Media Smart Day Home

Cable in the Classroom and Kijana Voices entered into a partnership in early 2007 to develop and pilot an innovative national media literacy program called Media Smart Day. Seven schools from across the country participated in the Media Smart Day Pilot Program starting in Fall 2007.

What is Media Smart Day?
Each school was asked to bring a team of students together with a Media Smart Day teacher advisor. These students planned unique Media Smart Day activities for their school with the help of resources and online tools provided by Kijana Voices.

At each school, Media Smart Day took on a different form, driven by the students. As the students worked with their advisor, administrators, and local cable operators, the upcoming Media Smart Day became a significant event for the whole school and community.

Media Smart Days at these schools occurred in December 2007 and January 2008.

Media Smart Day events

Students and teacher run workshops on media and technology topics
Single period "teach-ins" where students went from classroom to classroom leading media literacy lessons.
Teachers incorporating media literacy topics in all content areas.
Media Fairs
Students run workshops for teachers and students on technology and software
Student-created websites, multimedia projects, posters and short film productions to promote media literacy

Outcomes
These pilot schools were successful in planning and implementing their Media Smart Days. We see the wide variety of outcomes as a major strength of the program. All schools felt that the event was worth doing, and would be repeated. As more schools participate in Media Smart Day, we expect that the library of resources and examples available to schools will grow. A more formal evaluation report is currently being prepared.

Future Plans
The success of the Media Smart Day pilots shows the power of student ownership in their education. Giving students responsibility and a voice in creating educational opportunities for all is at the heart of the Kijana Voices mission. We are working with Cable in the Classroom to evaluate and continue Media Smart Day nationwide.

Media Smart Day Pilot Schools