Contributions to MDL
Contributions to the study of media and digital literacies
This dissertation research makes an original contribution to knowledge in the field of media and digital literacies in distinctive ways. The conceptual analysis of media and digital skills, fluencies, competencies and literacies (see Literacies section; see Figure 9; see Figure 10) supports the shifting conceptions of what being literate means in current educational contexts and adds to conceptual clarity. The spirals toward literacy that I illuminate in this research may bring some bearing on the ongoing calls for literacies in multiple and varied fields of endeavour within education and beyond.This research contributes to knowledge about media and digital literacy research by examining the lived experiences of how TEds infuse MDL into their teaching practice. Just as McLuhan’s tetrad proposes, and evidenced in the lived experiences of the participants in this research, with every medium and message for media production within their OEPr, there is not only enhancement and retrieval, there is also reversal and obsolescence (McLuhan & McLuhan, 1992). Knowing and recognizing where and how this tetradracic process occurs can add criticality to the endeavours TEds make when teaching with an MDL focus.
This research confirms what (Buckingham, 2020) suggests - that media in education is shaped by “purposeful, critical use … of communication” (p. 115). This is less about learning technical skills and fluencies, and more about deeper awareness of critical aspects of media – “media language, representation, production, and audience” (Buckingham, 2019, p. 58).