15 Yorkview Drive
Etobicoke, ON M8Z 2G1
E-mail: info@aml.ca
Web site: www.aml.ca
Formed in 1978, the Ontario Association for Media Literacy (AML) is the largest media education association in the country. Current membership stands at about 400. At its peak in the early 1990s, the AML had a membership of over a thousand teachers.
In 1989, the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training seconded 10 AML educators to write the 232-page Media Literacy Activity Guide. In 1990, the AML published the AML Anthology of lesson plans contributed by its members. In 1992, it published the AML Anthology Supplement.
Most of the Canadian media education texts published in this decade have been written by AML executive members.
They include: Screening Images by Chris Worsnop, Media Works by Neil Andersen, Mass Media and Popular Culture, 2nd Ed., by Barry Duncan et al and Scanning Television 1 and 2 by John Pungente and Neil Andersen. The association also publishes a substantial newsletter, called Mediacy, now available to members on the AML Web site.
In fall 1999, the AML mounted a successful campaign, involving members, former students, industry players and the media, to save the stand-alone media education credit course that was being cut by the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training.
The AML holds four professional development events each year and, upon request, offers workshops throughout Ontario. In 2001 and 2002, CHUM Television produced a series of media literacy workshops, which were delivered by AML executive members to school boards and faculties of education. In December 1998 CHUM sponsored a number of 30-second television spots about media literacy featuring Carolyn Wilson, AML president, and John Pungente, SJ. These spots aired on many of CHUM’s stations during 1999.
The AML is keenly interested in conceptualizing media education to include the new and in converging technologies, and convincing technology education leaders that key media education considerations such as ideology and commercial implications should be an integral part of their work. The organization is also involved in the issue of the “corporate takeover of public space.” With other media education leaders across the country, AML executive members were on the front line of the campaign to counter Youth News Network’s attempts to attract schools with an offer of free-loan equipment in exchange for 12 minutes of news and advertising to a captive student audience.
In 1998, the AML was honoured for its work in media education at an international conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where it received the World Council for Media Education Award.
In May 2000, the AML organized an international media education conference, as part of the Summit 2000 conference held in Toronto, which brought together media educators from around the world.
In order to provide resources and news to its members, in 2001, the AML launched the Association for Media Literacy Web site.
Last updated July 2002
