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Professional Development for Youth Library Staff

Current PD Program: Media Literacy in Early Childhood for Youth Library Staff

Erikson Institute’s TEC Center is now offering a new, IMLS-funded, professional development program, Media Literacy in Early Childhood for Youth Library Staff. This is a four-month professional development series, in which participants will spend approximately 10 to 12 hours total in entirely online synchronous and asynchronous learning. Cohorts will be made up of 20-25 youth library staff from across the U.S.

Cohort 2 will occur during October 2022-January 2023, and Cohort 3 will occur during April-July 2023.

Recruitment Ongoing for Cohorts 2 and 3

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Audience

Public and school library staff who either work directly with young children (ages birth through 8 years old) and families, or supervise library staff who do work directly with young children and families.

Description

Participants will learn about the importance of supporting children and families as critical media users. Participants will learn about how young children use and comprehend various media including digital and print media. This program will utilize publications of Media Literacy in Early Childhood Report (Herdzina & Lauricella, 2020) and Becoming a Media Mentor: A Guide for Working with Children and Families (Haines, Campbell, Association for Library Service to Children, 2016), among other related media literacy in library publications and resources. Participants will explore strategies, practices, activities, and tools for implementing media literacy education within a library setting.

As a participant in this PD program, you will:

  1. Develop an understanding media literacy actions and skills
  2. Develop confidence for supporting the media literacy skills of young children and their families
  3. Gain an awareness of inequities related to digital media
  4. Design and implement appropriate activities that support media literacy skills for young children
  5. Reflect on your own media literacy skills and areas of improvement
  6. Collaborate and share media literacy resources to better support your colleagues and community

Incentive and Requirements

Those who complete the expectations outlined below will receive a personal certificate of completion and their library will receive a $400 honorarium. All participants will be expected to:

  1. Complete all pre- and post-program evaluations
  2. Read or watch required materials
  3. Attend all four synchronous webinars
  4. Attend both synchronous small group check-ins
  5. Participate in all four asynchronous discussions (48 hours to participate)
  6. Complete an asynchronous video series and accompanied materials by the end of the program

Participating library staff will be highly encouraged to develop and host media literacy programs for their library patrons, either in person or virtually, after they complete the PD program.

This PD program is part of the IMLS-funded project, Supporting 21st Century Librarians: Media Literacy Professional Development for Youth Librarians.

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Digital Media and Technology for Young Children

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