Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Free Media Literacy Resources from FTC

I'm usually pretty wary about "free resources" from the government. They tend to be outdated and out of touch with reality, in general. These resources I found at this summer's ISTE conference are different. They are free, of course, but also useful. 

First, Admongo is an online game that teaches critical thinking skills about advertising. It's not terribly long and the graphics are actually neat. It requires students to figure out "Who is responsible for the ad?," "What is the ad actually saying?" and "What does the ad want me to do?" 

Also in the same vein is "You are Here," a virtual mall where students learn to be better consumers. They play games related to privacy, frauds and scams and more. 

Finally, there are free printed materials you can order in bulk entitled "NetCetera: Chatting With Kids About Being Online" and "Heads Up," which is a guide for kids themselves. The overall kit, called a "Community Outreach Toolkit" includes everything you'd need to do a presentation. Visit bulkorder.ftc.gov to order them all. And they are available in Spanish as well.  

Our taxdollars at work!

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