KQED Learning Launches a New Website for Educators to Amplify Youth Voice, Civic Engagement, and Media Literacy in a Digital World

KQED, a member station of NPR and PBS based in San Francisco, announces the launch of the new KQED Learning online hub. KQED Learning serves educators with free and open digital content and tools focused on amplifying youth voice, making media, civic engagement, and real-world media literacy.  KQED Learning is a “go-to” resource for professional learning programs, cutting edge media-making and creativity tools, and standards-aligned activities and content that encourage critical media consumption, thoughtful responses and perspectives, and inquiry- and project-based learning that crosses the curriculum.

A core component of the new KQED Learning  is KQED Teach, a professional learning platform and source for a growing lineup of free online courses for educators. Courses are self- paced and cover media literacy topics and concepts using a hands-on, media-making approach. In addition to practical “how-to” instruction, KQED Teach courses provide creative insights about integrating media content and media-making activities into instruction to engage students. Among the available professional learning course topics are Media Foundations, Communicating with Photography, Making Infographics, and Interactive Timelines.

Courses feature rich content and guide educators through the processes of making media so they’re prepared to teach their students how to use digital resources to learn, communicate, collaborate, consume and make media critically. KQED Teach courses are free and give teachers the flexibility to learn and build skills when it’s most convenient for them.

KQED Learning  offers educator-developed projects, activities and cross-curricular content to encourage student participation through media-making and collaboration. Content includes interactives, and project ideas that encourage students to question, investigate, make media, share, and reflect.

An example of the instructional content from KQED Learning is Engineering for Good, a three-week, NGSS-aligned, project-based learning unit that gives middle school students hands-on experience with the engineering design process as they develop solutions for the impacts of plastics on the environment.

In the Classroom is an educator blog, featuring educator-developed classroom integration ideas, success stories, media-making ideas, and discussion threads to help teachers boost student engagement and participation in their classrooms. Coming later in the 2017-18 school year are additional content, courses for teachers, resources that focus on a variety of contemporary issues, integrating news into instruction, science and STEAM content, and other youth engagement and publishing programs.

Robin Mencher, Executive Director, KQED Learning noted, “Educators who are looking for standards-aligned instructional content, professional learning opportunities, and timely, high-quality digital resources will find a trusted, valued partner in the new KQED Learning hub. We are focused on media literacy in today’s digital world—an approach that encompasses not only critical media consumption but creative media-making as a way to express ideas and opinions, enrich learning, and solve problems. Our public media mission and education commitment give us a unique capacity to address new and emerging learning needs and opportunities for educators and students. Our platforms and resources are the launching pads for a new era in engaged teaching and learning.”

About KQED Learning
KQED Learning is a hub for learning and engagement for educators and students alike and provides multimedia content, experiential activities, and professional tools to create 21^st century learning environments by promoting civic engagement, creative expression, critical thinking, and problem solving using digital media. KQED Learning is the education arm of KQED.

About KQED
KQED serves the people of Northern California with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. An NPR and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, KQED is home to one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program helping students and educators thrive in 21^st century classrooms. A trusted news source and leader and innovator in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration – exposing them to new people, places and ideas.