Teaching visual media culture: media competence and ICT competence for Grades 5-11, ages 11-17 years

Film and Media Culture as a discipline used to complement Visual Culture (the Hungarian discipline of art education), but they have been partially merged in the new National Core  Curriculum of 2019. This merger had already been initiated in the previous National Core Curriculum of 2012, when visual media were included as important learning content. This module does not involve the history, aesthetics and contemporary styles and genres of filmmaking, the domain for Film and Media Culture.

We focus on those genres of the still and moving image that border on visual arts: artistic photography, animation, video film as an art form as well as their utilisation as expressive means for formulating social media messages. Media criticism is also part of this module, although creative practice dominates the program in the art studio, in the computer lab and on location, around the school and in the surrounding town or village.

In the followings, we briefly describe the aims and methods of our module, detailed in its Teachers’ Manual available in Hungarian on this website, along with a rich collection of tried and tested learning programs.

Developmental objectives

• Develop media awareness: acute observation of media language and its multimodal experiences;  

• Develop a capacity to select and reflect on media content, assuming critical stance towards methods of misinformation and visual manipulation;

• Learn how to act responsibly when using communication platforms, online shopping sites and other services

• Take an active role in media-driven communication about socially sensitive issues, and be creative and responsible when formulation expressive and effective media messages;

• Participate in a conscientious manner in online workplace communication

• Be aware of data security, internet safety and (inter)national copyright rules when composing media products, messages and essays.

• Learn how to collaborate online, how to distribute information and share ideas complying with ethical and copyright rules.

•  Be self-reflective, study the components of your online personality and be sure to formulate it in harmony with your real life self.

Educational content

Active participation in media communication: the press (printed and digital), institutional and social online media, advertisements.  

Creation: production of media pieces (animation, photo and video)

Perception: interpretation and assessment of media messages

Competence development 

• Visual perception skills: reading, analysing and interpreting media messages, using multiple perspectives in judgment

• Visual creation skills: creating media messages using traditional and digital tools and techniques: text, static and moving image production. Utilising rules and conventions of 2D representation, developing spatial skills and using 3D representational conventions

• General cognitive skills: inductive thinking, sensitivity in detecting visual problems, autonomy in problem solving, critical judgment

• Creativity and phantasy: fluency, flexibility and originality in creating visual media

Methodology 

Working format: individual and group work, assuming the roles of content producers and members of editorial teams in media in order to understand their working processes.

Activities: problem based project work. Contents represent individual and social issues through media messages for publication on personal websites, vlogs, digital press (e.g., school media). Genres also involve criticism and analysis of media pieces, but are predominantly creative in nature: video films, photo sequences, animation and typography, combining images and text.