With the world now at almost everyone’s fingertips, the need for a critical understanding of an ever-expanding and increasingly dominant communication environment is becoming even more important.
Fusion Homeschooling, beginning Aug. 9, will offer a Media Literacy class as an “elective” for high school students to help them develop critical thinking skills to interpret media content and writing skills appropriate for media analysis.
I will be the instructor for the 60-minute class, and for more than four decades, I have worked as a writer, editor, and designer for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and online publications and in broadcasting. I also have done research on and taught courses dealing with media technology, media law, and media history.
I have watched media evolve from the newspaper on the porch to live television images from around the globe to 24-hour cable channels to access to news and information on smartphones.
My goal is for students in the Media Literacy class to gain a comprehensive perspective on the evolution of communication from storytelling to social media and to develop the skills necessary for 21stcentury life and work: accessing information, evaluating information critically, and using information effectively.
For more information about the Media Literacy class, please contact me: Jim Leonhirth, leonhirt@tecomm.com
