UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy curriculum for teachers from the perspective of Structural Considerations of Information

Abstract

The discipline Structural Considerations of Information explores the interests underlying communicational dynamics and information strategies, as well as the ways in which they correlate with messages. Considering this knowledge to be key in Communication Education, and having confirmed its close relationship with the dimensions of media competence, its presence is analyzed in the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) curriculum for teachers, whose training is crucial for the success of the process, developed by UNESCO, an organization that is a global referent in the field. A semantic content analysis reveals, from a quantitative perspective, a strong presence of thematic areas covered by the Structural Considerations of Information subject within the competencies and contents of the curriculum. However, at a qualitative level, there are fundamental weaknesses in its relationship with the structural approach to information. This occurs when the critical spirit of the text declines, starting with a definition of the media as sources of reliable information. The ubiquity of disinformation, and the key role played by stakeholders’ knowledge, as well as the development of critical thinking to address it requires an update of this curriculum–the present review contributes to this development– highlighting the current necessity to address it from a structural vantage that fosters critical citizenship and a democratic process. La disciplina Estructura de la Información estudia los intereses que subyacen a la dinámica comunicacional y a las estrategias de información, y su correlación con los mensajes. Considerando clave este conocimiento para la Educación en Comunicación, y una vez confirmada su estrecha relación con las dimensiones de la competencia mediática, se analiza su presencia en el currículo de Alfabetización Mediática e Informacional (AMI) del profesorado, cuya formación es crucial para el éxito del proceso elaborado por la UNESCO, órgano de referencia mundial en el área. El análisis de contenido semántico desvela, desde un punto de vista cuantitativo, la fuerte presencia de las áreas temáticas de la Estructura de la Información en las competencias y contenidos del currículo. No obstante, aplicado cualitativamente, se detectan debilidades de fondo en la relación con el enfoque estructural de la información. Ocurre cuando decae el declarado espíritu crítico del texto, empezando por definir a los medios como fuentes de información fiable. La ubicuidad de la desinformación y el papel crucial del conocimiento de los agentes envueltos en la misma y del desarrollo del pensamiento crítico para afrontarla, obliga a la actualización de este currículo –a cuyo desarrollo se contribuye con esta revisión–, haciendo, además, más necesario que nunca el afrontarla desde un enfoque estructural que favorezca una ciudadanía crítica y el proceso democrático.

The Revolutionary Media Education Decade: From the UNESCO to the ALFAMED Curriculum for Teacher Training

“…There have been several changes in EduCommunication in the past ten years. However, the foundations laid by the UNESCO in 2011 on the media and information literacy curriculum for teachers have been maintained [4], although they have been updated by the AlfaMed Curriculum regarding media education training of teachers in 2021 [3]. Nevertheless, it's been observed, after a thorough analysis of the organization and the structure of both curricula, that the purposes, objectives, and curricular organizations have kept the same guidelines.…”

“…Paula Renés-Arellano 1 , Ignacio Aguaded 2 and Maria Jose Hernández-Serrano 3 * 1 University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain 2 University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain 3 University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain *Address all correspondence to: mjhs@usal.es Therefore, it is necessary to continue to research and to prioritize the incorporation of tools, strategies, and training proposals on media education in the preparation of teachers, therefore, an update of the curriculum proposed by the UNESCO in 2011 is necessary, as is also advocated by Alcolea-Díaz et al [4], in line with the AlfaMed curriculum for teacher training on media education published by the AlfaMed Network [3]. In addition, this need is also supported by a recent study from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [20], which stated that less than 40% of educators consider themselves prepared to use modern technologies when teaching, and detailed significant differences between the countries of the European Union.…”

“…Accordingly, with teaching and learning processes in mind, it is vital to propose a new media curriculum to guide future educators towards the acquisition of updated media skills. For this reason, the goal of this chapter is to delve into the new AlfaMed Curriculum for the training of teachers in media education [3], which has been based on the famous Curriculum for teachers on media and information literacy published by the UNESCO in 2011 [4]. For this reason, in this chapter is proposed a comparative study between both curricula, from a perspective of the aforementioned changes and transformations that citizens have been experiencing in the past decade.…”

Doctorados virtuales centroamericanos: educomunicación, formación de tutores y calidad en la producción de conocimiento

“…En el estudio que se presenta en este artículo se identifican las áreas de formación de docentes y tutores de postgrados que señalan los informantes clave entrevistados. Alcolea-Díaz et al (2020), desde una perspectiva de la estructura de la información, menciona la relevancia en la formación docente del "entendimiento crítico del fenómeno comunicativo" (p.106). Se evalúa en los resultados qué tanto desde los docentes de postgrados virtuales centroamericanos se percibe esa mirada crítica del proceso comunicativo en la virtualidad, así como los procesos educomunicativos y la alfabetización mediática o digital como áreas de formación a nivel de postgrados.…”

Competencia mediática de jóvenes universitarios de Ecuador y Colombia

“…Sin embargo, la interacción con estos dispositivos culturales estratégicos ha permitido generar espacios de reflexión que deben asumir los escenarios educativos como la escuela, desde las implicaciones expresivas, técnicas, culturales y axiológicas, al igual que organismos internacionales (Juan, Yasmín y Milton, 2020). Desde 1964, la UNESCO está promoviendo encuentros internacionales que analicen problemáticas y nuevas estrategias para la educomunicación (Alcolea-Díaz, Reig y Mancinas- Chávez, 2020).…”