Australian School Library Association > Advocacy > School Library Innovation Award for Media Literacy Enhancement

School Library Innovation Award for Media Literacy Enhancement

School Library Innovation Award for Media Literacy Enhancement

Proudly sponsored by EnhanceTV and ASLA Inc.

This national award recognises and honours outstanding school library teams who demonstrate a high level of achievement in the award criteria, making a positive impact on media literacy within the school.

This award carries cash prizes from EnhanceTV, for use in the library.
Winner: $ 1000
Two Highly Commended prizes: $500 each

Sponsors
EnhanceTV is brought to you by Screenrights, the non-profit organisation that licences Australian schools to copy and keep programs from television and radio. EnhanceTV and Screenrights are non-profit organisations committed to the use of educational audiovisual content in Australian schools. The EnhanceTV website and email newsletter service gives you information and access to educational film and TV programs. In addition, you can download hundreds of free study guides, feature articles, RSS feeds and podcasts.

The Australian School Library Association Inc. (ASLA) is a national authority, a peak forum in the field of teacher librarianship and school library resource services.

Award Criteria
The school library team must clearly demonstrate:

    1. How they actively promote media literacy through the use of film and television in the school.
    2. How this results in a library and information service that provides teachers with classroom resources and improves student learning.
    3. This includes, but is not limited to:
      • Disseminating support information and resources
      • Utilising broadcast television
      • Managing video resources
      • Developing innovative ways to promote media literacy

Who can apply or be nominated
School library teams, including qualified teacher librarians with a minimum of one year's experience as a Teacher Librarian, who are financial members (personal or school) of one of the ASLA Member Associations; and whose school is licensed by Screenrights, can apply or be nominated.

Note - all government schools and almost all other schools are licensed by Screenrights. For further information about licensing contact Screenrights.

Nominations / Applications for the School Library Innovation Award for Media Literacy Enhancement should be sent to the Executive Officer, ASLA.

Judging
The panel consists of a representative from EnhanceTV and two representatives from the Australian School Library Association Inc. (ASLA).

Due Date
All nominations and supporting materials need to be provided electronically. Please download the nomination form. The closing date for receipt of nominations is 21 November 2006.

What is Media Literacy?

Children today are growing up in an age of media -TV, movies, video games, computers, the Internet, and Ipod’s.

"Media bring the world into our homes. From them, we learn about war and peace, the environment, new scientific discoveries, and so on. We are dependent upon mass communication for knowing what is going on in our physical, social, economic, and political environments. In other words, almost everything we know about people, places, and events that we cannot visit first-hand comes from the media. We also rely on media for entertainment and pleasure. Television and film have become the storytellers of our generation; these stories tell us about who we are, what we believe, and what we want to be." (A few words about "Media Literacy")

Definitions

"The purpose of media literacy is to empower young people to understand the mass media and how it works so that they can be in control of this important aspect of their own lives." (A few words about "Media Literacy")

"The goal of media literacy in schools is to foster critical viewing skills in young viewers." (Television as a tool: Talking with kids about TV)

"Media Literacy is the ability to ‘read’ and understand visual, aural and digital messages. It means having the skills to understand and interact with the media analytically, critically and knowledgeably." (Burton, Lee 2005, ‘What is this Media Literacy Thing? Primary and secondary classroom ideas from across Australia, in Australian Screen Education Online, Autumn 2005, issue 38, pp. 93-98.)

Some examples of teaching Media Literacy:

  • Teaching children to discriminate between reality and fantasy in the media
  • TV is an excellent tool for comparing a novel to its movie adaptation, or the "modernising" of an old story (e.g. Clueless vs Emma), or a newspaper to a television news story.
  • Teaching how media works – picture, movement, language, sound, captions etc.
  • Integrating the study of media with children producing their own media

Online Teaching Resources:

Australian Children’s Television Foundation
Centre for Media Literacy - 10 Classroom Approaches to Media Literacy
EnhanceTV
EnhanceTV -- What is media literacy? by Lee Burton
Media Awareness Network
Media Literacy Review
Australian Screen Education Online -  (Burton, Lee 2005, ‘What is this Media Literacy Thing? Primary and secondary classroom ideas from across Australia, in Australian Screen Education Online, Autumn 2005, issue 38, pp. 93-98.)
Screenrights
Talking With Kids
VidKids Media Literacy Program
Young Media Australia
Youth Learn

Past School Library Innovation Award for Media Literacy Enhancement winners: 2006

Last updated: 18 March 2007