Course Work and Curriculum on Media Literacy in India

Our research began with a clear focus: identifying practical skills that our game could impart to school students. Initially, we delved into exploring the current curriculum and coursework on media literacy being implemented in Indian classrooms. While we recognized the importance of teaching skills such as critical thinking and bias identification, we sought to understand the specific methods through which these skills were being taught. Our aim was to uncover coursework and exercises that effectively imparted media literacy skills in a practical manner, with the intention of incorporating and teaching these skills through our game.

• This is a five-hour long online training module on Media Literacy conducted in February 2023 by the NCERT and Indian Institute of Mass Communication
• This, this, this and this are all mock classroom videos designed under Kerala state government's Satyamev Jayate media literacy programme
• UNESCO's resource Think Critically, Click Wisely

Repositories of Content from Outside India

Keeping in mind the relatively low diffusion of media literacy in existing curricula in India, we also had a look at learning tools and frameworks from outside India geared towards imparting media literacy and critical thinking skills to students of all ages

• The Council of Europe's Education Department's LEMON is a repository of modules that cater to different needs of various categories of learners (such as students or working professionals) about interrelated topics such as democratic culture and social development
• The University of Newcastle Australia's course on critical media literacy and culture and how to actually apply and practice analytical frameworks to assessing texts, situations and events
• Media Savvy Citizens' take on imparting the same set of skills but to educators and teachers so that they can confidently teach in an ever-evolving digital landscape

First Principles: Starting from Scratch

Training educators, whether it be internally driven or external, is critical to improving the level of education received when we talk about teaching media literacy. Such skills can be those dedicated to generating awareness on issues like diversity and inclusion, leadership and collaboration, and socio-emotional learning. The following are learning platforms that are aimed towards inculcating the same in educators:

• This platform by Microsoft is focused at furthering the professional development of trainers
• Project Zero, situated within Harvard's Graduate School of Education, is aimed at understanding and nurturing human potentials – such as learning, thinking, ethics, intelligence and creativity – in all human beings. Their research examines the nature of such potentials, the contexts and conditions in which they develop, and the practices that support their flourishment
• Curated by the team at Digital Promise, Powerful Learning is a set of principles that act as a guiding light for educators while designing engaging learning experiences for students

Safe by Practice

Our last set of resources (for now) cater to those who are designing for children and who have to keep in mind certain safety protocols:

• This is an institute whose vision is to try and understand media's impact on child development
• This organisation serves to empower parents to protect their children in today's digitally-dominated world
• Newsahoot is a group that delivers and curates news specifically for children

Special thanks to Nidhi without whom we wouldn't have been able to get our hands on these resources!

This list is still growing and for those who wish to contribute to it, feel free to reach out to us and share your thoughts/resources!