MACMILLAN Digital Media in Education: Teaching, Learning and Literacy Practices with Young Learners

This book argues for dynamic and relevant school experiences for primary and early secondary learners that embed digital media production. It proposes a vision of literacy that combines new technologies with multiple modes of meaning-making. Drawing on theories related to cultural studies, media literacy, anthropology, and creativity, the author explores learning strategies with digital media based on an empowering, values-driven framework. The book advances innovative teaching methods, critiquing educational ‘reforms’ that marginalise media and fail to engage with the complex tensions and textures of modern pedagogy.   Positioning film and media-making as vital practices in schools that nurture the skills, dispositions and competencies of modern literacy, the model foregrounds connections between human agency, cognition, and creative practice. This innovative book will appeal to students and scholars of creativity, digital media production, primary education and literacy. Review “This book has a great deal to offer at several levels. Michelle Cannon provides a much-needed, richly-detailed account of media arts practices with younger children, updating debates and theories of media literacy and moving image work in the context of contemporary digital practices and technologies. She also has much to contribute to current research and practice about the nature of literacy more generally, tackling some notoriously difficult debates about creativity and learning in ways that will be valuable to practitioners and researchers alike. Finally, her book is an exemplary instance of interdisciplinary thought and method, integrating philosophical and anthropological enquiry with authoritative theorised practice. We can all – students, teachers, researchers – learn from her approach.” (Andrew Burn, Professor of English, Media and Drama, University College London, UK) “Michelle Cannon's book is an important and well-written contribution to the field of media literacy and media education. Her examination of media production in schools raises critical questions that challenge our understanding of creativity and digital technology as they relate to literacy. The book serves multiple purposes, offering an introduction to media literacy, a critical perspective on student agency and support for teachers working with film and media production.” (Oystein Gilje, Associate Professor - Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway) “In this inspirational and timely book, Cannon adds her expert voice to calls for rethinking literacy education to account for digital media practices. Firmly grounded in extensive research and professional experience, Cannon combines thought-provoking and incisive commentary with rich compelling examples of her own work with learners. Her book provokes the reader to see anew the complexities of young people’s creative and critical media production and as such is rich with possibilities. It’s a must-read for those already researching and practising in this field as well as those new to this area, and for all teachers who are committed, like Cannon, to ‘reimagining school’s relationship to film.” (Cathy Burnett, Professor of Literacy and Education, Sheffield Hallam University, UK) “Michelle Cannon’s book is a much-needed, interdisciplinary and thoughtful piece of work. Full of detailed research, drawing on a wide range of theories from anthropology through to multimodality and the new literacy studies, it paints a detailed picture of digital media production by children and young people. It is passionately argued, highly original in its thinking and proposals of models of new ways with pedagogy in the 21st century. It deserves the widest possible readership in academic circles, but also in schools, speaking to practitioners in accessible language and with examples to which they will relate. Most importantly of all, it enlarges all our think