Molly

The Poweful Voices for Kids Initiative at the Russell Byers Charter School seems to really be taking off since its initial institution. While I didn't get a chance to interview a teacher from the school for our first paper, I look forward to observing classes and talking to the many teachers who claim to be implementing media literacy in the classroom.

After reading the Action Research paper from Brown University, we are provided with a lot of options on how to approach the research at the school. In our syllabus, Dr. Hobbs recommends observing the classes that integrate MLE and watch video clips, look at websites, etc. and also observe the simple media production techniques that are being incorporated; Dr. Hobbs then suggests, "Compare the differences in critical talk about media by comparing children who participated in a media literacy program to those who did not."

I would think the research design would be mostly qualitative, as we're dealing with elementary school students; additionally comparing the "critical talk" suggests a qualitative approach, i.e. simple interviews with the students. However, in the Powerful Voices for Kids Stewardship report a questionnaire and/or survey methodology was utilized to compare self-described development of MLE competency, from the beginning of the program to the end. This method could be useful with A) older students, and B) in comparing differences between MLE-practicing children and non-MLE practicing children. This is, of course, something to consider in our discussion tomorrow.

As far as the action research, the article by Brown University's Regional Educational Lab will prove to be very helpful. I would think what we are engaging in would fall into the "collaborative action research" (p.6) realm. In identifying our "problem area" we first must agree on what we all want to research. If we go with the suggested plan, we will need to observe and interact with those students who are in an MLE-focused classroom. Then, we will need to do the same with a non-MLE classroom. Following that, we need to interpret the data. Also, we need to think of what we will be asking the students to assess in their "critical talk." What kind of data will we collect? I suggest: For example, we might view CNN's website with a group of MLE students. We can take notes on what we observe, then the "interview" stage might be simply asking them what the images tell us, who created the image, and other concepts of MLE. The questionnaire stage might have students rank their perceived abilities in various MLE activities ... "I can use a Flip camera".... "I know what 'point of view is," etc. Our data might then be arranged by classroom: i.e. the MLE classroom and the non-MLE classroom. Then, we can assess the similarities and differences in the critical talk and competencies between the two groups. If we use notes/interviews AND questionnaires we can do a qualitative and quantitative analysis. Might be a lot of work though!
 * field notes
 * interviews
 * questionnaires

These are all merely suggestions and I look forward to discussing this with everyone tomorrow!