In this free, hands-on course you will
- Learn concrete steps for how to teach students to critically examine how media is made,
- Examine media production choices and how those influence message
- Develop a framework for analyzing media in a variety of formats
- Prepare students to be critical consumers of media, as well as more successful media makers
Who Should Take This Course
K-12 educators in all subject areas who want to develop skills and confidence with media making and media literacy.
Course Features
Learn online at your own pace with step-by-step videos and hands-on activities. Join live events with instructors and peers. It’s completely free!
Certificate of Completion
Earn a Certificate of Completion for 8 hours of professional development. Then apply for graduate units from one of our university partners.
Learning Objectives
Master the fundamentals of media analysis to enhance how your students consume, understand and act on the media that they engage with:
- Learn how bias – both the media producers’ and your own – play a part in how media is made and interpreted
- Explore how different production choices impact how a piece of media is received and understood
- Do your own media analysis of a topic that is relevant to you and your teaching
- Create a lesson plan that helps your students practice critical media analysis that aligns with your teaching objectives
Course Curriculum
- Production Basics: Format and Platform
- Production Analysis: Shots in Visual Media
- Production Analysis: Perspective
- Production Analysis: Music and Sound
- Production Analysis: Typography
- Production Analysis: Color
- Production Analysis: Power and Representation
- A “Think Aloud” Analysis of a Commercial (4:26)
Enroll now for free!
You will have four weeks to complete the assignments in this course and receive a Certificate of Completion. If you would like to continue to access the course content after those 4 weeks, you are welcome to re-enroll. There is no penalty for taking the course multiple times.
Your Instructors
We support educators in integrating video storytelling, audio podcasts and other media literacy skills into their teaching practice.
Angel Valerio
Angel is KQED’s program manager for STEM professional learning. Previously, she worked in South Los Angeles and East Oakland for 8 years as a high school life science teacher and instructional coach. She is passionate about the intersection of science, social justice, and uplifting youth voice.
Rachel Roberson
Rachel is KQED’s program manager for humanities professional learning. Previously, she was an English and social studies classroom teacher and teacher leader in San Francisco, Oakland, Austin and internationally. Before becoming a teacher, she was a newspaper reporter in the Bay Area.
Rik Panganiban
Rik is the manager of online learning and educator certification at KQED. Rik was the head of Digital Learning at the California Academy of Sciences and the instructional design lead for Science Action Club.
Recommended Learning Path
Ready for more? Try one of these courses next.
About KQED
KQED is a nonprofit, public media station and NPR and PBS member station based in San Francisco that offers award-winning education resources and services free to educators nationwide. KQED Teach is a collection of professional development courses that empower educators to teach media literacy, make media for the classroom and lead media-making projects with students in K-12.
All course content unless otherwise noted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license excludes all user generated content unless explicitly labeled for reuse by the user. Permission to reuse user generated content should be directed to the individual creator.
Have a question? Email us at [email protected] or check out our FAQ. Find out about our district supports here.