This presentation benefits P-16 teachers, outlining the current research outlining the role of Media and Information Literacy Skills. We will address the role of multiple literacies in developing global competent generation; examine new media from a semiotics and social justice perspective; provide creative strategies for integrating media literacy into the curriculum; and showcase the students' media projects. This session promotes media education in deconstructing the myths and misconceptions in P20 classrooms, integrates community mapping and digital storytelling into the curriculum, offers creative suggestions for producing media in the classroom with minimal resources and equipment, and showcases innovative and inclusive projects and best practices for developing critical autonomy, global competency, and 21st century skills in teacher education programs. As the transformative education intersects with human rights, global education framework can be used as a tool for social justice education. Borrowing and extending the work of critical theorists, Henry Giroux and Paulo Freire, participants studied the Transformative Critical Pedagogy and explored three key topics in order to understand the global educational experiences of the teacher candidates: the wide range of meanings educators associated with myth and misconceptions in P20 classrooms; the impact of developing transdisciplinary and innovative multimedia learning objects (modules) and assessment strategies on students’ reaction, and understanding of global issues; and the ways in which the students respond to Multicultural, Multilingual, Multimedia activities.
Melda N. Yildiz is global scholar, assessment and curriculum consultant, instructional designer, author, and edupreneur. She is the chair of the Instructional Technology program and associate professor in the School for Interdisciplinary Studies and Education at NYIT. Melda served as a Fulbright Scholar in Turkmenistan (2009) and Azerbaijan (2016) teaching and conducting research integrating new media and technologies in P16 classrooms. Melda worked as a Media Specialist and the director of media services at Northfield Mount Hermon School and taught media literacy and production to grades 9-12. As a teacher educator, she taught Media Literacy Education, Multimedia Production, and Educational Technology to P-16 educators and teacher candidates. She taught as a national faculty at Lesley University, as a contributing faculty to Walden University, as a research fellow at Oxford University, and as a visiting scholar at Abant Izzet Baysal University and Mehmet Akif University. She worked as the director of assessment and accreditation and also as a program reviewer and site visitor for StarTalk: National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). Melda co-authored, published, and presented featuring Media and Information Literacy, Instructional Technology, and Global Education in national and international conferences. She received Ed.D. from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, on Math & Science and Instructional Technology; M.S. from Southern Connecticut State University on Instructional Technology. She majored in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Bogazici University, in Turkey.