1. Media & Learning Conference 2014
The UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Assessment Framework
By Georges Boade
19-21 November- Brussels (Belgium)

2. Content: The Information Knowledge Societies and the role of UNESCO
21st century skills and challenges:
Work place
Education
Citizen’s daily functioning
Technological transformations
UNESCO global MIL assessment framework:
What is it about?
Why is it important?
How to assess?
Current status of the UNESCO’s role with regard to MIL assessment
59 GPE countries out of which
27 are in Arica
4 in Latin America
X in Asia and Pacific
1 Arab States
X in other

3. Building inclusive Knowledge and Information Societies: Role of UNESCO
UNESCO works to create inclusive knowledge societies and empower local communities by increasing:
access to,
preservation of, and
sharing of
Information and knowledge in all of UNESCO’s domains of competence
(Communication, Education, Science and Culture).
To build Knowledge societies, the work of UNESCO is built on four pillars :
freedom of expression
universal access to information and knowledge
respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and
quality education for all.

4. IFAP and IPDC, two UNESCO international programmes established in 2001.
International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC):
A multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize the international community to discuss and promote media development in developing countries.
Priorities:
Promotion of freedom of expression and media pluralism:
work to promote a safe environment for journalists and media workers, and
on creating a pluralistic media environment through the development of community-based media, due to its capacity to give a voice to marginalized sectors of society, and encourage transparency of administration at local level.
Capacity development for journalists, media managers and journalism educators/trainers
Innovation in convergence and integration of legacy (traditional) news media and new trends in communication:
IPDC has a key role to play in assisting the transition from stand-alone analogue media platforms to the new networked and more pluralistic communications era.
IPDC promotes Knowledge-driven Media Development, through supporting innovative projects and drawing lessons from each experience to create a continuous learning cycle.

5. IFAP and IPDC, two UNESCO international programmes established in 2001.
Information for All Programme (IFAP)
IFAP was created to provide a platform for international policy discussions and the development of guidelines for action in the area of access to information and knowledge; for the participation of all in the information knowledge societies.
Under the IFAP Strategic Plan (2008 – 2013), priority is being given to supporting the needs of Member States in 6 inter-disciplinary areas, namely:
Information Access
Information for Development
Information Ethics
Information (and Media) Literacy
Information Preservation
Multilingualism.
Creation of the Information Society Observatory in 2009 which provides access to a range of up-to-date policy papers and strategies, book reviews, trends and other resources in the IFAP priority areas. It is managed and maintained by Budapest University of Technology and Economics Information Society and Trend Research Institute (ITTK)

6. Join IL community (845 members)

7. Some UNESCO publications in the area of media and information literacy
Media Development Indicators: A framework for assessing media development, 2008
Assessments based on qualitative approach finalized in more than 40 countries
Media statistics data collection instruments tested in 55 countries in 2012 by UIS
A guidebook of media indicators published in 2013 by UIS
Combination of both qualitative and quantitative tools in future MDI assessments
Global Media and Information Literacy Assessment Framework, 2013
Ongoing work in collaboration between UNESCO HQ, UIS and UNESCO Santiago to develop a bank of items
Plan to integrate some items in the future regional students assessment in LAC countries
Other publications:
Media and Information Literacy policy and strategy guidelines, 2013
Media and Information literacy curriculum for teachers, 2011
UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers, 2011

8. Emerging new skills

9. Emerging new skills At work place Familiarity with ICTs
Collaboration skills
MIL

10. Emerging new skills In education
Teachers: techno pedagogical competencies and MIL
Students: MIL (including ICT/digital literacy, a transversal competence
Linkage of educational products to the job market requirements
Global shift in the educational paradigms, from teacher centered to learner centered
Priority on lifelong learning, collaboration skills, pedagogical integration of ICTs, etc, command the transformation of the traditional teaching-learning process, hence what to assess and the way learners should be assessed
Post‐2015 agenda presents two new issues: learning outcomes and equity.

11. Emerging new skills In daily functioning
Any citizen should be able to perform basic operations through a diverse range of media: communication (explosion of mobile phone in dev. Countries), banking, shopping online or on site with a credit card, filtering information received in the mailbox by reading and evaluating, communicate with other members by creating messages and information that can be sent through a given platform, dealing with big data, accessing and transforming data received from print and broadcast media, internet and other media platforms to take an informed decision, etc.

12. Emerging new skills: the 21st century skills
Four categories (Griffin et al., 2012; pages 18/19):
Cat 1: Ways of Thinking
1. Creativity and innovation
2. Critical thinking, problem solving, decision making
3. Learning to learn, Metacognition
Cat 2: Ways of Working
4. Communication
5. Collaboration (teamwork)
Cat 3: Tools for Working
6. Information literacy
7. ICT literacy
Cat 4: Living in the World
8. Citizenship – local and global
9. Life and career
10. Personal and social responsibility – including cultural awareness and competence

13. The UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Assessment Framework

14. Definition of the MIL concept
MIL is defined as a set of competencies that empowers citizens to access, retrieve, understand, evaluate and use, create, as well as share:
information and media content in all formats,
using various tools,
in a critical, ethical and effective way,
in order to participate and engage in personal, professional and societal activities (P.17).

15. Structure of UNESCO MIL framework: A two tiers approach based on context and individuals’ levels
Rationale:
Data collected should be used for planning purposes: intervention and allocation of resources- data need to cover appropriate policy decision variables
To understand the individuals performances according to their context and living conditions (multilevel analysis approach)
The authentic assessments should be adapted to the available resources and infrastructures

16. A two tiers approach- Tiers 1
Tiers 1: Contextual information/country readiness
Media and information in education
Media and information literacy policy
Media and information supply
Media and information access and use
Civil society
These contextual data are instrumental for several reasons, e.g:
to take into consideration the impact of contextual profiles on the performances of the individuals
to identify equity issues across different geographic areas of a given country
to provide information that can explain differences in the performances between countries for an international analytical report, etc.

17. A two tiers approach: Tiers 2 (Annex E, p.129-136)
Tiers 2: Individuals’ competencies
3 components: Access, Evaluation and Creation
12 competencies and
113 performance criteria

18. Tiers 2: Access 4 competencies and 36 performance criteria :
Definition and articulation of a need for information
Search and location of information and media content
Access to information, media content and information providers
Retrieval and holding/storage/retention of information and media content

19. Tiers 2: Evaluation 4 competencies and 42 performance criteria :
Understanding of information and media
Assessment of information and media content, and media and information providers
Evaluation of media content, and media and information providers
Organization of media and information content

20. Tiers 2: Creation 4 competencies and 35 performance criteria:
Creation of knowledge and creative expression
Communication of information, media content and knowledge in an ethical and effective manner through the media and ICTs
Participating in societal-public activities as active citizen
Monitoring influence of information, media content, knowledge production and use, as well as media and other information providers

21. How to assess MIL competencies?
A parallel set of activities as the standard process for a National Assessment of Educational Achievement.
Two initial questions:
What’s the national institution to initiate the project?
For students assessments, in general the Ministry of
education or related entities
Are there national technical capacities to conduct the project?
Appointment of the implementing agency.

22. The entity to lead the project and the implementing agency will perform the following activities 1/ (not prescriptive, not linear!):
Define the target population: students (age?, grade?) Teachers?, out-of school children? Workers? Adults?
Identify the policy questions around media and information literacy issue at the country level, keeping in mind the target population
What are the technical standards in this area related to statistical soundness, psychometrics, copyright, administration, processing, etc.
Develop the assessment framework: National adaptation of the UNESCO Global MIL Framework

23. The entity owner of the project and the implementing agency will perform the following activities / (not prescriptive, not linear!):
Elaborate the blue print of the assessment
Decide on the delivery model (paper-pencil? Computer fixed test? Computer adaptive test?, mixed?)
Organize training of item writers (MIL specialists) who should generate a bank of appropriate assessment items based on the framework and blue-print
Organize a panel review to assess the items
Control for linguistic quality and equivalency across languages
Design the test
Design the sample if not a census

24. The entity owner of the project and the implementing agency will perform the following activities: / (not prescriptive, not linear!):
Conduct a pilot/pre-test
Conduct/supervises fields operations including training of test administrators, logistics, administration of the assessments
Decide on the scaling methodology (scoring of the test, data processing including editing/cleaning, recording/capturing, data adjustments, etc.)
Do/supervise the data analysis (Do you have an analysis plan linked to the policy questions?): What are the policy responses?
Do data reporting and dissemination (do you have plans?)
Archive the data

25. Why UNESCO focus on teachers (in service and in training)?
A favourable environment creates new opportunities and demands for information and media content, as well as for new products and services provided by media or information providers for educational purposes.
Enabling environment on MIL for teachers, will enable them to provide quality education to their students that integrate new skills. MIL competent teachers is likely to use ICT for pedagogical purposes
If teachers do not have competencies in the area of MIL, it should not be expected that students and future work force will have them without complementary training after schools.

26. Current status of UNESCO’s work on MIL assessment
Framework published in Nov. 2013
Model background questionnaire included in the publication (National contextual data, teachers and individuals)
Development of a bank of items for main assessment to be adapted by Member States

27. Dank u wel!