“Any girl can be glamorous,” Hedy Lamarr once said. “All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” Well, Hedy Lamarr did much more than that: along with being one of the most glamourous actresses of her era, once she had become bored with her life being typecast as an exotic seductress in movies she became a successful inventor; her early work brought forth versions of wireless technology that led eventually to what we know as wi-fi and bluetooth. The exceptional Google Doodle that is being unveiled today is a superb little movie in its own right and a fine homage to this inspiring and very interesting woman.
Archive for the ‘Media Literacy’ Category
Women Pioneers of the Cinema (and more): Hedy Lamarr
Posted in Chapter 8, Media Literacy, Women Mediamakers, tagged bluetooth, Google Doodle, Hedy Lamarr, wi-fi on November 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Project-based Learning in Edutopia
Posted in Media Literacy, tagged Assessment, Collaborative Learning, Edutopia, Media Literacy Education, Project-Based Learning on October 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Summary of points from the recent article The Role of Collaboration and Feedback in Advancing Student Learning in Media Literacy and Video Production in the JMLE has appeared in Edutopia, the online magazine from the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Article in Journal of Media Literacy Education
Posted in Chapter 1, Media Literacy, tagged assessment feedback, Journal of Media Literacy Education, National Association for Media Literacy Education, Project-Based Learning on September 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »
This month, an article I authored on project-based learning has been published in the Journal of Media Literacy Education, an academic journal appearing bi-annually in coordination with the National Association for Media Literacy Education.
Titled The Role of Collaboration and Feedback in Advancing Student Learning in Media Literacy and Video Production, the article shares collaborative learning case studies to explore a range of strategies and objectives in media literacy education and to highlight the importance of structured processes and assessments in project-based learning. Check it out!
Jump Cut
Posted in Chapter 1, Media Literacy, tagged Arya Stark, Game of Thrones, Jump Cut, Maisie Williams, Spellbound Documentary, YouTube on September 12, 2015| 1 Comment »
Among the various concepts covered in editing, from my experience there is little question that some beginning media literacy students have enormous difficulties with what seems to be a very basic term: jump cut. To demonstrate an effective use of jump cuts, the piece I reference in Moving Images is the opening of the exceptional documentary Spellbound, in which a spelling bee champion wrestles with a word in a humorous, compelling jump-cut sequence that sets the stage for an enthralling, complex story of spelling bee competitors. However, I have found that even after seeing a number of examples, including that one, many students begin describing virtually any cut of any kind between two shots as a “jump cut.” So, what to do?
Well, in a short time, jump cuts have become the standard main course in the diet of the YouTuber generation. Just days ago, actress Maisie Williams (who has already been watched “growing up” as Arya Stark on Game of Thrones), opened a YouTube channel and quickly got the now-standard huge amounts of worldwide press and over a million views. And this, naturally, with a video made up of a single composition cut a bunch of times from what one would guess to be a few takes. It certainly could have been edited with iMovie, or even WeVideo: it is a single close shot with numerous jump cuts. So — are you looking for another simple lesson for the term “Jump Cut?” Here you go. As Fatboy Slim asked us, “Why try harder?” After all, just one shot in the bedroom confessing or preaching to the mirror has become chatting to millions through the looking glass — only cut it up for the best bits. Of course, make sure you have perfect skin — then it’s on to fame, adulation, and riches.
Opening Days Again!
Posted in Chapter 1, Media Literacy, Resources, tagged Douglas Rushkoff, FrontLine, Generation Like, media literacy, PBS, PowerPoint, Tyler Oakley on August 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps school started for you recently or you are in the first days of a new school year — here’s a reminder that I have posted earlier pieces for starting off the year, including ones that feature links to media literacy coursework slideshows with linked videos, activities, and other useful resources.
Meanwhile, I was recently reviewing trending topics and reference points for new media, and I laughed when I saw the opening video to Tyler Oakley‘s YouTube page in which he gushes about the wonderful year he’s had and that PBS “did a documentary about me!” I guess it says it all about “Generation Like” that he declares it’s a documentary just about him when Douglas Rushkoff and the FrontLine producers create a new, insightful piece about “how the perennial teen quest for identity and connection has migrated to social media — and exposes the game of cat-and-mouse that corporations are playing with these young consumers.” As Alissa Quart adds, “today, coolness is … like you have to be constantly selling yourself, showing yourself and marketing yourself… Instead of turning your back to the audience or wearing sunglasses at night, you’re taking off those sunglasses and you’re smiling into the camera. The currency now is one of constant approval and a constant hum of self-assertion…” Get it, Tyler?
mediateacherdotnet 