Media Sift from tony s on Vimeo.
What is Media Sift? Media Sift is a online tool that helps teachers teach their students to become critical consumers of media.
How does it work? Teachers or students create a web page with links to videos, news articles or blog posts related to their chosen topic. Users are then encouraged to rate the media using a four part credibility scale. Components of media credibility include author expertise, transparency/bias, supporting evidence and argument depth. As students interact with Media Sift, they begin to understand how to consider the messages they receive and how to evaluate the media they encounter. In addition, quality pieces of media rise to the top of each topic page, and serve as examples for students as they create their own work on the Internet. There are also other ways Media Sift can be used. Teachers can track individual students ratings and see their improvement. They can see how their classes are rating media in relation to other classes, and what media sources their students tend to find most credible. Students or teachers could also use Media Sift as a repository and catalog for sources they collect during their research.
Why Media Sift? Web search, website evaluation, issues of privacy, authorship and identity are known as 21st Century skills, necessary for today’s students and difficult for teachers to teach. Either teachers do not have the skills or dont have tools to teach students in an engaging way. Students often complain that they already have these abilities, in which case Media Sift is a way for them to demonstrate that knowledge and put it into practice. In addition to learning web skills, students also come in contact with a full range of topics, with the best work regarding those topics easily accessible.
Media Sift Screencast from tony s on Vimeo.
