University and citizenship: a Mexican experience on reflectioning about media consumption in college students

Author(s):

Ligia Garcia-Bejar(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES H 10, Reflective Practice in Education

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

11:00-12:30

Room:

W3.17

Chair:

Nicola Walshe

Contribution

In a context of digital convergence, proliferation of information, media and increasing access to various information platforms both traditional and alternative, it is of academic relevance to know how the relationship of various social groups with information. Great importance is given to the role of the media in everyday life, but little attention is paid to analyzing how people learn to relate to the content they consume.

The subject, therefore, of this research is to know and reflect on whether the multiplication of access to different platforms has also resulted in the multiplication of competencies to order and process the information itself, to analyze and evaluate it better, although the response to this questioning transcends the analysis of this work.

In addition to the above, another purpose of this document is to question the role of university education in this regard. Young people, as active citizens of society, are a very important social group for the different business and political audiences, even emphasizing that in Mexico the youth population remains the highest part of the population pyramid between 2010 And 2015, according to INEGI. The highest percentage of people in Jalisco are those that are between the ages of 15 and 29; The average is between 25 and 27 years old (INEGI, 2015).

In this context, this work reflects from the theoretical perspective on the critical consumption of the media, also known as media literacy and analyzes the daily relationship of university students with the media. In addition to the theoretical body, the information expressed in this document it is a case of study, using the narrative analysis of college students about their media consumption, taken as units of meaning of the instrument of analysis used: their self-perception of critical and reflexive consumption, their processes of analysis and evaluation of what they consume, and their general practices of media consumption.

The study carried out to give methodological support to this document was qualitative, using the technique of narrative analysis and from the frequency of units of meaning analyzed we obtain repetitions of information that offer quantitative information that contributes significant data. The application of this narrative analysis was done with 72 students of the degrees of the School of Communication and Pedagogy of the Pan American University, in Guadalajara México between the months of May and July of 2016.

The researcher believes this data it is useful to give to the audience a glimpse of a Latin American reality and understand trends of media usage in the region. However the information explais a micro reality, it gives a lot of understanding of the media consumption and its effects on college students nowadays.

Method

A written narrative analysis was made to university students about their abilities and skills of critical and reflexive consumption of the mass media. The present study was carried out at the Universidad Panamericana, Campus Guadalajara in February 2016, with 72 undergraduate students in Pedagogy and Educational Innovation, Psychopedagogy, Audiovisual Communication, Journalistic Communication, Communication, Advertising and Public Relations. Sampling was randomized with sixth semester students. These students made a written narration about their consumption of the media from questions that trigger ideas. The research questions of which part this work is: do you think it is important to be a critical consumer of media? Why? Explain in detail if you consider yourself a critical and reflective consumer of media content. Describe how you analyze and evaluate the information and entertainment content you consume. Describe if someone has taught you to be a more analytical consumer of media. These same questions were the activating questions of the narrative analysis that these students did. From the student discourse, units of meaning were identified, that is, sentences or sentences that show students' perceptions. The analysis of the information was carried out in two levels, in the first one emerged 87 units of meaning, from which in the second level were constructed six categories of analysis that were tied with the competences that UNESCO proposes on the media literacy: A) Understanding the role and functions of the media. B) Understanding of the conditions under which the media perform their functions. C) Analysis and critical evaluation of the means. (D) Use of media in the framework of democratic participation, intercultural dialogue and learning. E) Produce content as a user And one added by me: F) Who taught you to be critical? Once the analysis categories were configured, the units of meaning were counted and accommodated in each one of them. The sum of these is the total of mentions made by the students in each thematic core. The frequencies are presented according to mentions, which allows to glimpse the aspects that more and less interest the students in the information.

Expected Outcomes

It can be concluded that its form of consumption is varied and with different and distant meanings. Almost all recognize the importance of being critical and analytical, although some are not. Some students considered themselves more passive in their consumption and manipulation of information than active. Perhaps they have not yet discovered the power to obtain and understand information at their disposal. They recognize the value of information, recognize the role of the media and recognize that it can help them to have a more democratic view of their reality, even if they do not always use their consumption for that purpose. Sometimes they stay in the simple action of understanding reality and sharing points of view. Some recognize how criteria and beliefs are formed from what they consume. It highlights the role of the university in the formation of its critical sense, followed by high school and parents. Doubts arise about what happens at home, what happens in primary education, where a void appears, at least from the sample. It is noteworthy that high school teachers and, above all, university teachers play an important role. This work allow us to suggest more questions than the initials, and the need to configure from home and from the educational environments, strategies aimed at teaching a more reflexive and critical consumption of information. It can not be assumed that because they are digital natives, they will naturally and empirically learn to consume information with a more select or more thoughtful criterion. Although it is possible to identify consumption patterns and characterize the informative and entertaining diet of the questioned students, the reality is that this phenomenon is organic and changing and it is worthwhile to study it and to know it more thoroughly from the eyes of the users themselves.

References

Buckingham, D. (2000). Creating Citizens: News, Pedagogy and Empowerment. In The Making of Citizens. Young People, News and Politics. (pp. 35-58). London and New York: Routledge. Buckingham, D. & Martínez-Rodríguez, J.B. (2013). Jóvenes interactivos: Nueva ciudadanía entre redes sociales y escenarios escolares. Comunicar, 40, 10-13. (DOI: 10.3916/C40-2013-02-00) Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., et. al. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation. INEGI. Encuesta Intercensal 2015. Centro de Población y Vivienda. México. Ito & Al. (2010). Hanging out, Messing around, and Geeking Out: Kids Leaving and Learning with New Media. Cambrige. (M. A.). The MIT Press. Luria, A. (1980). Conciencia y lenguaje. Madrid: Pablo del Río . Orozco, G. (2009). Entre pantallas. Nuevos escenarios y roles co-municativos de sus audiencias usuarios. In M. Aguilar, E. Nipón, A. Portal & R. Winocur (Eds.), Pensar lo contemporáneo: de la cul - tura situada a la convergencia tecnológica. (pp. 287-296). Barce - lo na: Anthropos/UAM- Iztapalapa. Potter, James (2005). Media Literacy. Sage Publications, Inc.  Reichardt, C. y Cook, T. (1982), Más allá de los métodos cualitativos versus los cuantitativos [versión electrónica]. Estudios de psicología, núm. 11, España. Disponible en: http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2858142. Fecha de consulta 19/03/2016. Ritzer G. y Jugerson, N. (2010), Production, Consumption, Prosumption: the nature of capitalism in the age of digital ‘prosumer’. Journal of Consumer Culture. Vol. 10. N. 1. Sage Publications. Sisman, B. Y Yurtass, O. (2015), An empirical literacy from the viewpoint of media. Procedia: Social and Biological Sciences, num. 174. International Conference on New Horizons in Education, INTE 2014, 25-27 June 2014, Paris, France. UNESCO. (2011). Programa de formación en alfabetización mediática e informacional destinado a docentes. UNESCO. México.

Author Information

Ligia Garcia-Bejar (presenting / submitting)

Universidad Panamericana

Pedagogy

Zapopan

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