New Times,New Media: Where to Media Education?

Abstract

Have media education and media literacy reached an impasse? Media literacy scholars and educators are beginning to raise issues concerning the relevance of ‘old-style ‘ media studies in the context of new times and new media. Media literacy is formalised as part of the Australian National Literacy Framework, yet it remains largely marginalised as an elective in the senior school syllabus. In contrast, computer education — or computer literacy — has been embraced by governments, educators and parents with blind and cheery optimism. I argue here that media studies, cultural studies, computer and technology studies can no longer be taught independently of each other. The fervour with which computer education has been embraced, and the relatively modest incursions media and cultural studies have made into mainstream curriculum, suggest that blending media-cultural studies with information and communication technology (ICT) studies can inject new life into both fields of study. Largely bereft of a critical orientation, computer literacy education can benefit from the theoretical and critically analytic orientation of media-cultural studies, which in turn can be ‘mainstreamed’ through broader exposure typical of computer education in schools today. Media studies must contend with new information technologies, and computer education needs the critical analytic tools and cultural framing approach typical of media studies.