Audiovisual Media Literacy Primary Source Workshop: HIV/AIDS in the 1980s
Overview
This is a 4-hour audiovisual media literacy workshop that can be facilitated in a
traditional, hybrid, or remote setting. Preferably, the videos should be viewed three times in order to create a more scaffolded experience. After the first viewing, students answer questions 1–4 and are assigned the provided HIV/AIDS timeline. After the second viewing, students answer questions 5–8
and are assigned an article from The New York Times about the production of the two
videos. After the third viewing, students are asked to focus specifically on two dialogue
scenes that differ between the two videos and create a list of noticings. They can use
this list to note the way the videos changed, or to create their own questions for their
classmates who are watching the segment(s) for the first time. Post-workshop reflection questions following the workshop are included to make connections and identify skills that were developed during the workshop.
This audiovisual media literacy educational resource focuses on video media. Articulating precisely how this is done, through both visual and narrative information, requires critical media literacy skills. Through watching and analyzing these videos, students will explain underlying messages and attitudes within the video. The videos included were financed by the New York City Board of Education: Sex, Drugs & AIDS (1986) and The Subject is: AIDS (1987).