Mediacy with Carol Arcus & Neil Andersen: Recent Episodes
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen from the Association for Media Literacy gather each Monday evening to look at 21st Century culture and current events through a media literacy lens. From politics to popular culture, we guarantee that you won't leave an episode thinking quite the same way you did when you arrived.
Chelsea Attwell, Diana Maliszewski and Carol Arcus reflect on the values of presenting at and attending international conferences. They offer tips for both attendees and presenters.
The second half of Neil's conversation with Tim King.
Tim reflects on the rich experiences he has enjoyed in his IT secondments.
He also explains his misgivings about new GenAI and digital innovations.
Neil endeavours to find pedagogical opporunities in the new media landscape.
Tim King and Neil Andersen discuss the challenges arising from evolving communications technologies in the mid-2020s; including digital security, GenAI, and quantum computing.
How might teachers help their students understand, appreciate and benefit from the recent innovations?
You are teaching an asynchronous online course.
One of thousands such courses.
You discover that one student has engaged a GenAI agent imposter to take the course in their place. The GenAI imposter reads and responds to the course readings; it takes the quizzes; it completes and submits the culminating project.
Algorithmically, without any participation from the student.
What might this mean for the student? ...for you? ...for your institution?
The start of the school year is always exciting. It's also a great time to begin media literacy education because there are so many opportunities. Veteran media literacy educators join host Carol Arcus to describe and discuss their first media literacy lessons of the school year. Listeners will gain great and simple teaching ideas for their own media literacy education.
Happy Media Literacy Week!
(At The Association for Media Literacy, EVERY week is Media Literacy Week!)
Chelsea Attwell engages 3 teacher-librarians in a rich conversation exploring ways that they integrate and teach media literacy skills in their schools. Listeners will gain great insights into media literacy theory and how it might be applied to concrete learning.
Early Years Media Literacy Education may at first seem challenging but is entirely doable.
Two expert early years educators discuss how, based on a very useful guide.
On this special episode of Mediacy, the Association for Media Literacy celebrates Media Literacy week 2023! On this episode of Mediacy we will chat with expert educators and media literacy enthusiasts who are going to share helpful insights and strategies for talking about media literacy in the Revised Ontario Language Curriculum. Thanks for listening!
Participants:
Diana Maliszewski
Neil Andersen
Chelsea Attwell
Míchílín Ní Threasaigh
In this episode of Mediacy, we are talking about media literacy in the early years with Dr. Faith Rogow. Dr. Rogow is an independent scholar who has been a media literacy educator, innovator, and strategist since the 1980s. On today's show, we are talking with Dr. Rogow about her groundbreaking book Media Literacy for Young Children: Teaching Beyond the Screen Time Debates. Listen in for an engaging, insightful, and fun conversation!
Heidi Siwak and Margie Keats bring their classroom experiences with GenerativeAI Apps to Mediacy. What are the challenges? How might teachers meet those challenges? How might GenerativeAI support learning?
A panel of directors in the Association for Media Literacy will gather to chat about media topics of particular interest, what media approaches are somewhat misguided (hint: it's not all about "fake news"), and current events through a media literacy lens.
On the panel:
Neil Andersen
Diana Maliszewski
Michelle Solomon
Margie Keats
Visit the Association for Media Literacy at https://aml.ca
AML co-vice president Diana Maliszewski talks with Dr. Sonja Nikkila] from University of Toronto, Scarborough about the ways he/she weaves media literacy into his/her post-secondary program.
UK Professor Julian McDougall talks with Neil and Carol about building media literacy education at the intersection of social justice, cultural studies, and digital competency.
Neil and Carol talk to Toronto entrepreneur Sue Sutcliffe about the online marketing biz, including the newest digital conference site, World Event Centre.
Michael Dezuanni, QUT Professor and author of Peer Pedagogies on Digital Platforms: Learning with Minecraft Let's Play Videos, talks to Neil and Carol about children’s non-hierarchical learning through youtube and Minecraft. They learn that it’s more than just a game.
Join Neil and Carol as they explore the benefits and challenges of “making” with David Gauntlett, the author of Making is Connecting.
Neil and Carol learn from Nina Silver the ins and outs of the online art business, and why art is still art no matter the sales system.
UCLA’s Jeff Share and Doug Kellner help Neil and Carol understand why Critical Media Literacy is the gold standard in media literacy learning.
Neil and Carol’s trusty producer Stephen Hurley shares his philosophy about the differences between broadcast radio and podcasting, and why we love to listen.
Notes from The Media Education Project: Carol and Neil embark on a journey to discover the best iteration of media curriculum now, as guest Belinha De Abreu explains her research and concerns about AI.
Neil and Carol once again enlist the help of Paul Levinson to understand how the most bizarre conspiracies flourish online and in the minds of Believers.
Neil and Carol chat with Paul Levinson about the difference between disinformation and misinformation, and how and why “truth” requires our permission.
Neil and Carol learn a lot about digital estate planning from two brilliant law students, Alisha and Sabrina, including the uncomfortable truth that it might be better to borrow an audio book from the library than “buy” it online.
Dynamic educators Aimee and Michilin continue to tell it like it is, offering new gems of wisdom for pandemic pedagogy conversations.
Two Secondary teachers from the trenches tell Neil and Carol about the struggle to create and cultivate online pedagogy in a pandemic.
Wellness expert Glenys Vivian returns to help Neil and Carol understand how to support those around us, and ways we all might go forward together - post COVID.
Our guest Jesse Hirsh blasts traditional journalism as we try to untangle the issues: Why might the newspaper industry be the biggest culprit of all, and how can we disrupt the system through media literacy?
The people in charge of education talk a lot about children, but not so much with them. Neil and Carol chat with Sophie, an Ontario Secondary school student, to help them understand the role of technology in the social and learning experiences of youth in the time of COVID.
Neil and Carol chat with Ethan and Glenys, experts in learning, parenting, and mental health, in an effort to understand why we’re feeling like hamsters on a wheel. Surprisingly, we discover that 2020 taught us lessons that the “before times” never could.
Neil and Carol ask a thoughtful parent about the struggle to raise future digital citizens. How do we manage the balance between screentime and other experiences such as exploring and appreciating nature?
Neil, Paul, and Carol examine how this ceremony embodied the American metanarrative, and agree to disagree on what makes a perfect musical media experience these days.
Children & Screens?! What’s a parent to do? Wouldn’t it be great to have reliable, informed advice? Listen in as Neil and Carol chat with Sonia Livingstone, world expert on how families negotiate digital environments & how they can make effective choices.
Neil, Carol, and guest Paul Levinson deconstruct the bizarre intersections of social media, popular culture, and politics on Capitol Hill during the week of January 4.
Neil and Carol welcome back Julie Smith to discuss effective privacy strategies for parents and students, acknowledging that true critical media literacy is never negative, but instead develops confidence, enjoyment, and agency.
Neil, Carol, and special guest Julie Nilsson Smith ask, 'How is our privacy at risk?' 'How might WE be part of the problem?' 'What should we know?' And 'what might our media literacy do about it?'
Might Joe Biden be a new character in the JFK/Camelot meta-narrative? Or is the national story Man of la Mancha? Join Paul Levinson, Carol Arcus and Neil Anderson in this episode of Mediacy as they explore the new twists in the American national saga.
In his inimitable droll style, Bill Smart (with Neil and Carol) explores dog films - the good, the ugly, and the excellent - and asks whether a dog feature film can ever reach the heights of film artistry.
Neil and Carol - with the help of Paul Levinson - attempt to understand the Trump/Biden personas and the Pro-Trump rallies of the last week through the lens of McLuhan’s “hot” and “cool” media.
Neil, Carol, and Paul Levinson explore how metanarratives have shaped politics in America, and speculate on whether Joe Biden can stem the Tide of Trumpism.
On this night before the US Election, Neil and Carol welcome Paul Levinson back to dissect the American metanarrative. Will 'Reality TV’ triumph? Or Biden's ‘hero against all odds’?
“Neil and Carol continue their conversation with three smart educators - Diana Maliszewski, Chelsea Attwell, and June Lee - about negotiating virtual and face-to-face learning spaces through media literacy education.”
Diana Maliszewski, Chelsea Attwell, and June Lee chat with Neil and Carol about the stress of the ‘new normal’, and how media literacy might help us cope.
Carol and Neil welcome special guest Laurie Townshend to help understand how different audiences negotiated the debating skills of Black, South Asian female vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.
Carol Arcus and Neil Anderson take a look at the recent US Presidential Debate and, in particular, how the media has handled the event. A look ahead to the Vice-Presidential debates.
Following on the previous episode - Unmasking the Mask - Neil and Carol welcome special guest teacher Irene Faiz from Toronto District School Board to share creative classroom ideas for building media literacy and art skills through masks. She offers wonderful examples of how to mobilize key media concepts through analysis, personal response, and engaging production projects such as mask logos, birthday/wedding masks, and masks for a social cause.
Jesse Stommel and Sean Michael Morris are passionate in their work around critical digital pedagogies. Together, they wrote "An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy. Tonight on Mediacy, Jesse and Sean join Carol Arcus and Neil Anderson for a discussion on synchronous and asynchronous learning in our post-COVID learning contexts. Some very powerful messages for anyone tasked with thinking about the future of schools moving forward. Let's get to what is at the heart of good pedagogy in a digital age.
Learn more about Jesse Stommel at https://www.jessestommel.com/
Learn more about Sean Michael Morris at https://www.seanmichaelmorris.com/
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen are joined by McLuhan scholar (Fordham University), Paul Levinson, to explore the media under our skin. How do video, street painting, dashcams, bodycams, flash grenades narrate our experience?
Carol and Neil are joined by Fordham University media scholar Paul Levinson to discuss how mourners and news are Constructing an Epic, how the George Floyd narrative has evolved into police reform, and how the protests have become international.
Neil Andersen, Carol Arcus and Paul Levinson take a deeper look at interwoven narratives during this powerful time in social and political life. In this epsiode, the team explores memes, iconography, the giddy Bible, taking a knee, the NFL pivot, and more.
In this episode, Paul Levinson, Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen explore ways in which the George Floyd murder protests and the Covid-19 pandemic twist and turn around one another. This conversation will continue in the next episode.
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen welcome back Marshall McLuhan scholar Paul Levinson to the show to talk about the narratives that are being woven during this time of pandemic. A fascinating and very rich conversation
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen take a look at the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of the storyteller. What stories are being told? What narratives are being woven? Who is the audience? Who are the characters? The plot?
Visit the Association for Media Literacy website for more information: https://aml.ca/
How is the pandemic centering us in the media environment? Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen continue their exploration of how the media is covering and portraying the current COVID-19 crisis from a McLuhan perspective.
Tonight Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen welcome back author, singer-songwriter and professor of communications and media studies, Paul Levinson. Paul rejoins the team to continue an in-depth examination of the current COVID-19 pandemic through a media literacy lens.
Tonight Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen welcome author, singer-songwriter and professor of communications and media studies, Paul Levinson. Paul joins the team to continue an in-depth examination of the current COVID-19 pandemic through a media literacy lens.
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus are, once again, joined by guest expert, Glenys Vivian. Another great conversation about how to stay attuned to the needs of our children this time of global uncertainty. Ideas for talking to and engaging with our children.
In this time of global concern, if not crisis, we are reminded that our children need our care and attention. Tonight on Mediacy, Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus are, once again, by Glenys Vivian, an education and school-based wellness lead with the York Region District School Board.
In this time of global concern, if not crisis, we are reminded that our children need our care and attention. Tonight on Mediacy, Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus are joined by Glenys Vivian, an education and school-based wellness lead with the York Region District School Board.
In this episode, the team discusses ways of being attuned to the signs that our children are sending us, and how we respond.
Neil and Carol take a first look at the media being produced around COVID-19. It's been declared a global pandemic related to the virus, but is there also a growing pandemic of fear. A media literacy "first dive" into COVID-19.
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus continue their look at the COVID-19 story and narrative through a media literacy lens
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus welcome educators Chelsea Attwell and Ethan Andersen about mentorship——in education and, more specifically, in the area of media literacy!
How might we understand the uses of dogs in media experiences? What's the best advertising dog? Join media teacher (and dog lover) Bill Smart, Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen for a fun discussion of dogs in media.
Recently, Carol Arcus took her granddaughter to a local edition of The Medieval Times Banquet and Tournament. Not surprisingly, Carol couldn't resist bringing her media literacy lenses to the experience. She joins Neil Andersen to talk about what she saw through those lenses!
King Cosmos is a Calypso artist. His song Payback Time—a course in Black History and music—demands reparation for the centuries of slavery that built the American economy.
King Cosmos is a Calypso artist. His song Payback Time—a course in Black History and music—demands reparation for the centuries of slavery that built the American economy.
King Cosmos is a Calypso artist. His song Payback Time—a course in Black History and music—demands reparation for the centuries of slavery that built the American economy.
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus continue their conversation that connects what current brain research is telling us about our response to our mediated world and the way that approach teaching about media literacy. In this episode, Neil and Carol talk about Anticipation, Rewrite and Mirror Neurons.
In this first episode of 2020, Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus gather to begin a conversation that connects what current brain research is telling us about our response to our mediated world and the way that approach teaching about media literacy.
Neil Andersen rejoined by two middle school students, Jade and Rowan, who enlighten us with their perspective, habits and ideas around the use of screen time by young people.
Neil and Carol are joined by two middle school students, Jade and Rowan, who enlighten us with their perspective, habits and ideas around the use of screen time by young people.
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus bring Marshall McLuhan and his thinking on media to their continued conversation about podcasts and podcasting. Are podcasts a form of New Media, or a retooling of one that has existed for some time now?
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus are joined by Stephen Hurley as they take a deep dive into the podcasting phenomenon.
Educator/parents Chelsea Attwell and Rebecca Leslie are back to discuss anxieties and ideas about establishing a healthy relationship between our children and their technology.
Carol Arcus welcomes educator/parents Chelsea Attwell and Rebecca Leslie to talk about the challenges and opportunities of parenting in a digital age.
Neil and Carol continue their unique look at Canadian humour from a media literacy lens. How can we apply McLuhan's idea of the Figure and Ground to reflect on the development of the Canadian humour scene.
Carol and Neil dive into the world of Canadian humour, including sketch comedy, from a media literacy lens. How is Canadian humour different than that expressed in other countries and cultures? What makes the Canadian brand of humour unique?
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen unpack the 2019 Federal election campaign, including Carol's theory that the CBC television coverage of the election returns mirrored the elements of traditional Greek Theatre.
In this special, pre-election edition of Mediacy, Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen talk about the media's role in election campaigns, the role of social media and how campaign messages are constructed.
Jesse Currell is dedicated to empowering educators, youth, teams, and nations with the skills to thrive in the digital world. She is the CEO at Hands On Media an organization that provide production-based workshops, Hands on Media offers educators and students opportunities to engage with the evolving landscape of media education.
In the second of a two-part series, Jesse discusses her work in the area of Media Literacy
Jesse Currell is dedicated to empowering educators, youth, teams, and nations with the skills to thrive in the digital world. She is the CEO at Hands On Media an organization that provide production-based workshops, Hands on Media offers educators and students opportunities to engage with the evolving landscape of media education.
In the first of a two-part series, Jesse discusses her work in the area of Media Literacy
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus use the controversy over recently-released photos of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wearing "brown face" at a 2011 costume party as a backdrop for a conversation about Marshall McLuhan's concept of "figure" and "ground".
Do shifting "grounds" change how we perceive the figure? An interesting and thought-provoking conversation.
In this week's episode, Neil Anderson and Carol Arcus explore the case studies of Lil Nas X and Bianca Andreescu and discuss their public popularity, how it came to be and what might become of it in the weeks and months to come.
The second of a two-part series of conversations about the popular song, Old Town Road.
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus are joined by special guest, Steven Webbe, as they set out to explore some of the nuances of the popular song, Old Town Road
Neil Andersen returns in this episode to pick up some of the threads introduced in the past two episodes. A deeper dive into some of what has emerged in terms of the gamer identity, our dispositions (and pre-dispositions) towards various types of games and the way that games and those who play them are seen in society.
Diana Maliszewski and Denise Colby return for another week to explore more on the gaming dynamic, the identities and even the personalities associated with "gamers".
Guest hosts Diana Maliszewski and Denise Colby bring their passion for games and gaming to this episode of Mediacy. Tonight, what games do you play? How do you play? Why do you play? Bringing a media literacy lens to the experience of the game!
From songs that expresses value, gathers us around particular events and rituals to songs that evoke particular feelings of emotion, there is no doubt just how important music has always been in popular culture.
Tonight on Mediacy, Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen begin to take a look at the many roles that music plays in popular culture, then and now.
Fake news is old news, but has become fashionable now. It is a consequence of electronic media and the web, where there are many more news sources.
In this episode, Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen begin to explore the emergence of fake news, how to recognize it and, in the end, why we should care about it.
Connect with our hosts on Twitter:
Carol Arcus @arcus3
Neil Anderson @mediasee
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus return to a discussion of Pop Culture and, in particular, the degree to which youth fashion in the 21st century is (or is not) a medium of resistance.
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen are joined by Futurist, researcher and powerful public speaker, Jesse Hirsh, to discuss the lack of and, in fact, need for a public service media in a democratic Canada. What is public service media? What purpose could it service? How is it defined and how is it characterized?
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen embark on the first of several conversations about "Popular". What does it mean to say that something is "popular"? Who decides what is popular? Does popular culture represent our deepest hopes and aspirations or is it something that is created for and delivered to us?
Join the conversation!
Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen continue their conversation on Identity, Social Media and Violence with a special focus this week on practical ways that we can engage educators and parents in the conversation. What do we need to be aware of in terms of the developing identities of our children as they grow up?
Using recent violence in New Zealand as a backdrop, Neil and Carol explore the points of intersection between violence, media and identity, with a special focus on the role of social media in helping to weave new and more public narratives.
What role does/do Social Media play in the enactment of world events? Have social media users, in a sense, become a form of media? What role does social media play in the erosion of empathy among citizens of the global village? What new conversations do we need to be having about the impact of 24-hour streams of content?
These questions (and more) are explored on this week's episode of Mediacy.
In this episode, Neil and Carol dig deeper into what it means to live in a culture of ubiquitous screen time and screen presence. From selfies that help identify and place us in the world, to questions of when and where selfie images are appropriate, its a deeper dive into our life on in and in the screen.
Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus join Stephen Hurley to talk about how might we discover and respond to the effects of ubiquitous cameras and screens in our society.
In this opening episode of the Mediacy Podcast, Carol Arcus and Neil Andersen draw the circle wide around the media literacy landscape, underline the importance of seeing all aspects of our life as mediated, and provide us with three important questions to help frame our media literacy conversations.