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Published in the the USA
International Journal of Media and Information Literacy Has been issued since 2016. E-ISSN: 2500-106X 2021. 6(2): 283-288
DOI: 10.13187/ijmil.2021.2.283 https://ijmil.cherkasgu.press
Methodology, Technology and Practice of Organizing Media Education Seminars and Workshops for Teachers on Promoting Interethnic Tolerance in the University Student Community
Irina Chelysheva a , *, Galina Mikhaleva a
a Rostov State University of Economics, Russian Federation
Abstract
The relevance of improving the methodological training of present-day university teaching staff is due to the dynamic changes taking place in the system of higher education. The article presents the experience of conducting scientific and methodological seminars and workshops for the pedagogical community. The purpose of the seminars for teachers on promoting university students' interethnic tolerance by means of media education is to familiarize teachers with the leading methods, technologies and practical techniques of media pedagogy based on analysing media texts of different types and genres in the context of developing the culture of interethnic communication, constructive dialogue of university students in the media sphere. The authors describe the methodological and organizational aspects for teachers to use in their further professional activities in the course of integrating media education into social sciences and humanities.
Keywords: media, media education, interethnic tolerance, university students, seminars, workshops, teachers.
1. Introduction
Among the risks associated with digitalization and mediatization of modern society, media manipulation, "hate speech", xenophobia, and fake information that incite interethnic enmity are being highlighted nowadays. These risks may pose a particular threat to the younger generation whose interests and leisure activities are increasingly linked to social networks communication, the blogosphere and intense involvement in various media-related activities.
The "Strategy for the development of education in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025" indicates that the socio-cultural and civic education of modern youth is directly related to promoting a culture of interethnic communication, the development of a respectful attitude of the younger generation to the national dignity of people as well as "the formation of a stable system of moral and meaningful attitudes of the individual allowing to resist the ideology of extremism, nationalism, xenophobia, corruption, discrimination on social, religious, racial, national grounds and other negative social phenomena" (Strategy..., 2015). This strategy actualizes the issues of fostering interethnic tolerance and dialogue of cultures among young people.
When education is aimed at promoting interethnic tolerance among university students, it is necessary not only to teach the younger generation, but also to purposefully prepare teachers for this activity. At the same time, it is important for teachers not only to be aware of media education techniques and methods, but also to know how to integrate them into various academic subjects
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (I. Chelysheva)
and creatively apply the studied material in classrooms. To this end, in the 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 academic years we organized training seminars and master classes at the Rostov State University of Economics in which teachers of various academic subjects took part (Chelysheva, 2020; Mikhaleva, 2020).
We will attempt to summarize the experience of these seminars and workshops, present media education methods and technologies for increasing interethnic tolerance among university students in this article.
2. Materials and methods
The main material for this article is practical guidelines of seminars and master classes for teachers aimed at promoting interethnic tolerance in the university student community by integrating media education; methodological tools for media education; technologies and methods of conducting practical classes with elements of media education contributing to fostering interethnic tolerance.
The practical approaches presented in the article are based on the methodology for students' performing literary activities, drama and role-play, visual and imitation activities on the material of media culture focused on the key concepts of media education: media agencies, media categories, media language, media technologies, media representations, media audiences, etc.
3. Discussion
According to contemporary media education studies approaches (Akhmedzyanova, 2011; Bazalgette, 1992; Buckingham, 1993, 2014; Chelysheva, Mikhaleva, 2019, 2020; Fedorov, 2007, 2015; Fedorov et al., 2020; Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2020; 2021; Galikova Tolnaiova, 2021; Halloran, 1998; Kacinova, 2019; Khilko, 2013; Levitskaya, Fedorov, 2021; Masterman, 1996; Ramasubramanian, 2007, 2011; Rubtsova, 2013; Silverblatt, 2001; Vinichenko, 2011, 2017; Weber, 2018; Worsnop, 2004; Vrabec, Botosova, 2020; Zhmyrova, Monastyrskiy, 2012), media education plays an increasingly important role in the process of overcoming and preventing the risks of interethnic intolerance. It implies developing a culture of communication with media production including critical thinking and analytical skills. Unfortunately, modern universities do not actively use the potential of media pedagogy and they rarely integrate media education methods when teaching young people. Taking into account the possibilities of media education in enhancing the creative potential and upbringing the moral qualities of the individual, the goals associated with applying media education for promoting university students' interethnic tolerance are actualized in the contemporary sociocultural situation.
The integration of media education into academic subjects of the humanities and social sciences related to the study of history, psychology, pedagogy, sociology of culture and others, can play an important role in this process. We conducted a number of training seminars and master classes for teachers within the research project "Issues of Student Youth Interethnic Tolerance Reflected in Russian and English-Language Media Education of the Post-Soviet Period (19922020)" devoted to this problem.
4. Results
The purpose of these teacher training seminars and workshops was to acquaint teachers with the leading Russian and foreign methods, technologies and practical techniques of media pedagogy (Buckingham, 1993, 2014; Chelysheva, Mikhaleva, 2019, 2020; Fedorov, 2007, 2015; Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2020; Galikova Tolnaiova, 2021; Kacinova, 2019; Masterman, 1996; Silverblatt, 2001; Worsnop, 2004; Vrabec, Botosova, 2020 and others) based on critical analysing media texts of different types and genres in the context of promoting the culture of interethnic communication, a constructive dialogue of students in the media sphere.
In particular, the teachers were offered the following topics during the seminars:
1. Possibilities of integrating media education into the academic subjects of the humanities and social sciences.
2. Interethnic tolerance as a complex quality of a student's personality and the potential of media education.
3. Media education as a means of teaching interethnic tolerance to university students: methods and technologies.
4. Media education based on the material of cinema, television, photography, advertising: the practice of promoting interethnic tolerance among university students.
The structure of the seminars consisted of the theoretical, methodological and practical blocks. The theoretical block was devoted to studying and analysing the materials on the topic of interethnic tolerance and media education. The methodological block was devoted to familiarizing the audience with the methodological and teaching tools of integrated media education, forms and methods of media education to use in lectures and practical classes with university students in order to foster their interethnic tolerance. The practical block of seminars was aimed at students' performing creative tasks of various types for the audience to have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the creative atmosphere of the media education lesson, test and choose the most optimal techniques and technologies for further work based on the key concepts of media education: media agencies, media categories, media language, media technologies, media representations, media audiences, etc.
Working with the key concepts of media education can take many different forms. This can be a game exercise to study the possible success of a particular media text; competition for the best mini-script of social advertising on the topic of interethnic relations; a theatrical sketch that conveys the process of creating a feature film about the interethnic dialogue; selection of musical accompaniment for showing a series of photographs; creating a blog or a chat on the topic of interethnic relations; development of pedagogical situations that demonstrate different models of behaviour in international teams which can be used to illustrate the topic of an article in a magazine, etc.
The analysis of media texts based on the material of feature and documentary films, the press, advertising, photographic art, television and other media production is an important factor in enhancing the audience's interest in the issues under consideration when training teachers.
The study and discussion of media texts of different types and genres on the topic of interethnic tolerance was carried out during the seminars and master classes; the methods of brainstorming, open discussions, reviews, essays, analytical work with media critical materials were also actively used.
For example, in the course of an open discussion, the audience was asked to identify the most pressing challenges associated with the risks of the modern media space in the context of intercultural and interethnic dialogue. Among them, the teachers identified a decrease in the so-called "threshold of tolerance" which is characteristic of some media production.
Indeed, examples of negative attitudes towards representatives of other ethnic groups can often be seen in advertisements, articles in the press where "hate speech" is used, in some episodes of feature films, etc. That is why, it is so important to develop analytical skills and critical understanding of current events reflected in media texts, the ability to distinguish facts from the so-called "fakes" often found on social networks and blogs when working with media texts.
It seems to us that in order to familiarize teachers with the techniques and technologies for developing analytical skills, one of the optimal forms of work is the study of critical material about media production: reviews, articles, blogs, etc. Discussing and analysing both professional and amateur texts will allow teachers to get a deeper understanding of interethnic relations. At the next stage, it is possible to offer the audience to prepare their own media critical materials which can subsequently be analysed with university students in the course of studying some academic topic in a particular academic subject. This type of activity could become of good help for teachers preparing students for independent activities focused on media material.
Preparation for conducting a discussion at an integrated media education lesson may include a series of supporting questions for the upcoming discussion; search and classification of illustrations (frames from feature films and documentaries, photographs, advertisements and other media texts) to organize a subsequent discussion with students during a lecture or practical lesson. In our opinion, such preparatory work for the upcoming classes arouses great interest of teachers as it allows them to expand the arsenal of didactic materials and find new areas of application for media education techniques within the subject taught.
The teachers got interested in various forms and methods of organizing media education classes during the seminars. They had the opportunity to get acquainted with the algorithm for planning media projects; the main stages of arranging competitions for the best media text on the topic of interethnic tolerance; the specifics of organizing theatrical and creative work, games and role-play with media texts in the classroom; the analysis of media texts of various types and genres, etc.
5. Conclusion
So, the training seminars and master classes for the pedagogical community were aimed at acquainting the teachers with the media education potential in the context of promoting university students' interethnic tolerance: expanding horizons, developing creative and communicative abilities, developing critical thinking.
During the seminars and master classes, a whole range of objectives related to fostering university students' interethnic tolerance, moral and civic education focused on media texts of various types and genres were solved:
- to form students' conscious rejection of the ideology of racial, national, interethnic, interfaith intolerance and extremism through the critical analysis of media texts;
- to destroy social prejudices and ethnic stereotypes in the student environment;
- to teach young people to distinguish between various methods of media manipulation and propaganda of interethnic intolerance in mass media when analysing media texts;
- to expand the cultural, historical and social experience, ethnocultural horizons of the student audience;
- to encourage active civic engagement in young people;
- to develop a positive national identity and a sense of patriotism among students;
- to involve young people in socially significant activities in order to form their culture of interethnic and interpersonal interaction.
6. Acknowledgements
This research is funded by the grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR, project No. 19-013-00030) at the Rostov State University of Economics. Project theme: "Issues of Student Youth Interethnic Tolerance Reflected in Russian and English-Language Media Education of the Post-Soviet Period (1992-2020)". Head of the project is I.V. Chelysheva.
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