Media Education

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The entry is correctly structured and written, to my understanding and limited proficiency in the English language. The importance of the topic is obvious, so the text is relevant. I should insist on the concept of media literacy, also linking it to disinformation tackling. One more thing is that many references are in Italian, unfortunately, a language not all the scholars know, so I recommend giving the English translation or version of those references, as well (keeping the original in Italian) and adding other relevant references in English.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, the topic of out-of-school education has been addressed.

 

The entry is correctly structured and written, to my understanding and limited proficiency in the English language. The importance of the topic is obvious, so the text is relevant. I should insist on the concept of media literacy, also linking it to disinformation tackling. One more thing is that many references are in Italian, unfortunately, a language not all the scholars know, so I recommend giving the English translation or version of those references, as well (keeping the original in Italian) and adding other relevant references in English.

Reply: Regarding the expansion of the concept of media literacy and its connection to strategies for addressing disinformation, this aspect has been further elaborated in lines 82-95, and a new paragraph titled "Interconnections and Distinctions between Media Literacy and Media Education" has been added to provide additional clarification on these topics. Concerning the bibliographic references originally in Italian and French, several have been replaced with equivalent versions in English. For instance, the works of Umberto Eco, John Dewey, Rushkoff, and G.J.E. Rawlins, among others, have been updated. Additionally, the reference to Serge Tisseron’s work in French has been revised to reflect the most recent edition available.

 

Best regards

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I read the proposal for the entry with great interest. It is timely and worth reading. It has a good structure and a logical organization of ideas. However, there are several issues that could be addressed and would improve the scientific soundness of the entry. The main remark deals with the literature underpinning this entry. It could widen the view on the topic, especially because the entry suggests issues discussed in literature under the concept of 'media literacy'. A preliminary list of suggestions is the following: 

1.     Kellner, D. 1995. Media Culture. New York: Routledge.

2.     Pérez Tornero, J. M., Varis, T., 2010. Media Literacy and New Humanism, Moscow: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.

3.     Potter, W. J. 2013. Media Literacy, 6th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.

4.     Silverblatt, A., Ferry, J., Finan, B. 2009. Approaches to Media Literacy. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

6.     W. J. Potter, 2009. “Media Literacy”. In, W.F. Eadie. (ed.) 21st Century Communication, Los Angeles: SAGE, pp. 558-567.

7.     Yousman, B. 2008. “Media Literacy: Creating Better Citizens or Better Consumers?”. In R. Andersen, J. Gray (eds.) Battleground: the Media, Westport: Greenwood Press, pp. 238-247.

A second remark deals with the fact that the author introduces the student/students as media consumers (L 55 and later). However, media education addresses larger audiences, in various social contexts, not only students and not necessarily in school (as reinforced by the section 5 of the entry). 

Finally, what about the older generation, the so-called 'digital immigrants', who are genuine consumers of media (unlike the youngsters, whose media diet is rather frugal), but who often struggle with applying critical thinking to new media, while being capable of making sense of the traditional versions? 

The entry can be refined and help readers understand that media education, while starting in school days, should be part of learning also beyond the walls and responsibilities of schools.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, the bibliography has been expanded by appropriately using your references and the topics you recommended have been added.

 

I read the proposal for the entry with great interest. It is timely and worth reading. It has a good structure and a logical organization of ideas. However, there are several issues that could be addressed and would improve the scientific soundness of the entry. The main remark deals with the literature underpinning this entry. It could widen the view on the topic, especially because the entry suggests issues discussed in literature under the concept of 'media literacy'. A preliminary list of suggestions is the following: 

1. Kellner, D. 1995. Media Culture. New York: Routledge.
2. Pérez Tornero, J. M., Varis, T., 2010. Media Literacy and New Humanism, Moscow: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.
3. Potter, W. J. 2013. Media Literacy, 6th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.
4. Silverblatt, A., Ferry, J., Finan, B. 2009. Approaches to Media Literacy. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
5. W. J. Potter, 2009. “Media Literacy”. In, W.F. Eadie. (ed.) 21st Century Communication, Los Angeles: SAGE, pp. 558-567.
6. Yousman, B. 2008. “Media Literacy: Creating Better Citizens or Better Consumers?”. In R. Andersen, J. Gray (eds.) Battleground: the Media, Westport: Greenwood Press, pp. 238-247.

A second remark deals with the fact that the author introduces the student/students as media consumers (L 55 and later). However, media education addresses larger audiences, in various social contexts, not only students and not necessarily in school (as reinforced by the section 5 of the entry). 

 

Reply: The concept of media literacy and its link to strategies for combating disinformation has been further developed in lines 82-95. Additionally, a new paragraph titled "Interconnections and Distinctions between Media Literacy and Media Education" has been introduced, offering deeper insights into these themes by drawing on the references provided in the bibliography.

Finally, what about the older generation, the so-called 'digital immigrants', who are genuine consumers of media (unlike the youngsters, whose media diet is rather frugal), but who often struggle with applying critical thinking to new media, while being capable of making sense of the traditional versions? 

Reply: We have added a paragraph to deal with this topic, which is entitled ‘Bridging the digital divide: empowering older adults through lifelong media education'.

 

The entry can be refined and help readers understand that media education, while starting in school days, should be part of learning also beyond the walls and responsibilities of schools.

Reply: Both in the paragraph ‘Bridging the digital divide: empowering older adults through lifelong media education' and in other parts of the text I tried to make the point that media education goes beyond school and concerns everyone.

 

Best regards

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper advances a number of interesting insights on media education, including from the field of communication sciences; it is a pleasant and informative read. However, a number a suggestions bellow would fit well within the paper's scope, thus strengthening the added value of the entry

- introducing a section on differences between key concepts, beyond "media education" (media and information literacy, types of literacies, etc).

- a presentation of current media literacy frameworks across the world, and they components (e.g. what does media education entail, more specifically? what competencies need to be developed)

- a discussion about the positive and negative impact of media education for students, including in relation to key contemporary harmful phenomenons, such as cybercrime and disinformation

- a clearer distinction between media education as a stand-alone discipline, and the integration of media in the educational process, in general. It is my impression upon reading the text that the authors currently talk about both possibilities somewhat interchangeably.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, a part has been added that deals with the topic: harmful phenomenons, such as cybercrime and disinformation

 

The paper advances a number of interesting insights on media education, including from the field of communication sciences; it is a pleasant and informative read. However, a number a suggestions bellow would fit well within the paper's scope, thus strengthening the added value of the entry

- introducing a section on differences between key concepts, beyond "media education" (media and information literacy, types of literacies, etc).

Reply: I have added paragraphs 7, 8, 9 to meet the request for revision.

- a presentation of current media literacy frameworks across the world, and they components (e.g. what does media education entail, more specifically? what competencies need to be developed)

Reply: I referred in particular to the e-Competence Framework for ICT Users (e-CF) and DigComp for adults and to Tisseron's 3-6-9-12 growing up with digital schemes for media education from infants to adolescents.

- a discussion about the positive and negative impact of media education for students, including in relation to key contemporary harmful phenomenons, such as cybercrime and disinformation

Reply: I dealt with the subject from line 329 to 348.

- a clearer distinction between media education as a stand-alone discipline, and the integration of media in the educational process, in general. It is my impression upon reading the text that the authors currently talk about both possibilities somewhat interchangeably.

Reply: especially the section on the difference between media literacy deals with the systemic view of media education from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Best regards

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I am satissfied with the work done by the authors and I believe the entry gained clarity and is worth reading.

Author Response

thanks for your support. Best regards 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I thank the authors for their response and for submitting a revised version of the paper. I maintain my initial assessment that this work has a good potential, but is not yet ready for publication.

While this is definitely a strengthened  version of the paper, I do have some additional recommendations (some more significant than others).

Most importantly, the paper lacks some kind of red thread to link all the sections together. As in: what is the central argument of the paper? What do the authors want achieve/ demonstrate/ prove?

I am aware that a very general aim was suggested in the abstract ("This entry explores the evolution of Media Education, 12 from the 1982 UNESCO Grünwald Declaration to recent international initiatives, highlighting the role of the Media Educator as a facilitator in integrating digital technologies into educational con texts"), but I feel the paper went beyond this initial aim, so the central argumentation must be reconsidered/ expanded to reflect the current version of the paper.  What is lacking is some kind of problematization with respect to the chosen topics.

The central argumentation should bring something of added value for the research and professional communities. The novelty this paper brings and the implications of the findings and conclusion should be clearly stated. 

Clarifying the aim and the achieved objectives should be included in the abstract, introduction, and conclusions, and the sections should be reorganized a little bit to serve to a central argumentation (currently unclear). 

Currently, the conclusions reflect only on a limited number of topics and ideas from the paper and are rather weak. 

Other smaller comments (in no particular order):

The text should be broken up in smaller paragraphs that it currently is, to ease the reading of the text.

There are some sections where the authors make assertions that are insufficiently backed up by evidence/ literature:

- lines 250-260 (*approx)

- section 8 "Bridging the digital divide: empowering older adults through lifelong media education"

Conceptual distinctions (section 7) should come early in the text.

Thank you for considering my comments!

 

Author Response

an introduction paragraph was added to give a red line. Sub-paragraphs were created, more information on Tisseron was given in the required part (ex lines 250-260 (*approx)). It was explained in the article why the paragraph: ‘Bridging the digital divide: empowering older adults through lifelong media education’ was not moved and justified in the text of the article.

Round 3

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The introduction should come first, and the section on the definition of media education second.

The comment about the insufficient references in the section titled "Bridging the digital divide: empowering older adults through lifelong media education" was not addressed.

 

Author Response

Dear Editor,

The structure has been updated as requested, with the introduction placed first and additional references have been added to the section on empowering older adults.