Part I
Viewing

Part I explores the scale of the intricate collective organization that goes into the production of any text which is to be viewed. The units discuss the expertise and grasp of conventions that young viewers bring to the job of making meaning of screened material of all kinds, and explore how such expertise can be developed further. The readings and commentaries will assist you to develop your own criteria for judging the worth and effectiveness of screened texts and to be aware of the contrasts between screened material and texts produced for other media. Finally, the material in Part I will help you to appreciate issues of recording and access, and the importance of these issues in the history of reception of such works.

Unit 1
Television Viewing

Unit 1 addresses the issues of children and their television-viewing strategies, habits, and understandings. The required readings explore some implications of watching “live” television, as opposed to video, and examine some of the social and individual consequences of current technological change. Unit 1 also investigates what children need to learn to understand television’s representations of the world. Finally, this unit assesses the contents of two different children’s programs and addresses questions of developing media awareness and education among children.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed Unit 1, you should be able to achieve the following learning objectives.

1. Appreciate children’s viewing strategies and competencies.
2. Recognize the complexity of the decision making involved in viewing television programs.
3. Understand some of the basic issues of media education for children.

Unit 2
Video and Film Viewing

Unit 2 explores ways in which the advent of video recording has affected how children approach the linked, but different, media of film, television, and video. The unit commentary and selected readings investigate ways in which children’s familiarity with certain video texts allows them to expand their sophistication as viewers, and look at the social contexts that support and feed that sophistication.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed Unit 2, you should be able to achieve the following learning objectives.

1. Develop ideas about children’s skills in viewing and interpreting texts of varying complexity.
2. Appreciate the social nature of children’s learning from television and video recordings.