Armando

The first step that must be considered for this project is to determine what our goals are. As there is already a media literacy program going on at this school, what can we as novice media literacy educators or scholars add to the program? The first step in that process is an evaluation of the program as it stands today. Some essential/initial questions: 1. Are the students who "graduate" from this program more comfortable and knowledgeable about the media they consume? 2. To what extent is MLE regularly used at the school? 3. What goals does the school have for the MLE program? 4. What do teachers think about the program? Parents?

Moving forward from these questions, it's important to think about what we can add to this process. What do we know that the current practitioners don't? Or, what can we, as outsiders, bring to the table that isn't already there? Are there problems with the Powerful Voices for Kids program that we might be able to address more effectively? Are we attempting to evaluate the program, or to aid in the education of these students?

In terms of our team of Temple students, what aspects of media literacy are we most comfortable with? Moreover, what methods of evaluation or analysis are we most comfortable with? It is important to use our very limited time effectively and usefully.

As for designing our particular research project, it is most important, I believe, to get a full sense of what the teachers and parents expect from this program. Assessing their goals for the students' development is crucial. Given our limited time, measurement of the effectiveness of these goals will be difficult, yet it is possible. I believe our assessment will benefit the most from a series of interviews, with both the students and the faculty in the Powerful Voices for Kids program. Developing an effective quantitative tool for measurement is likely too time-consuming. Similarly, gathering any long-term data, unless it exists already, isn't possible. Interview data will provide both unique insights from respondents, and a way to compare and contrast the data.

Are there students who are less well-suited for the Powerful Voices for Kids program? Why? What would make this program more effective? How can we help to achieve that?