Defining Video Literacy
In their first meeting of the Fall 2025 semester, IVCN participants identified a shared understanding of the term “video literacy.”
According to The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) “literacy is the ability to encode and decode symbols and synthesize and analyze messages.”
Media literacy, then, is the ability to “employ a certain set of [unique] skills and strategies when you engage with [different pieces] of media” in order “to encode and decode the symbols transmitted [by them] and synthesize, analyze and produce mediated messages.”
Video literacy, a subset of media literacy, is the ability to differentiate and analyze each of the elements that make up a video, as well as how they create new meaning in conjunction.
Video literacy considers:
- Visuals
- Text
- Dialogue
- Music
- Sound effects
- Graphics
- Editing
- Cinematography
- Social context
and more!
IVCN participants use video for a variety of purposes: presenting content, assessment, training, online modality support, and knowledge management. Therefore, their shared definition of video literacy is important in creating a foundational framework for the “why” of using video to support their teaching pedagogies.
Their work together in Fall 2025 will focus on exploring workflow automation, video annotations, and accessibility. Their work will be shared with the wider UMass Amherst community. Stay tuned for future blog posts to learn more about their work!