KQED Media Literacy Educator Competencies

1. Analysis and Evaluation

Exemplary media literacy educators demonstrate the following competencies with regards to accessing, analyzing and evaluating media:

1. Ability to use online tools to access valid and credible resources related to specific queries.
2. Effectively assess the accuracy and quality of online information, including information created by generative AI tools, using lateral reading techniques. 
3. Critically examine how the same topic is addressed online by different sources, at different times, and in different media formats and how these changes impact the way the audience interacts with media and the world.
4. Understand how the demographics, interests, and other personal data of the user inform search engine and generative AI algorithms and impact search results. 
5. Understand the similarities and differences between search engines such as Google and chatbots such as ChatGPT, including the way queries/prompts are constructed to achieve optimal results and the variety and quality of information returned. 
6. Ability to analyze and evaluate media across formats, especially with respect to how production choices influence media messages. 

a. Critically examine how the media creator’s bias, purpose, intended audience and authority impact a media piece’s credibility, form and message.

b. Critically examine how media is constructed (i.e. production techniques, frame of reference, portrayal of people and places, visual design, image manipulation, etc.) and how those elements contribute to the way media is understood and acted upon. 

c. Understand that AI is trained using large data sets and that this data, by its nature, contains a variety of biases that persist in results from GenAI tools. Use this knowledge to critically examine outputs from GenAI tools for bias related to topics such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and country of origin. 

2. Creation

Exemplary media literacy educators demonstrate the following competency with regards to creating media:

1. Ability to create original digital media (i.e. audio, video, graphics) to communicate information to an intended audience, using a variety of media production techniques and tools.
2. Demonstrate understanding of copyright, fair use, and intellectual property with respect to the media you and your students create, including rules regarding ownership of content created with GenAI tools.  
3. Critically evaluate the way you chose to represent individuals, groups and topics in your media, including media created in partnership with GenAI, to ensure fair and accurate portrayals of people, places, and events. 
4. Effectively employ narrative, audio and visual design principles to deliver a clear message.
5. Use feedback and reflection to improve media creation and production.
   

3. Sharing

Exemplary media literacy educators demonstrate the following competency with regards to participation in online spaces and sharing media:

1. Ability to publish media on a variety of online platforms with special attention to the safety and privacy of students.
2. Demonstrate understanding of federal rules and regulations regarding student privacy online and how they apply to online products and services used in your learning environment. This includes the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA).
3. Critically evaluate the Terms of Service agreements for the platforms you and your students are using, especially with regards to issues of privacy, ownership of content posted, and what ways the media may be used by the platform or third parties. 
4. Clearly communicate, model and uphold a code of conduct for student use of online resources and platforms that promotes a positive school culture and supports safe and responsible technology use.
5. As an educator, give appropriate credit to creators whose work you have referenced and/or used for your own media. Cite or acknowledge the outputs of GenAI tools when used - this includes direct quotations and paraphrasing, as well as calling out how the tool was used for tasks like editing, translating, idea generation, and data processing. 

4. Implementing Instruction 

Exemplary media literacy educators demonstrate the following competency with regards to classroom instruction:

1. Ability to create and implement instruction that supports students accessing content appropriate for their needs, as well as supporting their ability to analyze how production elements impact media messages and evaluating the accuracy and validity of content they discover. 
2. Ability to lead instruction that promotes informed decision-making, digital literacy, and responsible engagement across media formats and platforms.
3. Ability to design instruction that integrates student skill development around writing, planning, designing, producing and sharing media projects into standards-based instruction in your content area. This includes supporting the use of media-production tools, including GenAI features, in ways that are appropriate for your students, do not bypass critical thinking, and center student voice. 
4. Ability to design and implement assessment practices for student-created media that are aligned to standards-based learning outcomes and provide learners with quality feedback about both the academic content requirements associated with the media and the quality and effectiveness of the media itself.