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Media literacy education
Conditions for creation and development of media culture in students of secondary
professional education
Prof. Dr. L.A. Ibragimova,
Nizhnevartovsk State University, 60, 19 Mira St., Nizhnevartovsk, 628600.
laibra@yandex
I.Е. Skobeleva,
Nizhnevartovsk State University, 7, 8, 60 Let Oktyabrya St., Nizhnevartovsk, 628606, skobelevanv@ rambler.ru
Abstract. The article is devoted to the determination of the conditions for the creation and development of students' media culture. The theme is relevant since students need the skill to analyze and critically comprehend information from different sources in order to become a successful mid-level specialist. The indicators of developed media culture that are addressed in this article are the following: motivational, conceptual, communicative, operational and creative. The paper presents different views of scholars with respect to the impact of media culture on the society, and particularly on the young adults who study. Summarizing the opinions of scholars it should be noted that media culture influences both social and ideological spheres. Some scholars believe that young adults are particularly influenced by media culture because their learning efficiency in an educational institution greatly depends on the skillful use of modern means of communication.
The aim of the article is to determine and justify theoretically and practically the characteristic features of the conditions for creation and development of media culture in students. A pedagogical experiment was carried out using the method of systematic approach and the principle of relating theory with practice. The results of this study identify conditions for the creation and development of students' media culture.
It was revealed that the creation and development of media culture in students implied certain requirements both to the teachers (e.g. skills in the use of information and communication tools, self-improvement, professional development, etc.) as well as to the educational institutions (e.g. availability of the developing educational media cultural environment, establishment of the conditions for creative and productive activity of students in the space of media culture).
Keywords: education, media culture, information, methods of teaching, educational space, teacher, pedagogical conditions.
Introduction
It is often difficult for modern people to navigate the diversity of multiple information flows (i.e. the Internet, television, radio, books, newspapers, magazines) that surround them. Modern education demands that students have the ability to use the latest innovation and communication technologies and quickly adapt to different novelties.
The development of students' media culture enhances the acquisition of such skills as analysis and critical evaluation of the incoming information. These skills enable professional and personal development of students [Fedorov, 2007, p. 68]. In order to achieve these goals it is necessary to determine the conditions with respect to their legitimacy and level of implementation in the actual professional pedagogical practice.
The development of media culture in the process of learning is related with the development of the information and educational environment of educational institutions that is electronic educational resources, various forms of distant learning, when the communication between students and their teachers is mostly done through the information resources and personal interaction is minimised. The development of students' media culture should be realized as a part of their general culture.
Materials and methods
The development of media culture is one of the focus areas in the modern professional education. It is necessary to take into consideration the dual essence of media culture i.e. as a phenomenon of social and historical evolution of humankind and as an individual and personal quality of a man. This helps to determine such indicators of the students' media culture formation as motivational, conceptual, communicative, operational and creative [Chelysheva, 2009, p. 47].
One of the main indicators of media culture development is the conceptual one, which means that the learner knows the basic media concepts and can correctly use them.
The motivational indicator is also of great importance but is more difficult to identify. It is the peculiarity of values and semantic settings in the media activity as well as their ethical and spiritual nature that transfer media literacy into the dimension of personal culture and make the motivational indicator so significant.
The communicative indicator is of vital importance because it expresses the equal ability of the learner not only to perceive existing media products but also to predict the communicative effect of the media products created by the learner himself.
The development of the operational indicator means that learners are able to demonstrate their mastery in keeping business correspondence in blogs and on sites, their ability to give a competent description of the studied subject as well as their skills in creating video and photographic materials and presentations related to the studied subject field. The operational indicator is best developed in students who run their own video blogs or participate in media projects.
The creative indicator is characterized by a non-standard approach to the implementation of any idea. It is closely connected with the operational indicator otherwise media cultural skills would not be complete. The creative indicator complements all other indicators and depends on the fantasy, imagination and the level of creative thinking of the learner [Kirillova, 2005, p. 206]. Pedagogical conditions are a set of conditions in which educational activities are performed and the lifestyle conditions of the subjects of these activities. Both are understood as the factors that either facilitate or prevent successful educational activity [Khushbakhtov, 2015, p.1020].
Discussion
There is a discussion among scholars [Buckingham, 2013; Fedorov & Levitskaya, 2015; Hobbs, 2011; Livingstone, 2004] about the concept of media culture and its impact on the consciousness of young people related both to the perception of reality and to the process of learning. According to V.E. Melamud media culture is a special type of the information society culture which mediates between the society and the state, the society and the authorities [Melamud, 2005, p.43]. N.A.Paranina defines media culture as a special type of the information society culture that implies the ability to analyze and critically assess the information received through the media [Paranina, 2015, p.15]. In accordance with N.B. Kirillova media culture is "a world under cultivation" for the individuals whose needs are motivated not so much by biological but by social interests and demands [Kirillova, 2005, p.98]. N.A.Voinova reckons that media culture is a complex of information and communication tools and material and intellectual values that mankind has developed during the process of its cultural and historical evolution.
These values facilitate the development of social awareness and socialization of the individual [Voinova, 2004, p. 112]. N. Luman has come to the conclusion that media culture influences people's mind through the creation of new media spaces and the virtualization of the cultural environment, including various forms of communication and interactive engagement [Luman, 2003, p.71]. Media culture, according to A.V.Fedorov, includes not only the culture of production and transfer of the necessary information but also the culture of its perception. Media culture can serve as an indicator of personal development including individual's ability to analyze and assess any media text as well as to engage in creative media practice and absorb new knowledge through media [Fedorov, 2007, p.95].
In her works E.I.Kuznetsova presents a broad and a narrow meaning of media culture. In the broad sense the author defines it as "an actually communicating social environment which by means of symbolic exchange provides an interaction between various subsystems of the society" [Kuznetsova, 2008, p.105]. In the opinion of V.V. Savchuk, taking into account the interest of young people in the electronic mass media, it is necessary to give these media cognitive character, using the following forms of learning: work in the classroom, extracurricular activities and internet training courses [Savchuk, 2001, p.164]. Some scientists point out that "media competence" is a complex notion which presupposes the existence of inner skills for working with media texts and the ability to navigate the media space. The main condition to develop media competence is the personal position of a teacher and his/her recognition of media culture and the importance of media education in the modern society. To develop students' media competence, the authors propose the following forms of work: webinars and seminars with foresight technologies, videocases, case studies, etc. [Frolova, Riabova, Rogach, 2017, p.37].
We note that the aim of researches in the field of educational content formation is to improve the organization and functioning of the information and communication environment, which means the use of technology platforms. Thus, there is an opportunity to use specialized tools for the administration, communication and knowledge assessment is provided [Ibragimova, Skobeleva, 2017].
Considering the issue of building media competence, I.V.Chelysheva believes that the critical analysis of a media text is understood as the process of thinking associated with the identification of properties and characteristics not only of media production in general but also its components and elements in the context of personal, sociocultural and author's position. The process of adequate selection of information, its perception, interpretation and reflection is the basis for the development of personal position with respect to media texts and for the further practical application of the received information [Chelysheva, 2012, p.36].
Considering the experience in media education in the European Union, A.A.Levitskaia and O.I.Gorbatkova indicate that media education helps every citizen in every country to realize the right to freedom of speech and information and plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of democracy. Acquired through educational process media literacy includes skills which help to access information and the ability to understand and critically analyse different aspects of media content and the functions of media institutions, including economical. It also comprises the ability to communicate in various contexts and feel comfortable with all existing media as well as the capability to use the media actively in order to create and distribute media texts [Levitskaia, Gorbatkova, 2017, p.93].
Media education helps people understand how mass communication penetrates the society and how to use media in the communication with other people. The use of potential opportunities of media education depends on the objectives and tasks we are facing. Media education is characterized by variability and the possibility of being introduced in the educational process as a whole or fragmentarily.
Summarizing the scholars' views and examining the impact of media culture on the society, it should be stressed that the media influence the audience, students especially, not only
in the aesthetic sphere but it also has a serious social and ideological effect. Students have a special place in the young audience of media culture for the efficiency of their education also depends on how skillful they are at using modern means of communication. Thus, the role and significance of media culture in the educational process grows considerably.
Results
The process of creating pedagogical conditions for the development of the above mentioned indicators of studnets' media culture includes the following stages [Paranina, 2015, p.71]: training teachers to develop students' media culture; creation of the media cultural environment in the educational space which is developing and educational; ensuring independent, creative and productive activity of students in the space of media culture, which implies the process of critical thinking about the content, analysis of the found information and creation of own media products.
There are a number of requirements to the teachers who build students' knowledge and skills in using information and communication tools, programmes and technologies: organisational, that implies the ability to plan both personal and students' work and the ability to build unity among students; didactic, i.e. experience in proficient selection and preparation of teaching material and equipment as well as in expressive and coherent presentation of educational material; the ability to motivate the development of cognitive interests; research, which includes the ability to objectively assess pedagogical situation and processes; scientific and cognitive, including the ability of teachers to perfect their scientific knowledge in the chosen field; subject, i.e. the professional knowledge of a teacher in a particular subject field [Fateeva, 2007, p.85].
Thus, the requirements to the teachers who build students' skills in media culture are multidimensional, which determines the necessity for the teachers to constantly develop professionally not only on their own but through refresher courses and master classes. Refresher courses for teachers deal with such issues as: modern technologies in the educational process; psychology in pedagogical approaches; new methods in education [Chelysheva, 2012, p.40].
To create a media cultural environment which is developing and educational, teachers perform the following activities:
- use visual aids and multimedia to present teaching material, provide students with access to the necessary information resources;
- use computer technologies in all the subjects throughout the whole course of study;
- ensure freedom to choose methods, styles and means of teaching based on the information technologies and telecommunication systems in order to identify individual creative abilities of students;
- create and apply scientific and methodical systems of teaching both in their subjects and interdisciplinary courses using computer technologies;
- implement such forms of teaching as webquests, clusters, round tables etc. with the use of information and communication media [Paranina, 2014, p.70].
To ensure independent, creative and productive practice of students, teachers should enhance students' motivation to develop their own media culture. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to ensure the continuous barrier-free development of media culture among students. This goal is achievable when the above mentioned requirements are taken into account, i.e. availability of the media cultural environment which is developing and educational and the availability of teachers with high media culture and professional knowledge in every educational establishment [Chelysheva, 2012, p.36].
Teachers can assess the level of development of the indicators of media culture formation by the following criteria:
- conceptual indicator is assessed by the ability to explain the meaning of the terms from the field of media education;
- communicative indicator is assessed by the ability to find, scrutinize and analyze the information received through the media;
- motivational indicator is assessed by the aspiration for the development of professional competence and search for the materials for scientific and research purposes;
- operational indicator is assessed by the ability to create different media products, e.g. presentations, including interactive ones, video clips, etc. [Fedorov, 2007, p. 40].
Conclusions
According to Russian and foreign scholars, media culture affects different areas of the society, i.e. social, educational, ideological etc. Thus, the learning efficiency of any educational establishment depends on the students' ability to use modern means of communication. To determine the pedagogical conditions for the creation and development of students' media culture, certain conditions must be met: teachers' skills in the use of information and communication tools, their willingness to self improve and continue professional development; availability of media cultural environment which is developing and educational; fostering conditions for creative and productive activity of students in the space of media culture.
The creation of the educational media cultural environment is performed by teachers though certain activities: the use of visual aids and multimedia to present teaching material, wide use of computer technologies in the course of study; application of non-standard forms of teaching such as quizzes, presentations, webquests, etc. with the use of information and communication technologies.
Of great importance in the implementation of pedagogical conditions for the development of students' media culture is the method of graded assessment of the levels of the development of the indicators of media culture formation in students. In this process the following criteria are used: the ability to explain correctly the meaning of the terms from the field of media education; the ability to critically scrutinise and analyse the information received through the media; the motivation for the development of the professional competence in the use of media resources.
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