIphivsJOtxs5ixLmNrv2Y4KMdgQnN4enVjO~9Bhbh7-AvKHi5tvJD2ehAVo1h~gEinTgDF~VijeY4IuqC2WfQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA