Renee Hobbs, Authority on Digital and Media Literacy Education, to Speak Oct. 28

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Renee Hobbs, one of the world's leading authorities on digital and media literacy education, will give a free public lecture on Monday, Oct. 28.

This is the annual Fall Public Lecture Series presented by the University of Arkansas Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Hobbs' presentation is titled, "Create to Learn: How Digital Media Inquiry Advances Intellectual Curiosity."

The event will begin with a reception from 5-6 p.m. in the Hillside Auditorium Common Area (201). Light refreshments will be served. The lecture will be from 6-7:30 p.m. in Hillside Auditorium (room 202).

Hobbs is a professor and director of the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island. She's the author of The Library Screen Scene, Create to Learn: Introduction to Digital Literacy as well as many other books, publications, and award-winning multimedia. She created Mind Over Media, a crowdsourced digital learning platform for analyzing contemporary propaganda in all its many new forms.

Hobbs is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Media Literacy Education, and she co-directs the University of Rhode Island's Graduate Certificate Program in Digital Literacy, a leadership development program. A sought-after presenter, Hobbs has offered professional learning programs for K-12 and higher education leaders on four continents. Hobbs earned an EdD in Human Development from Harvard University, an M.A in Communication and B.A. in English Literature from the University of Michigan.

Today's learners face an unknowable future. Hobbs will discuss practices for helping students be ready for a lifetime of learning. The practices include: asking questions, evaluating and analyzing evidence, collaborating creatively to solve problems, communicating information and ideas in socially responsible ways, and reflecting on the social and cultural consequences of communicative actions. These habits of mind are especially relevant today, when persuasive technologies and digital algorithms "personalize" the information, entertainment and persuasion that we receive, activating strong emotion to bypass critical thinking and reasoning.

In this talk, you'll learn how every educator in every discipline can integrate learner-centered inquiry into existing curriculum using "create to learn" pedagogies that parallel the practices that are used by knowledge professionals in all fields to investigate, model, and explain the world.

She'll discuss the use of digital texts, tools and technologies including mind maps, curation activities, digital annotation, digital storytelling, video production, podcasting, meme-making, and other practices that prepare learners for work, life and citizenship in a digital age.

Hobbs will help educators consider practical ways to apply digital inquiry into classroom practice across all grade levels and subject areas.