Need and Role of Media and Information Literacy in IITs Perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to know the awareness level of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) among the students of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Media has a vital role in academics and society as well. Eventually, MIL has its great role to achieve the desired outcomes. It has been assumed that the IITians are adequately computer savvy so they have never been considered suitable for MIL training. A study was conducted on 1054 students of three IITs across the programmes (UG, PG, and Ph.D.) to find out the result of the assumption. Data were collected through questionnaire and later analysed using the statistical techniques. Statistical tests ANOVA and Chi-square were used to determine the significant difference and correlation between the factors to test the hypothesis. The results of the study revealed that students of IITs are considering MIL is a new term for them and broadly they are correlating MIL with knowledge of ICT. The study explains that MIL is entirely different from ICT skills. MIL training, first for the IITians, is considered valuable because they will be exceptional future teachers of the society for imparting media education directly or indirectly. The work is original and first of its kind where IITians were inquired for the need of MIL training in around academic context. The study impacts the society most especially in developing countries where media is becoming common in use but understanding of media messages is multifaceted to evaluate critically at various level.

Keywords: Media Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, MIL Training

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