Impact of Media Literacy Education Resources on Individual Learning and a Community of Practice

Abstract

This capstone project examines the individual and community impact of resources produced by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), a leading U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit recognized internationally for advancing media literacy education. NAMLE’s mission is to empower individuals to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on messages across all forms of communication. Whereas they are committed to assessing their influence on individual learners and broader communities, NAMLE faces two major challenges: the absence of a formal evaluation plan and the need to quantify long-term outcomes. Guided by an integrated conceptual framework, this quality improvement project employs a mixed methods design incorporating 25 in-depth interviews with NAMLE staff, stakeholders, and other experts; a 28-item survey completed by 195 respondents; and an extensive literature review, document review, and website analysis. Findings indicate that while critical thinking is foundational, its practical application in classrooms is inconsistent and in need of ready-to-use tools. Systematic impact measurement must consider individual and community message interpretation pathways. Equity and diversity require strengthening through inclusive, community-based approaches for marginalized groups. Barriers such as resource usability (e.g., U.S.-centric content, poor online navigation), financial sustainability (corporate funding dependence, underfunding, opportunity costs), and a hostile, politically charged environment for its mission work hinder widespread adoption of promising practices. Despite such challenges, NAMLE is widely perceived as an essential community hub. Recommendations propose establishing an equity-centered logic model for program evaluation, diversifying outreach to neglected communities, developing accessible and turnkey resources with robust professional development that focuses equally on critical media literacy, and diversifying revenues while advocating for funded media literacy policies and national curricular progress.