Peer Review

Media and Information Literacy Clearinghouse

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Reviewed:: Feb 5, 2022 by ICT Literacy

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), which is part of UNESCO, maintains the Media Literacy Clearinghouse, which contains an enormous collection of connections to materials on practically every area of media literacy. The data comes from completed studies/researches on media literacy skills and some health risks associated with ICT users. It provides lesson plans meant to help instructors integrate media literacy into classroom instruction, as well as information, articles, and resources on media & information literacy, media education policy, and youth media. The four most important sections on this website are: Resources, which provides access to uploaded materials for more in-depth knowledge acquisition; Organizations, which relates to getting involved and participating in the field mentioned, as well as receiving changes to be a part of the advocacy this site provides; Events and Articles, which provide information and updates on the world beyond the realm of media and information literacy. This site's most notable feature is the classification of articles and resources in many languages and countries, which broadens the comprehension of the application, outcomes, and adoptability in which it has a chance of being adopted after careful examination.
Type of Material:: Reference Material
Recommended Uses:: Ask learners to choose a media and information literacy (MIL) topic, and search the relevant resources on the site. They can create an annotated bibliography on that topic -- as well as analyze those resources.
Technical Requirements:: Any web browser available to any operating system and in any mobile phone device
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Evaluate information sources. Separate fact from fiction. Evaluate text and image for bias. Construct and deconstruct text.
Target Student Population:: Librarian and Information professionals majors and practitioners, Education technology majors, Communications studies majors, General education students
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic ICT literacy

Content Quality

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Strengths:: This searchable website largely consists of a database of articles about media and information literacies. The main headings are media and information literacy, media education policy, and youth media. It is an initiative of UNESCO and the UN Alliance of Civilizations so materials appear to be relevant and authoritative; entries are appropriately attributed (and are part of the submission process). The website is fairly new, and most resources are current. The website is not directly linked to any one academic domain so it can be used across curricula. The fact that resources are found in six languages widens the readership as well. Most links work.
Concerns:: The submissions page does not work. Some links appear not to work.The entries are separate, so the concepts are not necessarily integrated well. Some countries' content is out of date, and it may not apply to other countries.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: The learning objectives are generally articulately and are central to ICT literacy. Entries are grouped under three major topics: media and information literacy, policy, and youth media. The resources themselves inform practice, and provide information to enrich learning; each resource tends to focus on a specific issue. As such, the resources can be used easily as readings for courses.
Concerns:: Prerequisite knowledge is not identified, and resources do not build upon each other since they are separate entities submitted by various people. Moreover, the objective of each resource is unique so the writing varies in terms of efficient learning.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: The website is clearly laid out and has a clean look. This social media initiative is carried out globally; hence it has content in multiple languages with a feature to select the resource's specific country origin. It is easy to navigate independently; this is a contact "tab" if one has questions. It is not apparent if the website is ADA-compliant. The website is searchable, thereby making it somewhat interactive.
Concerns:: Instructions are minimal, and no explicit HELP function is apparent. The submit page does not seem to work, which lessons the website's interactivity. The website is largely textual, which lessens its visual appeal.

Other Issues and Comments:: In terms of effectiveness as a teaching tool, all of the information is unquestionably current/updated and simple to understand, based on my firsthand evaluation. However, certain articles should be re-evaluated in terms of accessibility.
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