When are you media literate?

Digital society creates lots of opportunities. Thanks to media, we can keep in touch with friends on the other side of the world, don’t need to leave or house to get groceries, and remote working has become a lot simpler. Lots of opportunities, but they also involve some risk. To be able to optimally partake in digital society, we have to know how best to deal with media. In other words: we need to work on our ‘media literacy’. But what does that mean? And how do we do it?

Questions about media literacy or the Media Literacy Competency Model? Contact our expert Hadewijch Vanwynsberghe.

Also read our cases on the learning curve and media education.

On this page:

What is media literacy?
Why is media literacy important?
3 common questions about media literacy
The Media Literacy Competency Model

What is media literacy?

When you are media literate, you are able to use and understand media. That requires certain knowledge, skills and attitudes (willingness and daring). It’s not just about the technical side of knowledge: solution-oriented thinking about digital issues, creating your own media content and thinking critically and consciously about media are also important. Media literacy consists of many facets, all of which are essential in our society today.

What is the definition of media literacy?

What is media literacy? Discover the definition by the Flemish Government, how we translate it into tangible action, and which misconceptions exist around media literacy.

What is media literacy?

Why is media literacy important?

There are two reasons why working on media literacy is important, both in education and in daily life. Discover them here.

Discover why

3 common questions about media literacy

Media literacy is a basic competence every citizen should possess from a young age. That is exactly why it is important to pay attention to media literacy at school, to make sure children and youngsters are taught the necessary skills. But media literacy is not only learned at school: you also learn it by using media yourself or by having media literate people in your network. Unfortunately, that’s not a given for everyone, which makes it hard for some subgroups of the population to develop their media literacy skills – which in turn makes them vulnerable to exclusion.

If we want to educate media literate citizens, we need to know where we stand and where there is work to be done. That’s why we need to be able to measure media literacy as well as the impact of media literacy projects. But can we? The short answer is ‘yes’, but there’s also a ‘but’. Read about how we measure media literacy and the challenges we face.

When you live in a society of which you don’t speak the language, it can be hard to find your way or to send a job application. If you’re also lacking in media literacy, the challenge only increases. Media literacy should therefore be a fundamental part of any language course. Discover how teachers can test the media literacy of non-native speakers and how they can integrate the media their students use in their courses.

The Media Literacy Competency Model

The Media Literacy Competency Model translates the definition of media literacy into a practical instrument for media literacy projects. Anyone can apply the competency model: you can use it as a guideline for media literacy policy, to formulate research questions or to develop a media literacy tool. But it’s also a great starting point if you want to increase your own media literacy.

What is the Media Literacy Competency Model?

The Media Literacy Competency Model summarises the knowledge, skills and attitudes you need to work on media literacy, and for which media purposes you can use them.

Discover the model

Visual competentiemodel — **The Media Literacy Competency Model**

“The circle in the Media Literacy Competency Model can be read like a pizza: you can choose how much of each topping you want to add to each piece. And just like your favourite pizza depends on your personal preferences and your situation, the same goes for the way the model is used. You can pick what you need from it for yourself and your target group.”

Hadewijch Vanwynsberghe

Expert media literacy, Mediawijs
Mediawijs