This essay is a personal reflection on the implementation of "Creating Critical Viewers," a national media literacy program sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), an industry association, in 1995. The television industry's decision to develop a media literacy curriculum in the 1990s was a powerful…

Do textbooks matter in an ever-changing field of broadcast journalism? Are some teaching materials irrelevant or out of touch with equipment needs, or lack thereof, at small institutions? Noting that these questions need to be considered when evaluating broadcast or mass communication writing and production textbooks by national companies, this…

Examines television as a means for providing multicultural education. Discusses the influence of television on children, the stereotypical message of television, how ethnic groups are portrayed, and objectives for a curriculum on television. (AEF)

In early 1985, one of the new television channels resulting from the expansion of the Fort Smith TV Cable Company was allocated to Westark Community College (WCC). In July, a task force was appointed to develop recommendations regarding programming, policies, staffing, equipment, physical location, and organizational location. This report presents…

This report summarizes the activities of a two-year project to develop curriculum materials to encourage and enable students in grades K through 5 to learn critical television viewing skills, and to use these skills to become evaluative consumers of television. A review of the project provides background information; describes the specific…

This final report summarizes the activities of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a project designed to develop curriculum materials to teach critical television viewing skills at the postsecondary level, including individuals in various community and professional groups, as well as students in formal educational programs. Defining such skills as those which…

To counter Hispanic migrant youth's educational discontinuities and high dropout rate, Congress established the national Migrant Education Program as part of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Hawkins-Stafford Amendment (1988) expanded students' eligibility. Describes exemplary programs for older students: PASS (Portable Assisted…

An Australian study investigated the extent to which media literacy education for secondary school students met its objectives for teaching critical thinking about mass media, both print and television. Results give insight into this cohort's ability to make sense of media messages and about differences in different demographic groups. (MSE)

Reviews a study of 167 British secondary school students which evaluated a course developed to improve television literacy by focusing on skills related to recall and drawing inferences from and making judgements about programs. Pretests and posttests given to groups divided by ability levels are described and results are analyzed. (Author/LRW)

Twenty-one emotionally disturbed elementary grade children completed a television viewing skills curriculum. Results of the intervention found that the subjects made significantly more accurate reality-fantasy discriminations concerning television program content than a control group; however, the curriculum was not effective in increasing…

Among the prescriptions for improving children's school readiness is a call for television to lead the way through the provision of ready-to-learn programing and services for the nation's preschoolers. No single element of a national ready-to-learn service will have a greater impact on its effectiveness than the programing it airs. Three…

A self-instructional approach used at Central Michigan University to teach basic broadcasting techniques to students in a basic production course is described in this paper. Separate sections discuss the following topics: (1) problems involved in attempting to provide large numbers of students with hands-on training in broadcast production; (2)…

Seven papers present current research approaches/results from several countries about the use of media in education. Topics include European research on media/technology in education, North American research on learning from media, controlled versus classroom research on computers, textbook design, critical television-viewing curricula, research…

In 1989, the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools received a grant to create an elementary arts magnet school and to enhance magnet programs at four other schools in Portland (Oregon). The Portland Magnet Program emphasized improvements in programing, marketing, and articulation between magnet programs, allowing the schools to purchase…