Institute of Education London

Children's Media Culture

Course Code:MMAMCC_02

Media are a major educational and socialising force in children's lives locally and globally. Children today spend more time engaging with popular media than they spend in school: watching television, movies and DVDs; playing computer games; using social networking sites; and making their own media productions. This module examines global and national media produced specifically for children, and how children make sense of them in their local contexts. New forms of digital literacy are considered as well as implications for media education. The module is in three main blocks. Block 1 begins by looking at the changing nature of childhood and its relation to media, and how children and media are represented in debates on this topic. We discuss how different disciplines construct children, media and children's relationship with media, looking at media and cultural studies, childhood studies and developmental psychology. Block 2 looks at children as media consumers. Topics covered include media industries and related marketing; commercial structures and pedagogical functions of media products; and globalisation in children's media cultures. Block 3 looks at the future of childhood in the age of digital media, focusing on children's own media productions and Web 2.0 technologies. We discuss the implications of these developments both in children's social and educational worlds.

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