Although the use of internet and digital materials in the language classroom has come a long way over the last 25 years, still the vast majority of web based material that finds its way into the language classroom is used for information input or comprehension purposes. The students’ interaction with the materials is as such largely passive with the teacher controlling the suitability of the materials selected and deciding what information the students will extract from it. In Thinking Critically through Digital Media I have tried to build on this model, but develop it and take it to deeper and more critical levels of analysis that go beyond the superficial linguistic level and help to develop students not only as English language speakers but as capable information literate participants in the global knowledge economy. The book uses as its basis the development of key digital literacies. These include the ability to understand visually presented data, the ability collect and analyse data using a range of techniques and survey tools and the ability to create and deliver a range of presentation types using digital media tools. Whilst developing these digital literacies students are also encouraged to assess the validity, credibility and underlying bias of the information they study and are given a range of research tools and techniques for reassessing the information and evaluating how it fits within their personal framework of belief systems and values. The book itself has four main chapters. The first three chapters contain a range of activities that teachers can use with students to develop their abilities to understand and create infographics, develop research polls and surveys and create and deliver presentations. These activities give students hands-on exposure to a range of recommended tools and develop students as active creators of information whilst developing their abilities to work collaboratively in digital online environments. The fourth key chapter of the book is a collection of lesson plans that teachers can use to take students through a complete process from accessing their existing knowledge about a topic, understanding new input, examining how the information fits into their existing value scheme, checking the credibility and validity of the information, carrying out their own parallel research through social media to finally sharing and reevaluating what they have learned. You can see an example of the classroom materials here: https://bit.ly/intro-extro-demo I believe that the skills and abilities teachers can help students develop through the use of these materials are ones that are sadly lacking, not only in the English language classroom but also in the general education of many students around the world. Through the use of these materials, I hope teachers can develop more actively and intellectually critical students who approach digital media with the ability not only to comprehend and consume information but also understand the possible bias, motivation and underlying values of those creating the information. I believe these skills and abilities are key to creating a more tolerant, open-minded and critically aware global society.

Thinking through Digital Media: Transnational Environments and Locative Places speculates on animation, documentary, experimental, interactive, and narrative media that probe human-machine performances, virtual migrations, global warming, structural inequality, and critical cartographies across Brazil, Canada, China, India, USA, and elsewhere.

Leading authority on media literacy education shows secondary teachers how to incorporate media literacy into the curriculum, teach 21st-century skills, and select meaningful texts.

The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education provides a theoretical framework and practical applications in which educators put these ideas into action in classrooms with students from kindergarten up through the university.

The book deals with the digital turn in higher education: One aim of this book is to address the challenge by providing a multi-disciplinary, international perspective on higher education during the digital turn. It presents epistemological, ethical and theoretical approaches, and best practice examples, from universities in different countries using different learning strategies. The book can be understood as an international and interdisciplinary collection providing heuristic strategies for handling the digitalization of higher education in theory and in practice.

Media literacy educator Nick Pernisco's new book, Practical Media Literacy: An essential guide to the critical thinking skills for our digital world, is the perfect introduction to media literacy for young adults, teachers, and parents. Pernisco has distilled his years of teaching experience into a practical guide for learning the most crucial skills needed to be a digital citizen in the 21st century. This is a must-read for anyone interested in learning how to interpret the enormous amounts of information we are exposed to everyday, both in traditional media and online. The book includes an introduction to media and media literacy, explaining what media is, how it affects us, and why we should pay close attention to it. The reader is then presented with a framework that can be used to analyze any type of media. Once the basics are thoroughly explained, the bookfocuses on individual types of media and specific methods for analyzing each type. Readers will learn to analyze and think critically about movies, television, music, social media, advertising, news, video games,and more. Each section contains relevant exercises to help readers better understand the impact each type of media has on their lives. These exercises can be completed alone, or may be used as lesson plans in a classroom setting. This 2nd edition builds on the strengths of the previous version. * A stronger focus on the learner. The book explains media literacy from its most basic elements to some sophisticated topics of interest for all ages. This makes the book a perfect textbook for any K-12 classroom. * Expanded information on more types of media. Movies, TV, advertising, photography, social media, music, news, and video games each get their own chapter, each illustrating details about how to analyze each type of media and numerous activities that may be used as lesson plans. This book is perfect as a textbook for a course on media literacy, an introductory course about media, any class that uses media (tv, movies, music, the web) to convey information, forat home use by parents, and for curious minds trying to better understand their world.