MediaBreaker Learning Pathways, Educational Video Remix Platform from NYC Nonprofit The LAMP, Among Winners of Digital Media and Learning Competition Trust Challenge
Austin, TX (PRWEB) March 11, 2015 -- Winners of the Digital Media and Learning Competition’s Trust Challenge were announced yesterday at the SXSWedu conference in Austin, Texas, and included a project led by New York City-based nonprofit The LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project). The project, MediaBreaker Learning Pathways, will develop a secure learning environment for students and teachers to use The LAMP’s MediaBreaker video remix tool in classrooms for teaching media literacy, fair use and civic engagement.
In its current form, the MediaBreaker allows students to upload media such as news clips, commercials or music videos, and then ‘break’ the media by inserting critical statements questioning the media content. “With MediaBreaker Learning Pathways, educators will have more control around using the tool in their classrooms,” said D.C. Vito, Executive Director for The LAMP. “They’ll be able to design and manage learning pathways to integrate MediaBreaker and its educational benefits into their teaching.” Mr. Vito will speak at SXSWedu at 11:20am CST today about the practice of breaking media, which The LAMP often bills as a process for creating ”10,000 junior Jon Stewarts.”
Minds on Design (MOD) Lab, a New York City-based design company, will engineer the MediaBreaker Learning Pathways application including graphic design, user data security, resource integration and overall user experience. Testing of the environment will take place in partnership with Convergence Academies, a Chicago-based initiative modeling digital learning and connected learning in public schools, and with Global Kids in New York City, an agency working to help underserved communities transform into global citizens.
“It is so important for young people to learn to question media, and to do so in a hands-on way,” said Mr. Vito. “But it can be very hard to know what information and media content to trust and how to use it. MediaBreaker empowers students to question content, and it also gives them the basic fair use skills they need to re-use and remix messages and information.”
"Teachers need to have access to deconstruction and analysis tools, and tools that allow them to identify what types of media messages they want to use in their classrooms," said Mindy Faber, Director of Convergence Academies. "Students also need to bring choice of expression and a sense of ownership to the learning process. MediaBreaker Learning Pathways will provide these tools and opportunities, and will do so in a trusted learning environment."
“This is an exciting and bold initiative by The LAMP and fellow partners to extend MediaBreaker to provide educators with an easy to use web application to build and deliver media literacy learning experiences,” said Seth Giammanco, Principal, Strategy and Technology at MOD-Lab.
About The LAMP: The LAMP provides hands-on learning opportunities to at-risk and underserved populations so they can live, learn and thrive in the 21st century. Through partnerships with dozens of schools and nonprofit organizations, The LAMP teaches media literacy, digital citizenship, critical thinking and basic production skills for a variety of media forms. The LAMP also offers professional development workshops for educators as well as family programming, in addition to free online tools such as the MediaBreaker and LAMPlit resource guides. More information at http://www.thelamp.org.
About Convergence Academies: The Convergence Academies initiative incubates new teaching and learning strategies that can significantly increase the skills, knowledge and agency that students need to thrive in a 21st century networked society. With a focus on media and news literacy, information quality, and youth-centered media production, students and teachers in the Convergence Academies acquire fluency in using creative technologies and networks across disciplines to critically analyze, create and share media and information. More information is at http://www.convergenceacademies.org.
About Global Kids: Global Kids’ mission is to develop youth leaders for the global stage through dynamic global education and leadership development programs. Founded in 1989, Global Kids, Inc. is nationally recognized for excellence in promoting global literacy, civic engagement, and youth leadership for underserved young people. Through in-school, after-school, and summer programs, youth investigate and address critical societal and international issues that reveal the value of education and the importance of an informed and engaged citizenship. More information at http://www.globalkids.org.
About Minds on Design (MOD) Lab: Minds On Design Lab Inc (MOD-Lab) is a Brooklyn, NY-based agency that provides visual branding, print design, and website and application, planning, design, and development for nonprofits. Since 2007, MOD-Lab has partnered with organizations across the country to share technology leadership combined with visual and development execution to create mission driven web and mobile application solutions that engage and inspire constituents. For more information on MOD-Lab, please call 718-858-1066 or visit http://mod-lab.com.
Emily Long, The LAMP NYC, http://www.thelampnyc.org, +1 347-563-3313, [email protected]
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