Article
Confessions of a Media Literacy Scholar-Practitioner: Job Market Advantages, Research Agenda Challenges, and Theory-Driven Production
The Journal of Media Literacy Education
(2016)
Abstract
This essay explores how higher education's instrumentalist move away from the liberal arts tradition of learning by thinking and towards more vocational "experiential" approaches has implications for media literacy educators' career options, scholarly identities, and teaching strategies. Specifically, I consider my own negotiation of increasing administrative and student demands for "hands-on" production courses by confessing both my advantages on the job market and my post-hire challenges in articulating a clear research agenda. I then conclude with a case study of how I repurposed my scholar-practitioner identity and used critical theory to drive production by bringing film students into a cultural studies classroom. To view the film, please visit Straightforward: Flipping the Script on Heteronormativity
Keywords
- Critical Theory,
- Cultural Studies,
- Education,
- Higher Education,
- Critical Pedagogy,
- Ideology,
- Media Literacy,
- Science Fiction,
- Experiential Learning (Active Learning),
- Vocational Education,
- Filmmaking,
- Liberal arts,
- Gay marriage,
- Academic Careers
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer June 20, 2016
Publisher Statement
The Journal of Media Literacy Education is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal that supports the development of research, scholarship and the pedagogy of media literacy education. It is the official journal of the National Association for Media Literacy Education.
Citation Information
Christopher Boulton. "Confessions of a Media Literacy Scholar-Practitioner: Job Market Advantages, Research Agenda Challenges, and Theory-Driven Production" The Journal of Media Literacy Education Vol. 8 Iss. 1 (2016) p. 85 - 92 ISSN: 2167-8715 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/chris_boulton/23/
Creative Commons license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-NC-SA International License.